Qik, a web application that allows users to submit footage to their YouTube-like streaming video library directly from their cell-phone live as they film it has come out of closed beta.
The implications this has for citizen journalism cannot be overstated. Despite predating the invention of cellphones hand-held video cameras haven’t really hit a critical penetration sufficient for anything but the highest profile events (e.g. Boeing 747s slamming into huge tourist attraction). Cell-phones, however, have huge adoption rates; even in the developing world. The proportion of those with built-in cameras is quite high.
Qik would allow individuals to take footage and make it immediately make it publicly available. Obviously this means that the time between an event and distribution of media is shortened to nearly seconds. It also means that the omnipresence of the general public can easily trump the mobility and response capabilities of professional media.
There are negative consequences which I’m sure will rear their heads before the positive potential for this platform is realized (isn’t that always the way?). Amateur paparazzi can now stalk and stream using cheap, comparatively covert means - Paris Hilton could literally be lifestreamed by cloud ofpathetic losers voyeurs.
The real potential exists in the coverage of typically conjecture-saturated incidents like police violence and other crimes, protests (I can think of a university that could’ve made use of this), accidents etc. No longer can we be content watching aftermath coverage with witness testimony distorting and falsifying information (rationally speaking, testimony from witnesses is almost always tremendously worse than no information at all). Further, we’re not reliant on the resourcefulness of the one or two people nearby with camcorders to have them at the ready.