Open Source News

BBC News 24 capture

Mobile technology is changing the world as we know it. It's pretty incredible to think that such technological advances like camera phones can give people such immense power to truly share their experiences with others. 3G phones give users the ability to become pocket journalists, creating and sending images and videos almost immediately.

In the case of the recent London bombings, everyday people captured and shared their experiences on mobile phones by posting on the Internet (via Flickr and We Are Not Afraid) as well as sending their images to main stream media outlets like the BBC.

"It is a gear change," said the BBC director of news, Helen Boaden, of the public's contribution to the corporation's coverage of the events.

"Within minutes of the first blast we had received images from the public and we had 50 images within an hour. Now there are thousands. We had a gallery of still photographs from the public online, and they were incredibly powerful.”

These amateur images give outside viewers powerful and emotionally charged glimpses into the disaster much more so than a typical polished news clip. Witnesses were able to catch images TV crews, because of their complex set-ups, could never capture. This is the first significant account of open source news.