E-Media Tidbits

Photo-blog service TextAmerica (no, I don't understand why an image service has "Text" in the name) is hosting a photo blog of images from citizens living through the Southern California fires. My Poynter colleague, Robin Sloan, spent some time looking over the shots and reports: "There are some surprisingly good images here! And at a perfectly adequate resolution for web display." Images are either from photo cell phones (sent in directly) or digital cameras (uploaded to a PC and e-mailed to TextAmerica).

Obviously, these shots -- even though some are excellent -- are not professional quality and pose no threat to the work of professional photojournalists shooting the fires story. But they do make a very nice supplement for any news organization. I'd like to see every news outlet offer something similar during major news like this. It's entirely possible that a photo from the public could be good enough -- and capture something important that no photojournalist witnessed -- to be published prominently in print or on a news website alongside the pros' work.