Passion is the Jet Fuel

Q&A

“Drocolate” of in-this-economy.com wanted to ask me (Amanda Koster) a few questions about SxSW.

Drocolate: Why should I attend your core conversation at SXSW?

A.Koster: Compare the velocity of media and society’s response of Huricane Katrina vs. the Haiti Earthquake. Also, listen to: http://salaamgarage.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AmandaKoster_podcast_sxsw2010.mp3

Drocolate: What makes you the right person to be conducting this conversation?

A.Koster: I’m an outsider. I’m not from the tech arena. When I presented at Gnomedex in 2008, I did not have an iPhone or Twitter account. Facebook did not make much sense to me. I thought FB was innovative online dating. Since then I have been able to harness storytelling, social media and passion all for social change. If I can do that, anyone can.  The passion to tell a story is the jet fuel behind citizen journalism. And it has been passion, not assignments, that got me here right now. I’ve been working as a photojournalist, writer, author for about 15 years though it has been my personal projects, again not assignments, that propelled my career and life beyond where I ever thought it could go.

Citizen journalism is more powerful than I could have ever been imagined and it is growing. Because we believe in these things it makes Amanda Rose of Twestival and I the perfect people to lead this conversation.

Drocolate: What advice would you give to aspiring citizen journalists (other than attending your convo at SXSW, of course)?

A.Koster: Your personal stories and perspectives are more valuable than ever. Make GOOD content and get it out to a relevant audience. And, there’s more to it than that:

Have a plan. SalaamGarage builds relationships/projects/plans with NGOs far in advance. We do not advocate what I call ‘drive-by-shootings’  (just showing up, shooting photos, then jet).

Be authentic. We want intimacy. I think people are tired of the slick, heavily produced story. We see through it. With the wildfire of social media and intentionally constructed social communities, impersonal, glossy stories delivered by a generic, safe personality is rapidly loosing ground.

Be relevant. Not worth telling a story about t-shirts to a dog trainer. Even if it’s the most compelling t-shirt story ever. Be relevant and focused.
Know your audience. Tell them a story 1) you care about and 2)they want to hear.

Care. There are ‘hot’ stories to tell, but you outta care about it. I travel all over the world all the time with SalaamGarage and as an free-lance journalist. There are stories that resonate with me, and other that just don’t. The advantage of being a citizen journalist is that you get to choose your story, verses being assigned something that is not dear to you.

DO SOMETHING with it. Share. Everyone is sitting on a novel, but if a tree falls in the woods….. I’ll leave it at that.

I am very passionate about this and have a lot more (not big on advice) ideas around this topic, though, this is the topic of our conversation so come join the conversation.

Drocolate: Where is your dream location to take a citizen journalism project? Antarctica? Atlantis? Detroit? Where?’

A.Koster: The White House

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 10:43 am. It is filed under Uncategorized and tagged with amanda rose, citizen journalism, drocolate", gnoemdex, in-this-economy.com, SxSW, twestival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.