The Guardian- Monday March 20th 2006

"We're all reporters in the digital democracy"- Emily Bell

User-generated content has become the latest phenomenon to run through the mainstream media. It signals the change from media consumers as passive receptors for messages from newspapers, radio and television, to democratic media moguls.

The media has always thought of itself as complete- whilst in the past this would have meant publishing a daily letters page or running a duty log for "ordinary people" to crerate their own programmes. Journalism has always been about the repetitive cycle of creating, marketing and consuming. Over the past three years, media outlets such as the Internet, broadband delivery and digitised media, has affected the speed, volume and type of response from the users.

Digital equpiment such as mobile phones, digital camera and video recorders allow citizens caught up in a news event to record the event and post it on media outlets such as the Internet. For example, when the 2004 tsunami struck on Boxing Day and the terror attacks in London in July 2005, citizens were posting their own images and videos of the tragedies on the Internet just minutes after the events took place. This is a clear example of the phenomenon that is user-generated media.

The Observer- Sunday March 11th 2007

"Writers who work for nothing: it's a licence to print money" - John Naughton

In contemporary society digital democracy has become the latest phenomenon. At the simple touch of a button, society is able to transfer text, images and video footage to various media outlets such as the Internet, TV newsrooms, and magazines. This can be done through a mobile phone, an email or even through your TV set.
For example, the Cumbria train accident on the 24th February which involved the derailment of a Virgin express train heading towards Glasgow. The accident occurred in a remote spot in the darkness in terrible weather conditions which would have made it almost impossible for any member of teh public to have witnessed the crash.
Yet despite this, shortly after the accident an image had appeared on the BBC News Online website. Underneath the image were the words: "Send pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk". This is an example of user-generated content.

The results of the digital universe by technology consultancy IDC were released last week. Authors were amazed by the figures that were revealed. A statement reported that 'last year, enogh digital information- from emails and blogs to mobile-phone calls, photos and TV signals- was generated to fill a dozen stacks of hardback books stretching from the earth to the sun'.

Last year, the world's 'total digital content' totalled up to 161 billion gigabytes, which is the equivalent of filling 161 billion iPod Shuffles.

The reserachers subsequently predicted that by the year 2010 over 70 per cent of all the digital content in the world will have been created by consumers. This comes as great news to the manufacturers of hard drives and various other storage devices. However, what it means to the rest of society is unclear. Optimists view the situation as a great release of contemporary human creativity.

Alternatively, cynics view the situation in a different light. They see it as living proof that giving blogging or movie-editing software to the average individual is ultimately pointless. They argue that the users do not encompass the knowledge essential to support this phenomenom of user-generated content.