Mark Glaser of OJR keeps a steady eye on the encounter between journalism and the Internet. In today's article he uses the lovely coinage "town blog" to describe a wave of new "hyperlocal" citizen media sites.

There's really good thinking here about microjournalism as a collaboration between editorial thinking and citizen anthills. Glaser's not boostering for "chaordic" journalism, but thinking intelligently about how the traditional and the new can collaborate:

Citizen media sites focused on tiny communities give journalists a role as content shepherds, whipping the chaos of reader-generated content into a manageable morass.

Great quote from Slashdot creator Rob Malda about how an anthill site "needs to be read with a skeptical eye. No filtering system should be exempt from scrutiny."

Funny how the gurus often argue for a measured approach that the breathless acolytes leave by the wayside.

I first heard the term "open media" when someone sent me this /. entry in 2000.

For more Glaser ...