Perfect example of "new media" in action: I was driving my car to my IT guy to have a boatload of viruses cleaned out of my computer, when I noticed a huge plume of black smoke down the road. I had my digital camera with me, and, in a fit of micro media madness (known also as "how-the-media-industry-is-irrevocably-changing"), I drove until I found the fire.

What happened next epitomizes what digital industry observers and participants call "citizen journalism." I took 6 photos of the fire, drove back home, turned on my computer, downloaded the photos from the camera, called a local newspaper, the Tribune, to tell them to send a reporter to the fire, and e-mailed the photos to the paper. The next morning my photo appeared on the front page of the Tribune with a small story. (Photo above)


The entire process on my part took about 30 minutes and just about anyone could have done it!


As Bob Dylan said, "The times they are a' changing".