The OhmyNews Forum is about to start. They are eight hours ahead of UK so tomorrow is a bit sooner.

There is a story already with a welcome and comments from Oh Yeon-ho, founder and CEO of OhmyNews

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"Two of the most prominent buzzwords in recent years have been Web 2.0 and UCC (user-created content). Underlying both concepts is the belief that collective participation will lead to an optimum solution or conclusion. In other words, decisions will best be made when there is truly mass participation through the Internet.

While giant corporations rush to find a way of commercializing these concepts, citizen journalism, I believe, represents the most developed model for Web 2.0 and UCC. It depends not only on the participation of the masses but on the participation of those who think critically and creatively.

Writing a news story requires a good deal of time and consideration. It is much more difficult, for example, than leaving a comment or posting a blog entry. Though we are an open platform accessible to everyone, not everyone can write a news story. Only those citizen reporters who are passionately committed to social change and reporting make our project possible. The main reason that citizen journalism has not grown and spread more rapidly is the difficult task of finding and organizing these passionate citizen reporters in waiting."
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I think these issues are very relevant for my attempts to link ideas about quality and learning. Oh Yeon-ho speaks of the difficulties of "organizing" so there is an organisation aspect to what OhmyNews is developing. I think there is a quality aspect when he says that underlying both the concepts of Web 2.0 and User Created Content "is the belief that collective participation will lead to an optimum solution or conclusion."

To say that citizen journalism is "the most advanced model" for both Web 2.0 and UCC is a significant claim and is making sense so far.

The webcast could be about 2 or 3 pm UK time. Not sure if there is a repeat.