Some proposed that journalism can be more " participatory " because the World Wide Web has evolved from " read-only " to " read-write " . In other words , in the past only a small proportion of people had the means ( in terms of time , money , and skills ) to create content that could reach large audiences . Now the gap between the resources and skills needed to consume online content versus the means necessary to produce it have narrowed significantly to the point that nearly anyone with a web-connected device can create media . As Dan Gillmor , founder of the Center for Citizen Media declared in his 2004 book We the Media , journalism is evolving from a lecture into a conversation . He also points out that new interactive forms of media have blurred the distinction between producers of news and their audience . In fact , some view the term " audience " to be obsolete in the new world of interactive participatory media . New York University professor and blogger Jay Rosen refers to them as " the people formerly known as the audience . " In " We Media " , a treatise on participatory journalism , Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis suggest that the " audience " should be renamed " participants " . One of the first projects encompassing participatory media prior to the advent of social media was The September 11 Photo Project . The exhibit was a not-for-profit community based photo project in response to the September 11 attacks and their aftermath . It provided a venue for the display of photographs accompanied by captions by anyone who wished to participate . The Project aimed to preserve a record of the spontaneous outdoor shrines that were being swept away by rain or wind or collected by the city for historical preservation
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Participatory media