Jeff Howe

Jeff Howe, an assis­tant pro­fessor of jour­nalism, likens dig­ital news to an open kitchen restau­rant, where some­thing hot is always being served.

Hun­dreds of ama­teur videos cap­tured by news activists, cit­izen jour­nal­ists and for­eign cor­re­spon­dents in Homs, and dis­trib­uted to news orga­ni­za­tions and video-​​sharing web­sites around the world, have prompted some to dub the sit­u­a­tion in Syria the “first YouTube war.” We asked Jeff Howe — an assis­tant pro­fessor of jour­nalism in the Col­lege of Arts, Media and Design who coined the term “crowd­sourcing” — to explain how videos of vio­lence in Syria have shaped per­cep­tion of the conflict.

For one assis­tant pro­fessor of jour­nalism, a Wired mag­a­zine story was a career-​​defining moment that chal­lenged tra­di­tional methods of newsgathering.