A citizen-journalism pioneer

I’ve got a profile of citizen-journalism pioneer Dan Gillmor in the new issue of CommonWealth Magazine. Gillmor, author of the much-celebrated “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” is the founder of the Center for Citizen Media, which brings him to Harvard for a few days each month.

Gillmor’s a former technology columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. Philosophically, he’s at the midpoint between the New Media triumphalists and the Old Media traditionalists.

“Contrary to some folks in this area, I’m a big fan of traditional media,” Gillmor says. “I want to help them work in ways that they’ve never done before. I want to work with people doing citizen media independently, and in places where that intersects with journalism, I hope I can help.”