Bloggers, after all, have always been a part of history – read Daniel Defoe, Samuel Pepys or James Boswell. The same is true for citizen journalists: just check out first-hand accounts of any big historical event. The difference now is the scale of distribution and the ability to search. Because of this, we in the media industry face a profound challenge, as significant and transformational as Internet 1.0.

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First, we need to be “seeders of clouds.”…

Second, we need to be ‘the provider of tools.’ This means promoting open standards and interoperability, which will allow a diverse set of customer-creators to combine disparate types of content….

Third, we must improve our skills as the “filter and editor.” Media have always had these functions. The world will always need editing: consumers place value in others making decisions about what is good and what is not.

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The internet was not invented just to show a replica of yesterday’s newspaper with a few banner advertisements. We cannot be the choke-hold, blocking the new creators in a bid to protect our legacy businesses.
—Tom Glocer on News Tools vs News