Top web users rank high in openness, and to a smaller degree, those who rank high in bravado are top users, too. Those highly open people who favor the web are 153% more likely to always buy organic products and 104% more likely to drive a hybrid car.

Low-level consumers of the internet tend to rank high in dogmatism, and are described as socially conservative people who tend to look to a religious or moral authority for guidance. “People who are more liberal are more likely to have the internet as the most consumed media,” Ms. Welch said.

Dynamic people don’t watch TV. Neither do people who rank high in openness and leadership.

Former BBC News editor Rachel Nixon has been appointed director of digital media for CBC News, the CBC announced Tuesday.

Nixon worked as a broadcast journalist, producer and editor at the BBC before moving over to the online realm, where she led the BBC News website’s coverage of international stories such as the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq.

During Nixon’s tenure, the BBC News website won a host of prizes, including a series of Webby Award in the best news category, Bafta awards for best news site and a European Online Journalism Award.

Nixon left her position as deputy world editor of BBCNews.com in 2008 to become global news editor of NowPublic.com, the Vancouver-based participatory news network.

“I can’t see how anyone who’s forward thinking wouldn’t look at our model…and say ‘wow this is very likely the way things will move in the future,’” said Sanchez.

From the time he took over the hour in September 2008 until now, the ratings have improved by 69% in Total Viewers and 61% in the A25-54 demo compared to the prior year. But in the A18-34 demo the hour is up 134%.

Panel topic

Established media organizations are struggling with the shift to social media on the internet. Social media represents an inherently different paradigm of communication from traditional mass media. It creates a many-to-many relationship and encourages participation, whereas the traditional media relationship is based on a one-to-many, producer-consumer model. This panel would examine how established media are seeking to incorporate social media into their work and discuss best practices for journalists.

Panelists

Alfred Hermida is an award-winning online news pioneer, digital scholar and journalism educator. He came to Vancouver just over two years ago to join the faculty at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism where he leads the integrated journalism program. He is an authority on digital journalism, having been a founding news editor of BBCNews.com. During 16 years at the BBC, he worked in TV, radio and online, both in UK and the Middle East. His research looks at how the media is changing, with a focus on participatory journalism. He was one of the first BBC News bloggers and now blogs about journalism at Reportr.net.

Kirk LaPointe is Managing Editor of The Vancouver Sun and an adjunct professor at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism. He has held the senior editorial roles at CTV News, The Hamilton Spectator and Southam News. He was the founding Executive Editor of National Post, a former Ottawa Bureau Chief and General News Editor at The Canadian Press, and host on CBC Newsworld.

Michael Tippett, a successful entrepreneur for almost two decades, is recognized an as international expert on emerging news models. In 2005, Tippett co-founded NowPublic. The company has been named one of the top five most useful new sites on the web by The Guardian and Time magazine named it one of the Top 50 Websites for 2007. In 1995, Tippett founded the WebPool Syndicate, one of Canada’s first Internet companies. After the success of the WebPool venture, Tippett travelled to the United States and worked for some of the largest web companies in North America, including TheGlobe.com and Register.com. Outside of his role at NowPublic, Tippett is a member of the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism Advisory Board and is also a board member of CABINET, a Vancouver-based arts organization.

Moderator

Gillian Shaw is the Digital Life writer at The Vancouver Sun. She writes for The Vancouver Sun and the Canwest News Service. A journalist in traditional media she is among those making the shift to the digital age and sharing the journey in print and online. She blogs at www.vancouversun.com/digitallife ; writes at www.vancouversun.com/gillianshaw and plays around on social media sites, several of which she keeps track of at http://krunchd.com/gillianshaw.

First, about the “citizen journalism” label: They don’t care much for it and NowPublic avoids it, preferring alternatives like “participatory journalism.” Brody, in fact, is famously quoted in Jeff Howe’s book “Crowdsourcing” as saying that “Citizen journalism makes about as much sense as citizen dentistry.”

“I think that the term ‘citizen journalism’ sounds like you’re a nut or something,” Brody explained. “It’s not particularly engaging. It sounds like work.” It’s also a barrier to participation, he said, “because it doesn’t mean anything. This is about people’s experiences and sharing those.”

“If you see something amazing, your first impulse is going to be to tell people,” Tippett added. “Before the Internet and the interconnected world, you ran home and told your family or your friends. Now you post it to Flickr or post it to Twitter.”