Lately a lot of people have asked usto define “citizen journalism,” thanks mainly to our assigning two citizen journalists, who also happen to be ex-sex trade workers, to cover the trial of Robert Pickton, accused of killing 26 women, most of the them sex trade workers, here in Vancouver.

To my mind, everyone who posts a story to Orato is a citizen journalist, someone who, regardless of background, is willing to tell their story in public. We encourage citizen journalists such as you Darren to tell a story that you are involved in, connected to, feeling the impact of – a story you are living or someone close to you is experiencing first hand. We further encourage you to tell your story in the first person, just as you would tell it to your friends over coffee. We are working to make Orato a showcase of first-person, eyewitness citizen journalism, where bloggers are welcome.

To be honest, I’m not fussed if journalists accept me as a blogger or not, all I want to do is write useful content that people want to read and will link to for other people to read.