Citizen Journalism Shines in Alternet Blog by Scott Thill [1]
Submitted by Anne Landman [2] on
An April 7, 2008 citizen journalism task [3] asked people to investigate tobacco industry brainstorming documents [4] at the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library [5]. That request led to a marvelous blog titled "The Sick and Crazy Science Tobacco Companies Pursue to Get You Hooked," [6] posted on Alternet [7] by Scott Thill [8], in which he describes some of his finds, including a bizarre research project to investigate the effect of a chemical in cigarette smoke called nitric oxide on cat penises. From nacho cheese-flavored cigarettes [9] to on-pack contests to win everything from Clearasil to used celebrity underwear [10], tobacco industry brainstorming documents contain an untold number of bizarre marketing, advertising and product design ideas. Thill's blog praises TobaccoWiki's [11] Brainstorming documents [4] page, as well as citizen journalism [12] and the new ways that research wikis are allowing people to compile and share information.