Interview with Meg Pickard, Guardian Head of Digital Engagement
12/02/2011 2 Comments
What exactly does ‘Digital Engagement’ mean?
Good question! “Digital Engagement” is a catch-all term describing all kinds of participation in and around our digital products by users, journalists and staff. It touches tools and technologies as well as skills, approaches and policies.
When did UGC online first begin?
UGC in its broadest sense – content and objects created and distributed by users rather than formal organisations – is as old as the web. Message boards, including early versions like USENET contained content created by users, and early personal web pages (homepages) were created by people on platforms like Geocities, Angelfire and Tripod, back in the mid 90s. Hand-coded in HTML, and often containing eye-bleeding animated gifs and scrolling marquee text, these homepages were “user generated content”.