The BBC is embracing moblogging (mobile weblogging), and making us all journalists in the process. From this week, anyone can use their picture phone or digital camera, and submit pictures to the BBC news site via multimedia messaging (MMS) or email. The best will be chosen each week and featured on the site, and pictures taken by bystanders for breaking news stories will be available to the news desk in the same way as pictures from conventional news agencies.

"We see this as a natural extension of user generated content," says the BBC's Nic Newman. "We've done it before (send us your pictures of the eclipse, etc) but the explosion in digital cameras and, now, phone-cams make this a far more practical proposition.

It is perfectly possible that the first pictures of major news events will come from phone-cams from people involved."

The photographer retains copyright, and the BBC does not demand exclusivity: rather, you "lend" them the picture. Although no one will get paid for their snaps, the BBC's move does suggest an interesting evolution in journalism. When thousands of people are able to take pictures and feed them directly to an international broadcaster, the potential for great event coverage is vastly increased.

The BBC sees Saturday's anti-war demonstration in London as a perfect opportunity to try out the technology. "I'm sure that user-generated pictures from events like the anti-war demonstration will become an integral part of our site in the future," says Newman, adding that once the technology is available, the BBC will be accepting video as well as still pictures. To send pictures to the BBC, MMS them to 07970 885089, or email them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk. The pictures need to be as high resolution as possible.

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2732695.stm