Where does citizen journalism start?

The term journalist, while specific in one sense, is quite broad in another. So too would citizen journalist. Journalism (to me) includes research, writing, editing and comment. Sometimes those functions are separate; sometimes one person does all of them.

Tagging is a kind of research. A synopsis would be a form of editing. And so on.

I suppose all the various functions could be given names. But in the end, it's all a type of journalism.

However ... just as almost everyone can cook to a degree, some will do it much better than others.

Citizen journalism, also known as "participatory journalism," is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminainformation," according to the seminal report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information, by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis.

I agree with your assessment. It is the active participation by citizens in this process of information dissemination that makes us citizen journalists. Rather than simply absorbing information in a one-way process, sites like Newsvine allow for the input and output of many. This opens the doors for the public to also serve as a sort of "watchdog" to traditional, mainstream media, and it allows for biases and inaccuracies to be exposed, in a sort of peer-review fact-checking process.

Perhaps the past system of passive ingestion is making way, via the increasing ease of participation to a adaptive system the boundaries of which are flexible.

Forgive me my convolutions (and my bad habit of really long sentences) but are we not moving from the idea of external elements being 'fed' or 'regurgitated' into a body that represents each singular reader as if that reader's digestion was our object, into more a situation wherein we are each particles of a singular organism who's challenge is to collectively and adaptively define its environment and itself?

Both the environment and self definition being mutually inclusive to a large degree.
My opinion would be the act of participation at any level above reading, whether it be commenting, linking or writing polished pieces, constitutes citizen journalism as it is presently evolving.

I don't want to beat a dead horse, so I will try to wake this one up. This article (or a derivative) should have been reposted, time and again.

CJ and journalism in general do not exist in a vacuum. They must have organization and funding in order to collect, analyze, report and distribute. Without these we are just a cry in the dark. Sorry, but the great accumulators are better known (and more influential and powerful) than the reporters on the beat. Hearst to what's that Australian's name? Oh, yeh, Rupert something?

If we can't move on to greater things I hope you will kick start this group and get it rolling. You have much to offer.

Well it all puts my head in a dither. It's like trying to decide how many changes make an original recipe. Is stirring enough?

I was drawn to this conversation by the comments of people I have recently become connected with on Newsvine and I cannot resist the urge to offer something that could be helpful.

News Values are sort of the rough guidelines defining what "news" is; they include:
Impact - How many people are affected by the event or fact?
Timeliness- Is the event/fact new or current?
Prominence - Is there a "public figure/official" (some one in the public eye) connected to the event or fact?
Significance - Is there relevance?
Proximity - the closer to home the better (somewhat negated by the impact of the Internet as society becomes more globalized).
Currency - What is on people's minds?
Odd or Unusual - Is the fact or event strange or weird?

Sometimes but not always included is:
Usefulness - Examples of "News you can use": recipes, fitness tips, "fashion file"
Human Interest - something that pulls at the heart strings of the public

There is also a theory about the purpose of journalism as a means to bolster democracy and enlighten people to things happening in society so they can participate. "The press" has been the vehicle to affect changes in society because people who gather news ("news gatherers") present the information for the masses.

To me the beauty of citizen journalism (CJ) is the elimination of the middle man and people who have relevant information or oppinions, and even opposing views on things can discuss them, educating others and thus increasing the collective intellect of society on a whole. There is always the question of access though. People who value news, technology and civic participation (no matter what their affiliation) and have access - or consider access a priority - are the ones most likely to participate and/or generate CJ, others will read and still others will be oblivious to the world around them.

But in consideration the greatest good for the greatest number, I say that the existence of both traditional journalism and CJ are critical to the mass media equation. CJ offers the widest variety of news mediums for even the most obscure niche of interest for anyone with to access the Internet giving people an alternate source of information, while print media is slightly more tangible and accessible to the poor and or technologically inept.