Big Think is a website project that launched in late 2007, still in its beta version as of January, 2008, that is often referred to as “YouTube for intellectuals.” It features mini-interviews with experts in various disciplines, designed to spark a coversation among the general public surrounding topics of interest. For example, there’s a section devoted to Media and the Press where David Remnick (editor of The New Yorker), Jim Lehrer and Kurt Anderson (Host of NPR’s Studio 360), among other media experts, share their answers to questions like “Are bloggers journalists?” Here’s an excerpt from Remnick’s bit on that subject:

“No…. (Journalism is) expensive, it’s consuming, and it’s not blogging. You can’t do it five, six times a day…. To me the question is not ‘are they journalists/not journalists.’ It’s just obviously a new form, a different form, and there are good ones and bad ones.”

For a behind-the-scenes look at development of the site, check out this interview by Jim Wayne at OJR.org with Big Think co-founder Peter Hopkins.