Chapter 3 Summary
This chapter focuses on the future of journalism, which is many people collaborating online to cover a story. Today’s news has to be transparent and collaborative. There are three types of collaborative journalism covered in this chapter: crowsourcing, open-source reporting, and pro-am journalism.
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing involves asking for direct assistance from your audience with a specific project or question. News organizations use crowdsourcing as a way of online freelancing. However, some organizations, such as InnoCentive have offered money to people in the past to help them solve problems. Google does not pay people to help them find images, but the game offered, Image Labeler, can be fun and helps Google provide better photos.
Crowdsourcing is still experimental, but thousands are contributing and helping news organizations publish stories.
Open-Source Reporting
Unlike crowdsourcing, open-source reporting opens the process of reporting to the public. When people see how the process works, they are more likely to believe the reporter and less likely to accuse them of biases.
One way open-source reporting is being used is for beat blogging. The reporter builds a social network around a particular topic or beat, and brings the people who follow that beat together for discussion. The ability for userss to leave comments and suggestions make for more interactive stories. USA Today incorporates this method.
Another form of open-source reporting is link journalism. News organizations gather collections of links related to a particular story, which provides the full context of that story.
Pro-Am Journalism
Sometimes, your audience doesn’t just want to read the story, but also help make the story. No news organization can be everywhere at one time, so it helps to have people who are willing to contribute elements such as photos or links to a story. Some good examples of current uses of pro-am journalism are CNN’s iReport and NowPublic, a participatory news site that has a parternship with the Associated Press.
