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UNT Prof. Neil Foote's course notes.
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Crowdsourcing & WeMedia
University of North TexasDepartment of Journalism
Online Journalism 3340February 16, 2010
Today’s classTool of the day
Crowdsourcing
The Interactive Audience
Shorter lines of communication between journalists and audience
Traditional Media:Readers v. Non-readersReaders an ‘amorphous mass’Defined audience – by geography
Circulation, ‘signal’
CrowdSourcing – “We Media”
Coined by Jeff Howe, 2006, Wired News article
In his words:
“crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call.
“This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers.”
http://www.bnet.com/2422-13950_23-248641.html
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Crowdsourcing cont.
Ability to gather vast amount of information from a large group
“Harnessing the power of community on a continuing basis to improve the information base”
Beyond a grassroots concept, but as much a journalism tool as a corporate tool
Taking advantage of the “networked” world“Open source” journalism
Old days: proprietary Now: Here’s what I’m working on, what do you know?
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Howe’s three types
The Professional
The Packager
The Tinkerer
Source: The Rise of Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe, http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html.
Three types
Online tools allowing “professionals” to share their work Istockphoto.com
Free image sharing by a group of graphic designers Now, a “marketplace” for the work of amateur
photographers 22,000 contributors Charging $1 - $5 per image NOW, istockphoto.com is owned by one of the world’s
largest photo image services: Getty Images Getty purchased istockphoto for $30mm
Source: The Rise of Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe, http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html.
The Packager
Gathering content from multiple sources Ability to capture content on a similar issue from around
the globe – quickly Report on stories from eyewitnesses – when reporters
aren’t on the scene when it happens
Fuel the growth of “citizen journalism” Journalists at every corner
Pew Internet Study: 57 percent of 12 to 17 year olds online – about 12 million folks – creating content and posting
‘ireport” segments on major cable, local TV news Entertainment/gossip TV and websites YouTube, Flickr
Source: The Rise of Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe, http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html.
The Tinkerer
Problem solvers InnoCentive – research & development’s version of
istockphoto
Innovators:Pooling ideas for creative solutionsKnight Foundation: NewsChallenge.com
Wikis
The Basics:
A Web-based application that allows people to add, remove, edit and change content through a browser.
The ease of interaction makes wikis an effective tool for collaboration. Wikis can be considered a content management system.
http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/videos/overview/overview.jsp
CrowdSourcing
Why?Gathering information quickly from multipleEngaging method to involve
readers/viewers/customersEducating a community of users who have access to
a greater variety information to make more informed decisions
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Crowdsourcing cont.
It’s for realGannett Corporation – “Information Centers”
Prioritize local news over national news; Publish more user-generated content; become 24-7
news operations, in which the newspapers do less and the websites do much more;
Use crowdsourcing methods to put readers to work as watchdogs, whistle-blowers and researchers in large, investigative features.
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Real Examples
Cincinnati Enquirer – Voter Issues – Nov 2006A Gannett newspapersNewspaper invited readers to submit
information about voter irregularitiesNewspaper posted them on a Google Map
BlackAmericaWeb.com – 2008 ElectionPartnership with NAACP National Voter FundVoters call in to report problemsInteractive map showing call volumesTom Joyner Morning Show driving listeners to
submit comments to the website or a phone line
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Real Examples
The Spokesman-ReviewCreate reader networksE-mail databases sorted by beat:
Education, Police, Specific citiesCorrespond with sourcesSeek/verify information Gather reader opinion
Why?Ken Sands – created the ‘networks’ Interaction occurs before publication – during
information gathering processProactively contacting people you get a wider
reaction than waiting for them to call you
Source: Journalism 2.0 – How to Survive and Thrive – Chapter 4: ‘New Reporting Methods”
Traditional Media Investing
MSNBC & EveryBlock.com
Examiner.com & NowPublic.comhttp://my.nowpublic.com/home?
welcome_id=cf5f91615faec40ec33b0c8cf7cd812a
Story Ideas: Where Do You Begin?
Who is your audience?
Print/Broadcast audience differs from web audience
Local, Regional, National … Global
‘Insatiable desire for information’
What can I add to create a rich, informative online experience?
“...we needed ….to make a special editorial emphasis that goes beyond what the print journal does or what the newswires do. It is a different audience. It is a complementary audience, but it is not the same as print, and we try to meet those information needs.”
- Rich Jaroslovsky,
Man. Ed., WSJ.com
Where Do You Begin?Traditional Sources
Sources/individuals
Newspapers Local and community
Television News
Wire Services
Observation Covering a meeting, events
Press conferences
Documents Police reports, court filings, press releases
Feedback pages Readers suggestions to editors, specific reporters
Message boards (NOLA.com)
Readers post comments everyone can read
Chat Rooms A dialogue among readers
Online polls (cnn.com, foxnews.com, Boston Globe)
Instant non-scientific reaction to stories, subjects
E-mail Reporters/Editors contact info published
Where Do You Begin?Today: It’s a Two-Way Street
Groups (Yahoo!, Google, others)
Formerly ‘Usenet’ – broad range of subjects
Blogs (USAToday, NYPost,
Millions of them
Search engines Find sources, studies, special interests
MySpace, Facebook, YouTube!
Personal webpages … from human interest to the absurd
Tech Sites CNet, Mobile News, TechWeb
Where Do You Begin? New Reservoirs of Ideas
Trash Into Treasure
It’s boring
Who cares?
It’s obscure
It’s pointless
It’s ridiculous
It’s a cliche
Interviewee boring
The story has already been done
Nobody wants to read this
Nobody will understand it
The Interactive Audience
Now: Individual, personalized, directEmail addresses for reportersTracking readers: Story by story
Top DownEditors toReaders
Readers in Control
Audience Participation
Participatory journalism - “We Media”
http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php?id=P36