CrowdFunder.com looks like a great site that is also just out of the gates. I've set up an account to support a friend who is cutting a CD and needs to raise money for the project. CrowdFunder seems like an open platform where you can dream up your own uses while using their technology. The whole "crowdfunding" idea is so cool; partner that with the power of the internet and it makes the world a smaller, and friendlier, place to be.
Photo courtesy of Future PublishingMatt Hanson is a noted British author, filmmaker and film futurist interested in expanding the boundaries of traditional filmmaking. His latest project is A Swarm of Angels, a crowdfunded, open source filmmaking venture that aims to create a £1 million movie with the help of 50,000 participants around the globe.
Anyone who wishes can join the "swarm of subscribers" for £25, and in exchange for their subscription, they will have input on the entire moviemaking process, from the development of two competing screenplays to final distribution. In fact, the movie that ultimately gets made will be given away for free to participants under a Creative Commons license so they can download, remix and create their own works from the media.
Here, Hanson discusses his concept of Cinema 2.0, the fallacy of the mass market approach, and his ambition to bring art back into the business of moviemaking.
Elina Shatkin: How and when did you conceive the idea for A Swarm of Angels?
Matt Hanson: I wanted to distill the ideas I'd been thinking and writing about. How could you really move an image forward into the digital age and make it feel natural? When I'd talk about these ideas to people, they would be like, “We're not seeing it.” I realized I needed to distill it into a simple idea that would capture people's imaginations, then use that as a Trojan Horse for other cool ideas and concepts.
This is where you’ll get to chat one-on-one with the folks who know a thing or two about how collaboration works online.
We need people like you to help us interview these experts so we can get the bigger picture on the many facets of crowdsourcing. I promise these won’t be boring conversations. Everyone on our list is working on the front lines and has an interesting point of view.
The goal is to have a massive “interview week” - iWeek. More on that coming soon.
So who am I? I’m a Toronto-based editor and reporter. Currently, I’m the Director of Online News at the Canadian Press wire service.
I hope to hear from you soon.
chrs, Angela
Ten minutes ago I finished my last project for the good people at Search Development Center here in Chicago. I was doing some freelance work for them, writing teaching modules they could use to run classes for disabled adults. This is good because I can now turn my attention to getting started and fully committed to Assignment Zero!
I was thrilled when I found AZ here on the 'ole Internets. Pro-Am journalism has the ability to truly involve so many voices from so many different ideas and cultures its staggering. The more I think about the potential reach of crowd-sourcing journalism, the more excited I get.
As I mulled the potential of what we are starting here together, I let my thoughts drift and try to see its direction.... with so many voices representing so many different viewpoints, surely we are soon going to cross troubled waters. I wonder what the first story will be where two vastly differing opinions and/or cultures see the same story from opposite sides of the bridge and both attempt to report on it as best they can. Surely this is going to cause people on both sides of the issue to get riled, get excited, and to debate. Feelings will be hurt, eyes will be opened and passions will flare. In the best of scenarios, we will all walk a virtual mile in someone else's shoes. Within that debate we are going to see the story of humanity play out and see the world through real people's eyes instead of those the main-stream media feeds us. We are going to get underneath the skin of the sotry, to its heart. We are going to see it all, I think, and it will be sooner than later.
I cannot wait.
For now, though, I will be doing my part telling the story of threadless. I am looking forward to it, and will be reporting on my involvement with Assignment Zero here on this blog and at my personal blog I am getting set up at www.EdwardDomain.com Feel free to drop by there, or contact me through here. I am looking forward to being a part of the community, and to working with so many people worldwide that are as excited by the possibilties as I am.
Citizen journalism is a term that for years has drawn a visceral and negative reaction from professional journalists. But it may be on its way to some respectability in journalistic circles after Gannett's announcement on Friday to fundamentally alter the way news is gathered at its many properties.
Say goodbye to the daily tunnel vision. Gannett's newspapers will now have reporters and editors focused on delivering local news across multiple platforms. And they'll be finding ways to use the locals to get out the news. (See CEO Craig Dubow's memo about the changes.)
Gannett is the company that brought a journalistic revolution in 1982 with USA Today -- a newspaper that was dominated by short stories, big pictures, info-graphics and lots and lots of color. At the time, professionals at many of the major institutions dismissed Gannett's efforts. Just part of the dumbing down of America, they said. Today we realize there was a lot of innovation there.
Newspapers, including Gannett's, have traditionally operated in silos: national reporters and editors covered national news, photographers took care of the images, etc. Gannett takes all these traditions and throws them out the window. The focus will be on delivering information, not job titles and section loyalties.
To try and entice political action "Midterm Madness” at The Washington Post and Predict06 have turned Election Day into a game: asking for predictions in every congressional race to see if your picks will match the final outcome and if the crowd is any good at predicting elections.
The Predict06 community, an experiment in political crowdsourcing, will forecast the outcome for each election by averaging over 50,000 votes collected in just three weeks.
At some point everyone sees an interview with a politician that gets off the hook with softball questions.
NoMoreBlather.com, has just launched to match tough questions for politicians with citizen journalists who'll try to get answers.
Press credentials aren't needed to ask tough questions. Anyone can post direct probing questions for specific politicians at NoMoreBlather.
The goals isn't just to collect questions, but post replies that are obtained by citizen journalists who take the initiative to phone up their local politicians or show up at public Q&As. It'll keep politicians on their toes and citizens informed.
In many ways the controversies surrounding Wikipedia parallel the debate between journalists and bloggers.
While NewAssignment tries to find a medium in that debate, Citizendium, created by Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger, is looking to find a model to fix issues that plague the online encyclopedia.
Citizendium is based on the idea that while the crowd is essential, experts are still a valuable resource. Sanger has been against the free for all nature of Wikipedia for years, and while this is part of its appeal, it can lead to inaccuracies and often turns what is otherwise a powerful tool into an ideological battleground.
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