open source journalism

A fast month and a half has blown by in Assignment Zero time since the first mention about the AZ experiment hit Wired.com.

Started with little more than a big idea and commitment from a core group of visionaries at Wired magazine/online plus the NYU journalism crew (I am not real sure about who came to whom first), the leadership team put out a call on Wired to attract the curious professional or amateur journalist to participate. I was one of the people who responded.

The effort was self-organizing internally as well as externally, and confusing to behold at the beginning.

However, in the few short weeks since raw start-up, an amazing progression of events have happened, leading to the first crowdsourced story on Citizendium published on Wired.com.

I am struck by the meaning and ownership that a random virtualized crowdsourced group can take on so quickly and do so well, all things considered. Something tangible has happened.

Hats off to Michael Ho, primary writer on the Citizendium story, and to the other people on the crowdsourced crew. The editorial staff, Lauren Sandler, Jeff Abell, and David Cohn kept the enthusiasm and effort up, on track, and going forward. (I did have a dream one night during the process about how the editors were herding cats)

It is fun with much more to come. Confusion still remains but in a friendly, roll-up-your-sleeves way.

In one of our conversations earlier today, some of our new editors asked about the parameters of blogging. As someone who has made the transition from "mainstream" corporate journalism, I've found that blogging provides an amazing amount of freedom when it comes to the writing process. There is much more "elbow room" to make your point -- something often frowned upon in the world of traditional journalism.

My first blog post came last fall and was written on a train ride. As I sat down to write, I tried to keep this new world of open source journalism at the top of my mind as I wrote. In the end, I think blogging for many traditional journalists (and anyone for that matter) is about a wholesale mindset shift . Many of things you've been told not to do during your career are fine, if not welcomed with open arms, in the world of blogging. I don't know that I ever could have written this in the world of the mainstream media.

For me, and for many bloggers out there, it's not only about personal reflections and perspectives, but continuing to report things out. When I wrote last November about crowdsourcing at the Fort Myers (Fla.) News-Press, I did several phone interviews. I was in search of an angle that had not been done, found it through my interviews and wrote a quick blog post on it. So, I certainly could have given my thoughts on their issues, but thought better to report it out and write about what I found.

Finally, there is the interaction with readers. In the end, that is what makes blogs different from other modes of journalism. Not only can people read what you write, but they can comment on it...and they'll let you know what they're thinking.

I'm an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and I've had my students set up their own blogs and start writing. When they ask what to write about, I leave it open but with the caveat that are sure they're comfortable with what they write. Because people will read it and if you have your facts wrong, or if you have an ill-supported conclusion, people will let you know. And, what you write is out there, no pulling it back.

When I wrote this piece for The Washington Post's Web site, I knew I was dealing with a hot topic. By the end of the day, there were more than 400 comments on the article. They weren't favorable. I was a bad dad, a liberal journalist, un-American. After spending 10 years in Web journalism, I was surprised at the level of bile people can deliver.

So, be ready. Blogging offers great freedom. But, people are watching. And, they ain't shy.

Lauren is still taking fluids, so I'm weighing in on transparency and the state of the site. -- Steve

When I wrote about the crowdsourcing experiment at the (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press last November, I included these words of wisdom:

Be ready to respond. The News-Express vastly underestimated the response they would receive to their query and many emails and phone calls went unanswered in the first few days. The editors scrambled and recovered but (Kate) Marymont says you’ll send the wrong message if you’re not ready to respond and interact with citizens. “People wanted to be acknowledged and to see their input acted upon.”

Ah, well. What's become clear in the past week is that we did not learn from the News-Express experiment.

Clearly we have understimated and underplanned. Amanda and I had a long conversation today with one of our contributors, in which she registered deep frustrations over the functioning of the site and the inability of those on her team to do their work out in the open -- one of the critical goals of the project.

At the same time, we have been swamped by citizen journalists interested in taking part in the project but we have been slow to react to providing professional editors that will interact with you on a constant basis.

It's all part of the story and we've learned some important lessons in the opening weeks of Assignment Zero. We underestimated, underplanned, and, frankly, have not been able to make timely fixes to the site.

So, there it is, transparency.

Now, what next?

Here's the thing. I would be lying to you if the online operations of professional news outlets worked in ideal circumstances. That's hardly the case. Band-aids happen. And, then, when loud noises occur, so does change.

You should all know that we have heard you and that changes are underway. Currently, our design and development teams are working to redesign the assignment page and the "topic home page" -- which you can currently get to by hitting permalink on assignment pages.

We're hoping to have the changes in place soon but here's the plan for the topics page:

* Contact information for the editors.
* Contact information for the contributors.
* Have a way to join the topic.
* Have a list of members on the team.
* Have a blog for the topic run by the editor and a comment thread about that topic.
* Try to figure a better way to display reporting.
* Be able to suggest tasks on assignment list.

"This is a first pass and we expect to continue to improve it," said Jay Rosen, executive editor for Assignment Zero. "We're trying to create a place where you can go and see the work on the topic." David Cohn is with the designers right now working on this. You'll hear from him directly later.

And, the professional editors are coming as well.

So, we've heard you and we're pushing ahead. Keep the ideas coming, that's what we're all about.

Thanks,
Steve

When I wrote about the crowdsourcing experiment at the (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press last November, I included these words of wisdom:

Be ready to respond. The News-Express vastly underestimated the response they would receive to their query and many emails and phone calls went unanswered in the first few days. The editors scrambled and recovered but (Kate) Marymont says you’ll send the wrong message if you’re not ready to respond and interact with citizens. “People wanted to be acknowledged and to see their input acted upon.”

Ah, well. What's become clear in the past week is that we did not learn from the News-Express experiment.

Clearly we have understimated and underplanned. Amanda and I had a long conversation today with one of our contributors, in which she registered deep frustrations over the functioning of the site and the inability of those on her team to do their work out in the open -- one of the critical goals of the project.

At the same time, we have been swamped by citizen journalists interested in taking part in the project but we have been slow to react to providing professional editors that will interact with you on a constant basis.

It's all part of the story and we've learned some important lessons in the opening weeks of Assignment Zero. We underestimated, underplanned, and, frankly, have not been able to make timely fixes to the site.

So, there it is, transparency.

Now, what next?

Here's the thing. I would be lying to you if the online operations of professional news outlets worked in ideal circumstances. That's hardly the case. Band-aids happen. And, then, when loud noises occur, so does change.

You should all know that we have heard you and that changes are underway. Currently, our design and development teams are working to redesign the assignment page and the "topic home page" -- which you can currently get to by hitting permalink on assignment pages.

We're hoping to have the changes in place soon but here's the plan for the topics page:

* Contact information for the editors.
* Contact information for the contributors.
* Have a way to join the topic.
* Have a list of members on the team.
* Have a blog for the topic run by the editor and a comment thread about that topic.
* Try to figure a better way to display reporting.
* Be able to suggest tasks on assignment list.

"This is a first pass and we expect to continue to improve it," said Jay Rosen, executive editor for Assignment Zero. "We're trying to create a place where you can go and see the work on the topic." David Cohn is with the designers right now working on this. You'll hear from him directly later.

And, the professional editors are coming as well.

So, we've heard you and we're pushing ahead. Keep the ideas coming, that's what we're all about.

Thanks,
Steve

Some of our teams have begun researching and have asked when do they know they have enough. Our very own Amanda Michel pointed out that many people are thinking in terms of research papers, equating time spent on research with how long their piece will be.

So, two things. It seems weird, but journalists just know when they've done enough research. Often it's deadline calling, but more times than not you'll start coming across the same information and quotes. If you have all the information you need and you're spoken with everyone on your outline, it's time to sit down and write. Of course, be ready for your editor to come back at you and ask why you haven't interviewed x, y and z. And, understand that not all your interviews and research will make it into the story. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, exactly the opposite. Some interviews help to contextualize information for you, even though they may not end up in the story. I can't tell you how many informal chats I've had with sources over the years that were used solely to help shape stories.

It's been a big weekend here at Assignment Zero. I've made it through all the emails of people seeking assignments and.....drum roll please, we now have a list of 50 contributors -- including researchers, writers and editors. If you are seeking an assignment, feel free to send me and Amanda a note at: editors.newassignment@gmail.com. Welcome everyone!

Finally, we talk a lot about transparency here at Assignment Zero. While many of the tools aren't currently working to help us out in that area (don't worry, we continue to hound our development team to make fixes), many of you are truly operating in the spirit of doing journalism out in the open. I've had many e-mail exchanges with contributors at work and Michael Jahn, who is working on our Sellaband piece of the puzzle, asked that I post our e-mail exchange in the hopes that it would help others out.

So, here you go and have a good week!

Michael,

Steve

Welcome to a new week at Assignment Zero. Lauren is busy with her own assignments this morning and is fighting one nasty early spring cold, so I'm subbing in on The Scoop. Don't you just hate those spring colds? Today's question: "When is enough enough?" -- Steve

Some of our teams have begun researching and have asked when do they know they have enough. Our very own Amanda Michel pointed out that many people are thinking in terms of research papers, equating time spent on research with how long their piece will be.

So, two things. It seems weird, but journalists just know when they've done enough research. Often it's deadline calling, but more times than not you'll start coming across the same information and quotes. If you have all the information you need and you're spoken with everyone on your outline, it's time to sit down and write. Of course, be ready for your editor to come back at you and ask why you haven't interviewed x, y and z. And, understand that not all your interviews and research will make it into the story. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, exactly the opposite. Some interviews help to contextualize information for you, even though they may not end up in the story. I can't tell you how many informal chats I've had with sources over the years that were used solely to help shape stories.

It's been a big weekend here at Assignment Zero. I've made it through all the emails of people seeking assignments and.....drum roll please, we now have a list of 50 contributors -- including researchers, writers and editors. If you are seeking an assignment, feel free to send me and Amanda a note at: editors.newassignment@gmail.com. Welcome everyone!

Finally, we talk a lot about transparency here at Assignment Zero. While many of the tools aren't currently working to help us out in that area (don't worry, we continue to hound our development team to make fixes), many of you are truly operating in the spirit of doing journalism out in the open. I've had many e-mail exchanges with contributors at work and Michael Jahn, who is working on our Sellaband piece of the puzzle, asked that I post our e-mail exchange in the hopes that it would help others out.

So, here you go and have a good week!

Michael,

Steve

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.

The practice of open source reporting, still nascent, can take many forms. News organizations are experimenting with methods to open up the reporting process to their readers in an attempt to find the best methods.

Scientific American had reportedly been “kicking around the idea for months,” and received its opportunity to take a stab at open source reporting when the story of "Lucy’s Baby," the recently discovered reportedly 3.3 million year old skeleton of an ancestor of human beings called A. Afarensis and nicknamed Selam, made headlines. The story, however important, was placed on the backburner since Scientific American’s news line-up was already too full to squeeze another story in – especially one that demanded a greater attention to detail like this one.

As CJR Daily reports:

"[Scientific American published] a feature-length article for the magazine's Web site describing the Selam discovery and the significance of what scientists had already learned from her bones. Next to it was a sidebar that urged readers to "Be part of our publishing experiment."

The call to readers explained that another version of the story would be crafted for the December issue of SciAm with extra reporting guided by reader suggestions. Through a simple blog, readers would comment about information on the Selam discovery and the subsequent research, which was left out of the original article.

There is no shortage of citizen powered news sites. By aggregating ground reports from citizen journalists, these sites provide raw and timely views of current events. But according to Jeff Reifman at NewsCloud, "none of the latest Web 2.0 generation so far are licensed to the open source community to inspect, re-purpose and improve."

The key to gathering and sharing citizen reports has been a rapid proliferation in technology, so NewsCloud, which broke the Comedy Central YouTube takedown story, has opened up its operating code to the open source community with a GPL license. This means other organizations can incorporate parts of NewsCloud into their platform or coders can hack aspects of NewsCloud's site, written in PHP and MySQL, that they think could be improved. (download the code here)

For obvious reasons open source journalism tends to focus on text and content. The long term goal, however, isn't just to create individual articles or investigations, but develop a method for citizen journalists to collaborate online. Having an open codebase like NewsCloud's, with customizable reader pages and nightly autoposting to blogs, will benefit the efforts of anyone trying to create a citizen journalism site. Sharing information, of all kinds, can only help the practice move forward.

Stephen C. Buckley, is the Associate Director of the Center for Digital Business and Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT.

I contacted the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT since our two projects are quite similar, and had a chance to speak to Stephen Buckley, the Associate Director.
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How can people and computers be connected so that—collectively—they act more intelligently than any individuals, groups, or computers have ever done before? Why and under what circumstances do we need collective intelligence?

People right now don't quite know what the secret sauce is for connecting people and computers in ways that at least seem to be intelligent.

Some people think that collective intelligence is some kind of magic pixie dust that you can sprinkle on top of any kind of a situation or problem, and it will automatically solve it. Then there are other people that criticize collective intelligence efforts, for example, like Wikipedia, because it's not perfect, and therefore they believe that the only way to do things, organizationally, is through a centralized command and control structure.

Both schools of thought are probably equally wrong.