Chapter Three: “Journalism Next”
February 7, 2012
The beauty of the Internet is that anyone can use it. You can both consume and create, constantly raising the bar that pushes the standard to a higher level.
Crowdsourcing online basically means a number of people all contributing to keep an article updated and accurate. The best example of this is Wikipedia. Articles can be updated and edited by anyone with an Internet connection and it’s accuracy is pretty remakrable considering the circumstances. But they also have a team that fact checks the articles which is really quite the team effort in my humble opinion.
Briggs mentions Jeff Howe a lot in the chapter so here’s a video from the man himself on crowdsourcing:
A good point that Briggs makes in “Journalism Next” is that crowdsourcing gives people a chance to contribue to their community. All tips and news submitted may not always be the most accurate but someone usually comes through.
The best defintion of open-source reporting be found in “Journalism Next.”
The term “open-source” refers to design, development and distribution “offering practical accessibility to a product’s source (goods and knowledge).” Applying this concept to journalism means using transparency in reporting in order to provide benefit to your audience and possibly acquire benefits from your audience.
All in all, writing on the Internet is like a group project. Some people contribute and do most of the work while others do the bare minimum and stick their names on it anyway.
