The Web Will Kill and Save Journalism - Page 3

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Disintermediation

As the Web changes the relationship between reader and journalist, it is setting some journalists free of the workplace but also eliminating many journalism jobs. "I used to joke that I was documenting the demise of my profession, but it's not a joke anymore," said Jeff Howe, Wired editor and the author of the book Crowdsourcing.

He said that the changes that occurred in professional photography were simply a forewarning of what will happen in every other industry. "I recently got a call from a journalist at the Washington Post covering crowdsourcing in the restaurant industry," he said. "I did not know it was happening but some foodies got together and chose the design and the menu and a raw foods vegetarian restaurant will soon open."

Other newly crowdsourced industries include customer service specialist Get Satisfaction and Innocentive, which delivers innovation to corporate customers. It is even transforming the practice of ornithology.

"One of the key ideas of crowdsourcing is that the people who do the best work aren't always who you'd expect," Howe said.

"It doesn't eradicate the business but it does change it," he added. "We buy from companies but also participate in the process of creation."

He said that when it works, participants become evangelists. Tee-shirt vendor Threadless has many fans because it has made products from some of their designs.

Perhaps the future of journalism lies in reader-funded sites. "TalkingPointsMemo is to some extent crowd-funded," said Howe. The site was founded by Joshua Michah Marshall in 2000 and in addition to blogging, he writes for mainstream publications.

Spot.us lies further outside the mainstream of U.S. journalism. The site raises money from visitors to fund journalism projects in the East Bay area of San Francisco, said Howe.

He said that the site has funded 24 stories, of which half are complete and some were purchased by local newspapers. "If a paper purchases the story, the contributions are refunded," he added.

Topics up for funding include an examination of school lunches, of the reason for storefront vacancies, and an investigation of violent incidents with the local police force. "There's some advocacy journalism on the site," said Howe.

The pitch for an investigation of why storefronts remain vacant is from Mission Loc@l, a blog project of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

"Information is power," said professor Lydia Chavez in her video pitch on Spot.us. "It's about knowing your neighborhood and getting more engaged in your neighborhood."

It might change people's minds. "This whole issue started when a local paper wrote an editorial that we should take American Apparel in our neighborhood because there were 29 vacancies," she said.

A partial investigation revealed that landlords have been holding five storefronts off the market. "It's important to know that in some cases, it's not vacant because of the economy -- it's vacant because the owner wants it vacant," Chavez said.