question about using the information we will gather

[florida_mike]

Hello everybody.

Some of you guys know me already. I am Michael from Graz, and I am
working as a freelancer for different print products in Austria. I
just finished my studies and try to survive as a freelance
journalist.

My question is: When we all gather the information: Who is allowed to
use it, and how. For example, if I could sell the story to one of my
Austrian papers. Am I allowed to earn money with it?

Dont understand me wrong. I dont want to steal information. I just
want to know the rules.

I would use the gathered information, to write a german speaking story
about the difference between the countries when it comes to healthcare
for students.

I am not getting paid enough to finance a whole crowd of researchers.
You know how this business works. But what I can do is, to add
something like: "This article was researched within the journalism
network: collegejourn.com"

We are all working in our local market. So I think if we all would be
able to sell the story to our media, nobody would loose anything.

What do you think about it?

[Suzanne Yada]

Good question. I think it would be a great thing if you were able to
pitch this story and sell it. You will still be doing a lot of
reporting and researching on your own. I understand a lot of us are
going to essentially be doing research for "your" story, but I don't
really view this particular project as anyone's story. It's a
collaborative, and if one member of the collaborative finds a way to
pay the bills for their involvement, I don't have a problem with that.
All of us also have the same opportunity to pitch and sell their
version of the story.

Some of us are doing this for college credit, experience and a byline
on a big project. But if there's a publication that would publish your
work, why not?

I like the idea of a tagline.

What do the rest of you think?

[Sarah Jackson]

I agree with Suzanne. I don't see any harm in using the information we
collect here for a freelance piece. In fact, the whole purpose of our
project, as I see it, is to bring international journalism voices
together and to impact the world with the data we gather together. I
think it's up to anyone how they wish to use that data as this is a
group effort and nobody "owns" the results. I do think credit should
be given where due, particularly to convey honesty about the origins
of your data.

[Kelsey Proud]

Wholeheartedly agree Sarah. A little mention would help our cause, but to use the information for profit helps each one of us individually.

--
Kelsey Proud
Convergence Journalism Student
University of Missouri
630.569.4846
Twitter: @KelseyProud
www.kelseyproud.com