Extending the concept in a different direction

[Alain Jehlen]

Community-funded online journalism isn't just a way to replace ads in
newspapers. Every medium has its strengths and weaknesses that are
different from others, so there will be a different range of types of
stories.

One type I think has promise is a cross between reporting and
community organizing. Example: a community organization wants its
youth members to interview kids who are dropping out of school and ask
them about their high school experience. They need a few cheap digital
recorders and money for transcribing the interviews. A journalist will
then craft a story from these transcripts. There might also be video.
The potential benefits go far beyond the public reporting. This kind
of project builds the organization and can get action at the high
school. The organization could try to fund it with a grant, but for a
small amount of money, it may not be worth the time and effort. Crowd
funding might be the way to get this done.

It's surprising to me that The Point has (last time I looked, anyway)
no journalism-related project at all. Spot.us is just getting
underway, but I don't remember seeing any proposals for projects like
this one, either.

I hope we can get some going in our Boston-area version. Not instead
of other types of reporting, but in addition. What do other people
think?

Alain Jehlen

[David Cohn]

I tend to totally agree with you Alain - community funded reporting allows us to think a little bit more out of the box of traditional reporting.

It has ups and downs.

David

--
David Cohn
http://Spot.Us
http://www.digidave.org/about
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