Archive for category Journalism 101
Summer at the Advocate
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on August 6, 2010
Emily Patton
Western Kentucky University
Union County Advocate
Whoever first muttered those dreaded words, “Newspapers are dying,” apparently has never been to Union County, Ky. before.
After interning at the Union County Advocate in Morganfield, Ky. for over a month now, it still takes me by surprise when people come up to me with ear to ear smiles and send thank you cards wanting to discuss a story in last week’s paper.
People here actually read the newspaper front to back, because those same people are the newspaper. Let me introduce you to small-town community journalism, or in other words, my newest summer love.
The office’s doorbell is constantly buzzing with a new subscription order or a sold advertisement.
Even though I live just forty minutes away, the concept of a weekly thriving was brand new to me. Scratch that, everything about this county was brand new to me.
It has been an experience that’s been both educational and priceless as a journalism student at Western Kentucky University.
While attending WKU, I have written about various sports for the College Heights Herald and covered high school football for the Kentucky New Era. All excellent forms of experience —- But unlike the experience I’ve received at the Advocate.
In the past five weeks, I’ve been sent to the local high school’s graduation, city council meetings, car shows, Red Hat Society meetings, city parks, child plays, the marathon which people call the Union County Fair, 4-H dog shows, churches, and countless neighbors’ homes.
I had never talked to city officials, local pastors or a mother who lost her 8 year-old-son a year before in a tragic accident. I had never even stepped close to the Little Sturgis Rally or saw a newspaper collection from the 1940s. I had never sat down with those types of people and tried to understand and relate their stories to the world.
For a girl who once thought when you hit your twenties, well, you’re pretty much done growing up, this summer at the Advocate has above all helped me grow up in more ways than one.
When I leave this newsroom to venture back to my old, I’ll take with me the long conversations in living rooms with Union County residents, the meaningful handshakes, a new love for the Feed Mill Restaurant and a subscription to the Advocate in hand.
Months from now, I’ll need to revisit that amazing feel of small-town community journalism that I found in my new favorite weekly newspaper, the Advocate.
Check me out on the KPA’s new website.
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The Highs and Lows of a Journalism Intern
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on August 6, 2010
They, you know the famous “they” tell you to never assume things. This “assuming” thing makes you look bad and maybe me too. Isn’t that how the saying goes? Well this girl assumed her summer internship would be a breeze.
Maybe they’d let me write a couple stories after a few weeks had passed. Maybe I’d have to take a few pictures. Maybe I’ll be my editor’s sidekick during the experience. All assumptions of course. All wrong. Within the first hour of arriving for my first day of work, I was sent head first into a story by myself. This rapid motion, even for a weekly, never seemed to cease.
And I loved it.
The best part of my internship was the everyday challenge. Each day I’d come into the office and I’d have instructions waiting on my desk. The job never got monotonous or boring. Each day, it was a surprise, who I would be meeting next or who would be my next interviewee victim.
With such excitement everyday, I cannot remember a day I sincerely dreaded a workday. But I did dread the 40-minute commute to work and 40 minute drive home. The drive was easily the worst part of my internship this summer. After wearing out every CD I owe, pumping too much gas and still yet to find a morning radio show I like, I am excited to go back to walking five minutes to class and work every day.
Being from the county just next door, I never realized how much I didn’t know about my neighbor. I learned the vast differences and everything that I had been missing out on from the amazing people to the amazing family owned restaurants. I learned how to talk to all different types of people in all different types of scenarios. I learned how to design pages using InDesign and how a weekly functions. The most important thing I learned is maintaining relationships with your sources. If you say you’ll send them a picture, send them a picture. If you say you’ll follow up, follow up with them. So many times those sources are at other events or helping me find my next story.
Those same sources are the ones sending me thank you cards and e-mails I after stories I’ve written. For years I had been told that journalism is a “thank-less” career, but in Union County, I was spoiled enough to be put on a pedestal for the job that I do. The kindness of the people of the county and the city of Morganfield is something I’ll remember fondly.
I discovered this kindness in a hard way one scorching hot day in June. I was sent to Uniontown’s Magistrate, Jerri Floyd, to do a story on an ordinance the city was considering passing. I talked to Jerri for only a few minutes when he told me he had some residents that would be good for me to talk to. I followed him in my car while he drove to the neighbor’s house. When we arrived to talk to the sources, I left my keys in the ignition and locked my car. I locked my car WITH my keys inside.
The realization hit me right as I was shaking hands with the former mayor and his wife. I finished the interview in one piece, but as soon as I was out the door, I told the man I arrived with, “Yeah… my keys are in there and my doors are locked.” It cost me embarrassment, 40 dollars and a sunburn. But good ol’ Jerri knew exactly who to call and made the key retrieval a painless process. At every city council meeting since Jerri is sure to slip in my stupidity into conversation.
Through all the frustrations and smiles after being thrown head first, sink or swim, into my hopeful future career, I have loved every second. I am extremely thankful for the internship opportunity and looking forward to my next adventure in this strange newspaper world in which we live.
Things I have learned about Union County-ians:
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on July 2, 2010
With 6 weeks into my internship at the Advocate in Morganfield, Ky. I have learned quite a few about the people I call Union County-ians. Here is my list based on my experience here so far.
- The Feed Mill Restaurant is the place to eat.
- The wait at the McDonald’s drive-thru is not worth it.
- People are proud of their grandkids.
- Once you go to leave leave the county, you should probably start planning to come back here to retire.
- Post offices are a big deal.
- Golf carts are a bigger deal.
- The Sturgis Rally is the biggest deal.
- Even if you don’t like sweet tea, you’ll learn to like it.
- Somehow everyone has family in Webster County, Ky. as well.
- The four way stop in Sturgis is a landmark for all directions.
- When it’s Union County fair week, fair books are like gold.
- People will do anything for you, (this includes helping you break into your own car when you locked your keys inside.)
- Local restaurants are huge.
- Everything goes on at John A. Arnold Arena.
- No one seems to come to a complete stop
- When driving your car, you’ll get waved at by everyone you pass.
- Being in 4-H is pretty dang cool.
- They love their local newspapers.
Why hello there, Union County.
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on June 3, 2010
What my planner looked like my first 3 days of my internship
If you want to find me this summer, you are going to have to look.
Most consider where I live, Webster County or outside of the small town of Dixon, Ky. to be “in the boondocks.” (Don’t bother looking on a map if you don’t know where that is, because it won’t be on there.) But outside of Webster, even further into the country, about 15 miles Northwest, you’ll hit a town called Morganfield.
And sure enough, that’s where I’ll be.
Last winter in the midst of a hunt for a summer internship, I received an e-mail from the editor of the Union County Advocate, Carrie Dillard, requesting me for an interview. After a few phonecalls, a trip to Union County and some conversation about where I wanted to spend my summer, I accepted the job.
Sure its roughly a 35 minute drive for me everyday, a smaller community newspaper, but I’ve never been more sure this is where I need to be.
My first day of work, I was sent to the Feed Mill Restaurant to cover a story on the Red Hat Ladies. The next I interviewed a pastor and his wife at First United Methodist Church. Then that Saturday night, I was thrown head first into Union County High School’s graduation. All in three days. All too much fun. All amazing experience for a hungry little intern.
I was especially nervous about my first day of work at the Advocate. Why?
Because when I got the job, I was told I would be doing it all. I would be reporting, writing, taking pictures, designing, working in an office and whatever else we all stumbled across together. And so far, I’ve been doing just that.
Another hurdle I feared was saying goodbye to sports writing and hello to news writing. Something I feared I would hate, but surprisingly I have loved it.
Like the Kentucky New Era, this newspaper is a real paper. Its real people trying to make real money. Its a paper that people read cover to cover. And what I’m discovering slowly is that this is a paper that is a huge part of the community.
While I know most of my journalism classmates at Western Kentucky University frowned on the thought of interning at a weekly newspaper, I know that this weekly has been a perfect fit for me. I’m learning what community journalism is all about. I’m learning how to find the soul of a place, how to understand people and how to tell stories.
I believe internships are more much than simply a summer job. To me, internships are a way to connect you to other people in the business that maybe you wouldn’t have known. Internships are a way to get that real hands-on experience. You learn if this is for you, or maybe another path is more suitable. You learn if you can handle it.
Yesterday, I celebrated my bylines with friends and family and read over my stories at least ten times to myself.
Its good to know that I’m right where I need to be.
Keep up with how I’m doing at the Advocate by clicking here.
Hi Journalism career, my name is Emily.
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on May 3, 2009
So I have this plan. My plan is not carved in stone, nor an outline of what to come complete with Roman numerals, A’s, B’s, C’s and 1’s, 2’s, 3’s. This outline allows for ample ounces of Wite Out and crossed-out words. And the wonderful thing is that these revisions are encouraged. What is this s
cheme up Emily’s sleeve, you ask? Oh just my future career plan…
I want to be involved in journalism. Period. The end. Any aspect. I’ll take it any or all. Every part I feel is vital. I have never been more thrilled to start at the bottom of the ladder and climb.
My plan is one that changes as the industry changes as well. The online epidemic will continue to spread allowing my job at a print newspaper to tap into my technological skills, become a dedicated member of Twitter, and keep my Word Press blogging account going strong. Long ago I would have said my career plan was to get a job as a print journalist. Now a days, my future title can have quite a few more bi-lines: Photojournalist, Broadcaster, PR, Web Designer.
Once upon a time long LONG ago, I thought working for a newspaper was only about writing your chosen story. Not about taking your turn at writing the obituaries or learning about HTML. How young and stupid I once was? (Don’t answer that.)
Who Am I, Really?
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on April 26, 2009
Hi. My name is Emily Patton. Well, I think it is. And this is my identity crisis. Maybe. I’m a journalist. Well, I thought I was. Right now I am blogging at my computer. So I guess you could call me a blogger. But wait, can’t I be both? Who am I, really?
Mark Glaser asks us this question in his article: Am I a Journalist or Blogger? And honestly, I have never taken a moment to really define myself, what I am or who am I, really? I never found it a necessity…. (until this very instance.)
I grew up sitting on my father’s knee as he told me I could be anything I wanted to be. Anything. Such a wonderful thought. There were no limitations to that statement. Anything. An astronaut. A jockey. A pizza deliverer. A writer. Clear distinct separate definitions of who I could be in this life.
Fast forward ten years. Suddenly, the outlook of the world changes when you are sitting on your dad’s lap as a child to walking down the halls of a high school. The jock. The nerd. The cheerleader. The good girl. Labels. Clear distinct separate definitions of who people say you are for four years.
So here I am. Survived high school with little scars and the sticky labels never staying. Grown up with dreams swarming my head. But what is that telling you? I never have believed in labels or confining definitions that others assign you —- after all most of the time that is just not who you see yourself as or who you are… But hold the phone a minute! Why are we letting these people dictate OUR OWN identity? I mean its our own, it is not there’s. After all its only relevant to us, not others. We all realize this is a definite problem. Thus, I provide a solution (Get ready).
Define yourself (Yeah, that’s the big miracle working solution). Ridiculous sounding, correct? Yeah, I know. I’ve always had the hardest time defining myself. Why? Most of the time I was all those things. Some days I was venturing to the moon with my older brother when he would give me a double bounce on the trampoline, or a jockey riding my horses like we were storming home in the Derby (in 6 days, I should add, cannot wait). Other days I was picking up a pizza with my mom or sitting in the back yard writing a novel. I was so much of a jock when someone handed me a pair of running shoes, the football team’s loudest cheerleader in the stands every Friday night, the front- row- seat- in – class- nerd, and the good girl who did not have to go party to have a good time. I was a bit of each and continue to take on a few more aliases as the years pass by.
So who am I, really?
I am a journalist. Yet I proceed on typing this blog post.
People argue that the definition of a blogger is someone who keeps a blog. The definition of a reporter is someone who reports the news. So that would make a journalist someone who keeps a journal? Well, not exactly…. a journalist is someone who can keep a journal, diary, or daily record of events. A journalist can keep a record of events whether online, magazines, newspapers, or blogs. As the job market continues to grapple, the competition increases for that person who can do it all. Employers, meet a journalist. And maybe that’s perhaps why I find such a passion in the journalism field. I am enabled to be a bit of everything: a blogger, a social net worker, a columnist, a photographer, or E. all of the above. I can have infinite childhood dreams come true or write about a new product description of non-stick labels teenagers use in high school.
Before this blog post, I never took a second glance at the word. Sure, I’d call myself a journalism student, but I had forgotten what that means. And knowing the clarification, past all the ambiguity and vagueness —– well you just beat someone to a career opportunity by better knowing your job description.
Sometimes you need to define yourself, not for other people, but for yourself. Forget how others view you. How do you view yourself? Understand your identity. Reiterate your objective. What you want to accomplish. Who you are not. Who you would like to become. The definition takes you a step back to reexamine who you are, really. And you become better because of it. Period. The end.
Tweet Tweet
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on April 19, 2009
What are you doing?
This question is one you hear nearly everyday. When you answer the phone. When you pass a friend in the hallway. When you check your text messages. When you log onto Twitter or Facebook. One question. One simple question. This one question has turned into a journalist’s dream (or reality).
Social networking sites, like Twitter, are opening doors to the “new journalism” wave like never before. (104 characters)
How?
Well let’s take a look around the world via Twitter (what a wonderful world):
jordinn somebody has been using my credit card information to stay in hotel rooms in Europe. lovely.
rubeedoo Finished making homemade pizza for dinner. You would have thought I handed the hubby a million bucks.
kevbow7 thinks his GPA is going to be a negative number this semester. Anyone up for selling grass skirts and coconut milk in Bermuda for a living?
kairarouda Watching Peyton Manning play golf at Scioto Country Club. Signed autograph for my son! He’s wearing a bright orange shirt, big smile.
These “tweets” are from real-life people describing what is happening in their worlds or in their minds in 140 characters or less. Imagine a headline news source at your fingertips whether you are a journalist or an ordinary person curious about a world other than your own. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn link people to the world around them, and has become a tool for journalists unlike any other.
Using Twitter, the response is fast. Most people tweet information as soon as it happens, before placing it on a blog, or texting a friend about the same information. Pemily has done this on many occasions. This winter she drove her car on an icy road and tweeted the fact she was in a ditch before calling for assistance (Notice the third person and under 140 characters). Stupid, maybe? Or keeping my faithful followers updated?
From “How We Use Twitter for Journalism” written by Marshall Kirkpatrick
Whether it’s natural disasters, political developments or breaking tech news – it’s common to discover items of interest first on Twitter.
Robert Scoble wrote a year ago about how Twitter users reported a major earthquake in Mexico City several minutes before the USGS did. Zolie Erdos chronicled last month how Twitter users beat government agencies and the world’s (formerly) leading news organizations in reporting on March earthquakes in both China and Japan.
We discover tech news tips on Twitter first on a regular basis. When Google bought Twitter competitor Jaiku, for example, we learned about it on Twitter. That early news tip lead to our covering the news before any one else and getting our story on the front page of Digg – good in this case for tens of thousands of pageviews.
To access this article, click here.
Minutes and seconds are so crucial in today’s journalism. If Twitter is a way to beat those competitors, it will be utilized, and obviously already is. Just take a look at the “Trending Topics” on Twitter, the headlines of tomorrow are right there. Yep, a journalist’s dream realized. (Thank you Twitter for this beautiful creation.) These social networking sites have connected a journalist to their future story in a flawless fashion. Journalists can “follow” their tweeters in a non-creepy non-stalkerish way and assemble a story that produces thousands of hits with the facile idea influence of a five second tweet by an ordinary everyday person or the inner workings of the most famous celebrities.
Tweeting helps spread the word to your followers what you are trying to do, whether its featuring a new blog post, directing viewers to an online broadcast, or advertising a live event your friends should check out. Forget the days of being the one who is the last to know the information. This information can be sent directly to all of your friends’ cellphones, with a text message of the new status and updates the website, automatically.
Newspapers are learning to master Twitter and Facebook as well. Want the latest news story? When its tweeted, you have it. Journalists are also using a “Tweet this” function on their blogs so with one click, their followers are now linked to their latest post. Readership becomes a daily habit, not a daily chore.
Sites like LinkedIn keep you updated with what is going on within your business company, other companies like that one, and the industry itself your company belongs to with news articles and contacts in your own personal posse.
As journalists begin investigating the powers of social networking, new journalism continues to make its way into our lives.
And this new journalism, well its connecting people by presenting news to both journalists and readers. Both journalists and readers connected better than ever. And that, my friend, is just a beautiful thing. (139 characters)
From “In Your Facebook: Why more and more journalists are signing up for the popular social networking site” by Kelly Wilson
Across the board, social sites are a way for people to interact as they never could before (or at least, never could with such ease). For journalists that means contacting others for ideas and support on tough assignments or connecting with editors for advice and job opportunities. As in any form of journalism, if you don’t understand where the audience is and what it’s doing, you don’t understand the audience. To access this article, please click here.
Hilltoppers Run in the 2009 NCAA Tournament
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, The Sports World on April 5, 2009
Orlando Mendez-Valdez celebrates after the victory over Illinois. Courtesy of Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
My first podcast covers the Hilltoppers Run in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. The podcast involves my own commentary and clips from the actual tournament play. Listen and Enjoy.
Timeline:
0:00 Introduction o:10 First Round Summary0:20 Clip from Announcers
0:30 First Round Statistics
1:00 Conclusion of First Round
1:30 Introduction of Second Round
2:15 Wrap-up/Conclusion
To listen, click here.
I Have to Confess Something…
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on April 2, 2009
So I have to confess something… Umm… well today, I cheated. And honestly, I am not really sorry.
Cheating, huh? Emily Patton cheats? You thought I was better than that, didn’t you?
Well let me explain…
I don’t know about you, but I have been raised to associate “cheating” with a negative connotation. Emily, don’t cheat on a test. Miss Patton, don’t you dare cut off that last quarter of a mile from your run, that’s cheating! To me, reading the newspaper, as illegal and wrong as it sounds, well its not necessarily a bad thing, is it?
According to an article by Jack Shafer, “Democracy’s Cheat Sheet? Its time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy” — well this is “cheating.”
The definition of democracy from Dictionary.com is, “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”
This government is designed for me, exercised by me, or by the elected representatives in our democratic system. Yet I, myself, do not know all the Supreme Court Justices by name, nor do I know what role Joe Biden played in politics before he became our Vice President. But I pick up the newspaper or visit Google News each day, in an attempt to become better informed.
From the article, Jack Shafer’s article, “Democracy’s Cheat Sheet? Its time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy”
The only group that holds a consistently high opinion of newspapers is newspaper people. They’re the ones who do the bragging about how newspapers enrich democracy by uncovering pollution, malfeasance in office, abuses of power, and unsafe consumer goods.
The insistence on coupling newspapering to democracy irritates me not just because it overstates the quality and urgency of most of the work done by newspapers but because it inflates the capacity of newspapers to make us better citizens, wiser voters, and more enlightened taxpayers. I love news on newsprint, believe me, I do. But I hate seeing newspapers reduced to a compulsory cheat sheet for democracy. All this lovey-dovey about how essential newspapers are to civic life and the political process makes me nostalgic for the days, not all that long ago, when everybody hated them.
To access this article, click here.
I do not know what your average day is like. I do not know how it begins. Maybe you hit the snooze button six times in the morning before stumbling into Personal Health class appearing half-drunk. This is one possibility. Maybe you have a full-time job that continues nine to five each day, but not before making your children peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as they load the school bus.
I do not know if you grab a newspaper while on your lunch breaks, or if pick up the College Heights Herald when you enter the Downing University Center. I do not know if you turn on CNN to hear the latest on our brave American troops fighting for us on enemy lines. I do not know who you voted for in the last election, or why in the heck you voted for that guy…
As a college student, believe it or not, I go to class. I go to class A LOT. My average day begins at eight in the morning and continues through the two classes in the morning, the ten minute lunch break to chat with a friend, the brisk almost 5K sprint up The Hill, (no exaggeration needed), to arrive to my secretary student-worker job, depart for brief dinner, attend a journalism lecture, and end the day with a night class.
The day is full. And yours is probably too. Jack Shafer tells us, don’t you dare try to know a little bit about the democracy you live in by reading the newspaper when you have a few minutes to yourself, oh no. That’s just a disgrace. That’s “cheating.”
And sure, I am one of those full-fledged “newspaper people.” Go ahead, give me the stink-eye, and talk behind my back about why I am pro- an informed society. Just answer this for me: How can a society function without the news, or without that additional check and balance on government? Well good ol’ Jack, covered that too.
More from Jack Shafer’s article, “Democracy’s Cheat Sheet? Its time to kill the idea that newspapers are essential for democracy”
When the conversation turns to democracy, I turn to Adrian Monck, who rejects the idea that newspapers play an irreplaceable role in the institution’s well-being. Indeed, American democracy survived its first century without much in the way of the investigative and accountability journalism we associate with newspapers. That kind of journalism didn’t start to spread until the end of the 19th century.
The question is, why would we let our democracy deteriorate back to a time when it was not as good as it could be? Why be second best if you have the ability to be number one? Why live in falsehood? Why not investigate? Why not dig deeper? Why not uncover the truth? (And here my journalistic side screams out again with the many questions.)
I could spend forever defending the dynamics of journalism, what it does for you and what it will always do for you, but I will keep this short and sweet.
Journalism answers the simple questions. Yes, you need to pack that umbrella today. Yes, we knew you had work early the morning, but the Packers did win in overtime. No, don’t worry about taking that street today, take the detour and miss the traffic jam.
And journalism answers the even harder questions. No, you probably should not vote for John McCain if this is where you stand on the energy crisis. Yes, that is what was going on behind closed doors with the Louisville Police Department. Yes, this is a safe environment to send your child to school.
Journalism will always be needed.
We are always going to be in the dark on some things. There is no way to “know it all.” But now never before has more information been out there for the taking. So if you have a few minutes to yourself, pick up that newspaper. Newspapers may not be “essential for democracy.” But they are essential for you. And you are the vital, (the water, the food, the oxygen, the shelter) component of democracy.
So just this once, steal a glance at that cheat-sheet. And if you get caught, don’t say you are sorry…
Join the Crowd
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101 on March 23, 2009
Game plan: Join the Crowd.
Players look confused, hestitate on which play to run next. Whispering to eachother, “Join the crowd? What happened to being your own person?”
Coach calls a brief time-out on the sideline. Team huddles.
Yes, the play is join the crowd! But wait! Let me explain… (My disclaimer statement, if you will.) I am in no way saluting peer pressure, and I will strictly avoid using the phrases “following the crowd” or “all the cool kids are doing it.”
Coach concludes the pep talk. Team breaks. Clock restarts.
Welcome to an important part of a journalist’s world: Say hi to crowdsourcing.
What is crowdsourcing? Simply, crowdsourcing is where a journalist uses you, your friend from across the hall, that weird guy in Psychology, your cousin David (that really isn’t your cousin, but you call him that), and others to get our story.
According to OJR’s Robert Niles, A Journalist’s Guide to Crowdsourcing:
Crowdsourcing, in journalism, is the use of a large group of readers to report a news story. It differs from traditional reporting in that the information collected is gathered not manually, by a reporter or team of reporters, but through some automated agent, such as a website.
Crowdsourcing does not ask readers to become anything more than what they’ve always been: eyewitnesses to their daily lives.
To access this article, please visit: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070731niles/
This collaborative form of reporting is nothing new. Each contributor simply researches and adds to the overall collection.
The crowd is from all over the globe, bringing to the table a wide range of information, helping a journalist produce a story with the information that could be nearly impossible without the volunteered information.
Let’s say there is a website discussing an imaginary company. Customers and employees both contribute to the crowdsourcing project.Want the brilliant, yet hidden truth of crowdsourcing, do you? Turns out the average, everyday, ordinary collection of customers shopping at the business prove more knowledgeable than the actual employees within the business.
More from A Journalist’s Guide to Crowdsourcing:
The core concept is not new in journalism. At its heart, modern crowdsourcing is the descendent of hooking an answering machine to a telephone “tip line,” where a news organization asks readers to phone suggestions for stories. Or asking readers to send in photos of events in their community.
Need an example of crowdsourcing? College students, like myself, are all familiar with Wikipedia, ‘the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.’ Another example, one of my favorites this summer was GasBuddy.com, finds the highest and lowest prices of gas in your area, by different communities that share the information.
So why do our professors beg us not to use Wikipedia as a reference source in our research paper?
Well, crowdsourcing has its dangerous sides.
As a reporter using a crowdsourced project, the information collected should be verified before publishing. Many crowdsoucing projects aid this process. In an attempt to reduce faulty information, sites request the user post verification of the report and personal identification.
Also, sometimes… your “crowd” can have a case of A.D.D. and short attention spans. Hold the phone, now what was I saying? Oh, now I remember. This makes sifting through the material submitted extremely necessary to find what belongs and what can be left out.
In addition, sometimes your crowd let their own personal or political agendas overshadow key content that should be discussed…. But because the majority is focusing on the best liked featurette…. the minor, yet vital details can be lost. Ratings and comments can drastically manipulate the crowd’s direction. On the other hand, perhaps you need to write an article on the most popular topic.
Joining the crowd has revolutionized the way reporters use the access of the Internet. Crowdsourcing simply goes back to the basics with the plain ideals of finding a story through observation and research. Using the collaboration of information at their finger tips, reporters can produce journalism for everyone to take advantage of. The beauty of crowdsourcing is the sharing between you, others, and the journalist.
So join the crowd. And maybe for once, we can say honestly, all the cool kids really are doing it.
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