How Changing Nature of Information Affects Info Providers?
I’m at Freelance Camp in Santa Cruz. It’s an unconference for freelance professionals of all sorts – artists, coders, writers, designers etc. (Sorry WordCamp, could only attend one).
The most pertinent session for me was aptly titled “How the Changing Nature of Information Affects Information Providers.” It was proposed by a local magazine writer who recently lost a column to content produced via “the wires.”
Needless to say he wasn’t happy about it – but more importantly he brought the group together to talk about what the new economy is for independent journalists. How can they stay relevant and make a living doing what they do best: in-depth, quality reporting? Or – was that just out of the question? Was the best he could do from here on out just linking to more relevant content produced by bloggers, wires, etc.
Of course – I put in my two cents and talked about the current effort to fundraise for the SF Election truthiness campaign. In depth reporting can be paid for – commissioned by the public it’s aimed to serve/inform.
In attendance was the former editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel (now working in PR), other freelance writers, copy-editors and the editor of KUSP.org (who I hope to work with on a Santa Cruz investigation in the future).
In the end there were no concrete solutions. This is of course predictable given the unconference nature of our gathering and the simple fact that – these are tough issues and nobody can figure them out in a short 90-minute discussion.
The reason for this blog post is just to point out: If you are a freelance reporter/writer – you are not alone. Being a freelancer doesn’t make you an island. We are all in this together and we will find a way.
Every day I meet more and more reporters in the Bay Area and the vast majority are cheering me on. Not because I’m some uber-cool guy (although I am). They are cheering me on because of what Spot.Us represents – something new. We all recognize that Spot Us might struggle or all-out fail, but we need to start exploring this and other territory.
Reporters are now a diaspora and we need to find a new home. We are a group that is collectively pushing forward to ensure that the services we provide are valued and compensated. If someone wants to argue that the services we provide aren’t valuable – that’s a different discussion, but I earnestly believe they are. We help democracy thrive. We might not wear a badge and get government checks like a police officer, but we are a tride and true part of any community and we will find a way.
I have faith in the citizens of the Bay Area that they will keep journalism alive and I have more faith that the reporters I meet will rise to answer that challenge. But first, we have to tie two cans to a piece of string and let the two call out to each other.
Related posts:
- Changing Locomotion in Midstream Part III: How to Move A Billion Gallons of Fuel from Iowa to California
- Changing Locomotion in Midstream – The Full Report
- How APIs are Changing News
- Changing Locomotion in Midstream: California’s Ethanol Mandate
- Changing Locomotion in Midstream – How to Take Some Oil Out of An Energy System – Fast
[...] comments On Community Funded Reporting site Spot.US, David Cohn reports from Freelance Camp – “an unconference for freelance professionals of all [...]
David, the first I learned of your “crowdfunding” model was at the session you described above. I think you have a very interesting model because it holds the potential for being both user- and provider-driven: reporters propose a topic, and perhaps potential readers can provide “I would pay for this” input as well. And it does seem to be a step towards fulfilling the promise of the internet: reader control over the information they get.
Still leaves the open question (as Chris recorded at http://www.barcamp.org/FreelanceCamp_Changes_in_Information): how do people get informed about topics of which they are unaware?
I am very intrigued by your model, and I’ll be keeping track.
[...] public links >> unconference How Changing Nature of Information Affects Info Providers? Saved by IlyaNejiTen on Fri 03-10-2008 Library 2.0 and Beyond: Getting our hands dirty library [...]
[...] public links >> unconference How Changing Nature of Information Affects Info Providers? Saved by IlyaNejiTen on Fri 03-10-2008 Library 2.0 and Beyond: Getting our hands dirty library [...]
[...] public links >> unconference How Changing Nature of Information Affects Info Providers? Saved by IlyaNejiTen on Fri 03-10-2008 Library 2.0 and Beyond: Getting our hands dirty library [...]
[...] public links >> unconference How Changing Nature of Information Affects Info Providers? Saved by IlyaNejiTen on Fri 03-10-2008 Library 2.0 and Beyond: Getting our hands dirty library [...]