Hi Fabrice,
I forwarded your 'challenge' on to a number of the Wikinews contributors. As I'm sure you'll understand, being a community-run project some people are prolific, but don't do heavyweight. Personally, I'd class a lot of sports or 'trivia' stuff as "filler". Given my own view of the project as, for a first major goal, aiming to do as well as the BBC on serious stuff, that irritates me.
What I now think would be the best approach at the end of the Wikinews writing contest is to see if we can get a few of your regularly published participants to critique the competition, perhaps praise one or two stories, and their ideas on how to make a more successful competition in future. A few years back I was able to personally put up about €250 in cash prize money - the project also had about a dozen students at a slack point in their education (mainly Auzzies and Kiwis) who pushed out a noticeable number of quite lengthy articles.
I have no idea if any of these lapsed contributors are studying writing-related subjects, but private discussion with several indicates the experience has matured them. They're unafraid when it comes to sitting down opposite local political candidates who may be more than twice their seventeen or eighteen years. They've experienced blunt feedback on what makes good reading, they've been pointed at Strunk's, like myself repeatedly chastised for use of passive voice, and really asked to step up to the plate and say, "I think this is good; what's wrong with it, and how can I be better next time?"
It was at short notice we were seeking competition sponsorship - with the hope this would bring in a lot of competitors. It did not go as well as I would have liked, and several reasonably established contributors somewhat gamed the system by writing just-qualifying articles in preference to the in-depth work I hoped to solicit.
I do not see any reason why, next time round, the competition could not be attractive enough to produce significantly more high-quality in-depth journalistic work. In fact, I don't see why the project could not be, er, ... "adopted" by those teaching journalism. I believe I mentioned the interview with John Beasley-Murray who got his students to write a featured article on Wikipedia. Why not featured journalism on Wikinews for students of journalism, or even English students studying that particular form of writing?
Right now, Wikinews has a review process, stylebook, and most of the elements any journalism student is going to hit in the real world. I don't think their lecturers and professors should be telling them to "study new media"; I think those givers of knowledge should be rolling up their sleeves, getting into the processes we use on Wikinews, building a rapport with the community, and using an existing wiki platform to expose their students' work to a wide audience.
So, to return to the writing competition, I think it has - to some extent - be written off as a failure; but one, Wikinews can learn from, and could be done better in the future. Previously Wikinews contributors have investigated Knight Foundation funding - but not quite made the bar. There's a need to reach to a wider community who might can focus on content production in such a way that funding was forthcoming. I'd like to see that from an educational interest, so please forward my contact details as you see fit Fabrice. I really think if you'd a couple of lecturers and handful of post-grads worked through getting trusted by the Wikinews community they could manage a class of about 50 using Wikinews to polish their journalistic skills. I'd hope the "published in Google News and forever archived" would also be an incentivising stick they could beat their students with.
In the US, if something like that spread to several states, it would improve Wikinews as a free news source and give those studying the craft a very early opportunity to start building a reputation.
On Mon, 2010-03-08 at 11:39 -0800, Fabrice Florin wrote:
Dear Brian,
Thanks so much for getting back to me about the Wiki News writing contest -- and congrats on your new job!
Based on your recommendation, we will hold off on the proposed judging of contest entries, but wanted to let you know about a new project we are developing this spring, with support from Omidyar Network and the MacArthur Foundation.
We have an interesting opportunity for collaboration with Wiki News coming up next month, when we will be organizing a special Global Economy News Hunt. We would love to extend an invitation to some of your best writers to create a few good synthesis articles on this theme, for review on NewsTrust.
The week of April 12th, 2010, NewsTrust will join forces with a select group of partners to find good and bad journalism about the global economy. During that week, we will look for some of the best and worst news coverage on how the economic crisis is affecting people around the world. Our communities will review news and opinions on that issue from a wide range of international and U.S. news sources. (read more below)
Do you think this would interest some of your writers? If so, would you be willing to forward this message to the appropriate members of the Wiki News community?
Thanks again for keeping this relation going. There may be more opportunities for us to collaborate later in the year.
All the best,
Fabrice
Fabrice Florin Executive Director, NewsTrust +1 (415) 388-6688 fab@newstrust.net http://newstrust.net @fabriceflorin
GLOBAL ECONOMY NEWS HUNT PLAN
Overview The week of April 12, 2010, NewsTrust will join forces with a select group of media and educational partners to find good (and bad) journalism about the global economy for a week -- with a focus on how the recession is affecting people around the world. During this one-week Global Economy News Hunt, we will jointly invite our members to post and review stories on that issue from a wide range of international and U.S. news sources. As a community, we will look for stories on economic issues ranging from unemployment to government cutbacks in different parts of the world. The following week, we'll feature some of the best and worst coverage we found together, to help readers become more discerning about the quality of the international news they consume. This project is made possible by generous grants from Omidyar Network and the MacArthur Foundation.
Time Line (April 12 - April 18)
- Monday, April 12 - News Hunt starts
- Sunday, April 18 - News Hunt ends
- Wednesday, April 21 - Post News Hunt Results
Partner Responsibilities Here are our proposed tasks and responsibilities for each partner.
Your Organization
- Announce collaboration on your site (as well as in print or on-air,
if appropriate)
- Send special email to members who might be interested in this
project (or include us in your weekly newsletter)
- Promote news hunt on your home page and relevant section pages (news
hunt write up and badge)
- Link all promotions to special Welcome page for your members
on NewsTrust (to be created)
- Add NewsTrust widget on your site, either on a special page or in
appropriate section (or on blog post announcement)
- Promote the News Hunt on your social media channels on Facebook and
- Post News Hunt results on your blog or special page for this
project
NewsTrust
- Create special sign up page for your members on NewsTrust site
(with News Hunt instructions)
- Promote News Hunt and link to your site on our home
page, World and Global Economy pages
- Promote News Hunt and link to your site in NewsTrust daily and
weekly email newsletters (35k impressions)
- Promote News Hunt and link to your site in "From the Editors" box on
NT homepage
- Promote the News Hunt on your social media channels, from Facebook
to Twitter
- Promote the News Hunt on our social media channels on Facebook and
- Post and review related stories on the Global Economy all week, from
a variety of sources
- Feature your best stories and reviewers on our home page, as well as
in our blog post
- Post News Hunt results at the end of the collaboration on the
NewsTrust blog
NEWS HUNT INVITATION COPY
This preliminary copy could be used to prepare your email (and/or blog post) to your community. More promotional materials will be provided in coming weeks.
Join the Global Economy News Hunt
How is the recession affecting people around the world? How are the international news media covering this topic? To find out, join our Global Economy News Hunt this April.
The week of April 12, 2010, we will join forces with social news site NewsTrust.net to find good (and bad) journalism about the global economy. During that week, we will look for the best and worst news coverage on how the recession is affecting people around the world -- and review news and opinions on global economic issues ranging from unemployment to government cutbacks.
NewsTrust is a community of citizens and journalists who rate the news based on quality, not just popularity ââ¬â by reviewing articles for accuracy, fairness, context and other journalistic qualities.
Joining the News Hunt is easy and fun -- and you can contribute your expertise in just minutes. You can simply review stories listed in our Global Economy topic page -- or post other interesting articles you have come across on this topic. As you review these stories, you will learn more about important global issues, and you will become more aware about the quality of the news you consume.
To get started, sign up on NewsTrust's special welcome page for members of our community. This will let you review stories on NewsTrust and get the full benefit of their free service. Join the News Hunt - and get more informed!
On Mar 3, 2010, at 10:09 AM, Brian McNeil wrote:
Hi Fabrice,
Sorry to take a while to get back to you; I've just started a new job and, for data-protection reasons, have extremely limited net access at work.
I don't think there's been a lot of good in-depth stuff on Wikinews so far during the writing competition. I'm glad to be back in work, but sad I can't devote the time to Wikinews.
Brian.
On Sun, 2010-02-21 at 17:48 -0800, Fabrice Florin wrote:
Hello Brian,
I hope you're well. Sorry for being out of touch so long, but we've been immersed in a big new project which is now approaching launch.
I wanted to follow up with you about our discussion of a possible collaboration surrounding the Wikinews Writing Competition this spring.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:Writing_contest_2010
As discussed, we would be interested in reviewing some of your final articles after your competition ends on April 18th, and perhaps help determine the final winners -- or which articles to feature.
Are you still interested in this idea? If so, we'd love to discuss specific goals for this collaboration, and schedule a News Hunt the week of April 20th or 27th, if these dates make sense for you.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Fabrice
P.S.: Our big project is MyNews, a personalized news service due to launch in early March. If you'd like a sneak preview, I'd be happy to put you on the beta list.
-- Brian McNeil brian.mcneil@wikinewsie.org Wikinewsie.org
On 17 March 2010 04:06, Brian McNeil brian.mcneil@wikinewsie.org wrote:
It was at short notice we were seeking competition sponsorship - with the hope this would bring in a lot of competitors. It did not go as well as I would have liked, and several reasonably established contributors somewhat gamed the system by writing just-qualifying articles in preference to the in-depth work I hoped to solicit. ... So, to return to the writing competition, I think it has - to some extent - be written off as a failure...
Brian, I don't think this is a fair assessment either for the compo entrants or for you organising the competition. One of the most common complaints about Wikinews seems to be that we simply don't cover *enough* stories to be a real news source, worth checking regularly. In-depth pieces are great, but we also need the shorter stories - and writing them ought to be rewarded too. Besides, some people just find it easier and more fun to do. Maybe tweaking the points system a little would make for a more interesting race, but there was no way to know until we tried it, and now we have a better idea about next time.
As it is, the compo has produced quite a few new articles, and more importantly new contributors. Personally, I know I'm not doing brilliantly, but it has encouraged me to add the extra little bit to my stories. Plus it stopped me bringing in articles from Voice of America, which I'm sure you're pleased about :-)
Pete / the wub
On Wed, 2010-03-17 at 11:24 +0000, Peter Coombe wrote:
On 17 March 2010 04:06, Brian McNeil brian.mcneil@wikinewsie.org wrote:
It was at short notice we were seeking competition sponsorship - with the hope this would bring in a lot of competitors. It did not go as well as I would have liked, and several reasonably established contributors somewhat gamed the system by writing just-qualifying articles in preference to the in-depth work I hoped to solicit. ... So, to return to the writing competition, I think it has - to some extent - be written off as a failure...
Brian, I don't think this is a fair assessment either for the compo entrants or for you organising the competition. One of the most common complaints about Wikinews seems to be that we simply don't cover *enough* stories to be a real news source, worth checking regularly. In-depth pieces are great, but we also need the shorter stories - and writing them ought to be rewarded too. Besides, some people just find it easier and more fun to do. Maybe tweaking the points system a little would make for a more interesting race, but there was no way to know until we tried it, and now we have a better idea about next time.
You're probably right that I'm being unduly hard, but you know I'm somewhat of a perfectionist.
As it is, the compo has produced quite a few new articles, and more importantly new contributors. Personally, I know I'm not doing brilliantly, but it has encouraged me to add the extra little bit to my stories. Plus it stopped me bringing in articles from Voice of America, which I'm sure you're pleased about :-)
I'm certainly happy to see quite a few more people such as yourself start contributing articles. Yes, a lot are going to be fairly short pieces - that's always somewhat of an issue with new contributors; master the three-paragraph form, and then move on to more in-depth pieces.
I do want to see if I can keep lines of communication open with Fabrice and others at NewsTrust. There's really very little competition entries I'd say qualify for the in-depth stuff they're really interested it, but it is a valuable connection to maintain. I just don't know how we can involve them in some sort of post-mortem of the competition and, perhaps for future attempts, round up some Knight Foundation funding for real citizen-journalism oriented prizes. [I'm thinking Lexis-Nexis subscriptions, digital voice recorders, and low-mid-range camera kit.]
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