Today, I’m happy to unveil an idea I’ve been brainstorming for the past couple months. It’s called Beta Journalism, and I’m hoping it becomes a new way of thinking about one of the most-basic forms of media: the written story.
The idea is simple. It’s based on something technology innovators have been doing for about 40 years, ever since engineers at IBM came up with the concept back in the 1960s.
When a new product is created, many innovators release it in “beta” form to a group of people who are asked to use it, think about it and offer feedback. Based that feedback, the creators then make changes to their invention, making it smarter, more reliable and more user friendly before a final version is released.
It’s brilliant. Essentially, these innovators have harnessed the knowledge of the crowd for decades while still maintaining control of their inventions. If journalists could do this, perhaps our work could become more accurate, interactive and credible. The potential is big.
The idea
This could be done by creating a new web application to make it all possible. Here’s how the app would work:
- A journalist writes a story and posts it online in “beta” form.
- The public can then log in to suggest extra sources, point out typos, critique for bias and upload media.
- The journalist or editor makes or approves changes, verifies facts and posts a final draft sometime later (maybe hours or days). The names of the people who helped in the process are included at the bottom of the story as named contributors, giving them ownership of the piece.
Beta Journalism (working title) would be that open-source application. The idea relies heavily on the concept of crowdsourcing. It embraces the knowledge of the community. It tells readers: This is a work in progress – please help us improve it.
But the application also would recognize the talent and hard work of the journalists who created the story in the first place. It does not hand the story completely over to the masses. It leaves the final product in the hands of the news organization – much like a software company would maintain the final call on changes to its own product after beta testing.
Why now?
The idea right now is in the earliest stages of conception. But I’m making it public because Beta Journalism has been entered into a contest called Knight News Challenge for the chance win a cut of $5 million being given away this year to develop new innovations in journalism.
Most ideas for the contest are entered in public, which means anyone can view them and comment on them. In fact, the Knight News Challenge encourages feedback to help applicants make their ideas better.
Recently, I started talking to a couple of talented people here in Phoenix who design and build web applications. Curtis Miller and Chris Chandler of the company Flatterline were interested and willing to help me on the technological back end.
If Beta Journalism wins the News Challenge or finds other funding, the guys at Flatterline will be the ones to develop it.
From there, while the development is taking place, we will be negotiating with news organizations or journalists to find a way to test the application in real life here in Phoenix. Beta Journalism may be tested on an already-existing news website or else set up as a standalone site with a couple professional and willing journalists creating content. If the testing is successful, we will expand beyond Phoenix.
The goal of all of this is to bring readers into the process like never before, giving them ownership of the story and building trust and loyalty along the way.
What you can do
There are a few things you can do to help with the Beta Journalism project.
First, take a look at Beta Journalism’s entry into the Knight News Challenge. Log in, rate the project and add comments below. Help us refine the idea. If you think it’s all perfect, tell us. If you think it’s an impossible concept, tell us why. The more feedback we get, the better the idea can become.
Next, if you’re interested in investing in Beta Journalism or helping us fund the project, you can email me at nick@heatcity.org. Again, because the project is in the earliest stages of conception, it’s still unclear what direction we will take it. But if you’re a venture capitalist or a nonprofit foundation that immediately sees major value in this idea, let’s talk. Maybe we can work something out.
Meantime, check back here on Heat City for more information about Beta Journalism in the future. Whether the idea takes off, dies off or changes radically, I’ll keep you updated.