Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding in Journalism

Crowdfunding and Crowdsourcing in Journalism MA, M.Sc. Tanja Aitamurto Tampere University, Finland Journalist, blogger: Hufﬁngton Post, PBS MediaShift tanja.aitamurto@gmail.com @tanjaaita

Keywords • Collective Intelligence, Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding, Open Science, Open Innovation, Innovations in collaboration, • Case Study of Spot.Us, a crowdfunding platform for journalism

Spot.Us Model • Spot.Us: Journalists pitching in public • Changing conventions in journalism: • Donors “vote” for their favorite story: Decentralized editorial power • Direct reader-reporter connection • Transparency vs. closed newsrooms • Unfolding story vs. ﬁnished story

Theoretical Framework • Pierre Levy’s notion of CI • Henry Jenkins: Participatory culture • Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding as manifestations of CI and participatory culture

Crowdsourcing • Open call for anybody to participate • CS creative talent basis for business: Threadless, Crowdspring • Crowdbranding: Cordarounds/ BetaBrand • Money: Spot.Us, Kickstarter • Brainpower: Innocentive, Next Agenda/ Institute for New Economic Thinking - video, GoogleWave • Time, talent: Guardian, HuffPo in journalism

Creative talent

Crowdbranding

Brain Power

Peace Innovation Lab

Scientiﬁc Problems

CoCreationLb

Knowledge, opinions

Skill, talent, time

Crowdsourcing on Spot.Us • Money, time (microcredit/community powered advertising) • Talent, tips, leads, knowledge • Reader assignments: Photos, etc.

Research Questions • How does CI impact journalism? • ... the work of a journalist? • ... relationship between reporter and reader? • ... reader’s attachment to journalism, community, reader experience? • Method: Semi-Structured interviews with 15 Spot.Us donors (8) and reporters (7)

Reporter’s Point of View • Direct connection to the readers is gratifying, “personally motivating” • Donating creates a bond to the readers that is “beyond professionally motivating” • “It is more than having it written in a nice style and formatted properly, things you worry about for an editor. You worry more about the accuracy, really honest reporting and presenting the issues correctly, because these people have directly invested in you.”(Reporter, 22 years.)

• “When I started working on the story (for Spot.Us) I already knew who the readers are, where as writing a usual story (in a traditional journalism model) sometimes it feels like writing for a black hole” Reporter, 27 years. • Transparency, direct connection to the readers is the new motivation for journalists?

The Challenge of Pitching in Public • even though gratifying, it is challenging: • Journalists are not comfortable with pitching in public • “Will this be a popularity contest?” • “Pitching in public is scary.” • Will somebody steal my story?

The Challenge of Market Appeal • “I’m a journalist, not a salesman.” • Facebooking, tweeting about the pitch: “Shaking a tin can.” • Radically new ownership of the whole story process - pitching, fundraising, , writing. • Creative work and commerce coming together in cultural work (Deuze, 2009)

• Creative workers need to see their skills in commercial terms - vs. creative autonomy, peer review vs. market appeal • New metrics in journalism/communication?

Donor’s Point of View • Primary reason to donate: support high quality journalism, healthy, democratic society • Donating doesn’t create a strong connection to journalism, or to the reporter • Participating as a way to contribute to social change, social good • Donating creates a bond to a community, a means of identity building online - tweeting, facebooking

• “I consider this as a donation for the common good, more than anything else, or any kind of personal gain.“(Donor, 30 yrs) • “... ﬁnally, I want to see whatever change the story is trying to bring about, happen.” (Donor, 23 yrs.)

Beneﬁts of crowdsourcing • Other than money, not useful reader contributions • More facts, not opinions • Donors/Community members are not interested in contributing

Food for Thought • Journalism should use more cause-marketing when selling the product • “Pay for this story, save the world.” • Provide tools for identity building - Kachingle

• Other than money is not successfully crowdsourced: More sophisticated way to have readers/donors participate in the production process • New metrics for success in journalism: impact, social change, direct market appeal to readers

Open Science • How to use the concept of Open Science in communications research? • Paradigm still closed, competitive rather than collaborative • CoCreationLb.com - public research diary, transparent research process, published transcriptions, • More?

Collective Intelligence In Journalism MA, M.Sc. Tanja Aitamurto Tampere University, Finland Journalist, blogger: Hufﬁngton Post, PBS MediaShift tanja.aitamurto@gmail.com @tanjaaita

Facts&Figures • The site launched November 2008 • By April 2010, more than 800 people had donated • Average donation $60 • Donations sum up to $100 000.

Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding in Journalism

by Tanja Aitamurto

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