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Is crowdfunding the future of quality journalism?

tina — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:57:26 +0000

Freedom of information versus copyright, pirates versus artists and journalists: when it comes to the availability and expenses of content on the Internet, conflicting interests collide. And, in the case of socially relevant information in particular, it is difficult to decide who is in the right: the journalist who has put a lot of time and travel into research and expects reasonable payment for his quality articles? Or the citizen for whom information about politics, economy and society satisfy a fundamental need that also lower-income users must not be excluded from?
There are numerous debates on the subject; the age of Internet is acclaimed as being ground-breaking for journalistic equality and feared as the end of quality journalism.
The truth might be somewhere in between, and perhaps journalists, publishers and users will have to be creative and develop new models for the communication of knowledge on the Internet. Such as the mediafunders.net platform.

In addition to the principles of crowdsourcing (Internet users create journalistic texts), the crowdfunding principle will also find its way into journalism. The site is currently under construction, but the plan goes as follows:
The freelance journalist presents the idea for his next large story to the platform: local, national, international, topics from all areas are welcome. How much will it cost to realise the project including travel expenses, material and required working time? The crowd, made up of private persons, organisations, media makers and companies then decide: is the topic relevant? Should the article be realised as presented? If yes, donations will be collected until the amount needed has been contributed. Then the journalist will have to complete the article and per Creative Commons licence, place it at the disposal of the public free of charge. But the platform will also function the other way round: the crowd can suggest topics they want to have written by professional journalists. Journalists can respond to the advertisement and then work on it for a predetermined fee.
In both cases the following applies: the journalist receives payment for his work and the public has free access to relevant information. A model for the future! On the other hand: What happens if lobbyists and corporations misuse the platform? Will journalists be corruptible?

We would like to hear your opinion, please leave a comment!

Privacy on the Smartphone: Using Crowdsourcing to Protect against Viruses and Data Theft

mandy — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:24:35 +0000

Nowadays, malicious viruses, Trojans and worms are not only endemic to home computers. Usually invisible threats, they are increasingly causing difficulties for many smartphones. It is therefore not unusual that enthusiastic users of web-enabled mobile phones not only install the desired app, but also a hardly perceivable pest on their smartphone. Unfortunately just a few clicks are enough to grant viruses or spy ware unrestricted access to all private data.

To reduce the risk of viruses the user ought to fall back on apps purchased from the official stores of the mobile phone manufacturer. But here too one should be on the watch before plunging into download enjoyment. However, if you really want to be sure that the new weather app, flashlight or the fun Jump-and-Run game are not contaminated with pests, always read the small print and check what rights you are permitting the apps to grab when you click on “Install”.

To provide the users of Android smartphones with additional protection against data theft, researchers in two US universities are having apps examined via crowdsourcing therefore ensuring more overview in the data protection jungle. As a result of the activities at Rutgers and Carnegie Mellon Universities, all the apps in question will be generated with individual warning messages that supply the user with an evaluation of the safety of the small programs.

This way, the often annoying data protection regulations and privacy settings are summarized and eventually help avoid blind acceptance on the part of the users.

(Image by flickr User j_baer)

Reinventing the traditional Swiss Army Knife

judith — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:14:15 +0000

The Victorinox brand stands for tradition, but not only in Switzerland. The classic original red Swiss Army Knife with the cross and shield is world famous and there is no doubt that it has achieved cult status.

However, Victorinox is currently searching for a fresh, new design for its traditional product. In cooperation with jovoto.com, a crowdsourcing platform for creative talents, Victorinox is looking for a stylish, creative look for the pocketknife.

Background

A colorful limited edition of a slightly smaller version of the Classic Line was launched two years ago and the trendy designs not only convinced Switzerland enthusiasts but also travelers worldwide. And now fresh, new ideas are needed to satisfy the continuing demand for miniature pocketknives with colorful layouts.

Creativity is needed

Over 30,000 professional creatives are active at jovoto.com and they submitted over 300 designs within the first week. At the end of the design contest the Victorinox Facebook Community and a jury will select their ten favorite designs. The winner layouts will adorn the cult knives and be available in stores worldwide by August 2012.

Forty designs will be pre-selected from all of the ideas submitted on the crowdsourcing platform, and will be presented on the Victorinox Facebook Community site. So whoever wants to participate in deciding what the miniature Swiss Army Knife will look like in the future can vote now.

(Image by flickr user michael pollak)

Bunnies Wanted – Easter greetings from and for the Crowd

judith — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:47:23 +0000

The time of year has come again: Spring is on its way and the Easter rabbit is hiding colorful eggs everywhere. This year, for the first time ever, also in the Clickworker community – but we don’t want to reveal too much about that yet! However, to put our Clickworkers in the mood for the brightly decorated egg feast, we want to create an Easter card together with the community.

The Clickworker Easter Card – Who can help?

Creativity is wanted! Because we will be looking for the funniest, most beautiful or exceptional Easter rabbits for our Easter greetings. Whether drawings, self-made computer graphics or photos – we want a large selection of bunnies to find their place on our Easter card.

To share your personal Easter rabbit favorite with the community simply send the picture via email with the subject line “Easter Card” to: contest@clickworker.com. Then, in plenty of time for Easter, the finished Easter card will be sent to all Clickworkers worldwide.

We are looking forward to numerous colorful Easter rabbits for a cheerful Clickworker Easter card!

Please note! Pictures that have been copied from the Internet or otherwise violate intellectual property rights are not permitted.

Image by flickr user SteelCityHobbies

Curators of Sweden – Citizens twitter for Sweden

judith — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:49:53 +0000

September 2011, Sweden started a social media experiment that is unprecedented in this form. Every week the Swedish government allows a different Swedish citizen to take control of the official “@sweden” Twitter feed for their personal use.

The idea behind the action is based on the cooperation between the tourism organization VisitSweden and the Swedish Institute. Together, and with the help of the social media service Twitter, they intend to try something totally new to make Sweden more attractive to the global public.

Who could better represent, describe or question what is taking place in Sweden than the Swedes? Under this motto, every week a different citizen will be named “Curator of Sweden” and can Twitter his or her own unique impression of Sweden to the world. According to the official website of the initiative, “the expectation is that the curators will paint a picture of Sweden, different to that usually obtained through traditional media.” Because as we know, everyone is different, everyone sees their environment with different eyes and has different experiences – exactly the diversity the project wants to communicate.

And so far, the Curators of Sweden are truly diverse. This week for example, Karin Ajaxon from Goteborg will twitter @sweden. She has had an exciting life and worked in many different parts of the world. She was handed the scepter for the Twitter feed by Daniel Swedin, a journalist who writes for the “Aftonbladet”, Scandinavia’s largest daily newspaper. However Miss Sweden, a female truck driver, a female minister and a sheep farmer have also been named Curator of Sweden and have shared their impressions of the country, confirming that Sweden is as diverse as the Swedes themselves.

Bild von pixelthing

Crowdsourcing Advertising Campaigns: “It’s more fun in the Philippines.”

tina — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:15:39 +0000

Europe is cold and longing for sun; distant holiday destinations lure with videos and photographs of beaches, palm trees and bikini-clad women. The fact that countries try to attract tourists with advertising campaigns is not new but the Philippine government is treading new paths. Instead of spending money on professional advertising film clips and expensive advertising writers it is letting the Crowd have a go: Under the motto “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” users of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are requested to post a short slogan about what is more fun in the Philippines than elsewhere. Add matching photographs and you’ve got a large-scale, meticulously designed advertising campaign.

According to information on the news page of dailycrowdsource the Philippine government expects to increase the number of tourists from 3.7 million in 2011 to 4.2 million this year. “What the social media has allowed us to do in such a short time is allow the most number of people to help build the brand by participating in the effort to define it more sharply”, says Ramon Jimenez, Tourism Secretary of the Philippines.

The strategy seems to be working: by February 8, the Facebook page of the campaign had over 17,000 fans, and the Twitter photo gallery encompassed 163 pages. Most of them contained humorous word-image combinations and photographs of beaches, landscapes and cheerful Filipinos; also a few ironic and macabre contributions that will be discarded by user votes. Some hotels, golf and yacht clubs have also recognized the opportunity and are advertising with paradisial photographs. But most of the contributions come from private individuals and amateur photographers.

Whether professional or not most of the photographs make you chuckle or invite you to dream… especially as long as Europe is freezing.

“Mountain Biking – It’s more fun in the philippines” used with kind permission of Carlo P. Carlon

Searching for ET: When the Crowd Supports the Sciences

mandy — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:46:27 +0000

There is no doubt that for most of us mathematics was not our most fascinating and popular school subject. However, since time-consuming calculation of data is an essential prerequisite in modern science this area is also relying on support from the crowd.

Using an open-source program provided by the University of California in Berkeley, CPU intensive projects can be transferred by means of a network to the PCs of participating volunteers. Currently, approximately 570,000 personal computers are participating in the science projects. This enormous computing power can achieve twice as much as the fastest high-performance computer. Apart from the United States, Germany is also providing a large amount of computing power.

In Germany, the most popular website in this area is probably the German offshoot of SETI@home. Software for participation in SETI@home has been available as a download since 1999. With the help of their PC, every participant enables the scientists at Berkeley University to search the universe for extraterrestrial life in outer space. By doing so Internet-connected computers have already produced 2.3 million CPU years.

But not only astronomers rely on the impact of the crowd. Several biomedical projects are also relying on the principle of distributed computing. Currently these networks are engaged in fighting a number of diseases including AIDS, leishmaniosis and malaria.

The number of distributed computing projects that can be processed is practically limitless. Nevertheless, despite the elation about joint problem solving, volunteers must not forget that when their PCs are operating at full load they will consume much more electricity than under normal household conditions.

image source: http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/index.html

Google Map Maker – The Crowd Maps the World

judith — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:37:46 +0000

Our world is changing at an incredible pace and since the Internet giant “Google” is also aware of the fact it is putting its trust in the Crowd to keep its “Google Maps” service up-to-date.

The service offered by “Google Maps” – in particular the “Google Street View” tool – has been highly controversial from the very start. Many people feel that it endangers their privacy and criticize the detailed collection and online disclosure of our living space. Nevertheless, many of us use the online maps regularly. With the help of “Google Maps” you can quickly calculate the fastest route to the movies or use “Google Earth” to check where to find the best parking spaces in a foreign city.

With “Google Maps”, “Google Navigation” and “Google Earth” we get cartographic views of large parts of the world and search for, save or rate places, calculate routes and more. However our environment is subject to continuous change: new high-rises built here, old buildings torn down there, streets rebuilt and new trails discovered. How can the Internet giant keep its cartographic services up-to-date when things change at such a breathtaking pace? The Crowd can help.

With the new version of “Google Map Makers” the Google community can capture all the geographic changes in our world and secure the up-to-dateness of the map service. The new options available in “Google Map Makers” enable every registered Google user to draw in newly built buildings, enter up interesting or missing information or add new streets and paths. Users can also share popular locations, for example their favourite restaurant or trendy shops with the community or help wanderers find off-beaten paths.

The Google team checks all of the updates made available by the users for accuracy and as soon as they are verified they are made public in the current maps.

If you are interested in more information about the “Google Map Maker” take a look at the following information video. Or post your questions directly in the General Map Maker Forum “Map your World Community“

Video-Link: http://youtu.be/qyXTvj-Mm9k

Social Seating Above the Clouds

judith — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:03:21 +0000

The fact that Social Media is playing an increasingly important part in advertising is not a secret anymore. The Dutch KLM airlines are now planning something unusual with their community. As reported in the weekly journal “Die Zeit” , KLM wants to offer a so-called “social seating service” as of 2012.

How social networks lead to encounters in the air

KLM has launched a new service called “meet and seat” that enables passengers to sit next to people with similar interests during their flight. The areas of interest are filtered through personal profiles in social networks. Passengers can share their Facebook or LinkedIn profile during their online booking. A special software then filters matching seat neighbors for the upcoming flight.

Know what to expect in advance

Meet kindred spirits above the clouds, talks about hobbies, profession or other interests; this is what the outcome of this new service could be. Up until now, airlines never revealed detailed information about whether a passenger knew who they would sitting next to or whether certain persons could even be ruled out before boarding the flight. We will soon find out how many social media fans will actually push the “Like” button and release their profile for social seating.

The development of a dating tool is also conceivable. When for example the relationship status plays a part in the software filter. So far, target groups are primarily business travelers who want to establish useful connections also when they are airborne.

image – pixelio.de, RainerSturm

Archived Memories: Crowdsourcing Unfolds History

mandy — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:03:21 +0000

Europeana 1914 -1918: Attic Finds are Storehouses of Knowledge

Not too long ago we reported on the archive project “Europeana 1914-1918″. In March 2011, in cooperation with the University of Oxford, the digital database “Europeana” invited the general public to contribute private memorabilia from the First World War and participate in the creation of a historic database.

This Europe-wide crowdsourcing action that will continue until 2014 has been very well received. The interest is also reflected in the 27,000 image files in the newly created database. During a series of eight roadshows that took place between March and July 2011, attic finds including postcards, letters, diaries and photos were professionally digitised. Those who could not attend the roadshows in Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Erfurt, Dresden, Kiel or Regensburg could submit their memorabilia online after registering on the Internet site of the project. The exact description and tagging of the material collected helped create an impressive archive that highlights both historical facts as well as personal experiences.

The Memory of the Nation: Moving Images of Poignant History

The non-profit association “Gedächtnis der Nation” (Memory of the Nation) specialises in the collection of moving images. Equipped with a mobile recording studio, the “Jahrhundertbus” (Century Bus) toured across Germany between October and November 2011, to collect film material from contemporary witnesses who talked about important events of the 20th century. To make the action accessible for the crowd, an upload function for video material via a YouTube channel was provided. Therefore, equipped with a video mobile or a video camera, everyone was able to go in search of poignant stories told by contemporary witnesses and share them (after editorial screening) with other interested viewers. So far the outcome amounts to approximately 230 interviews that share vivid and honest biographies of life between the wartime and National Socialist eras, the building and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
—–
“postcard”
- submitted by: Dr. Sven Mahmens
- title: Wiesener, H. – Portraitpostkarte
- source: http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/de/contributions/658

„Jahrhundertbus“
-source: http://www.pragenturhamburg.de/opz/gedachtnis-der-nation/pressebilder/