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I think we need something a little more revolutionary for news than holding current news sources to account, or fact-checking tools. Most of the problems we see

I think we need something a little more revolutionary for news than holding current news sources to account, or fact-checking tools. Most of the problems we see in our news outlets are around the competition for attention as the article says, but also around old business models for newspapers/tv which still haven't changed to adapt to a world in which anyone can report from anywhere live using a simple phone and anyone in the world could contribute to a story, if only they'd let them. Better something that encourages primary sources on the ground to contribute (video, text audio), and puts them in context chronologically, geographically and perhaps socially, but is not based on an advertising business model. Difficult to know what it could look like to but we need something fundamentally new which uses the internet not just as another medium.

CM30 10y ago
It's an interesting idea, and one I've been thinking about for a while. Issue is, I think that's kind of what social media is meant for. Anyone can contribute news as a primary source and share it with others online via sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. So my worry is that any system like this would basically be just another social media service (albeit with a 'news slant' in the marketing material) and therefore be very difficult to promote. User created news is an idea that seems obvious and logical in theory, just very hard to promote in a world where it's competing with thousands of other services offering (in your user's eyes) very similar functionality.
- grey-area 10y ago
  Yes sure, Twitter (moments) and fb (live) are converging on this to some extent. I'm thinking of something less social and more verifiable source of info though. You'd need incentives to keep it real, probably some form of verifying in a local web of trust, and incentives to read/watch so grouping by geography and interest. I'm thinking more make your own local newspaper than share videos to your friends. Probably you'd have to start in a niche like school news and expand out. Twitter is really interesting here because they are making and breaking news and being used as a broadcast medium in spite of huge failings for that use (spam, trolls), I think they're the closest thing but still a long way from something letting people publish verified info to the world in chunks bigger than a procrustean tweet.
  - CM30 10y ago
    Thanks for clarifying on this. Such a system definitely needs a way to verify news, though I'm not quite how a web of trust might be integrated here. Grouping by geography and interest is definitely needed (Medium/WordPress style tags can help with both here, especially if users can follow/subscribe to them). Making your own newspaper sounds interesting as well. You mean like a sort of blog or Medium publication? Or a social network type feed?
    - grey-area 10y ago
      I think you need the feeds from verified individuals first, then you need some new way to integrate those resembling neither Twitter nor newspapers but tailored to specific audiences who know their stuff and can contribute/correct too. There should be no comments section, the article should be made of comments with context and commentary. For example some people do stats, some do a map some do commentary from the ground, and maybe someone ties it together. What are your thoughts on the way news should evolve, I'm genuinely really interested in this area.

CM30 10y ago

It's an interesting idea, and one I've been thinking about for a while. Issue is, I think that's kind of what social media is meant for. Anyone can contribute news as a primary source and share it with others online via sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. So my worry is that any system like this would basically be just another social media service (albeit with a 'news slant' in the marketing material) and therefore be very difficult to promote. User created news is an idea that seems obvious and logical in theory, just very hard to promote in a world where it's competing with thousands of other services offering (in your user's eyes) very similar functionality.

grey-area 10y ago
Yes sure, Twitter (moments) and fb (live) are converging on this to some extent. I'm thinking of something less social and more verifiable source of info though. You'd need incentives to keep it real, probably some form of verifying in a local web of trust, and incentives to read/watch so grouping by geography and interest. I'm thinking more make your own local newspaper than share videos to your friends. Probably you'd have to start in a niche like school news and expand out. Twitter is really interesting here because they are making and breaking news and being used as a broadcast medium in spite of huge failings for that use (spam, trolls), I think they're the closest thing but still a long way from something letting people publish verified info to the world in chunks bigger than a procrustean tweet.
- CM30 10y ago
  Thanks for clarifying on this. Such a system definitely needs a way to verify news, though I'm not quite how a web of trust might be integrated here. Grouping by geography and interest is definitely needed (Medium/WordPress style tags can help with both here, especially if users can follow/subscribe to them). Making your own newspaper sounds interesting as well. You mean like a sort of blog or Medium publication? Or a social network type feed?
  - grey-area 10y ago
    I think you need the feeds from verified individuals first, then you need some new way to integrate those resembling neither Twitter nor newspapers but tailored to specific audiences who know their stuff and can contribute/correct too. There should be no comments section, the article should be made of comments with context and commentary. For example some people do stats, some do a map some do commentary from the ground, and maybe someone ties it together. What are your thoughts on the way news should evolve, I'm genuinely really interested in this area.