Yesterday in my Reinventing the News class, we were introduced to NewsTrust, a social networking Web site that allows users to rate, critique and add to stories published in the mainstream media.
While I generally am not in favor of sites that emphasize rating stories because they often drag up the ridiculously insane or fanatic celebrity stories rather than the more important issues of the day, this site seems to have avoided that pitfall. While some of the highest rated stories are not necessarily the most important of the day, they at least delve into substantive issues or cover important events rather than a young, egotistical celebrity getting drunk or having a baby.
I also appreciate the depth with which one can evaluate the stories. This includes fairness, context, evidence, balance and several other factors. This forces reviewers to think much harder about the quality of journalism contained in the article being reviewed rather than simply whether they liked the piece. I think this element attracts an audience that is interested in or has practiced journalism and truly cares about highlighting quality stories.
The daily e-mails sent to registered users are another great feature. They provide a general topic that NewsTrust will focus on for the week and offer links to some of the higher rated stories that day. The topic concept is a great idea since users can go out and search their favorite news sources for stories on the topic, then comment and review it on NewsTrust.
That said, there are still some issues with the site. First, as it is including essentially the entire world, there are some major gaps. For example, if one looks only at Boston Globe articles, there are only a few each week although there is certainly more quality stories published by that newspaper. This is probably because the site is relatively new and, therefore, does not have a comprehensive membership yet.
Additionally, I am not a fan of divulging much information online, so I am somewhat turned away by the fact that one’s ratings count more as they are more transparent. But, I realize the benefit is that it creates a more meaningful discussion of the news. Overall, this is one of the better news aggregation/social networking sites I have seen this semester and one I could see myself using occasionally.
Showing posts with label web journalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web journalism. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thoughts on 9Neighbors
In my Reinventing the News class today, we were introduced to 9Neighbors, a news aggregation Web site that sorts its links by readers comments for Boston and the surrounding towns of Cambridge, Newton and Somerville.
Having the site sorted by the highest ranked story brings to light some of the quirkier links rather than the most important or newsworthy. To solve this, there should at least be an option (if not the default option) to have the posts sorted by newsworthiness as determined by an editor rather than the masses. That said, if the site is going for a slice of life approach, it works well as is.
Interestingly, as one digs deeper into the site and delves into specific categories, one obtains varied perspectives that shed more light on an incident than a traditional news account does. For example, under the Central Square section, the top three links (as of Monday afternoon) involve a pedestrian accident that happened this morning. One is the traditional news account, the other a first person perspective and the third is a post from Universal Hub that links to the other two (and provides a neat virtual image of the intersection through Google Map’s Street View, but that is a topic for another day). Being able to access these varying viewpoints on the same incident from one platform is an incredible resource.
At the same time, though, the Central Square page raises a key issue. The headlines of two of the links contain different facts - that the person is dead or just critically injured. Without a timestamp, it is unclear whether the person was injured and subsequently died or if both sites have conflicting information until digging deeper. This is a perfect place for someone at 9Neighbors to write an in-house blurb with the latest information.
So, as a slice of life, community networking Web site, 9Neighbors is wonderful. But, there is nothing that would make more inclined to read it instead of the Cambridge Chronicle’s Wicked Local site for Cambridge news. I might, however, turn to it to access first person perspectives sometimes not linked to on traditional news sites.
Having the site sorted by the highest ranked story brings to light some of the quirkier links rather than the most important or newsworthy. To solve this, there should at least be an option (if not the default option) to have the posts sorted by newsworthiness as determined by an editor rather than the masses. That said, if the site is going for a slice of life approach, it works well as is.
Interestingly, as one digs deeper into the site and delves into specific categories, one obtains varied perspectives that shed more light on an incident than a traditional news account does. For example, under the Central Square section, the top three links (as of Monday afternoon) involve a pedestrian accident that happened this morning. One is the traditional news account, the other a first person perspective and the third is a post from Universal Hub that links to the other two (and provides a neat virtual image of the intersection through Google Map’s Street View, but that is a topic for another day). Being able to access these varying viewpoints on the same incident from one platform is an incredible resource.
At the same time, though, the Central Square page raises a key issue. The headlines of two of the links contain different facts - that the person is dead or just critically injured. Without a timestamp, it is unclear whether the person was injured and subsequently died or if both sites have conflicting information until digging deeper. This is a perfect place for someone at 9Neighbors to write an in-house blurb with the latest information.
So, as a slice of life, community networking Web site, 9Neighbors is wonderful. But, there is nothing that would make more inclined to read it instead of the Cambridge Chronicle’s Wicked Local site for Cambridge news. I might, however, turn to it to access first person perspectives sometimes not linked to on traditional news sites.
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