Rockchucks – Innovation Incubator

OurMedia.org Vs The Collaboration Portal

OurMedia.org is an online forum that allows video producers and podcasters to show off their pieces and create niche communities that align with their content. Their motto, “We’re here for the community” is grounded in their features, which are described below. Although OurMedia.org appears to be largely video and podcast oriented, there is space for audio, images and text.

People can create their own channels which are “Media streams categorized by subject or interest .” There is a browsing function, browses, that lets users skim by media type, popularity, comments and more. Through the upload feature, a user can publish and show off their work. My Dashboard is a user preference and control tool that serves as the users account page and how the public sees the user. They have included a social networking tool on their page called Community and allows users to connect with one another.

There is not a tool that allows for editing of content. There is, however, a mash-up tool called producer showcase that features video, audio, and podcast content from all over the web. It links back to the originating site so that the artist/producer can get credit.

The entire site seems like one big showcasing event, not a collaboration tool. It is aimed at amateurs and even professionals who need an outlet to show off their works. They have employed the ideals behind social networking in order to gain momentum for their site. One does have to register. It’s a “20-second” process that allows users to post comments, create channels, publish works, and customize controls. In addition to the set up of OurMedia.org, they have included a Google search tool and made use of tags to organize and give context to the constant flow of information.

***OurMedia.org is not news based either, this is where I think that the obvious difference lies between this site and the Collaboration Portal.

Wikinews is a news website that stands alone, aside from any established online news website. Its primary function is for people – credentials or not – to write the news and for other people to help ad to it or correct it. They have a registration set up, but being registered does not make a difference as to whether or not you can write stories, edit, or make comments. It simply allows you to receive credit for your contributions and also sets you up with a minimal “homepage” that lets users know very few things about you. (They too have tried to stop it from becoming a social network instead of a news site)

The set up works like this:

Article, this tab is the page with the content, above the article are things like, “Please cite all sources” and “This article is breaking news and may change rapidly.” These are like disclaimers and reveal something about the site’s flippant nature. They provide a template for producing an article and giving attribution. After the article there is a place to post opinions. And a place to post sources as well. There are specific guidelines that wikinews asks their contributors to look at before writing an article. This is all contained within the Article tab.

Collaboration, this tab seems to be a mixture of comments/opinions and additional material for the article (most of the time it’s a picture). Some suggestions for editing seems to be going on here as well. In addition, they have a tool on the collaboration tab that allows you to see if a story has already been written about a specific topic. But I do not think that the collaboration tab is organized as well as it could be…not like I see ours being organized. The emphasis is really on just writing the article, and not on getting input from other people and creating a multi-platform story.

Opinion, this tab allows people to “write a letter to the editor.” People can post their opinion about the article and draw larger conclusions. You can post your user name, but it’s not required. It’s really a rant option…and those are always nice.

Edit this page allows users to make changes to a person’s submitted work. On this page, the article shows up in html language (I believe that’s what it is) and the user has to edit the article through that is provided in the html shell. On this page wikinews asks, in bold, that you not submit copyrighted work without permission. They make another disclosure about the nature of the news site with this note: “If you don’t want your writing to be edited mercilessly or redistributed by others, do not submit it.” This is not the extent of their policing, but I do believe they sell their site as a public forum in which user generated content AND user generated editing is paramount, saving any real policing for the big things (obscenity? threats? terrorism?). This was an interesting path, and I identify with it because it’s much like what a bank does: Sell you “protection” in the form of an account, but then give you disclosures that let you know that the bank doesn’t protect you that much, and what little protection they do offer is in their best interest. Side note, I used to work for a bank.

History, this tab shows all of the editing that has been done on the article. It’s sort of like the article’s medical chart. I must say it is very confusing. I originally thought the history portion would be about the history of the article’s topic and possibly a history about where the article has been (previous articles), where it went (subsequent articles) and stuff like that. I think this type of history might be beneficial in our idea.

There are so many different parts of wikinews besides the tabs though. There is a browsing tool that allows the user to browse through articles by region, topic, all categories, date, and best articles. There is a News Room, which is the “hub” of wikinews and allows users to see what articles are being written, see what they can provide to articles, and get resources and tools to write for wikinews. **This was probably the part of our idea that mirrors wikinews the most** The water cooler section allows user to give feedback about wikinews. The feedback is broken into five topics: policy, technical, proposals, assistance, and miscellaneous. This adds to the collaborative aspect of the site. They also have news quizzes as well, testing how much of a news monger you were during the week.

I don’t think our idea is exactly like wikinews, but there are definite similarities. Our idea is attached to an actual news site and it will not be the basis for the news. Wikinews is the news. I think that we could better design our idea. Wikinews is not as design friendly as it could and there is too much text. Maybe we could set up some sort of affirmative action program concerning news platforms. X amount of text only, X amount of pictures, X amount of video, X amount of interactive games, I think it could be more inviting. Take a look at wikinews though, it really gets your brain stirring about our idea.

I suppose a GAP has been closed. Google and the AP have teamed up to prevent so much duplication in news stories, and as such, people will be directed right to the original story at the AP versus one of the other thousands of companies who receive their info from the AP. Should we be worried?

Has anyone ever heard of Buzznet? It popped up on my computer screen today and it looked sort of like an aggregate of music and multi-media entertainment plus a little bit of digg, and social networking. Check it out, there’s a portion for “Featured Member Media,” and members post stories and rate. Pretty cool aggregate for entertainment.

http://www.buzznet.com/assets/home-static.html

Jenna

Seven area colleges are partnering with the [Rochester] Democrat and Chronicle to develop a Web site as well as a print companion aimed at college students.

The intercollegiate multimedia program will debut in mid-August, just before the start of the school year. “This is a program we decided to start with local universities to offer students an intercollegiate Web site for students, by students,” said Jane Sutter, general manager of custom content for the Democrat and Chronicle.

A group of interns from the participating colleges is working at the Democrat and Chronicle to come up with content ideas, Sutter said, noting the multimedia project will be “heavily focused on what to do in Rochester.”

The program will also provide an opportunity for students to learn about what is happening on other campuses, Sutter said. The current list of participating schools includes Rochester Institute of Technology, Nazareth College, St. John Fisher College, the State University colleges at Brockport and Geneseo, Roberts Wesleyan College and Monroe Community College.

The Democrat and Chronicle embarked on the partnership with the colleges because of the need for a stronger connection among the schools and the Rochester community, said Michael G. Kane, president and publisher.

“With roughly 80,000 students within a 50-mile radius of Rochester, the first thing that dawned on me is this is a great college town,” Kane said. “We’ve got an audience in Rochester that’s a gem.

“What we’re trying to do is create a collective voice” for the students, he said. “That, to me, is exciting enough, but add in a component whereby that voice can interact and become more engaged in a community that wants to keep young people here – I think that has great potential for all involved.”

The project is a true partnership, with each college as well as the Democrat and Chronicle contributing financially, Kane said. The intercollegiate program’s first goal is to build an audience. Down the road, he said, there will be an economic development initiative to help retain young talent in the area.

Kara Race, a 2004 graduate of St. John Fisher who received a master’s degree from Syracuse University, is the editor of the project, working with college students to develop ideas. All of the participating colleges have campus publications, Race said, noting the intercollegiate project will be entirely different.

“We don’t want to step on their toes. We want to take it to the next level. The whole point is to tie college students to Rochester,” she said. Jaimen Brill, 23, a senior at RIT, likes the possibility of connecting with students at other schools through a Web site.

“There are a lot of things going on at other schools. Right now, there’s no connection,” Brill said. “At RIT, a lot of people are from out of town. They don’t know what’s going on at other schools.”

Nazareth President Daan Braveman said his college decided to participate for three reasons: it is important for college students on different campuses to connect with each other; the community should promote itself as a college town; and it is an opportunity for Nazareth students interested in media to get into the field.

“Higher ed is the major industry in the community,” Braveman said. “We, the colleges, see the value in promoting the area as a higher education region.”

MCHAO@DemocratandChronicle.com

Transit Maps.