Liquid Newsroom - Concept Draft & Open Brainstorming

This list contains the first feedback from readers of my Twitter/stkonrath account.

How the process works:
I would like to collect the feedback to become part of the innovation process. The feedback will already be organized so that it can flow directly into the product development process. It can be of form <statement> or <question>, which needs to be answered. Contributors will be listed behind a statement or question.

The issues below include a "Questions we need to answer in this section:" part. Here I would like to collect the questions which come up with the contributions made.

Remember we start a crowdsourcing process. Let's see how it flows ;-)

General rules:
Since we started a virtual crowdsourced brainstorming session at that point I need to say, that I try to include all feedback which either is a question, a concern or anything else, which helps us to understand how the "Liquid Newsroom" should behave, look like, work, etc.

Coach yourself to be free to think that we can make anything happen, we would like the system to do.

Concept Draft - version:2010-08-06

1. Liquid Stories
   They can cover a diverse set of topics. Topic of interest: "your_city", "politics", "sports", "health issues" (e.g. cancer), and many more. So do not stick to only traditional topics. Free your mind. They pop up if there's a need to collect information. (@girlzoo)
   
   Questions we need to answer in this section:
   Q: What if more than one person would like to curate a topic?
   Q: Shall we rely on a process of "contributions-by-a-trusted-source"? In that case we do not allow someone to decide upon what to include and what not? maybe we leave it up to the community to hide information, they wouldn't like to read?
   
2. Business Model
   Q: @RolandLegrand: What will be the biz model?
   
   
   
3. Marketing & Branding
   Q: @ashy1975 wanted to know how Liquid Newsroom as a collaborative project can replicate traditional functions media organizations need like Marketing, Branding etc.
   
4. Use Case (roles? and scenario?)
   ROLE: topical lead: you feel responsible to collect information and would like to curate a news streams in this domain for a specific time.
   
   SCENARIO: There is a major incident where information from trusted sources need to collect.
   
   Questions we need to answer in this section:
   Q: Who controls the quality? A community mechanism (self-organizing community)?
   Q: What happens if more than one person picks a topic (e.g. earthquake, accident, any other natural desaster, ...)
   
5. Ethical Aspects / Code of Conduct
   Q: How would journalists build sensitive stories, protect sources? (@KMBTweets)
   
   Questions we need to answer in this section:
   Q: Why not use standard codex? I suppose we do not need to reinvent the wheel again
   
6. Technical Platform vs New Production Process
   Automation -
   The vision of a site spontaneously appearing organized around a topic implies a certain level of automation. Machines could help parse and compile useful data out of floods of info. In fact we can already observe such systems operating right now. But so far there is no concept of how they might become part of the News3.0 ecosystem which makes heavy use of cooperation (@midrivermusic)
   
   Human interaction -
   Algorithm based technical support is necessary but not sufficient to explain how the liquid newsroom might operate. As @ashy1975 outlines "human judgment in news selection still critical".

Comments

[Steffen Konrath]

Mike, thanks for your open words. I found them useful as feedback to my first draft of the call for participation. I re-edited the starting point. Maybe it is now easier to understand.

But don't forget: in a process of idea creation you sometimes have a vision, which becomes clearer throughout the process. What you've experienced, the confusion in your eyes, is a snapshot of a certain stage not the end point if there is any. The current article series which covers the Liquid Newsroom project are not subject to journalism in the traditional sense. It is a product development process and "liquid" at that point. Thanks again!

[Mike Hughes]

I only joined up today, and already I'm signing off. This is about journalism and communication, yet you're not telling a straight story that people can understand, appreciate and contribute to.
Forget about "curating a news streams in this domain for a specific time" and edit out "challenge the constant of space and organizational form...".
Collaborate.
Think it through.
Write stories.
Be clear and concise.