It has been a long time since I’ve put my whole heart behind a project.
And with that I point you to Assignment Zero.
There is not a link, graphic or word on the site that I have not touched, scrutinized or thought about deleting and starting from scratch. Looking at the final product — I couldn’t be more proud of myself and the amazing team of people I’ve worked with (see below).
In college I helped start an undergraduate philosophy journal, Harvest Moon. It became a creative outlet of some sort — I was producing something that added the flow of information.
I think my drive in journalism is from a desire to be Hunter s. Thompson. I am not an artistic writer who ponders over prose. But I do believe in being a part of the flow of information, the broader goal of journalism — to be a conduit through which the public gets informed. And in many ways Assignment Zero, which is the first national attempt of doing networked journalism, is a new height in this pursuit for me.
Instead of newspapers or journalism being the destination through which people become informed — behind the gate of a journalist who covets their sources. They will become hubs where the public can inform each other, where journalists will act as guides, not gatekeepers.
I could write for pages about Assignment Zero. What its theoretical model is. How the tools work, why teaming with Wired (my old employers) is a perfect match for this story, and how it can be done for future stories with different organizations.
But right now. I’m overworked and under-slept. Tomorrow Assignment Zero launches. On Friday I’m giving my first talk about it at the Innovation in College Media conference. And lucky for me, now I have something to talk about.
I will say this before I sign off — just like Harvest Moon, it is the team that has made this project happen, and I have been very lucky with an amazing group of people through which Assignment Zero has come about. For the last few months I’ve worked very closely with Lauren Sandler, Steve Fox, Amanda Michel, Zack Rosen, the team from Unified Design, Jeff Howe and of course — Jay Rosen has been pulling strings from the sideline.
I have learned a lot from them, and I hope they feel the same. Cheers guys!
True words. You all did a great job. And this is only the beginning. I can’t wait to see what happens…
This sounds like a fantastic idea, I love the simple yet compelling logo. News aggregators are already beginning to bring the power of smaller and amateur journalists to the forefront, and projects like yours will hopefully take it to the next level. I look forward to seeing it (if it’s already up, for some reason I can’t view it yet).