Comments on: Demand Media, AOL’s Seed and Spring Break for the Internet (SXSW) Day Two http://blog.digidave.org/2010/03/demand-media-seed-and-spring-break-for-the-internet-sxsw-day-two Journalism is a Process, Not a Product Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:45:43 +0000 hourly 1 By: One Man’s Exploitation is Another Man’s Civic Engagement « DigiDave http://blog.digidave.org/2010/03/demand-media-seed-and-spring-break-for-the-internet-sxsw-day-two/comment-page-1#comment-66296 One Man’s Exploitation is Another Man’s Civic Engagement « DigiDave Sat, 01 May 2010 19:55:26 +0000 http://blog.digidave.org/?p=2332#comment-66296 [...] SXSW I wrote about Demand Media and Seed. As Nieman pointed out I concluded that “journalists shouldn’t be worried about [Demand [...] [...] SXSW I wrote about Demand Media and Seed. As Nieman pointed out I concluded that “journalists shouldn’t be worried about [Demand [...]

]]> By: This Week in Review: Loads of SXSW ideas, Pew’s state of the news, and a dire picture of local TV news | Mark Coddington http://blog.digidave.org/2010/03/demand-media-seed-and-spring-break-for-the-internet-sxsw-day-two/comment-page-1#comment-62545 This Week in Review: Loads of SXSW ideas, Pew’s state of the news, and a dire picture of local TV news | Mark Coddington Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:58:14 +0000 http://blog.digidave.org/?p=2332#comment-62545 [...] “AOL is shelling out cash and providing great space for potentially terrible content.” David Cohn of Spot.Us compared AOL to the most notorious content farm, Demand Media, concluding that journalists [...] [...] “AOL is shelling out cash and providing great space for potentially terrible content.” David Cohn of Spot.Us compared AOL to the most notorious content farm, Demand Media, concluding that journalists [...]

]]> By: This Week in Review: Loads of SXSW ideas, Pew’s state of the news, and a dire picture of local TV news » Nieman Journalism Lab http://blog.digidave.org/2010/03/demand-media-seed-and-spring-break-for-the-internet-sxsw-day-two/comment-page-1#comment-61713 This Week in Review: Loads of SXSW ideas, Pew’s state of the news, and a dire picture of local TV news » Nieman Journalism Lab Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:11:20 +0000 http://blog.digidave.org/?p=2332#comment-61713 [...] “AOL is shelling out cash and providing great space for potentially terrible content.” David Cohn of Spot.Us compared AOL to the most notorious content farm, Demand Media, concluding that journalists [...] [...] “AOL is shelling out cash and providing great space for potentially terrible content.” David Cohn of Spot.Us compared AOL to the most notorious content farm, Demand Media, concluding that journalists [...]

]]> By: Digidave http://blog.digidave.org/2010/03/demand-media-seed-and-spring-break-for-the-internet-sxsw-day-two/comment-page-1#comment-61605 Digidave Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:39:24 +0000 http://blog.digidave.org/?p=2332#comment-61605 Saul Thanks for leaving a comment. I actually totally agree with you re: the subject matter doesn't define if something is journalism or not. It is totally possible to write a news/journalism article about cupcakes and butterflies. What I was trying to articulate was about how the vast majority of content from Demand Media is really answering DIY or How To questions. Writing an article about 'how to cook a cupcake in 10 minutes" or "the difference between a north and south American butterfly" or other 'how to's' or informal encyclopedic entries are not. That's what the person who had the cupcakes and butterflies quote was talking about.) In this space we might be talking more about Demand Media than Seed. That is actually something that I left out in the post above and I apologize. It makes sense that people are discussing both Seed and Demand Media together. At the same time, I see subtle differences. One of them I mention above: Seed in hiring you has made an obvious decision to include a sense of editorial in its process that I thin is lacking in Demand Media. I think as a result of that - Seed may be stepping a bit into the journalism space. Definitley more than Demand Media whose CEO's I believe would agree with me - they aren't in the journalism spcae. What you are doing at SXSW interviewing the bands is indeed journalism. In fact, that's the subject of a whole other post: Is distributed reporting now within our reach. I worked on Assignment Zero with Jay Rosen which was arguably one of the first conscious distributed reporting projects. I am a big believer that you can distribute the workload of reporting across many different people (conversely Spot.Us is based on the idea that we can distribute the financial load of journalism across many different people and keep the work load on one person). I think what Seed is doing is terribly exciting in that respect. I've brainstormed several ideas of stories that could be really cool to do in distributed reporting and if Seed could pull them off: I think it would be a boon for the world. Saul
Thanks for leaving a comment.

I actually totally agree with you re: the subject matter doesn’t define if something is journalism or not.

It is totally possible to write a news/journalism article about cupcakes and butterflies.

What I was trying to articulate was about how the vast majority of content from Demand Media is really answering DIY or How To questions.

Writing an article about ‘how to cook a cupcake in 10 minutes” or “the difference between a north and south American butterfly” or other ‘how to’s’ or informal encyclopedic entries are not. That’s what the person who had the cupcakes and butterflies quote was talking about.)

In this space we might be talking more about Demand Media than Seed.

That is actually something that I left out in the post above and I apologize.

It makes sense that people are discussing both Seed and Demand Media together. At the same time, I see subtle differences. One of them I mention above: Seed in hiring you has made an obvious decision to include a sense of editorial in its process that I thin is lacking in Demand Media.

I think as a result of that – Seed may be stepping a bit into the journalism space. Definitley more than Demand Media whose CEO’s I believe would agree with me – they aren’t in the journalism spcae.

What you are doing at SXSW interviewing the bands is indeed journalism.

In fact, that’s the subject of a whole other post: Is distributed reporting now within our reach.

I worked on Assignment Zero with Jay Rosen which was arguably one of the first conscious distributed reporting projects. I am a big believer that you can distribute the workload of reporting across many different people (conversely Spot.Us is based on the idea that we can distribute the financial load of journalism across many different people and keep the work load on one person). I think what Seed is doing is terribly exciting in that respect.

I’ve brainstormed several ideas of stories that could be really cool to do in distributed reporting and if Seed could pull them off: I think it would be a boon for the world.

]]> By: Saul Hansell http://blog.digidave.org/2010/03/demand-media-seed-and-spring-break-for-the-internet-sxsw-day-two/comment-page-1#comment-61558 Saul Hansell Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:55:00 +0000 http://blog.digidave.org/?p=2332#comment-61558 David- Interesting thoughts. I think your observations about Wikipedia are apt. Sometimes paying people is not the right answer. At Seed, we emphasize how we give people the reporter's opportunity to have a front-row seat to the world as well as pay them money. I do take issue with your assertion that "What Demand Media and Seed are doing isn’t necessarily journalism." How is hiring freelancers to interview the 2000 bands at SXSW anything other than journalism? Frankly, I don't think that there is any shame in writing about “cupcakes and butterflies” if that's what readers are interested in. I got into journalism to help people by being an agent for their curiosity, spending my time finding things out that they wanted to know. Sometimes those things were about important issues of the day. Other times, they were fun facts, or useful tips to make some part of their lives easier. If we write an article on cupcakes, judge it by whether it is fresh, useful and interesting, not because the writer was hired through Seed, rather than being a regular freelancer for Martha Stewart Living or on the staff of the food section of the New York Times. David-
Interesting thoughts. I think your observations about Wikipedia are apt. Sometimes paying people is not the right answer. At Seed, we emphasize how we give people the reporter’s opportunity to have a front-row seat to the world as well as pay them money.

I do take issue with your assertion that “What Demand Media and Seed are doing isn’t necessarily journalism.” How is hiring freelancers to interview the 2000 bands at SXSW anything other than journalism?

Frankly, I don’t think that there is any shame in writing about “cupcakes and butterflies” if that’s what readers are interested in. I got into journalism to help people by being an agent for their curiosity, spending my time finding things out that they wanted to know. Sometimes those things were about important issues of the day. Other times, they were fun facts, or useful tips to make some part of their lives easier.

If we write an article on cupcakes, judge it by whether it is fresh, useful and interesting, not because the writer was hired through Seed, rather than being a regular freelancer for Martha Stewart Living or on the staff of the food section of the New York Times.

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