Gothamist: Changing the way people receive their news

by Brian Henderson
On a typical day, a visitor to Gothamist.com can find sports scores, convert information, New York news, or just get the latest updates on the city's mysterious maple syrup smell. Editor Jen Chung and partner Jake Dobkin's sites are changing the way that people around the world are getting news. The sites, owned by Gothamist LLC, integrate blogging and Web 2.0 with some traditional reporting to give residents of fifteen different cities on four continents quick, easily digestible news content. Gothamist sifts through local news sources to give readers what it believes to be the most important stories of the day while taking advantage of the internet's ability to provide new information immediately. The blog is a successful model of the balance between professional and citizen journalism online.
-Interested in Brian Henderson's article? Contact him at bch2109@columbia.edu

Open Source Journalism and NewAssignment.net

by Anna-Katarina Gravgaard
Jay Rosen's new experiment in open-source journalism, NewAssignment.Net, is being met with great enthusiasm by both journalist and blogger. While there are many opportunities in open-source journalism, the question remains how this information can be attributed when working with anonymous sources and if it can be trusted at all. According to Rosen, a professor at New York University, NewAssignment.Net will involve web users in all aspects of the journalistic process, from idea generation to funding.
-Interested in Anna-Katarina Gravgaard's article? Contact her at ag2576@columbia.edu