Crowdsourcing with real journalists

As to good journalism, Advertising Age talks with the editors of Mother Jones magazine about, among other things, it's foray into crowdsourcing using real journalists. Crowdsourcing is the theory, popular with new media types, that a mass of people reporting on a story will give a more complete version with participants correcting each other. Co-editor Clara Jefferies says the project on global warming will be discussed at a meeting soon: "participants at the initial meeting will likely include Slate, Grist, The Atlantic, Wired, Pro Publica, the Center for Investigative Reporting, MoJo of course, and maybe one or two others."

This is more evidence of maturing in new media, and a dedication to getting things right. This, frankly, is an exciting project, and I hope it does well. I'm currently setting up a journalism project for a graduate class with input from at least the Journal Sentinel and WISN-TV. While Marquette students will do the reporting, they'll do it with guidance and advice from the other professionals.