Crowdsourcing Meets Mainstream Media
Monday, January 16th, 2012
I’m pretty interested in how a community can crowdsource contributions. Whether it’s in blogs or in a collected volume, putting the labor and voices of many people toward one product can have dizzyingly powerful consequences.
But I’ll admit it — I was stunned to read yesterday’s announcement that Ladies’ Home Journal, a mainstay of middle-class American households for over 125 years, is going to begin having its readers write most of the content.
Interestingly enough, most crowdsourced projects are labors of love, but contributors to LHJ will be paid standard rates. That surprised me, too — I erroneously assumed that this was, in part, a cost-saving measure, as much of publishing is in financial flux.
I’m pretty interested in how a community can crowdsource contributions. Whether it’s in blogs or in a collected volume, putting the labor and voices of many people toward one product can have dizzyingly powerful consequences.
But I’ll admit it — I was stunned to read yesterday’s announcement that Ladies’ Home Journal, a mainstay of middle-class American households for over 125 years, is going to begin having its readers write most of the content.
Interestingly enough, most crowdsourced projects are labors of love, but contributors to LHJ will be paid standard rates. That surprised me, too — I erroneously assumed that this was, in part, a cost-saving measure, as much of publishing is in financial flux.
