The 5th Estate: Citizen News

Trust networks, Peer to Peer in Everyday Things

Barbara Iverson — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:36:51 +0000

“The holy grails of consumerism are convenience and choice,” says Rachel Botsman, co-author of the forthcoming book, “What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption.” “This is not the end of the old consumer way. But they could sit side by side. Peer-to-peer could become the default way to share.”

via Ping – Renting Out Home Belongings Over the Internet – NYTimes.com.

Michele McLellan | Reynolds Journalism Institute | University of Missouri

Barbara Iverson — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:01:23 +0000

Michele McLellan | Reynolds Journalism Institute | University of Missouri.

Survey data about citizen and community news.

Tish Grier’s E-Media Tips on New Models of Content Production

Barbara Iverson — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:07:06 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

Open Mic sites have their roots in the “Speaker’s Corner.” People drive the content production on these sites. Both Associated Content and Helium.com have Open Mic components to their content production models. Demand Media may be adding this to their offerings in the near future as well.

Buzz Brokers analyze search trends and put out calls for stories. Associated Content has incorporated this model, and this is the primary content model at Demand Media
Pro-Am sites reach out to people in neighborhoods who can contribute. Its roots are in the stringer model of local newspapers, and these models seek to develop their contributors’ skills. Helium and Examiner.com make use of aspects of this mode

via Poynter Online – E-Media Tidbits.

Journalists Worried About Content Farms Are Missing The Point: The Web Has Always Been Filled With Crap (techdirt.com)

Publishers Need Popcorn, Not Paywalls | paidContent

Barbara Iverson — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:24:14 +0000

Publishers Need Popcorn, Not Paywalls | paidContent.

Journalism 2.0 | Mark Briggs | A conversation about journalism and technology » Cross-Newsroom Collaboration: The New Reality

Barbara Iverson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:55:28 +0000

Journalism 2.0 | Mark Briggs | A conversation about journalism and technology » Cross-Newsroom Collaboration: The New Reality.

At Yahoo, Using Queries to Steer News Coverage – NYTimes.com

Barbara Iverson — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:19:31 +0000

: Image by biverson via Flickr

Yahoo software continuously tracks common words, phrases and topics that are popular among users across its vast online network. To help create content for the blog, called The Upshot, a team of people will analyze those patterns and pass along their findings to Yahoo’s news staff of two editors and six bloggers.The news staff will then use that search data to create articles that — if the process works as intended — will allow them to focus more precisely on readers.

via At Yahoo, Using Queries to Steer News Coverage – NYTimes.com.

SEOs & Publishers Mock Yahoo For Discovering Search Trends For News Creation (seroundtable.com)

File-sharing has weakened copyright—and helped society

Barbara Iverson — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:54:27 +0000

“Data on the supply of new works are consistent with our argument that file sharing did not discourage authors and publishers,” they write in their paper, “File-sharing and Copyright” PDF. “The publication of new books rose by 66 percent over the 2002-2007 period. Since 2000, the annual release of new music albums has more than doubled, and worldwide feature film production is up by more than 30 percent since 2003… In our reading of the evidence there is little to suggest that the new technology has discouraged artistic production. Weaker copyright protection, it seems, has benefited society.”

via File-sharing has weakened copyright—and helped society.

Orszag’s Behavioralists Sway Obama Policy on Health, Finance – BusinessWeek

Barbara Iverson — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:32:17 +0000

Generations of college economics students have been taught that consumers are rational creatures who make financial decisions by weighing price against usefulness. The alternative view, seeping into the Obama Administration, argues it’s not just about money. Social pressure and the way choices are presented can be just as important. It’s a new role for government: Pennsylvania Avenue as counterweight to Madison Avenue.

via Orszag’s Behavioralists Sway Obama Policy on Health, Finance – BusinessWeek.

Predictably Irrational: subjecting the “rational consumer” hypothesis to scientific scrutiny – Boing Boing

Barbara Iverson — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:46:21 +0000

Predictably Irrational: subjecting the “rational consumer” hypothesis to scientific scrutiny – Boing Boing.

The L3C: A More Creative Capitalism |

Barbara Iverson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:18:15 +0000

The L3C: A More Creative Capitalism |. (an excerpt)

The goal of the L3C form is to bring together a mix of investment money from a variety of sources. This process starts with investments from Foundations known as Program Related Investments (PRIs). Foundations are required to spend at least five percent of their assets in a given fiscal year in order to maintain their tax-exempt status. They have two basic options for spending their money: they can make grants, where there is no financial return on the money, or they can make program-related investments (PRIs) investing in for-profit ventures and potentially earn a return.
But to qualify as a PRI, the investment must relate to the Foundation’s mission and the risk/reward ratio must exceed that of a standard market-driven investment (ie, the risk must be higher, and the return lower). Surprisingly, the use of PRIs by Foundations is limited even with the potential to earn a small return. Because of burdensome and costly IRS requirements to verify PRIs, many foundations shy away from investing in for-profit ventures due to the uncertainty of whether they would qualify as PRIs.

Unlike the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), the L3C is explicitly formed to further a socially beneficial mission. The L3C’s operating agreement specifically outlines its PRI-qualified purpose. This should make it much easier for Foundations to make program related investments in social ventures while ensuring their tax-exempt status remains secure.

Like the LLC, the L3C is able to form flexible partnerships where ownership rights can be tailored to meet the requirements of each partner. This flexibility permits a tranched or layered investment and ownership structure. The Foundation’s L3C membership stake provides for a very low rate of return and can be subordinate to the other investors. Because the Foundation can invest through PRIs at less than the market rate while embracing higher risk levels, this lowers the risk to other investors and increases their potential rate of return. So the remaining L3C memberships can then be marketed at risk/return profiles necessary to attract market driven investors.