Collaborative journalism seems to be taking steps forward online, thanks to wiki’s.
One entrepreneur created a website and originally hired freelancers to create articles. However:
“To his surprise he found that many of the entries generated by Internet users — free — were more informative than those written by freelancers.”
Is this the same as traditional journalism? Perhaps not, but these lines are already blurring online. And people’s desire to collaborate should not be understated:
“Sondra Crane, a 75-year-old retiree who lives in Altamonte Springs, Fla., has written scores of entries for wikiHow on subjects both practical (how to make pot roast) and profound (how to get old without feeling old). “I’ve been writing all my life and I always wanted to have my name known,” she said. “I’d like to get paid — I put a lot of hours in. But it’s nice to know that people are being helped.”
In related news, Aaron Swartz offers further insight into exactly Who Writes Wikipedia?