US: portal to help pro-am online journalism

 
KCNN was created to help both citizen journalists and professionals. The portal aims to “help citizens use digital media in ways that enrich community, enhance public discourse and enliven democracy,” reports J-lab, which manages KCNN.org. But KCNN also “seeks to open doors for traditional news organizations seeking to embrace user-generated content.”

In a way, KCNN embraces new and traditional media convergence: it aims to teach professional practices to citizens and incorporate more user-generated content in professional journalism.

The site will offer a few key resources, useful to both citizens and professionals:

- database of US citizen journalism websites
- Editorial selection of “Things We Like” among US news websites
- Interviews about citizen journalism
- Reasearch and case studies to train citizen journalists

The site was funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation and was developed with the contributions of prominent new media figures such as Amy Gahran, Adam Glenn and Dan Gillmor.

Source: J-lab through Ifra Executive News Service