On Wed, 2010-03-17 at 11:24 +0000, Peter Coombe wrote: > On 17 March 2010 04:06, Brian McNeil <[email protected]> wrote: > > > It was at short notice we were seeking competition sponsorship - with > > the hope this would bring in a lot of competitors. It did not go as well > > as I would have liked, and several reasonably established contributors > > somewhat gamed the system by writing just-qualifying articles in > > preference to the in-depth work I hoped to solicit. > > ... > > So, to return to the writing competition, I think it has - to some > > extent - be written off as a failure... > > Brian, I don't think this is a fair assessment either for the compo > entrants or for you organising the competition. One of the most common > complaints about Wikinews seems to be that we simply don't cover > *enough* stories to be a real news source, worth checking regularly. > In-depth pieces are great, but we also need the shorter stories - and > writing them ought to be rewarded too. Besides, some people just find > it easier and more fun to do. Maybe tweaking the points system a > little would make for a more interesting race, but there was no way to > know until we tried it, and now we have a better idea about next time.
You're probably right that I'm being unduly hard, but you know I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. > > As it is, the compo has produced quite a few new articles, and more > importantly new contributors. Personally, I know I'm not doing > brilliantly, but it has encouraged me to add the extra little bit to > my stories. Plus it stopped me bringing in articles from Voice of > America, which I'm sure you're pleased about :-) I'm certainly happy to see quite a few more people such as yourself start contributing articles. Yes, a lot are going to be fairly short pieces - that's always somewhat of an issue with new contributors; master the three-paragraph form, and then move on to more in-depth pieces. I do want to see if I can keep lines of communication open with Fabrice and others at NewsTrust. There's really very little competition entries I'd say qualify for the in-depth stuff they're really interested it, but it is a valuable connection to maintain. I just don't know how we can involve them in some sort of post-mortem of the competition and, perhaps for future attempts, round up some Knight Foundation funding for real citizen-journalism oriented prizes. [I'm thinking Lexis-Nexis subscriptions, digital voice recorders, and low-mid-range camera kit.] -- Brian McNeil <[email protected]> Wikinewsie.org
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