The Strategic Planning wiki is a good place to discuss this idea and how it changed and/or implemented: http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals/Geonotice_improvements http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Proposals/Geonotice_improvements
-Sage On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Sage Ross<ragesoss+wikipe...@gmail.com> wrote: > One of the great frustrations of Wikinews for me is that it doesn't > have a system for identifying and pointing users toward opportunities > to get out into the offline world and do original reporting. A > fine-grained cross-project opt-in geonotice system could be a > solution. > > Here's how I imagine it working: there is a new opt-in geonotice (in > addition to the current one that reaches everyone in the specified > geography). For the opt-in geonotice (which would hopefully be able > to reach across projects, since many causal Wikinewsies visit that > site only rarely) any trusted user could add new items to let nearby > people know about reporting or photography opportunities. For these > opt-in notices, we would not need to lock down the ability to add > items like we do for the current geonotice system (it's a fully > protected page), since people who opt-in will expect a bit a noise. > > So, for example, I would set a notice that Senator Chris Dodd is > holding a public discussion about health care reform on such-and-such > date in Hartford, Connecticut. I mark this as a photo opportunity and > a reporting opportunity. The system sets a default radius (or better > yet, users specify the radius they want to be notified within) and > everyone within x kilometers of Hartford who has opted in to the > notice gets a watchlist message pointing to more details. I can > imagine a wide range of tips and events that could be spread to the > right people with such a system. > > This would do a couple things: it would draw in new users to Wikinews, > and given enough participation it could provide a resource that is > useful for professional journalists. Journalists are eager to figure > out useful ways to tap the knowledge of amateurs, and a widely used > geography-based tip-line is something that Wikimedia still has a > chance to be the first organization to do well. I think finding a way > to play a major part in the ongoing changes in the journalism world > ought to be a high priority for the Foundation. > > -Sage Ross (User:Ragesoss) > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
