Lots of folks are wondering what will happen to Bayosphere, the citizen-journalism website established by Dan Gillmor to serve the San Francisco Bay Area, now that he’s leaving that venture and heading to the non-profit world (to head the Center for Citizen Media).
On Bayosphere, blogger Craig Weiler has started a discussion about how the citJ site might survive, “Is the Citizen Journalism Model Viable?” Weiler asks, “Can it [saving Bayosphere] be done without him?”
There’s a bunch of discussion appended to Weiler’s post — worthwhile
reading for anyone interested in citJ. A theme, on which I heartily
concur, is that for Bayosphere and any website like it to succeed, they
must figure out a way to provide incentives for people to participate,
including acknowledgement when they submit good work (including
contests and prizes), and mentoring of citizen contributors who want to
become better writers and photographers.
