Our First Call for Contributions: Your Assignment, Should You Choose to Accept It

For the short version of your assignment go here.
For an explanation on why Broowaha is doing this - keep reading.

The Internet has dramatically changed two fundamental aspects of human culture.

• How we stay informed
  
• How we socialize
  

It's our hope at Broowaha to take the best from both these revolutions and combine them to create something totally different.

The cost of publishing has reached almost zero. Which means the power of the press now belongs to everybody. Hence, Broowaha - a place where citizen journalists can inform each other about what's going on in their communities. Sites like Broowaha empower people to take control of how they stay informed. The fourth estate, which was the news industry, is now in all our hands - so we all share that responsibility.

The other revolution, how we socialize, has made it possible for like-minded people to find each other despite geographic distance and share their collective wisdom. Everywhere you look online you see people sharing recipes, how-to tips, pictures and knowledge. Wikipedia is probably the best example - it is a collection of human knowledge.

Yes, the Internet has modernized how we stay informed and virtually invented collective wisdom, but there still isn't a practical application of collective action in journalism.

We believe the future of citizen journalism is when groups of concerned writers, dispersed around the world, tackle the same issues together. Imagine if we had 50 writers who all agreed to cover the effects of "No Child Left Behind" at their local school. We would have 50 stories that served local readers, but we would also have a national view of the issue. We would have context that no single journalist, professional or amateur, would be able to get alone.

Imagine if we had 100 writers all look into environmental justice in their city?
Or if we amassed 40 people to look at the conditions of homelessness in their area.

We live in a global village and there are issues that effect us all - and we can get to the bottom of them if we want.

This Sounds Intense. I'm a Little Intimidated By it All.

Short answer: Don't worry, we are going to start real slow (and extra fun).

Long answer: What has been described above is really just an idea - one that lots of theoreticians and journalism scholars think has potential, but nonetheless is untested. To our knowledge the closest working example was something called Assignment Zero, which Broowaha's editor-in-chief David Cohn played an integral role in. The biggest complaint I noticed from this experiment was that the topic was no fun. Everyone liked the idea of reporting on a story together - but nobody wanted to report on that particular story.

Fair enough. Broowaha is going to start very small and very simple. First and foremost we want this to be fun, a way to meet new people and get your stories in front of more eyes. If along the way we push the boundaries of citizen journalism - all the better.

Our first call for contributions will be "The Best and Worst: What You Love and Hate About Your City."

We invite everyone to write an article in two parts. The first part will be an editorial about all the things that make your city what it is. What gives New York it's attitude? What keeps Los Angeles sunny, San Francisco sailing and what gives Paris that je ne sais quoi?

The second half is for all the "glass is half empty" writers out there. Along with the good comes the bad and the second half of this call for contributions can be about all the aspects of your city you can't stand.

Some tips

• Be creative - have fun with this. Originality is the name of the game, since other people at Broowaha are probably writing about the same city.
• Ground the stories in something other people can relate to.
• Links: Check out local blogs - get a feel for what other people in your city think. With our new text editing tools, it's a snap to link back to their thoughts.
  

How you can participate

• Write the article and before you submit it to the editor scroll down to the fourth section of the submitting process "Call for Contributions" and include it on this list.
  
• Tell a friend, blog about it, spread the word.
  

What calls for contributions can we expect in the future?

This first call for contributions is about having fun and being creative. We want to do future calls for contributions that will ask you to review cafes, interview musicians, reports on new local businesses and more. The sky is the limit. We will be checking out the articles on this first call for contributions to get ideas - or you can comment below to let us know what you think would make a good topic.

And now - a phrase I hope to use more and more here at Broowaha: Onward!

Happy New Year!!

It's been just over a year since Broowaha opened its doors and next year will be just as exciting... so we wanted to send a note to wish you a happy new year and to let you know about the plans in store that will help Broowaha grow!


Please excuse the mess: Broowaha will be getting new features and designs. Most of these changes will be very obvious. We are constantly coming up with new ideas and design solutions to make your experience on the site richer and easier. If you have suggestions, don't hesitate to send them to info@broowaha.com.


Anyone can join....really: In the past, to contribute to Broowaha you had to join one of cities that belonged to our pre-existing network. Now, anyone can join and publish work, even if they aren't writing about one of the cities in our network. That work will still appear at Broowaha.com. If you belong to a network, your work will appear on the main page and a local edition as well. We will also continue to create new editions at the request of users, so don't be shy to suggest a new one at http://www.broowaha.com/network.php.

New editor, same style: We have a new editor! David Cohn (known as Digidave at Broowaha) comes to us with experience as a professional journalist, writing for Wired, Columbia Journalism Review and the New York Times - and he is also is a strong believer in citizen journalism! David recently organized the first Networked Journalism Summit where he became interested in and later joined the BrooWaha team. In the beginning, the team consisted of one member: a programmer (Ariel, Founder) who needed an editor for his growing citizen journalism network. David was a natural addition: a journalist who worked on building citizen journalism projects but lacked development skills. We hit it off and the rest is history. David won't be doing any heavy editing - this will still remain a project where you, the authors, write what you want; but he is around for any advice or general chatting. Feel free to contact him at david@broowaha.com.

New interface: You have been requesting it for months, and it's finally here: BrooWaha now has a spell-checker for your articles! In addition to that, we've also changed the writing interface to make it easier for you to use italic, create bullet points, and also add links to your articles. You now have no excuse not to link your article to your sources!! ;-)

New collaborative projects: Soon, Broowaha will unleash a new feature called "Call for Contributions". These will be networked stories. Our editor will make calls for stories on specific subjects. One month, the assignment might be to interview a local band, the next month it might be to take a picture of construction in your city. The goal is to find stories that we can all work on and, by combining our efforts, the sum of our work will be greater than the parts.


You continue to rock: Every month, starting in January, we will feature one of you as the writer. This site is nothing without you - and we know that. Therefore, you can look forward to continued recognition for a job well done!

Seriously, you rock!
We can't thank you enough for being part of BrooWaha. We hope that the changes we make in the coming weeks will make your experience on the site better and get your stories in front of more eyes.

Happy New Year from the staff here at BrooWaha; we look forward to a fantastic 2008 full of great writing, great pictures, and great community.

Until next time,

Ariel Vardi, Founder

PS- for more about David Cohn, your new editor, check out his freshly published interview here.