Crowdsourcing is a research method that consists of delegating tasksto a network of internet usersusing their knowledgeto create large amounts of data.Het Nieuwsblad, the second most sold Dutch newspaper in Belgiumwith a circulation of 260’000 copies, put this project forward three years agoin order to create more involvement withits readers. One of the journalist of this newspaper, Jana Wuyts, explained us what this project is exactly.
One of the main projects consisted of appealing to Belgians favorite hobby; cycling. Readers were asked to submit comments, videos or images about the best and worse biking path within Belgium. 20’000 people participated in the conversation posting 950 images in addition to the government allocating 1 million Euros to improve poor cycling paths.
Another success is the “rate your mayor” project, where over 140’000 people rated their respective municipalities mayors and results were linked into Google maps, besides creating a Facebook application concluding what kind of mayor the reader is.
Het Nieuwsbladhires 175freelancers, who are the eyes andears of theover 300 communes the publication addressesin 307 dedicated micro sites. These local journalists are trained andequipped with an ethical code to assure high quality content, combining local knowledge with objective information and above all capturing what really interest the local crowd. The online version of the daily counts with over 52 million page views a month and it’s now the second largest news site in Belgium.
DO’s
- Define what is the goal and target of your project?
- Make a simple and clear question, which is relevant for your readers
- Use your existing database and expand it by means of the project for further use
- Filter input: a good crowd sourcing project combines amateur’s input with professional expertise to check the facts and assure objectivity.
- Use social platforms such as Youtubeor Facebook,where your project can spread and extend its life cycle even if the project is over.
- Consider cooperation with associations or other organizations for database for example.
- A prize might increase participation
- Be transparent: Always show numbers of participations to show the success, relevance and importance of the addressed questions.
- Be apreparedto answer: if you put forward a question, answer reader’s question when they ask you.
DON’Ts
- Don’t go technical asthis makes readers lose interest
- Don’t forget using a local approach, using local relevant topics
- Don’t expect people will send through multimedia content such as videos or images
- Don’t make a long scientific study, it’s supposed to be fun!
- Don’t allow people posting uncontrolled content