If you’re coming to Caltopia today or tomorrow, visit the Berkeleyside booth (we’re at E104). We’re happy to talk about Berkeleyside, but our big news is that we’re launching a major initiative to encourage collaboration between citizen journalists and our site.
We’re an early partner with OneNews, a Miami-based start-up that has developed a really seamless way for media sites to engage and deploy citizen journalists. You can become a member of Berkeleyside’s OneNews network by going to the sign-in site. OneNews works with iPhones and Android phones. Versions for Windows 7 phones are in the works.
Once you’ve signed up for OneNews, the editors at Berkeleyside can send out calls for coverage to people within a specific geography. Say, for example, there’s a protest in front of City Hall. We can identify OneNews users who are within a one-mile radius of the protest and send a message asking for photos or a story.
We’re excited to be early adopters of this technology. The first 50 people who use OneNews and send us a story or a photo will get a free OneNews T-shirt.
In the meantime, let us know in the comments below what you think about citizen journalism.
