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Participatory Content
These projects bring readers
into the content creation process.
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Public Radio Talent Quest
In
their quest for new on-air talent, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
used the interactive streaming technologies of the web to create
open participatory auditions and public evaluation of talent. 1,400
contestants uploaded 2-minute audio entries. PublicRadioQuest.com
spotlights the finalists and lets you choose who you would like
to hear on the air.
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Chicago Tribune Video Chats
Registration
may be requested.
The
Chicago Tribune has created an environment that enables readers
and writers of the newspaper and the website to interact via online
conversation through live video chats. Live two-way chatting is
archived for later viewing.
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Modbee.com
- Young Idol Contest
The
Modesto Bee and Modesto Symphony Orchestra team up to conduct
this singing competition for children and teenagers. Roughly
150 kids entered the live-audience tryout in 2005, the
second year of the contest. Once the 10 finalists were
selected, each recorded a song in a local studio, and the
recordings were published online for a nine-week reader
voting period. The top vote-getter won singing appearances
with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra.
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Dispatch.com
- The Hot Issue
Registration
may be requested.
The
Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch began asking "Hot Issue" questions
in the print edition and online in May 2005. Readers are asked
to vote in an online poll and submit their opinions on a controversial
topic
chosen by The Dispatch. Responses are screened for libel and
obscenity and posted unedited, with popular questions netting
more than 200 responses. The question appears twice in each day's
paper -- with the relevant story
and on the
Page
2
Speed
Read feature.
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Dispatch.com
- Create a Classic
Registration
may be requested.
In
conjunction with the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Dispatch.com
hosted seven "chain novels" in summer 2005. Dispatch reporters
and editors started the novels, readers submitted succeeding
chapters, and the reporters and editors added endings.
Thirty-five volunteer writers submitted chapters, and readers
were invited to comment on the chapters and vote online
for
their favorite stories. "The Naiades Project," a science
fiction
novel,
took top honors at an awards ceremony held in September
2005 for the volunteer writers.
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Amarillo
Globe-News - IBeatBeilue.com
The
Amarillo (Texas) Globe-News invites its readers to go up against
football columnist Mark Beilue in picking winners of local high
school, college and NFL football games. Contestants who correctly
pick more winners than Beilue in a week receive a free t-shirt,
and the overall winner receives tickets to the Alamo Bowl in
San Antonio, Texas.
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GoSmokies.com
- Vacation Tales
The
Knoxville News Sentinel's GoSmokies.com, a site focused
on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, asks readers
to share tales about their trips to the park. Users have
gone from simply describing their vacations to offering
up suggestions on where to stay and what to do when vacationing
in the Smokies. Almost 800 vacation tales have been posted
since the feature was added in 1998.
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St.
Paul Pioneer Press - Average Joe Columnist
Registration may be requested.
The Pioneer Press sports department and TwinCities.com are
letting readers experience what it's like to be a sports columnist.
In 2005, the second edition of the contest, over 150 columns
were submitted. After the paper narrowed the field to 16, the
finalists submitted columns on deadline for weekly head-to-head
competitions. The columns were judged
by a sports writer and a sports editor at the Pioneer Press
and by an online reader poll. The winner wrote a live column
from a Minnesota Vikings football game.
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azcentral.com
- Celebrity Look-Alikes
The Arizona Republic and KPNX Channel 12's azcentral.com created
this feature asking readers who bear a similarity to a
celebrity to submit their photos. Submissions are posted
online next to a photo of the celebrity so that
readers can vote on just how similar they look, from "Wow!
You're a dead ringer!" to "Oh please, dream on!" The
feature received 100 entries and 393,393 page views in
the week that it launched in July 2005 and
has
maintained similar numbers since.
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Miami
Herald - South Florida Music Video Challenge
The
Miami Herald invited area musicians to submit their own music videos
to compete for $500 gift certificates to a local music store.
The videos, which had to be of original music, were submitted in
three categories: high school, college and semi-pro. Twenty videos
were submitted and the Herald created a package to showcase all
of them on its Web site, Herald.com,
where readers could vote for their favorites. The winners were
selected by judges from the Herald, so readers didn't get the final
vote.
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ChicagoTribune.com
- Metromix Reader Reviews
The
Chicago Tribune's city life site, Metromix.com,
asks readers to review the city's restaurants and hot
spots
in mini-review capsules to be posted on the site. The
Tribune also solicits applicants to join "Reader
Review crews," which are sent to investigate some
facet of nightlife or entertainment in the city, such
as sushi
or spas.
The Tribune selects 10 finalists from each field of applicants
and readers vote online for the top five. The
winners then go out with digital cameras and come back
with pictures
and reviews. The response has been impressive, with over
700 applicants for the sushi
review
crew alone. |
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