Interview with Patrice Caron on crowdsourcing

I interviewed Patrice Caron, the editor in chief of Bang Bang this morning.
He talked a lot about the importance of online media in arts reporting, and a lot of what he said corresponded with the readings from this class.

In this post, I'll discuss some of the things he said about the importance of participatory journalism.

He says that a real problem with arts reporting, is it's often tough to make advertising dollars. That, he says, is where online media comes in. About 99% of what's going on isn't picked up by the media, he says. But people will talk about it online and make it public. The news desk doesn't have the time to sift through all the press releases and e-mails. But people passionate about it do.

He argues that this can even be more valid that reports from journalism, as often people are so passionate about what they're blogging about, that they have more background knowledge.

"Blogging is worthy," he said. "Because people are passionate about what they write about." He gave the example of a reporter who covers rock, punk rock, hardcore and metal, because the magazine has hired only them to cover those genres. He said he's much rather read about metal from someone who listens exclusively to metal, because of their dedication to the genre.

Bang Bang also uses crowdsourcing, as discussed by Jeff Howe, with their blogs. Caron talked about how the magazine will give resources, like a camera to a bad, and ask them to report back and share their story.

"We need the participation of other people, " he said. "There is a distance built between media and readers. It has to be destroyed."

Caron's blog can be found here.