Motivation Factors in Crowdsourced Journalism: Social Impact, Social Change, and Peer Learning

Authors

  • Tanja Aitamurto Brown Institute for Media Innovation School of Engineering Stanford University

Keywords:

commons-based peer production, crowdsourcing, crowdsourced journalism, digital journalism, motivation factors, open journalism, open knowledge, participatory journalism

Abstract

This article examines participants’ motivation factors to contribute to crowdsourced journalism. Drawing on interviews from cases in which professional journalists used crowdsourcing as a knowledge-search method, the article shows the primary motivation factors are intrinsic, altruistic, and ideological. By sharing information, the crowd wants to contribute to social change and mitigate power and knowledge asymmetries, thus empowering their peers and creating a more informed citizenry. Peer learning and deliberation also drive participation. Participants don’t expect tangible rewards like money; instead, they want to contribute to a better society, and crowdsourced journalism becomes a medium for social change and grassroots advocacy. These motivation factors resemble some of those driving Wikipedia creation. The idea of a more equitable society, created by collective knowledge sharing, also drives the participation in crowdsourced journalism.

Author Biography

Tanja Aitamurto, Brown Institute for Media Innovation School of Engineering Stanford University

Tanja Aitamurto, Ph.D. is the deputy director and a post-doctoral Brown Fellow at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at the School of Engineering at Stanford University. She examines how collective intelligence, whether gathered by crowdsourcing, crowdfunding or co-creation, affects journalism, governance, and product design, namely media innovations. Her work has been published in several academic journals, such as New Media and Society and Digital Journalism, and she has presented her work at Wikimedia Foundation, the White House,  the Council of Europe, and the Government and the Parliament of Finland.

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Published

2015-10-28

Issue

Vol. 9 (2015)

Section

Articles

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