That’s the point of MediaBugs, a social network launched this week in San Francisco by former journalist Scott Rosenberg.

Effectively, MediaBugs is a system of crowd fact checking.

The Internet has already revolutionized the ability of readers to inform news providers of mistakes. And, it allows corrections to be made instantly. This by itself enhances journalism in comparison to the old, traditional, print media ways.

The interesting thing about MediaBugs is that it seeks to build a community around news in a unique way.

Also, it creates a transparent place where readers can participate in the process of creating news content, which has the great potential to improve (or maintain) the credibility of news organizations. (For the most fun is browsing corrected errors of the past, which don’t go away.)

Here an article by AFP detailing it:  “MediaBugs, new website for reporting media error”

screen grab from Mila website

Mila, an icelandic telecommunications company, is providing. Their website says:

Around 1 million people from 150 countries have visited our website to view the volcano eruption in Eyjafjallajökull. This is probably a national record in number of visits to a single website and the popularity of the website really amazing. Around 62% of the visits came from Iceland and about 38% came from other countries.

Bizweek: AOL Moves to Build Tech ‘Newsroom of the Future

Editors Weblog: AOL’s ‘newsroom of the future’ tells journalists what readers want and what brings in ad revenue

Scott Rosenberg: AOL, SEO mills, and the newsroom

Sustainable Journalism: AOL’s newsroom of the future

TechCrunch: AOL Newsroom Now Has (Wow) 1,500 Writers

Japan’s Bloggers: Humble Giants of the Web: Describes differences between the more personal, anonymous Japanese bloggers and the Americans who use blogs to promote themselves

Sumo Wrestler’s Blog Typifies Japan’s Blogging Boom: Describes a celebrity blogger

The Japanese Model Blogs as a Business Tool: Describes corporate blogging

I have no idea. I’ve never done this before.

I’m not the first to ask this question. Nor is this the first time I’ve asked it.

Frequently, when I’ve encouraged others to blog, they’ve been as puzzled as me about exactly what it entails.

And, in the brief few months where I took to some pro blogging myself, I was astounded at how much time I spent writing without a clear goal.

The only thing I know is that, in essence, it can’t possibly be very different from the other writing forms I’ve mastered.

This link, from blogger Valeria Maltoni, titled Content Needs To Get Most of Your Attention, had a useful paragraph. Speaking about her blog, she said:

“Every image, every chart, every resource, and post are the result of careful research and thought. A dash of inspiration every now and then, and yes, we have some fun on Fridays, too.”

So, that’s a place to start when getting ready to publish an opinion on something: Research, research, research.

That’s nothing new, is it?

It’s an experiment.

As I surf the web in my daily job, I find a lot of interesting nuggets. Things others in my field find noteworthy. Insights into where the field of journalism is heading today. Advice and analysis that seems helpful.

Often, as I read these j-blogs, I feel way out of my depth. How do these people know enough about our industry to make these predictions? To have these insights? Where do they get the balls to make these claims? To be right one day (a guru) and wrong the next (a fool)?

I don’t know. I really don’t. But since Google is encouraging me to use their Google software, and my fellow j-heads are saying “blog! blog! blog!”, I figure, all right then.

So, to sum it up. If I see something I like, I’ll share it here.

And, if I can find the words to express something meaningful about it, I’ll make an attempt.

If you feel so inclined, please leave a comment.

I’d love to hear from you.

Ciao!