InBerkeley — writers wanted
October 7th, 2009
I’d like to see InBerkeley expand the breadth and depth of its coverage. To do that, we need more people who want to write about some aspect of our city.
There’s no end of subjects we’d like to cover: schools, local politics, culture, the university, nature, sports and more. Writers get the same benefits as those involved on InBerkeley now — no pay, but the enjoyment of people in our community finding information and getting involved in debates on issues large and small.
If you think you can write for InBerkeley, email me with an idea or two for things you could post, and either a sample post or a pointer to your writing.
Photo from Flickr by Valeriana Solaris
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I’m interested in this kind of gig but for one thing – I see no future in it, monetarily speaking. Like many people, my “hobby time” is pretty severely limited. I have some tools of the trade for this kind of work: video recorder, digital camera, basic skills with english language, analytic skills, some people skills, political point of view and curiosity and an open mind, situatational awareness re my ‘hood and greater Berkeley …. but, like many, when an opportunity comes up that can suck up a lot of time I really do have to compare to needs for revenue.
All that is to say that “no pay” can go one of a few ways. Either it’s “never any pay” in which case your editorial perspective is corrupt, or it’s no pay for now with a plan that never comes true in which case your a sucker’s bet, or it’s no pay for now with a plausible plan for later.
Where do you stand?
-t
Yes, Thomas, we all face the dilemma of doing non-paying things when we could be earning a crust.
I don’t agree, however, that our editorial perspective is “corrupt” if it never involves pay. It may be that InBerkeley will always be a wholly non-commercial site. It’s too early to tell. If we do create revenue through the site at some point we’ll see that the people who contribute to the site benefit from that.
I also believe strongly that blogging can often be its own reward. There are countless examples where people have built their reputation and identity through their blogging, and that has produced recognition and rewards in other areas.
Lance,
First, thanks for responding and please don’t you (or anyone else) mistake me for saying that the InBerkeley effort is “evil”. That said:
The “about” page says: “We don’t aim to be comprehensive (yet), but we want to show the extraordinary diversity of people, issues, events, food and environment in our city on the Bay.”
To the extent that substantial and ongoing contributions of stories are coming only from a de facto leisure class, I think that your mission becomes corrupted. So far, your content is mostly aimed at people who like to eat out, at people tracking a subset of events on campus, at high culture consumerists, at indignant property owners, at high technologists, and that’s almost entirely about it.
If your “about” mission said something like “we want to show the perspective of the most privileged about Berkeley’s most glaring eccentricities and its many fine opportunities for consumption” then I couldn’t correctly say “corrupt” – but it doesn’t, and I can.
My sense – it’s just a sense – is that you and Dave are actually really curious and well meaning. Your hearts are in the right places. My sense is that you want content (a) more relevant to, for example, me and every neighbor on my block; (b) harder and sometimes more investigatory content. In keeping with Dave’s themes in the rssCloud world, I infer/guess that growing up into a real news feed is in the back of your minds. In that context, I humbly suggest you need a better story about the plan for the site and for contributors. (This is absolutely not to say I don’t enjoy the site as it is – just that I take it for, well, what it is.)
Finally, I have to comment on why I find so objectionable your talk about blogging being its own reward leading to “reputation and identity [...] recognition and rewards in other areas.”
My work background is in computer programming and most of my work has been part of the free software movement. I have heard that rhetoric about how voluntary contribution leads to “reputation and identity” and “rewards in other areas” before, in the context of a subversive counter-movement called “open source”. The “open source” counter-movement, far from being about increasing freedom for all people, has largely degenerated into a “free (as in beer, not as in freedom) labor movement” – a scam, basically, to get people to work for free in exchange for a largely false promise of – guess what – reputation, identity, and rewards in other areas.
It distresses me to see high-minded statements of intent for inBerkeley combined with a move towards the same corruption found in “open source”.
-t
InBerkeley’s invitation for contributors is very welcome. This is a wonderful site which deserves to build a loyal and participatory following.