(Side Note: Dudley is currently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I hope next year in anticipation of CES both Dudley and Eliot Van Buskirk use a networking tool like Crowdvine’s Conference spin-off to do pre-conference networking with potential sources).

In the note Dudley informed me of a year-end project the entire Seattle Times tech team did which was partly influenced by the beat blogging project. They gathered beat sources and asked them to participate in a survey and comment on year-end trends, and compiled their input as a cover story.

“It worked okay; serious glitches in the online form we used “lost” some of their input or forced them to enter stuff repeatedly until it “stuck” but they were good natured about it and seemed to enjoy the participation. Key lessons: Spend more time getting the online form right – we used a modified version of our reader forum form – and be sure you run through it a few times in the shoes of your sources, maybe from a PC at home outside the network.”

Without a doubt – a good lesson.

But there was more in the note from Dudley. He also included the “pitch letter” that the Seattle Times tech team sent out to their sources. This is a “quick and dirty” example.

Hi TK, we still have to get together for coffee or lunch sometime, but in
the interim, I wonder if you’d like to participate in a year-end project the
Times tech team is doing.

We’ve got a list of technologies and we’re asking some people in the industry
to rate them from one to five, with five being “game changer” and one being
“forget about it.” It’s all set up on a Web form, and if you’d like you can send
comments by email.

We’ll run the results as a big year-end package. I’d love to get your
perspective in there, but if you’re busy, no problem at all, I’ll catch you next
time.

Here’s a link to the Web form: (Link Here)
Thank you,
Brier Dudley
Contact info her

 

This brings up the next phase of beat blogging which we are now entering. I call it “the pitch” Jay Rosen calls it “the contract.” It might also be construed as “first contact.” The point is at some point the relationship  between reporter and source has to be agreed upon. The reporter needs to extend their hand and say something to the tune of “here’s what I’m trying to do, here are the expectations I have for you, here’s what you can expect from me, etc., etc.

It sounds simple – but the importance of it can’t be overstated. First impressions, contracts, creating initiative, and more – all stem from that first contact, pitch or contract.

I’ve asked the beat bloggers in this project to start thinking about their pitch letters and it’s something we will consider here at the blog too. We will look at examples, (constructively) criticize them and examine what are the essential elements.

If participation is really a new aspect of journalism then as journalists we need to figure out how other professions engage people to participate online.