Lesson’s from Regina Lynn, Creating a Social Network for your Beat
When NewAssignment.Net was getting ready to launch Assignment Zero, our first experiment in networked journalism, we meet with the editors and reporters at Wired.com to discuss the upcoming project. While there we met Regina Lynn, author of the sex-tech blog at Wired. Describing what we wanted to do with Assignment Zero, Regina thought it sounded familar "building a smart mob to inform her reporting.
The following is one of the first posts at NewAssginment.Net. At Beatblogging.org we want to repeat, expand and refine what Lynn has been doing.
To find out just what we mean, continue reading her interview with OffTheBus.net’s Amanda Michel.
Interview With Regina Lynn: Mastering Citizen Journalism With a Smart Mob
Question: When you found out about
NewAssignment.net, you told Jay Rosen that you have been a pioneer in
community journalism unknowingly for the last few years. What did you
mean by that?
Regina Lynn: I couldn’t do my job thinking I know
everything. I write about sex-tech; anything that involves technology
and romantic or sexual relationships is in my beat. That ranges from
health/biomed to gadgets to social networking and online dating … it’s
a vast subject, and I could not possibly stay on top of it all if it
were just me. I have to tap into what other people are doing and find
out directly what things are harming and helping them.
Over the last few years I’ve developed a social network of people
online who also enjoy discussing the intersection of sex and
technology. The community lives at the Sex Drive Forum, which I started in may 2004.
Question: How did the Sex Drive Forum start?
