Thanks to the People Who Worked on OffTheBus; Here's What Comes Next

We thought the 12,000 people who participated in OffTheBus during campaign 08 would like to know: they're finalists for a Game Changer award given by the WeMedia Project. WeMedia's purpose is saluting innovation. Our purpose today is to thank the people of OffTheBus for opening up the campaign news and commentary "game" by their participation. Thanks for all the writing, reporting, recording, digging, web searching, e-mailing, news scanning, tape editing, expertise-sharing, columnizing, team playing, and eye-witnessing (that's a partial list...) they did during the project's 16 months of activity. They made it happen: the first open platform election coverage team ever assembled by a major news site.

So congratulations to our OffTheBus volunteers and to the OTB staff, led by Project Director Amanda Michel, who was the project's prime mover since it launched in the summer of 2007; Editorial Coordinator Marc Cooper, who added editorial vision and helped manage the growing list of regular writers; Managing Editor John Tomasic, who handled the page and edited pieces; Neil Nagraj, who helped get the project off the ground; and Associate Editor Hanna Ingber Win, recently involved in all of the above. Our deepest thanks to them, the pros in the pro-am mix we were aiming for with OffTheBus.

It sounds obvious, but you couldn't sign up and join the reporting staff in the national section of any major newspaper covering the 2008 election the old way. It's not part of their model to invite the users in. But if you were an interested user of the Huffington Post, you could sign up for OffTheBus. That's what we mean by an "open" platform. You can sign up.

The project went live in July 2007 as an experiment designed to cover the amazing presidential election of 2008 - and it succeeded beyond all our expectations (thanks in large part to Amanda Michel's ability to steer without controlling OffTheBus's thousands of contributors). In fact, OffTheBus was such a success that HuffPost intends to make the crowd sourcing and distributed journalism methods developed and honed by OTB during the election an integral part of our editorial process -- utilizing them across all of our different sections.

To that end, we are inviting the almost 2,000 contributors who wrote posts for OTB - and everyone else in our HuffPost community who is interested - to become part of the process. We have created a simple sign up form that will let us know which subject areas you are most interested in.

Soon, we will have a lot more information on how you can get involved in this exciting next phase of Huff Post's development, but filling out this form is a great first step.

Back in March 2007, when we announced the collaboration between Huffington Post and NYU's NewAssignment.Net, we said you could "participate in politics by covering the campaign."

An election, after all, is about participation in a democracy that actually works. It is not about standing by while other people choose a nominee and select our next president. The web was making it possible for more people to participate in the election. In the media sphere, participation had already exploded with political blogging, the rise of YouTube, and the steady growth of online communities.

It seemed clear to us that a more participatory form of campaign coverage was called for in 2008. We were sure it would emerge somewhere on the Net. Why not in a section at the Huffington Post?

Going into the "wide open" 2008 campaign, we knew the mainstream press, despite all pressures it was under, would offer a horse race product, with some issues coverage and certain fact checking features added on. The master narrative would be "who is winning?" Day-to-day stories would be provided by polls, strategy news, and the usual campaign management follies. Regularly featured material would include profiles and flip flops, gaffes, mistakes, assorted breakdowns in discipline -- and attacks. Lots of polls and poll watching. A controversy of the day as the default rhythm, and so on.

We wanted to add to all that. That's why we picked the name, OffTheBus. Let a distributed, diverse crowd of amateur users with lots of different starting points have a go at campaign news and commentary, seeded by a few pros. Contributors, said Arianna, will be independent...

focused on their piece of the puzzle, and not what everyone around them thinks. They will be decentralized -- spread across the country, with no one on high giving them their marching orders. And they will be as diverse as possible -- a mix of campaign insiders devoted to their candidates, neutral outsiders, passionate partisans and steely-eyed observers... The end result will be more sources of information, more eyes and ears focused on a wider variety of subjects, more outside-the-mainstream voices given a platform.

The same wave of low-cost, newly practical participation that led record numbers of Americans to give money, and join networks for the candidates, also led 12,000 people to sign up for OffTheBus and participate in politics by covering the campaign. We were proud to be associated with it as co-publishers. And we look forward to continuing on the road to the journalistic future that OffTheBus helped map out.

Thanks again to everyone who made the journey possible.

Comments

[Sundialsvc4]

When our founders talked about "the Freedom of the Press," and thought of it so highly that they explicitly put it into the first set of proposed Amendments, they obviously could not have anticipated the Internet. (Frankly, neither could I, although I was on ARPANET from the beginning of my career.)

Your foray into true participatory journalism definitely deserves to be recognized as innovative, because "the media" has never publicly embraced nor sought to leverage the Internet in any real capacity.

The mainstream media still does not understand what it is all about. They'd be just as happy covering a horse race, and they're locked into the mentality that their viewers have a fourth-grade education. Which is why I haven't had a television in my house in fifteen years. They're giving themselves new meaning to the phrase, "left behind," and they don't even know it. (But then again, other segments of the media industry are still hawking "little plastic disks," and even striving to copy-protect them. Go figure.)

"Internet media" needs to acquire some journalistic focus and discipline. "Threads" are very cathartic to write, but I'll admit that I don't read them. You need an editor, and an editorial staff that knows how to shepherd the collective energy of thousands of people at once. You are right now -writing- what will become the journalism curricula of every student that enters your storied profession. Your profession is entering a new sphere, and you're "there."

[mediaobserver]

We have to continue to be watchdogs on all facets of politics, media, education and the world. While we are still in the honeymoon period with President-elect Obama, there may come a time when we have to hold his feet to the fire. The promise of a new tomorrow could be unfulfilled and we must not allow that to happen. This network of commentators, pseudo-pundits and agitators must continue to play its role and insure that change does occur, or at least add insight to these events. It should not be limited to one subject or issue, but to the entire array of crises, catastrophes, legalities and litmus tests now facing the country. We should continue to be in the forefront covering the economy, the war, the political parties, our archaic communications laws, international fracases and so on.

Off-the Bus has been an unbelievable success because it has been a platform for us to be part of the process. Just like the old town hall, this interactive soapbox has broadcast the true voices of America and accurately reflected the path the people would like to follow. It's ironic that some candidates talked about trying to circumvent the mainstream media filter, while the Post was already doing this.

Thank you for providing us with this opportunity.

[funkalicious]

Thanks for the open platform Kudos for recognizing the power of the hive.

How about a policy hive, after reading the 400 pages of dreck in the bailout bill I'm wondering if the peoples voices could be heard in a way that only lobbyists access our Senate leadership now.

Not being an expert at crafting meaningful legislation, can extend beyond the incompetence of our senate leaders directly to the people.

Let's turn the hive on to the most important issues of our time, like how where and how much to spend on our infrastructure bailout, or a posture on terrorism that moves beyond a war on the Bush of ghosts.

As we have seen our voices muted by fear by the Bush administration. Let us become a focused purposed holler back, at the Obama administration a passionate, joyful, committed and purpose driven people.

A call and response to action a two way dialogue, we can leave the planet a better place for all of our children starting now, if we hold our selves and our leaders accountable we can rethink education, transportation, fiance , poverty and self governance.

Thanks for the forum here at the Huffington Post.

[Chris Savage - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm so in. It's amazing how inspiring it is when you know you will have a large audience if you're published.

[cacique88]

Arianna,
What about Huffington Post TV? We need a new format that bridges the Internet age and Television. Perhaps a show that combines content from the web with reporting and commentary on Internet trends would bring viewers new and exciting content unavailable elsewhere. A comprehensive report on how the Internet was used in this last period would be phenomenal.

I love Rachel Maddow. But her show needs to be something other than a clone of Keith's Countdown. She is brilliant but the me-too format will fail and grow stail.

[mamacat]

A suggestion for a new section? Science.
It might take awhile to get such a section off the ground, mainly because it might take awhile to find guest columnists. It might be necessary to have an editor, with reprints from various scientific blogs, and gradually some direct contributors.

The world of science impacts our lives everyday. Misconceptions about the real world are damaging to our ability to make good decisions. Thus, staying up to date on what is being discovered is useful.

[waitforme]

I'll bet it would be easy to find contributors. How about the many graduate students and professors in universities and colleges all over the world? They no doubt would love to find someplace to show some discoveries of science which they know don't get out to the public.

[sonomarc]

Great idea. It can be a pretty expansive, too. For instance, I heard Karen Armstrong interviewed on NPR last year and she said that the reason why religious fundamentalism (literalism for protestents and papal infallibility for catholics) came about in the 19th century was as a reaction to the scientific method, the idea that there could be a "fact". I guess the religious folks wanted their own facts and not just faith, hope and love. Too bad.

[Hrotea]

BRAVO ARIANNA ON YOUR SUCCESSFUL INAUGURAL GUEST-HOSTING VOYAGE AS PINCHHITTER FOR RACHEL MADDOW SHOW ON MSNBC, LOOK FORWARD FOR MORE

By Hermie Rotea

It is not often that I enjoy watching cable TV programs on current events. One such show that I appreciate is your ascension tonight as the introductory guest host of Rachel Maddow on cable TV MSNBC. I particularly like your intelligent and entertaining exchange with commentator and comedian Bill Maher on the current issues of the day.

It is one thing to just be informed of the news behind the news, but to be entertained and enriched by your intellectual and fascinating give-and-take session with such equally witty and knowledgeable guest raises the bar of the marketplace of ideas and ideals surrounding such newsmakers as the outgoing lameduck and trigger-happy cowboy and oil man at the White House, and the incoming occupant President-elect Barack Obama.

As I write this, I am actually tuned in a second time to your program being repeated, and I don’t get tired of listening to it again because you are also a sight to behold. At this very moment I am sure your favorite senatorial candidate Al Franken is also viewing your program as he goes through his vote recount problem as he closes the gap with his incombent rival by 200 votes.

Again, you are terrific tonight and I look forward to your continued guest-hosting voyable on cable TV.

[hgovernick]

Dear Arianna, and all involved with HuffPost & OTB,

Regarding your statement "It sounds obvious, but you couldn't sign up and join the reporting staff in the national section of any major newspaper covering the 2008 election the old way.":

Not only is this true, but because it is true, the "civilian press corps" is often denied access to strategic points of presence during important events. In many situations, the national section of any major newspaper is "on the floor". The rest of us are "in the stands". It's true much can be uncovered "in the stands" which may elude those "on the floor", but odds for a more revealing story are better, in most cases, "on the floor", where we can get a better whif of any rotten eggs.

Perhaps HuffPost might have enough influence to elevate the "perceived relevance" of its OTB reporters to allow them more "legitimate" access while gathering information using their "steely-eyed" observational objectivity.

One suggestion for HuffPost web developers: could you add a widget that counts the words users post in the comments so we know when we're getting close to 250? I hate filling my comments with so many words I don't have enough space left to send my love to Arianna and her organization.

[rcksgl]

First, thanks. As I wrote in my last published blog, I think that the community that the HP has created was one of the telling factors of the election. That only adds to my pride of being part of that process.

As for new ideas, I like the legal/legislative concept, as well as a place for social and consumer advocacy. You know, community organizing for a common good.

And more, maybe to make this the thinking man's version of USA Today. Maybe even a sports section. Though it was interesting you had a college score on the headline last night, caught my eye.

Or more humor, maybe a section devoted to that. Or...

[Shari Cohen - Huffpost Blogger]

I was honored to be a very small part of OTB, and I hope that it will not fade into nothingness. There are so many wonderful stories here on OTB, that I do hope a link will be somewhere on HuffPost so that we can access, when needed, the wealth of information that has been accumulated here on OTB.

Thank you Arianna, and thank you to the OTB team, you guys rocked!

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

First, a thank you to Ms. Huffington and Mr. Rosen for making this OTB concept change the journalistic playing field is in order. Amanda Michel and all of the staff at HuffPo who coordinated the operation of OTB deserve accolades for their success.

A couple suggestions for future development of HuffPo's reader outreach would be realtime posting of reader's comments with as little censorship as necessary and the inclusion of user videos where appropriate. Empowerment of the citizenry like OTB offered us can only improve the quality of discourse in American society.

[pcplz]

i would like to see a site where we could comment or ask for a post on a subject that we find particularly interesting. There have been several times when I wanted to ask a question for someone to post on, but there was not an appropriate subject to ask it on.

Maybe a site called....­observatio­ns?

Thank you for Huffpost..­....I have enjoyed the honesty of all who post here.....a­nd most of the comments.

[mamacat]

Sounds good to me, too.

[JoDeeVa]

Sounds good to me, too! Regional/ local and even foreign issues often fly under the radar, even with OTB out there.

[KathieKH]

I think my husband is going to divorce me over politics, its not that we disagree but I am obsessed with them and he is not. I can do them 24x7 and he wants to put it rest. But I think if we don't put it up front and center, we will take our hands off of the pulse of the nation.

[Paula B. Mays - Huffpost Blogger]

I just thought to suggest maybe a Legal and or Legislative section. These are two issue the public would like to have an opinion. On the legislative front, constituents can find out what their Congress people are doing and force them to be responsive.

On the legal front, legal issues related to politics, i.e. U.S. Attorney´s Story, Abramoff, things of that nature.

[kellygrrrl]

I so miss OTB.
Filled out the form. Had a hard time picking 2 topics.

p.s. More SlideShows please :)