spot.us: Community Funded Journalism

People are trying to find new ways to fund reporting, particularly investigative reporting.

spot.us offers means by which people in the community can fund reporting via small donations.

Citizens provide tips; then journalists pitch stories to us, and hopefully get funded.

I'm personally interested in Solar power: When will it be affordable for Bay Area homeowners?

That's much like DonorsChoose.org and micro-finance like Kiva.

The idea of combining small donors for big purposes isn't new, but it couldn't scale really big until the Net was available. More to come...

Follow Craig Newmark on Twitter: www.twitter.com/craignewmark