Columbia Journalism Review features an interesting chronicle from Amanda Michel on the early lessons from OffTheBus, a citizen media site that corralled a great deal of attention in the U.S. election campaign.
Michel makes many significant points about the experience, in particular the growing pains of a start-up and the herding-of-cats feel to the management of some 12,000 contributors.
Some of the bits I divined: Stories, not technology, were most important. The discipline of verification remained a challenge. The need to invent a new form (generative features, it turned out) was required. Bias ensued at times.
It's a very entertaining account and a textbook entry for anyone launching into networked journalism.
