Spot.us
Encyclopedia
Spot.Us is a non-profit
organization designed to bring citizens, journalists, and news publishers together in an online marketplace based on crowdsourcing
and crowdfunding methods and principles. It was founded in 2008 by David Cohn, who received a $340,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to pursue his idea. While providing a new option for funding journalism, it also has raised questions about activism and new sorts of conflict-of-interest.
Spot.Us currently focuses primarily on projects in and near the San Francisco Bay area, where it is headquartered. It expanded to Los Angeles in 2009 and plans to expand its scope to a national or international level.
license. They can be viewed for free on the website and used free of charge by news organizations. News organizations that wish to gain temporary copyright of articles may do so by contributing over 50 percent of the funding.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
organization designed to bring citizens, journalists, and news publishers together in an online marketplace based on crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
and crowdfunding methods and principles. It was founded in 2008 by David Cohn, who received a $340,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to pursue his idea. While providing a new option for funding journalism, it also has raised questions about activism and new sorts of conflict-of-interest.
Spot.Us currently focuses primarily on projects in and near the San Francisco Bay area, where it is headquartered. It expanded to Los Angeles in 2009 and plans to expand its scope to a national or international level.
How it works
Stories begin as either tips or pitches. A tip is an idea from a citizen – often a sentence or two describing an issue they would like to see covered. A pitch is an offer by a journalist to write a story, including the amount of money he or she needs. Visitors to the website can then donate to fund the pitch. Smaller stories cost a couple hundred dollars to fund, while the largest cost about one thousand dollars. Completed stories are available under a Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
license. They can be viewed for free on the website and used free of charge by news organizations. News organizations that wish to gain temporary copyright of articles may do so by contributing over 50 percent of the funding.