Write, Citizens! Please, Write!
Here are a few quick suggestions for encouraging citizen submissions:
* Don't ask people to submit "articles"; don't make it sound like you want them to be pretend reporters. Just ask for their snapshots, or funny stories, or touching moments, etc. This was a lesson learned at Northwestern University's GoSkokie citizen-journalism experimental website. Most people don't think they can "do journalism," so don't present it this way.
* Make it super-easy for people to submit photos. Have an e-mail address that people can use to send in cell-phone photos. Make a website photo submission process as easy as Flickr's.
* Offer incentives! Have contests and give prizes for the best funny race stories, or best or funniest photos.
I don't think that getting a citizen-journalism site to a point of critical mass is going to be easy. It's going to take a lot of hard work, and a lot of promotion (of the right kind). We as an industry certainly haven't figured this out yet.
