SochiReporter – The Beginnings Of Citizen Journalism In Russia; An EXCLUSIVE Interview With Founder Alexander Zolotarev
13/12/2009: Please note some corrections that have been made in the post.
In essence, the concept of citizen reporting is fairly simple – you see something newsworthy happening around you, you reach for your laptop or smart phone, snap a few photos, upload it to a hosting platform, add commentary, … and, boom, you have a citizen report before any major news wires find out that the news even happened. The simplicity and promptness of citizen journalism is what is slowly making it the new way to do news-gathering. But, for many Internet users here in North America the concept of “citizen journalism” is still a little fuzzy -- many are still unsure about the legalities, logistics and the editorial integrity of citizen reporting. In many places in Russia though, the concept of taking the responsibility to report news while doing it for free is still very, very raw.
Alexander Zolotarev, SochiReporter Founder and CEO
But, where there is a challenge, there is an opportunity. And, with the Winter Olympic Games coming to Russia in 2014, a group of citizen media enthusiasts headed by Moscow State University Faculty of Journalism lecturer and the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism Fulbright Scholar Alexander Zolotarev decided to give the “made-in-Russia” citizen journalism a try.
Now, why tether citizen journalism, a city in Southern Russia and the Olympics? Well, the upcoming 2014 Olympics in Sochi are a big deal for Russia. From what I am hearing and seeing on Russian news wires and blogs, there seems to be a genuine interest and excitement about the Games. However, there has been some controversy surrounding the Olympic construction in the city. Concerns over the potential threat to the region's ecosystems have been raised in the past. But, these are the issues that any Olympic city faces. And, if that is something that might get conversations going, there needs to be a place for people to talk about it. The idea is that the city is going through a major transformation heading into the Games and there is a need to provide a portal for discussion to take place.
But, any experiment needs a test lab. So, Zolotarev and the team have created a platform that lets the residents of Sochi try their hand at citizen reporting – the recently launched Drupal based portal is called SochiReporter, and it has all the tools necessary for people to create, share and distribute content about their city.
Exclusively for this blog, I got a chance to talk with Alexander Zolotarev, the man behind the idea of SochiReporter. Alex works out of Sochi and Moscow, coordinating both the entrepreneurial and editorial aspects of the project.
Alexander, when did the site officially launch, and what is the latest news on SochiReporter?
SochiReporter officially launched on October 27. We started testing the website in the middle of September granting access to a limited group of people: friends, colleagues, web experts and professionals.
The latest video report featured on the site brings the opinions of the citizens of Sochi about the new Sochi Olympics logo, which was presented recently. The design is based on the domain name of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee - sochi.ru, which conveys the idea of the hi-tech Olympics, and how the Olympics are adjusting to the digital age and aim at being closer to and reaching the younger audience, the digital generation. So one of our ‘sochireporters’ – as we call our citizen journalists – made a video in which she asks Sochi locals, ranging from a neighborhood fisherman to a hotel administrator – how they like and understand the new logo. Exciting!
How and when did the idea of SochiReporter come to you?
It was like a flash, which came into my mind soon after the city was elected to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. It was a great opportunity to bring to life my passion for the digital technologies and the new media. In 2007-2008, I was writing a thesis about it at the Faculty of Journalism Moscow State University which I am a graduate of, and at the same time was a Fulbright scholar in the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. I heard about the Knight News Challenge and decided to apply. So the jurors at the Knight Foundation liked my idea of building a digital archive of the pre-Olympic city involving citizen journalists and I became one of the winners of the 2008 contest.
So, the project is funded by the Knight Foundation?
Yes, correct. By the way, the contest is still on, in its fourth year, and you can apply. The deadline is December 15.
Do people in Sochi know about your project? Are they aware of the brand and functionality? How willing are they to participate?
SochiReporter Journalism 2.0 Workshop
Yes, I am actively promoting the project in Sochi, bringing to light the new opportunities and functions, which SochiReporter gives. We had a good media coverage of our seminar called ‘Journalism 2.0: the New Trends’ which we organized at the end of July for the students of five leading Sochi-based universities, and at this seminar then I announced the contest for the best story, photo and video among those students. We provided them with cameras, HD video cameras and voice recorders, basically armored them with the tech gadgets which helped them produce their materials. Our tech partners Kodak and Olympus presented the devices to the young people.
Those last three weeks I gave about 20 presentations and open lessons in Sochi-based schools and universities, meeting with high school teachers and presenting the project for university professors at the thematic meeting in the House of Education of Sochi, talking with young TV journalism students in the TV school for teenagers, etc. The young people are our key audience (hence our colorful, ‘adrenaline’ design), as they are the most active web users in Sochi.
How big is the pool of Sochi reporters at this point?
About 40 citizen reporters. We have been on for 5 weeks. But we are steadily growing as new users register on the website.
Are you happy with the content you are getting? What do you consider to be your greatest success with SochiReporter so far? What are some of the things that still need to be figured out?
I like the content which is being generated and uploaded on the website and I like the personal styles and voices of our reporters. One of the interesting things which SochiReporter presented on the website is the so-called Time Machine, a special section which helps to organize and archive all the materials generated by users, including the videos. It will enable any tourist or journalist who comes to Sochi in 2014 to travel back to any date in the past and see the picture of the day, all the stories and photos and videos which were uploaded by users on that day.
We still need to extend the English version of the website and introduce the more functional social network component, which we are working on now.
Citizen journalism is still in the up-and-coming stage in Russia. Does that help you or work against you in your project?
SochiReporter has an opportunity and was actually born to promote the digital tools in Sochi, and foster the ‘webization’ of the city, which is preparing to host the Olympics. So we are experimenting in finding new ways to attract and involve users, the Sochi citizens, to generate content and tell the story of their city, the story of transformation. We don’t expect the stories to be professional in a journalistic way, as our reporters are not professional journalists. But we expect their stories be hearty and sincere. And this is very important. This is thrilling!
How do you see SochiReporter growing after the 2014 games?
Do you think we’ll turn into an e-shop and will sell tickets to the post-Olympic skating rink? I’m kidding. Well, if stars align, by 2014 SochiReporter will grow into a known and strong web resource, and it should continue being. I see no reasons not to. Olympics are not just a destination, it’s also a factor that affects and leaves a huge legacy behind. And as time goes by, and technology develops, I bet SochiReporter will evolve.
Alexander Zolotarev is on Twitter @ZanderZolotarev. SochiReporter also has a Twitter account of its own @SochiReporter.
Video showing how SochiReporter was created
All photo and video materials were kindly provided by Alexander Zolotarev.