Wikipedia Goes Green: Cash To Lure Professionals
Money does (help) make the world go ’round, even for Wikipedia, the “free encyclopedia.”
In a bid to ensure quality illustrations will grace its online pages and thereby bolster Wikipedia in its Encylcopedia Britannica smackdown, the online encyclopedia that “anyone can edit” aims to pay qualified illustrators for their work.
Wikipedia’s Brianna Laugher, says the plan is to create a list of articles that need illustrations and then solicit the work, according to the New York Times: “The first list is expected to have 50 illustrations and be completed this month. Contributors will be able to sign up for an illustration and have two weeks to submit it; if it is accepted, the illustrator will be paid $40.”
Will Wikipeia’s move spur a move away from the content must be handed over for free Web mentality wreaking havoc on livelihoods and business models?
In my role as closing panelist at the Kelsey Interactive Local Media Conference last week in Los Angeles, I was asked for my predictions about possible future innovations that might impact the local content opportunity online. Micro-payment systems may spur more high quality citizen journalist contributions, I suggested.
Mike Orren, President, Pegasus News, proudly shared at the conference that his site’s content aggregation and redistribution deals are almost all structured without revenue sharing.
I underscored in my closing remarks, however, the importance of the “old school” notion of paying for content production and use to ensure quality and fairness.
Independent video producers are seeking remuneration for their contributions online, and graphic artists are now being courted on the Web.
Hopefully, cash will continue to be king, online as well as off!
MORE FROM KELSEY CONFERENCE: Local Advertising Online: SMEs Hold the Billion Dollar Keys, ILM ANALYSIS
Google Apps & Maps: Enterprise and Local Business STILL Missing and
Google Beware: Facebook Takes Local Advertising Gloves Off, ILM REPORT and
Jason Calacanis: ‘Wrong About Local Too,” ILM REPORT
The Future of Local IS (Google) Search: ILM REPORT and
Citysearch’s Herratti on Social Media and Merchant Reputation: ILM INTERVIEW and
Local is Global: $134 billion in Yellow Pages, Classifieds and Internet Advertising, ILM REPORT