Indiconews.com

What are we?
www.indiconews.com is a site for anyone with online access to report, assign, collaborate and share news and issues that matter to them.

We've worked hard at crafting a system that not only puts users at the heart of reporting; it also puts them at the heart of the news agenda - from the local to the global.

Who might use us?
After some soul searching (and basic feedback such as "why can't I join?"), we've opened up Beta V2's ”free registration” to not only include individuals but also companies, charities, educational establishments, voluntary organizations (like sports associations or campaigns) and the public sector (local authorities/emergency services). This means an organization can share their news or issues, engage and communicate with a wider audience (or, for example, in the case of emergency civic alerts, a targeted audience) and develop their profile via a news platform they control.

Why is a broad user-base important?
The upshot of opening up the site is it creates an opportunity for others - mainly individuals - to respond to news or issues from an organization and contribute their ideas and concerns, which could help create transparency, understanding and a greater sense of 'community'. With indiconews.com, the audience is no longer passive in the news process but part of an ongoing ‘conversation’ where everyone has a voice on issues that matter to them.

What makes us different?
A key development is our ”Make the News” feature, a section that lets users shape the news by setting assignments for others to take up, or by accepting an assignment themselves. And because we've opened up the registration, we hope the assignments will reflect a range of perspectives - igniting action and reaction.

Furthermore as part of Beta V2, we’re creating an innovative ”Interview Me” function. This is a search and request system that matches expert knowledge with reporter's questions. Registered reporters and non-reporters alike can join the database - from musicians and scientists to politicians and environmentalists.

It's a simple system that works both ways - reporters get relevant information, from source, while the "interviewed" get the opportunity to share their knowledge. We'll be rolling out the secure system in the next few weeks.

What are the risks?
With all of the above in mind, and given the potential unruliness of civic media, we're developing a reliability system and have created some basic rules of conduct that we want to further shape and share with other similar organizations. (Our learning curve has already been steep and very complex).

We’re still in Beta and will be developing all the time but we welcome all comments/feedback. We are contactable on: feedback@indiconews.com.