Participatory Audiences
The five main types of participatory journalism are all similar because they all allow for, in most cases, non-journalists to take part in creating some form of journalistic piece. While the journalist usually seeks out the sources, the sources who are interviewed are usually doing it voluntarily and are therefore willingly contributing to a news story. The more we discuss the other types of participatory journalism, the more user-motivated they become. User feedback comes after a consumer is done reading or listening to a story; this is when a consumer feels they have something to share, but it may not change the way the story is perceived by other viewers or readers. User-generated content, crowdsourcing, and citizen journalism are the most similar of this group. These forms of journalism allow for people outside of the journalism field to directly contribute to a news piece, even if it is just a little bit. Citizen journalism allows for the most interaction from non-journalists, as they are the centerpiece of the news creation.
Wikipedia is a great example of a crowdsourcing website. All of the articles are developed by groups of people all over the world, and they are sporadically edited as needed. Some real-life journalists may contribute to Wikipedia edits, but for the most part, regular Internet viewers take part in most of the editing. Anybody can edit Wikipedia, allowing for content to be changed at any point in any day. This allows for up-to-date information to be posted as soon as the most important details of a news story emerge.
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