The Birth of the Open Newsroom: Announcing IAMNEWS.COM private alpha launch

The platform enables everyone to be a part of an open global newsroom and to invite reporters from around the world to participate in the creation of a news. Was founded by Nir Ofir and funded by Dr. Yossi Vardi.

Three years ago, Nir Ofir, an Israeli web entrepreneur,  began writing a science fiction novel. In this novel, (which had been put on hold), Nir imagined a reality in which the average citizen could be part of an innovative news network called iamnews; a network   whose reporters participate in the creation of news.  While describing the adventures of these reporters and their sophisticated means of transmitting their information, Nir realized that this was not the world of science fiction, but something which could be done with today’s technology.

Few months ago Nir left his job and founded IAMNEWS. A service that enables anyone to create a news assignment, invite reporters to participate and submit reports, and then edit and publish the story.

This is how it works:

The Web is the Newsroom
Nir: ”I believe that the Internet of today is already a global newsroom, and we all take part in it. Video sharing, photos, blogs, and social network platforms are our tools for creating news. The most current example of this were the recent reports of the earthquake in China; reports that were communicated by means of a platform such as “Twitter”. These reports preceded formal TV news reporting by the   traditional mass media.”

However, there is problem with this global newsroom. The content and sharing tools which   are available today, (such as we could only dream of three or four years ago)are not sufficiently adequate. The main reason for this is the excess of information. There is so much incoming information that the news networks are unable to screen the material, or select the preferred topics. There is also no current solution for quickly investigating the reliability of this material, or the reputation of its sources. There is simply no way in which to gather the information from so many sources, or effect the collaboration of these sources for the purpose of creating reliable news. Even if this were possible, there would still be no way to compensate the participants for their contributions.

Nir goal is the creation of a news platform which will solve all of these problems. He got his seed money for founding the company from Yossi Vardi.

Why is an Alternative Necessary?
The Media as we know it today is complex and de-centralized. Along with the media magnates and those who monopolize the various sectors of the media, there are groups and individuals who influence the way consumers experience the media. Until a few years ago, we were staunch consumers of the main news channels, but today, there are so many news sources and each targets   a specific, individual need. Until recently, we were media consumers. Now we are participating in its creation.

The alternative, called iamnews changes things. It blurs the line between the media provider and the media consumer. With iamnews, the cooperation between the networked journalists is a powerful resource. We individuals are, in fact, the main source of information, and the implementation of our knowledge and findings can create a global newsroom, just as I had imagined.

LAUNCHING IAMNEWS
iamnews was selected to be one of the Demo pit companies in the techcrunch50 conference. We are launching a private alpha version of our platform while there.

Hi Res logo
http://flickr.com/photos/niro/2813110359/sizes/o/

Hi Res illustration
http://flickr.com/photos/niro/2813947594/sizes/l/

Demo video (older version – not for publicity)
http://vimeo.com/1268482

Nir Ofir photo – credit: Yuval mendelson
http://flickr.com/photos/mendelsons/2620421029/sizes/o/