foreword

At the beginning of this year, because the two citizen media "Stand" and "Zhong" both graduated in a very short period of time, I published " Introduction - Can We Have a Newer Media than New Media? " A discussion of state-of-the-art decentralized media.

It is said to be a discussion, because the decentralized media has not yet been formed, and almost no one has seen what it looks like. But just because it has not yet formed, the pioneers who came first have more space to construct the ideal new media type according to their own imagination. Last Saturday, I watched "Jian'an's Future World" hosted by Liu Xiliang and Bonnie CHEUNG. This is one of my favorite shows on the Walled City channel. It mainly discusses the changes that technology may bring to the future of mankind. On last week's show, they were discussing whether content farms could be used as a tool to protect press freedom. What? Aren't content farms a breeding ground for fake news? How can it be a tool to protect press freedom? This article tries to share the inspiration the show gave me. Let’s start by discussing the known issues with content farms, and the negative impression it brings to the general public. It will then explore how content farms can be used for positive things, such as helping to build decentralized media. Finally, I'll share what I've observed about the variety of decentralized media.

It tickles my teeth when it comes to content farms

As a writer, I know the weight of words in the construction of human thoughts and concepts. At the same time, I also cherish freedom of the press. Based on these values, when it comes to content farms, I'm always either contemptuous or angry. why? Without him, because too many such content farm sites do their best to publish fake news, steal other people's articles to fill up traffic, when the headline party cheats clicks with sensational headlines, or publishes a lot of superficial truths and actual fallacies, treating small cleverness as great wisdom Spam articles. There is a saying in Cantonese: "Doing a bad job with many people will make a good impression on you?" Therefore, as long as you have a little understanding of content farms, when you mention this term, people will naturally think of fake news, piracy, and empty the non-nutritive content of the food. It can be said that the impression of the current content farm is really bad. I have also written about content farms and shared my experience in identifying content farms. I suggest that you take a "never hire" attitude as soon as you discover these sites. Don't look at it, let alone share their website link. However, after watching last week's "Jian's Future World", my negative impression of the content farm seems to have changed a bit.

What if the farm provided the nutrients to grow high-quality content?

It is undeniable that the vast majority of content farm sites are being used by bad actors who want to make quick money. Whether it is stealing other people's creations, or deceiving people by using content generators to generate headlines to attract spam articles with empty content, the purpose is only to rush traffic and strive for search engine rankings, thereby attracting advertisements. What's more, content farms are also used by the totalitarian government to promote "great wisdom in life" such as accepting adversity and protecting one's life, in order to achieve the goal of stability. But can content farms only be used for these purposes? If there are serious farmers who respect creation, are willing to pay original creators to buy content, and use the powerful SEO capabilities of the website to curate and promote these creations, then are content farms as evil as we think?

Through last week's "Jian'an Future World" program, I saw a new blueprint for decentralized media: every citizen journalist, whether a photojournalist or a text reporter, is a small news agency. They are not employed by any media agency, but can sell interviews to any publishing platform or news curator. The role of a news curator is equivalent to that of an editor in a traditional media organization. But neither are they employed by any one news organization. Curators use their news tentacles to select and integrate news purchased from independent journalists, and then curate them on suitable platforms in a way that the public understands. These news curators not only need to have news tentacles and credibility, but also be familiar with the methods of promoting content on the Internet, including how to use network algorithms and how to be easily found by search engines. The part of online promotion is actually the technique that the content farm is using. The biggest inspiration for me in this episode is that it reminds me that any technology, knowledge and skills are neutral. Some people use them to benefit themselves, others use them to achieve mutual aid and symbiosis. Just like the above example of integrated news curation, aspiring news curators can also use the promotion skills of content farms to promote the news collected by independent reporters, provide independent reporters with continuous access to reporting resources, and establish mutual aid and symbiosis ecosphere. More importantly, such an ecosystem is not a fixed organization, and it is difficult for big brothers to catch them all in one go. In fact, the "Chengzhai News" broadcast by the "Chengzhai" channel on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays is a news curatorial program. The ecological chain of reporting and curation has taken its initial form.

What other types of decentralized media are there?

We call online self-media "new media". The decentralized media is a newer media type than the above-mentioned new media. The core purpose of the birth of this type is to resist censorship and economic suppression. Make media people continue to report in the current harsh environment. According to my observation, although this new media type is still in the stage of exploration and experimentation, some prototypes have emerged. include:

1. The cooperation between independent journalists and e-book publishers to make interview reports into e-books for publication. I recently purchased "The Impossible War in Ukraine" on Readmoo.com by an independent journalist;

Second, the news publishing platform or writing platform solicits reports from independent journalists in the form of bonuses. Matters' "Let Love Run Season 2 - Nonfiction Writing," and the "Present Nonfiction Writing Fellowship Program," which recently ran for two seasons, are exactly that. The scale of "Presence" is larger than that of "Let Love Generate Electricity Season 2". Not only can those selected for writing projects receive more generous bonuses, but also enjoy editorial support and the opportunity to publish their works on other publishing platforms such as "Reporter" and "Duan Media". These are all attempts to build a symbiotic relationship between content producers and content publishers.

Back to the question of what the decentralized media looks like, I can't give an exact answer, and I believe no one can give an exact answer at this stage. Living in an age of disorder, we can easily get lost in chaos. But the root cause of disorder is that the old order cannot respond to new problems and needs. Disorder will cause fear and confusion to many people, but at the same time, we can also see a good opportunity to cure the root cause and rebuild in the disorder.