Check out the new Citizendium newsletter “The Citizen.”

Volume 1, Issue 1..

An avid NewAssignment.Net follower will know that we’ve covered Citizendium both on this blog and during Assignment Zero.

The cause for highlighting their newsletter is because of its author. Scroll down to the bottom of the newsletter where NewAssignment.Net is given a special shout out: “Thanks to…NewAssignment.Net and Assignment Zero for getting me here!”

The cause for celebration isn’t because NewAssignment.Net outright supports Citizendium. The cause for celebration is because we helped a citizen, a regular consumer of the news, find something to be passionate about. Since this project launched I’ve always said, even if we don’t improve the quality of news (which I hope we do), we re-engage citizens in the news process and this is a benefit to democracy. Democracy rests its fate on engaged citizens - people who consume the news but also go out and make news happen.

The emphasis we put on Pro-Am is about re-engaging people into the news process, so they are introduced to concepts and aspects of our society that they can continue to pursue after the reporting is done. That’s how you create a strong democracy.

In the past news organizations would show people problems in our society in the hopes of spurring action. In truth, however, we probably lost their attention in the first 10 minutes. But instead of showing people, the Pro-Am model engages people. It asks them to tell news organizations what they see, think and feel. That is a call to action and the hope is that it is one that continues after the reporting is done.

So the thanks really goes to Robert W King, who after our Assignment Zero project realized that Citizendium was something he felt passionate about and decided to pursue it further. Now he is part of that community and helping to shape its future.