Next time someone says citizen journalism is “for the birds,” don’t dismiss it – they might actually be right. That’s because American’s bird watchers have hit upon a very smart approach to gathering ground-level info that citizen journalists, and mainstream media, could well learn from.

Each year for more than a century, tens of thousands of birders, sponsored by the National Audubon Society, conduct what’s called the Christmas Bird Count (it actually runs for several weeks, this season from Dec. 14 until this Friday, Jan. 5).

It’s probably one of the longest-standing example of how large numbers of amateurs can collect widely dispersed data – in this case, all the birds they can spot in one of hundreds of designated areas around the country – that then can be assessed for trends by expert and amateur alike. For the ornithological community, it’s crowdsourcing at its best.

Using the Christmas Bird Count, or CBC, for instance, Audubon says it was able to document the decline of wintering populations of the American Black Duck in the 1980s, after which conservation measures were put into effect to reduce hunting pressure on this species. In more recent counts, the conservation group has been tracking the significant decline of the evening grosbreak, a species of finch, in the Great Lakes region and Northeast.

The CBC approach has spawned similar data-pooling projects among birders: The Great Backyard Bird Count (held February 16-19, 2007), Project FeederWatch and eBird, among them. And it’s not just birders that have realized the power of citizen science. Scientists use information gathered by trained amateurs to add to the general knowledge base in a number of fields – good examples include amateur astronomers like Thomas Bopp, who co-discovered Comet Hale-Bopp in 1995, or the “parataxonomists” trained by conservation biologist Dan Janzen to study biodiversity in local rainforests in Costa Rica.

So how might citizen science projects, like these birdwatching ventures, help suggest approaches for citizen media?

1. They provide models for rigorous data collection: Such efforts would have little value if the information gathered was inaccurate, duplicative, etc. That’s why they use carefully developed methodologies to avoid spoiling their data. Project FeederWatch, for instance, has a detailed set of step-by-step instructions on making accurate bird counts and reports. Citizen journalism sites should likewise establish and disseminate the same kinds of guides for reporting and photography standards, especially with names, quotes, attribution, numbers and other verifiable info.

2. They provide models for pooling cumulative results: If contaminated data does make its way into the pool, the sheer volume of the overall data collected in these projects ensures it gets washed out. The Great Backyard Bird Count, for instance, had nearly 61,000 checklists reporting 7.5 million birds. CitJ projects, even those that are hyperlocal, could try the same approach, seeking multiple iterations of information (like local restaurant ratings, development trends, etc.) to increase the accuracy of the end result.

3. They provide models for vetting amateurs: While the hurdles to participate are not excessive, the presence of things like registration forms, small fees and training materials serve to weed out those who are not serious. The CBC, for instance, requires a $5 fee used to generate printed materials and maintain the overall database. Project Feederwatch, which requires a $15 fee, provides participants with instructions, material to help ID birds, a handbook with tips for attracting birds, etc. Some citizen science projects are far more involved, such as Janzen’s parataxonomy training, which involves weeks of intensive instruction. Somewhere in this range is where citJ fails – registration is already widely used. But how about mandatory online tutorials, accuracy checklists or forms to make sure vital info isn’t left out of a submission? And how about skills-based workshops leading to some kind of citJ certification, i.e. “trained amateur photojournalist.”

4. They provide models for expert-amateur interaction: In most of these projects, if not all, beginners are paired either with more experienced amateurs, or directly with experts themselves, in mentoring relationships that ultimately improve the data collection process. For example, CBC participants are organized into field parties that group inexperienced observers with seasoned veterans. A Canadian Citizen Science clearinghouse provides training on monitoring equipment it provides to participants. And the Society for Amateur Scientists helps provide teens with research mentors in its LABRats program. Similarly, experienced journalists, either associated with mainstream media or with new citizen media sites, could provide similar mentoring, either through workshops, in-the-field training, online editing, or more.

Some smart journalists and citizen media types are, of course, already taking advantage of these kinds of distributed reporting approaches to strengthen their work. Sunlight Foundation, a co-funder of NewAssignment.Net, is often cited as an example, with its earmarks and congressional “family business” projects. Environmental journalists, who often need to gather and collate vast quantities of pollution-related data, have certainly made use of this technique as well. For example, Houston Chronicle reporter Dina Cappiello, in the In Harm’s Way special report, used 84 trained volunteer monitors to measure local air toxics (more on the methodology).

It’s relatively easy to imagine other citJ stories of these kinds. And now, thanks to the efforts of a bunch of bird lovers, journalists and citizen journalists have a better way of flocking to them.

I, Reporter is a joint venture citizen media project founded by digital media consultants Adam Glenn and Amy Gahran. Adam is a New York-based Internet veteran who has held posts with a wide variety of news media, most recently as senior producer at ABCNews.com in New York. Amy Gahran is a conversational media consultant and content strategist based in Boulder, CO. She edits Poynter’s group weblog E-Media Tidbits, and is the editor of the weblogs Contentious.com and RightConversation.com.