About Civicboom & FAQ
What is it?
- Civicboom is a tool that makes building a story easier.
- It connects people with news and insight with people who need it.
How can it work for you?
1
Add Civicboom widget to your website. Request news & insight from your community or wider public
- Get relevant content from your audience
- Connect more deeply with your audience
2
Respond directly to requests by uploading relevant news and insight
- Participate directly in issues you care about
- Get recognised as a credible news source
Civicboom for the individual
- Provide insight on issues, ideas, news and opinion
- Become a trusted contributor and get recognition
- Participate in the news agenda at the local level.
How?
Civicboom works in 3 ways
- You can search Civicboom for call-to-action requests from organisations and people that want your news, opinion and insight.
- You can respond to specific requests for your news and insight wherever you see the Civicboom widget on other websites that want to news and insight from you.
- You can upload your news and insight directly, share with your Followers, and if appropriate even syndicate exclusive content that you have (photo's or video) and earn money.
Civicboom for organisations
- Directly request and capture news, insights and opinion from your communities
- Plan and create news features or research
- Improve your connection with and understanding of your community
How?
Civicboom works by enabling you to:
- Set a call-to-action request for news or insight directly from your community via the widget powered by Civicboom as a public or "closed" request.
- "Approve" relevant content for use in your publishing, news and research - plus if you are a media organisation, sell images or video on* (with share of revenue going back to the original creator).
- Establish a better connection and understanding of issues that matter to the community you serve.
What is "approved" content?
When responding to a call-to-action request, the content generated can be "approved" by the organisation or individual requesting it. If approved, the content will be used by that organisation or individual. For example, it could be published or used as part of research. Once this happens, the approved content is locked so no further editing can take place by the creator. The creator is automatically alerted of this and is given a badge of approval against that content (helping build their profile) and is credited by the organisation either by name where the content has been used, or by a link back to the request "package" on the organisation's Civicboom profile. The organisation is also able to sell on images or content, with part of the revenue shared with the contributor (automated through PayPal*).
What is a "closed" request**?
An organisation or individual setting a call-to-action request has the choice to make a "closed" request. It means that if - as the requester - they want to specifically use approved content generated for a feature or research, they can keep that content visible only to themselves and the contributor until published. It might be a news report, or a case study - it is at the discretion of whoever has requested the content. An approved contributor of a "closed" request is given a specific badge against that content in their profile, improving rating and reliability. It also means other organisations can see they've been a reliable source for a request.
If the content generated against a "closed" request is not used by the organisation, that content then becomes publicly visible on the creators Civicboom profile but is also listed in the "responses" against the organisation's request, further building the profile of the creator.
What if I change my mind once I've agreed to contribute?
Anyone who "accepts" to respond to a request can retract their commitment, giving you flexibility. Likewise, and organisation or individual setting a call-to-action request can edit a request and deadline, or delete the request completely. Furthermore, content created against a request can also be disassociated from an individual responding by the organisation or individual requesting it. This necessary just in case the content is not appropriate for the organisation's audience - but so long as the content doesn't break our "4 Simple Rules", it can stay on Civicboom and can be used in any way by the creator.
Why do I need a profile?
In order to build a portfolio, download the widget, set requests or ensure you are credited (and even financially rewarded) for the content you have uploaded via Civicboom, you need a profile. It also means that other users of Civicboom can find and Follow you - heightening your presence and gaining better recognition as a contributor.
How can I protect my content?
You publish your news and insight, and ask for requests through the "Attribution" Creative Commons License. This means you let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit. For more info click HERE.
By using Civicboom, media organisations may want to sell on your original content (images and video) with a share of the revenue going back to you. This licence allows that, but you do have the ability to waive this if you so wish by stating it in your content.
What about copyright?
Civicboom takes copyright very seriously. As a user, you are responsible for ensuring you have the adequate copyright to upload any image or video.
If you do upload and you do not have the rights to the image, video or content then it is likely you will be liable for full payment to the copyright holder. See terms and conditions for full details. You can use Creative Commons on Flikr to help you find an image to support your upload (the link is on the upload page) - but make sure you credit the creator.
* & ** rolling out May 2010.