By Sarah Rotman
Slashdot.com is one of the best examples of an online news provider
that uses the full potential of one of the unique properties of the
internet: user-generated content. The site is completely driven by
user-generated content, in this case, community opinion on current
events in technology. Recent threads have addressed the collapse of
dot.commerce, how the Sims game will affect trends in architecture
and landscape architecture, the current and future state of old media
(arcade games) in the age of media convergence, as well as some very
technical conversations about developments in mathematics. Although
you are not required to register in order to browse the discussions,
Slashdot is definitely insider's community-people know each other,
and there are many users who post frequently. The intimacy of the
community is both a strength, in that the site has a very loyal and
active following, and a potential weakness, as newcomers to the site
can be intimidated by the insiders' lingo and knowledge of the issues.
A frequent critique of the site is that it is too text-heavy. The
larger question, however, whenever you have user-generated content
is validation: how can you trust what people say? The structure of
the site, and the participation of the community, deals with this
issue very effectively. All of the postings are numerically ranked
by other users, with comments such as "interesting" or "funny,"
so that when you are reading the threads, you can tell immediately
how much credibility most users afford each posting. Also, because
the site does not actually host articles, the burden of validation
is on the supporting site. Slashdot sets up a forum in which one user
posts a reaction to a news article on another site, with a link to
that site. The following thread is a reaction to the reaction, with
people frequently posting additional research and sources of their
own. This is an innovative approach to news-the news is created through
the community's mediated reaction to current events.
The other incredible strength of this site is specialization. It successfully
addresses a niche market by providing information that is so in depth
and so specialized that no traditional or general news source could
compete. As Scott McCloud would say, it's the spike of specialized
knowledge that breaks the balloon of general interest.
As for recommendations for future enhancement of the site, I don't
really have any, aside from possible aesthetic improvements. Slashdot
isn't flashy, but the loyalty of the community attests to the success
of a site driven by user-generated content that reaches a niche market.