SXSW By The Numbers: CNN & Vimeo Team Up To Support Indie Reporters

As citizen journalism becomes more and more the norm for covering events (planned and unplanned) around the globe, it's no surprise that one of the coolest citizen journalism projects in recent history came out South by Southwest. CNN and Vimeo teamed up this year to let hand-selected iReporters and Vimeo filmmakers cover the SXSW Conferences and Festivals from their own perspectives. Read on to find out more about the CNN-Vimeo collaboration, and check out the resulting video diary below. According to the project's press release, "During the first four days of SXSW, March 11th - 14th, 2011, hand-selected iReporters and Vimeo filmmakers, and CNN and Vimeo staff covered the SXSW Conferences and Festivals from their own unique perspectives, and shared their daily video footage with the iReport editorial team. CNN condensed the collective footage into a compelling visual diary of SXSW to share with global audiences." Check out the visual diary below. Lila King, participation director for CNN.com, hits the nail on the head about why this project is so exciting. She says, "This project demonstrates what news can look like when it is opened up to communities that include some of the most creative, visionary filmmakers in the world, all collaborating to cover an event that is known globally for celebrating tomorrow's ideas." Andrea Allen also pointed out on the Vimeo blog that this video, "looks and feels more like the creative work you'd see on Vimeo rather than a TV news broadcast." Nevertheless, it's being shown on CNN.com and may be features on TV as well. The Vimeo creators involved in the project included Harrison Smith, Erica Hampton, Mike Ambs, Misa Garcia, Harrison Hill and Zadi Diaz. iReporters included Steve Garfield, Josh Johnson, Percy von Lipinski, Egberto Willies and Tessa Horehled. Steve Garfield writes on his blog, "I am so excited to have been part of this project with CNN. For such a long time I've been trying to get news organizations to see the value in working with, as Jay Rosen says, "The people formerly known as the audience."" I'd say this project was definitely a success. In addition to the video above, CNN also launched Open Stories, inviting attendees to tell the story of SXSW together, via CNN and iReport. You can click here to view the full Open Story of South by Southwest. They write in the description, "This story is a collaborative effort of CNN and hundreds of iReporters who are taking part in the events of SXSW in Austin, Texas, this week. We're calling it Open Story. It's our very first one." If you've got footage from SXSW you can add it to the Open Story via iReport. Watching the videos on CNN's SXSW Open Story is definitely a cool way to get a feel for the event, even if you weren't there, and I absolutely love the video diary that CNN and Vimeo collaborated on. I have to agree wholeheartedly with CNN's Lila King's statement about how the project demonstrates what the news can look like when it's opened up to creative communities. It looks beautiful and I hope to see more event coverage through the lens of Vimeo and iReport. What's your take on the CNN-Vimeo SXSW project? Do you think we'll be seeing more of this type of event coverage in the near future?

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SXSW By The Numbers: CNN & Vimeo Team Up To Support Indie Reporters

CNN and Vimeo teamed up this year to let hand-selected iReporters and Vimeo filmmakers cover the SXSW Conferences and Festivals from their own perspectives. Find out more and watch the resulting video diary after the jump.

Megan O'Neill

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Megan O'Neill