How to Crowd-Source a Story

The Takeaway

The presidential inauguration is less than a week away. But if you don’t have tickets to an inaugural ball or you’re not planning to be out there watching the swearing-in in Washington, don’t worry, we’ve still got a way for you to be part of the occasion.
We’re composing our own People’s Poem for the presidential inauguration. Poet Kwame Dawes got us started with a first line:

Say ‘nation.’ In the way of quarrels, say ‘hope.’

Now, we’ve been asking you to follow-up with second, third, fourth lines, and more. We’re collecting the answers on Twitter under the hashtag  #prezpoem.
Willy Chyr, founder of  Collabowriters, a website that’s crowd-sourcing a novel, shares his advice for curating a crowd-sourced story, and  Patrik Henry Bass, books editor for  Essence  reflects on other recent crowd-sourcing literary experiments.

Invest in independent global news

The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!