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Software product proposal: Proof

Be anywhere, be everywhere.

Proof is a peer-to-peer network of world-wide webcams.

For Proof, anything can be considered a webcam, as long as it is able to take and transmit still or video footage to a server.

Proof is a platform that enables newsrooms to quickly source images from breaking news when it seems unlikely that regular staff or freelancers will be able to make it to the scene in time.

When a user wishes to commission some visuals, he or she logs in to Proof and submits the assignment’s details and pay. The Proof back-end then grinds away in search of registered users in the assignment’s geographic area (either via GPS or cell tower proximity). Proof spits out assignment notifications to the nearest parties. When one of those ‘Proofers’ decides to take on the task, the assigning user gets one last opportunity to vet the freelancer. As with systems such as eBay, Proof collects user feedback and assign user ratings.

Once an assignment ‘handshake’ has occurred, Proof deducts the listed pay plus a small transaction fee from the user and holds it until the assignment is either completed or cancelled.

Figure 1, below, is a rendering of a possible network configuration for Proof.

Figure 1: Proof, consisting of file transfer servers, transaction servers, and geolocation servers, tied together by a ‘dispatch’ application server and accessed by users through a web server presentation layer.

Many newsrooms, whether print, online, or broadcast-based, already provide mobile devices to their employees; however not all newsrooms are set up with FTP servers and simple ways for that content to make it back to the newsroom (Al Jazeera online would be an example of one exception.)

A news company that chooses to invest in Proof would be gaining not just a way to quickly get images from remote breaking news events (how about whale rescue?), but would also gain an open source, web-based, and platform-independent method of beaming photo and video back into the newsroom from existing and future reporters, freelancers, and stringers.

Business brief

The best reason for a news organization to build or co-own an implementation of Proof is because it can be a profitable stand-alone news tool.

Because Proof is intended to facilitate the news collection process, it does not need to integrate directly with any particular CMS or ingest system. It also does not have to be developed inside a newsroom.

Proof will be self-sustaining as a standalone product and business, or division within a company. Proof will generate revenue by charging transaction fees on completed assignments.

A big risk involves the state of mobile device intellectual property rights and licensing issues that could arise from patents. The biggest challenge with implementation is building a critical mass of users in enough geographic areas.

An analysis of the competitive marketplace (see Appendix 1 in the PDF document) shows that several similar products have launched within the past two years, and some appear to be quite successful.

One that is particularly notable from a business standpoint is ‘Gigwalk.’ Gigwalk is an assignment and fee-based mobile data collection service for large companies. Users earn commissions by completing tasks for Gigwalk’s corporate clients, such as verifying restaurant menus and collecting storefront photographs. In three months, Gigwalk has logged 116,000 transactions, or completed ‘gigs,’ according to company executives, which is a promising example of the willingness of the public to participate in fee-based mobile device ‘sharing.’

But Proof is not a large-scale one-to-many data-collection service. It is a responsive event-driven, peer-driven network.

I have been asked: ‘Why is it open source?’

Proof should be developed and maintained in collaboration with its biggest stakeholders, the users. Users have the most to lose in terms of privacy, security, and control over their information.

One method of effectively policing behaviour on the Proof network would be to enforce a requirement that any art commissioned through it falls under a Creative Commons license after 72 hours, and is shareable via a central Proof CMS. Then Proof would consist of both open-source software, and also open-data.

I have also been asked: ‘Is Proof taking jobs away from photojournalists?’

I don’t think so. Proof is not meant to operate as a scheduler. It is responsive to a present, and urgent need for a recording from a remote scene. I suspect that newsrooms will become a small fraction of the Proof user base, as the platform becomes widely adopted in use for its true purpose: to act as a contract anywhere-within-the-swarm webcam.

Proof does leverage off of existing open source software packages, the most notable being PhoneGap, which is a suite of APIs bridges that allow you to program once for deployment to multiple mobile platforms.

Proof is not going to fix every legal, ethical, contractual, or practical problem with assigning, commissioning, or licensing images or audio.

My goal for Proof it to develop discoverability; where you discover people and devices that you previously had no knowledge of or access to.

This is the beginning of the ‘internet of things’ made real, where you can be anywhere, and be everywhere just by being plugged in.

Closing Remarks

Proof is an evolving concept and business model.

Should Proof aim to be a sustainable repository for on-demand citizen-gathered media? Should Proof be a database of media at all? I think the community of users will have to help define some of Proof’s functions. Perhaps there are further business models to be explored in curating a collection of time and geography-indexed raw footage, even with creative commons licensing on the media.

But that’s down the road.

The immediate need is to facilitate video, audio, and photo transfers, and to create a system where those stuck in an office can locate people on the ground who are willing to record history.

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