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Gawker: AOL News 'Borg' Running Amok

  • Gawker, Friday, February 5, 2010 2:30 PM

AOL raised eyebrows back in November when it announced plans to begin partly automating its online news reporting process. Under the auspices of Seed.com, AOL is now employing an algorithmic system that trawls the Web for stories that readers are likely to prefer, and then parses out story assignments among a large freelance staff. The result? "AOL's media borg Seed.com can't stop its horde of desperate underemployed journalists from mobbing story subjects, like the angry woman who heard from seven Seed writers in six days," writes Gawker.

If with a smidgen of sarcasm, Gawker -- which has yet to begin employing a similarly automated reporting system -- also heralds Seed's "innovative 'human wave attack' style of journalism ... Those sorts of tactica [sic] can be very effective, if you're a general."

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