The idea behing NewAssignment.net and Assignment Zero is to see if there’s a place where citizens can help with large pieces of investigative journalism. Over the years, newspapers have cut back funding, and time, for investigative journalism. Some very influential folks, including Jeff Jarvis and Craig Newmark, feel this attitude could lead to the death of a necessary form of journalism. So, with Assignment Zero, we’re trying to guage what might happen if we the doors for citizens who would like to contribute their knowledge of various subjects to help journalists build a piece of investigative journalism. If we can get this to happen, then we’ve accomplished one of our goals.