JFK Files Open For Crowdsourcing

Readers are helping a newspaper search for clues among papers relating to the assassination of John F Kennedy.

The online version of the Dallas Morning News is asking visitors to turn detective by reading through scanned documents found in a “secret treasure-trove” and to contact them directly if they find “something interesting”.

The newspaper said it is appealing for users’ help due to the sheer volume of documents and has 90% of the material available for view.

Discovered last month in a district attorney’s safe, the papers comprise personal and official letters, police reports and other files, some of which relate to assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and his killer Jack Ruby.

Visitors can also download a PDF version of a report concerning the transcript of an alleged conversation between Oswald and Ruby.

And users are encouraged to use the newspaper’s online forum to discuss their findings and thoughts on the newly discovered documents.

As well as this crowdsourcing project, the Dallas Morning News has deployed a range of multimedia tools to report the story, including video footage and photographs of the current DA unveiling the documents.