From software programming to content production

While Indian service providers used to write code for US software developers, Indian journalists may also have a future in the outsourcing industry.

At least at the moment for the tech-savvy ones. According to a Newsforge report, CNET Networks is planning to outsource to India a portion of its content for Builder.com, aimed at application developers.

CNET is acknowledged by many to be a premier online source of technology-related content including news and technical literature such as white papers and what-not.

It's not unusual for news sites to get regular contributions from writers from as far as Europe or Asia. But Builder.com is the first to turn this practice on a larger scale.

According to a CNET official, budget cuts have encouraged Builder.com to look for alternative (maybe cheaper?) sources of articles. For at least two months, the site's editorial team would scout for writers in India instead of the usual practice of paying freelance writers.

Before writers start making a howl out of this development, CNET says the experiment is meant to relieve its editors of deadline headaches associated with dealing with a lot of freelance writers.

By centralizing content from a single source, editors say they would have a "better interface" with their writers while maintaining editorial control. Plus the fact that because of the time zone difference, editors can give out assignments before leaving the office and expect results first day in the morning.

There are issues here, however, but not really about whether Indian writers are adept in English or technical know-how, but some of it about culture. US-based writers may have a better "feel" or perspective about certain topics than those in another country thousands of miles away.

The irony thing is, Builder.com already hires freelancers from India, who may be bumped off by fellow writers from their own country.