Dear Odyssey,

Although I was initially impressed by the opportunity Odyssey presents to students, I have accumulated a particular animosity towards the process and tools provided over the last few weeks. Moreover, I don’t believe this company has helped me at all in this process besides a brief education on the components of a good article.

My opinion may be unpopular. This rant might frustrate you. And certain blanketed statements in the following paragraphs are a portion of my agitated opinion and personal understanding. So here it goes…

Managing a nationwide army of content creators must be challenging, and giving each of those 44,000 individuals helpful tools to succeed is likely impossible. But this democratization of content slogan Odyssey has adopted feels more like a blatant extortion of college students’ ideas and talents.

With clicks and views being the driving force behind any profit from an article, the creative process goes completely out the window. Odyssey is a paradox. Students with limited time in their schedules as is are expected to crank out viral ideas on a weekly basis. Creators must craft and edit that idea into some article or video content worthy of an online presence. And only receive monetary compensation IF all their work collectively exceeds 15,000 views per month.

Granted, many individuals leverage this speedy turn around to work for them. Odyssey content that goes viral seems to do so within the social confines of the intended audience or the same college sphere it was created in. And shout out to those who have found their voice and confidence through Odyssey work. But I’m not a writer. I understand all of the above concerns could potentially be resolved with some time budgeting throughout the week. If I dedicated an hour per day on an article, sure, I’d write something pretty impressive. I do write, but I’m frankly far more skilled with a lens and editing software than I ever have been with written communication. But Odyssey isn’t quite ready for multimedia.

But videos are what I want to do, it’s the reason I got involved with Odyssey in the first place. However, creating quality journalism and telling peoples’ stories is the only media I want to produce. Furthermore, when a college student is responsible for all their own ideas, footage, production, and editing in addition to the usual exhausting rigor of college, making something to be proud of feels impossible. It’s easier to resort to click-bait style posts or long format “500 words on” articles than spending the appropriate time with sources or on research. This article is a good example.

Odyssey isn’t the democratization of content. It’s a simple website where college students post articles and get paid if they do well. Sounds rock solid in theory, but the world’s up and coming creatives need something more.

Two weeks ago, I sat in this small restaurant on Commercial Street in the downtown district of Bellingham with an old acquaintance. He’d been making a mark in the realm of social and visual media over the last decade and agreed to sit down over dinner and let me pick his brain. After learning of his accomplishments throughout the years, the conversation shifted to what I was working on to advance my photo/video journalism career.

Naturally, Odyssey was one of the first things we talked about and he immediately showed curiosity at the concept. He asked plenty of thought provoking questions, but it wasn’t his comments or questions that got me thinking. I was more surprised by what I said.

The bottom line is that I realized I could work 5-10 hours a week with no assistance, extension, advertising, or equipment from Odyssey and TRY to create a consistent following that would eventually benefit my career… OR I could do the same over a two week period on my own blog/vlog/YouTube get monetary compensation based on subscribers (like a normal internet platform) regardless of my content’s ability to break a 15,000-click glass ceiling each month. And don’t even get me started on this archaic CMS (Content Management System) called Muse. I don’t even know how to illustrate the frustrations Odyssey’s unbearably slow upload process has caused me; it crashes constantly and once took 2 hours to upload a 10-minute 720p video.

So, what now? Well, I feel like I’ve wasted my time. Which is remarkably ironic considering I spend 40-50 hours of any given week working on things OTHER than Odyssey.

I think Odyssey creators working on videos should have an extra week of development afforded to them. Consumers spend less time reading and more time watching these days anyways! And attempting to cram a legit video into one week of production is insanity.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. So, I’m ceasing the paradox. Next week, I’ll will post my last piece of content to Odyssey and direct my talents elsewhere.

As a final thought, I would not brand this experience as a mistake. All endeavors, profitable or not, encourage character and foster growth. I’ve learned lots of skills from myself during this time at Odyssey, and I’m thankful to have seen it through most of the summer.

Thank you for the opportunity, Odyssey. I hope that my opinion will be observed and used to better the experiences of your future creators.

See you in some other corner of the internet.