When I first started reporting, way, way, way back in the day, I remember my excitement at getting a piece of mail from the public. Every now and then there was the hate mail. My favorite was getting a card with a picture of a German shepherd on it, with the contents of the letter referring to me repeatedly as a dog. It was nice to get mail, but the audience was always at arm’s length, allowing me to shrug off the hate mail.

The Web changed everything. As an editor at The Washington Post’s Web site for 10 years, I saw the audience become more and more involved in the process. Readers who could quiz editors and newsmakers in live discussions can now e-mail editors and reporters directly with story ideas and comments.

The comments board on most blogs on the Web is the Wild Wild West — allowing readers to offer their thoughts on content and writing. Anyone can start a blog and citizen journalism has become much more than discussion fodder for conferences. The London bombings demonstrated how anyone with a cell phone is capable of reporting on events.

Today, citizen journalism takes a step forward with the unveiling of Assignment Zero. After years of hearing the internal journalistic debates of “who is a journalist,” Jay Rosen proposed last year to bring together the best qualities of professional journalists and citizen journalists under one umbrella. He then assembled an amazing team of editors, developers and designers who spent the last several months making his vision reality.

It’s a simple concept recently, one Jay dubbed “pro-am journalism.” Assignment Zero will use the crowd to do much of the traditional legwork needed to do go reporting — the first story will examine the history and practice of crowdsourcing. The crowd will be assisted by professional editors and the final product will run on Wired, New Assignment and elsewhere on the Web.

The theory is that by using a large pool of reporters, you get more sourcing, more anecdotes, better reporting, and ultimately, a better story.

Some have warned me not to oversell the concept. But it’s hard not to get excited over this revolutionary approach to journalism. Imagine using this setup to examine larger issues — education, poverty, foreign policy. The sky’s the limit.

I remember back when I was reporting how readers would often be frustrated by their inability to impact the journalistic process. More than once I would hear laments that letters to the editor was the only way for readers to offer thoughts and comments on the process.

Those days are gone. The closed doors have been opened. Not only do you, the reader, get to be a part of the process, but we’re inviting you in and allowing you to pick how you want to be involved. We’re listened and we’ve responded. Go check out Assignment Zero. Journalism will never be the same.