New Voices: 2005 Grantees: North Lawndale Weblog

2005 Grantees

North Lawndale Weblog

Isaac Lewis, Jr. of Strategic Human Services, Inc.
North Lawndale, Chicago

CONTACT INFO

North Lawndale Weblog
1211 S. Western, Ste. 203
Chicago, IL 60608
(312) 492-9090
E-mail

Web site

To launch a community news Weblog to encourage citizen journalism from the mostly African-American residents of one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. The blog will cover community tensions, concerns over gentrification and other local issues through print, audio and photos. It will be linked to the biweekly North Lawndale Community News.

Check back for future news and updates.

Jump to progress reports:
• Final Report: October 2007
• May 2006
• February 2006
• November 2005
• August 2005

North Lawndale Weblog Looks to Extend Reach, Allow Multimedia Posts

Final Report: October 2007

Isaac Lewis says that before the New Voices grant, his community didn’t have an online forum to respond to articles in the newspaper or engage in dialogue about local concerns. “This project allowed us to leverage visitors to our Web site, to learn and experience using a blog that was full of content directly related to where they live.”

Lewis says local taxes and equity issues in development and construction have been recent hot topics on the site. A controversial aldermanic race in early 2007 drew a lot of discussion, as have stories about police misconduct and conditions in HUD housing. Lewis says many people visited the site to watch coverage of an event about African American males, sponsored by Congressman Danny Davis.

North Lawndale Community News has been publishing since 1999, first as a monthly newspaper and gradually achieving weekly circulation. Lewis says the launch of a blog has brought in some advertising revenue, but more importantly it has empowered readers to weigh in on issues in the community.

So far, the site has 138 subscribers. The newspaper has put up 587 posts and readers have posted 247 comments in 23 issue categories. The site has logged 23,000 visits and a total of 105,297 hits. Lewis says the summer was especially active on the site since 13 youth journalists contributed to it.

But overall, Lewis says he’s not surprised that the site hasn’t attracted more activity. “In our community, there’s such a mindset and struggle focused on every day needs, people don’t have free time to go online.”

Lewis says the best thing he did on the site was creating a “How to” banner and link explaining to readers what a blog is and how to use it. He plans to maintain the blog and increase public awareness and use of it by enabling contributors to post photos and videos.

North Lawndale to Give Blog Space to Citizens

May 2006

In the coming year, readers of Chicago’s North Lawndale Community News (NLCN) Web site and newsletter will be not only be able to post topics to the site’s Weblog but they will also have the opportunity to create their own blogs with new software launched by the site.

Strategic Human Services, which runs the publication, plans to host workshops to teach community members to use software programs, post text, photos, audio and video streams and respond to comments.

When the blog launched in July 2005, only Web administrators could introduce and post new topics, and readers could only comment on these posts. That changed in March 2006 when NLCN gave passwords to users so they could post new topics on the main blog. The next step will be giving users their own personal blogs on the site.

NLCN has been exploring new technologies to improve its news site and on April 18, 2006, switched blogging software from Movable Type to Nucleus CMS, an open source blogging and content management system. The switch was necessary to accommodate unlimited users and personal blogs. It also allows photos to be uploaded to the Weblog for the first time.

“We know that [uploading photos] may be common to other Webloggers more experienced with this tool but to us it is new and exciting,” said Isaac Lewis, Jr., founder and chief editor. He also said the software will support such media as video and audio streams on the site.

Strategic Human Services is aiming to make the Weblog site more educational and user-friendly and hopes to attract more Weblog posts and comments.

The average of unique visitors per month more than doubled from just under 2,500 in the third month of operation to about 5,531 in the eleventh month. From July 2005 to May 2006, the site had almost 90,000 total visits.

In another effort to increase site traffic, advocacy groups have been invited to voice their issues on the Weblog and have expressed interest in this opportunity. The focus of several groups is the Chicago Transit Authority and changes it is making to public transportation. Service cuts in key areas and fare hikes have made public transportation unaffordable for many in North Lawndale who rely on the service.

The City of Chicago is accepting proposals to create a citywide free wireless Internet network. Strategic Human Services hopes to use the program to establish a wireless user network, a development that would also make the site more accessible.

The North Lawndale Community News project receives funding from advertising in the newspaper, on the Web site and Weblog and grant funding. It will match year two New Voices funding with advertising.

North Lawndale Weblog Gives Users Full Access

February 2006

The norms of the blogosphere generally dictate that posting topics is reserved for the blog’s creator or staff while commenting is available to the masses. But in March, the North Lawndale Community News in Chicago began challenging that standard by offering password access to members of the community, allowing them to start new topic discussions.

When the blog first launched in July 2005, only staff could post new topics, but that changed in an effort “to further expand the use and access to our Weblog,” said Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director of Strategic Human Services, which publishes the newspaper and Web site. “We are making progress in getting new users to explore and contribute to the site.”

Lewis said he held off on offering the password access until he and his staff knew the Movable Type Weblog software well enough to screen obscene and libelous content.

Offering password privileges is only a step toward giving frequent community writers their own blogs, said Lewis. “During the next few months, we will be assigning individual Weblog capabilities to our community writers so they will be able to make posts and establish a following of readership,” he said.

Strategic Human Services offers a computer lab to community residents, and that is where Lewis does much of his contributor recruiting.

“Our most successful strategy has been to directly ask visitors to our tech lab to go to the site and post,” Lewis said.

In the seven months following the blog’s launch, five authors posted a combined 69 topics, which received a total of 369 comments, but Lewis said he hopes giving more writers authorship to make posts will expand the amount of authors, posts and comments.

In that time, the North Lawndale Community News site was accessed almost 450,000 times by almost 30,000 unique visitors. There has also been a steady increase in traffic since the Weblog launched, going from an average of just over 2,500 visitors per month in the first three months after the July 2005 launch to over 5,500 per month in the three months before February.

Despite the traffic, Lewis said it has been difficult at times to get users to comment on the blog. He attributes this to the fact that many people in the community are not familiar with blogs as a means to voice their concerns on issues.

Weblog Nudges the Community to Discuss Issues

November 2005

In early November 2005, the Chicago Transit Authority increased fares for riding its buses and trains.

“How will the fare increases affect your travel around the city? What changes will you have to make in your budget?” prompted the North Lawndale Community News on its Weblog.

One unhappy poster weighed in saying CTA executives should have cut their own salaries instead of raising fares: “There are many other solutions the CTA could have taken … People in the CTA, mainly higher ups, are making too much money and to accommodate their own pockets they overcharge the consumers.”

Inviting residents to respond to questions is one way that the North Lawndale Community News, which publishes a twice-monthly newspaper and the Web site www.nlcn.org, is trying to seed Weblog discussions about issues that affect people in one of one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods.

“What makes us particularly proud is that technology use is growing in our community and with this tool we can more easily add content of news and information that is also interactive,” said Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director of Strategic Human Services, which publishes the newspaper. “Our community can give a louder voice to relevant issues important to them and to more people economically through the Weblog.”

WHAT WE USE:

Movable Type Weblog software

The Weblog has asked readers for their input on everything from a city smoking ban to their eating habits and sports predictions.

Responses, so far, have been limited. “Our biggest challenge is getting citizens in the habit of using and being comfortable with using a Weblog and becoming knowledgeable about the benefits and resources it can offer,” Lewis said.

The project is trying to attract more contributors by advertising in the newspaper, on the Web site, through staff, and to visitors to the newspaper office and computer lab, Lewis said.

The Weblog, which uses the popular Movable Type software, is working on giving users the ability to post photos and audio.

One step the organization has taken to make the site more user-friendly was categorizing posts. Now, by clicking on a category in the left navigation bar, a user can browse all posts pertaining to education, entertainment, politics, or spiritual life, among others. The Weblog also offers a “Topic of the Day,” which poses questions to readers on a certain subject, such as health. Lewis said he hopes that the changes will encourage users to post their own thoughts in general topics rather than just commenting on the posted news of the day.

Despite the slow response, community feedback has been positive. “When someone has contributed to the Weblog they are delighted to let us know about it,” Lewis said.

Efforts are also underway to try to sustain the Weblog financially, either through advertising or collaborating with the Center for Neighborhood Technology for new grants.

Chicago’s North Lawndale Community Blog Launches

August 2005

When Lee and Aletria Wells became first-time Chicago homeowners, the news of the pilot program that helped them buy and rehab a home at below-market interest rates got to residents of one city neighborhood in a new way: Through the North Lawndale Community News Weblog.

“I think that it is a blessing to have the congressman [Danny Davis] help provide a house for you and your family,” proclaimed Towanda Abbott, one of the first people to post to the Weblog.

Only weeks after its July 2005 launch, the blog has postings in its Commentary, Community and Entertainment sections — and it is inviting people to post news and comments about Education, Economic Development, Spiritual Life and other categories.

The Weblog was launched with a New Voices grant, but editors at its parent, the North Lawndale Community News, knew that it was not enough just to build the blog, they also would have to educate the community about blogs and how to use them.

So, along with local news and information, The North Lawndale Community News Web site includes Flash advertisements and a primer on Weblogs to introduce the blog to visitors and showcase its potential.

“Launching the Weblog was one of the more exciting and challenging things we’ve done,” said Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director of Strategic Human Services, which publishes the North Lawndale Community News. “We wanted the Weblog to be up to date with the blogs of today with the graphics and the overall navigation flow.”

To increase community interest, the newspaper published articles and ads about the project. Staff members are also attending community technology meetings and giving presentations about the project.

Twelve young people from the community have been hired as interns and are both contributing to the blog as writers and commentators and marketing the blog to the community.

Meanwhile, the staffers are educating themselves about the best uses of blogs.

Back to 2005 Grantees | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This

• • Mission Contact Info J-Lab site Staff Links • Guidelines How to Apply FAQs Advisory Board • List of Grantees Project Updates • Citizens Media Spotlights Good Ideas Glossary • News Releases News about Citizens Media Speeches • • Blog Ask Questions Share Your Story • Sign up for New Voices e-mail updates!	2005 Grantees North Lawndale Weblog Isaac Lewis, Jr. of Strategic Human Services, Inc. North Lawndale, Chicago CONTACT INFO North Lawndale Weblog 1211 S. Western, Ste. 203 Chicago, IL 60608 (312) 492-9090 E-mail Web site To launch a community news Weblog to encourage citizen journalism from the mostly African-American residents of one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. The blog will cover community tensions, concerns over gentrification and other local issues through print, audio and photos. It will be linked to the biweekly North Lawndale Community News. Check back for future news and updates. Jump to progress reports: • Final Report: October 2007 • May 2006 • February 2006 • November 2005 • August 2005 North Lawndale Weblog Looks to Extend Reach, Allow Multimedia Posts Final Report: October 2007 Isaac Lewis says that before the New Voices grant, his community didn’t have an online forum to respond to articles in the newspaper or engage in dialogue about local concerns. “This project allowed us to leverage visitors to our Web site, to learn and experience using a blog that was full of content directly related to where they live.” Lewis says local taxes and equity issues in development and construction have been recent hot topics on the site. A controversial aldermanic race in early 2007 drew a lot of discussion, as have stories about police misconduct and conditions in HUD housing. Lewis says many people visited the site to watch coverage of an event about African American males, sponsored by Congressman Danny Davis. North Lawndale Community News has been publishing since 1999, first as a monthly newspaper and gradually achieving weekly circulation. Lewis says the launch of a blog has brought in some advertising revenue, but more importantly it has empowered readers to weigh in on issues in the community. So far, the site has 138 subscribers. The newspaper has put up 587 posts and readers have posted 247 comments in 23 issue categories. The site has logged 23,000 visits and a total of 105,297 hits. Lewis says the summer was especially active on the site since 13 youth journalists contributed to it. But overall, Lewis says he’s not surprised that the site hasn’t attracted more activity. “In our community, there’s such a mindset and struggle focused on every day needs, people don’t have free time to go online.” Lewis says the best thing he did on the site was creating a “How to” banner and link explaining to readers what a blog is and how to use it. He plans to maintain the blog and increase public awareness and use of it by enabling contributors to post photos and videos. North Lawndale to Give Blog Space to Citizens May 2006 In the coming year, readers of Chicago’s North Lawndale Community News (NLCN) Web site and newsletter will be not only be able to post topics to the site’s Weblog but they will also have the opportunity to create their own blogs with new software launched by the site. Strategic Human Services, which runs the publication, plans to host workshops to teach community members to use software programs, post text, photos, audio and video streams and respond to comments. When the blog launched in July 2005, only Web administrators could introduce and post new topics, and readers could only comment on these posts. That changed in March 2006 when NLCN gave passwords to users so they could post new topics on the main blog. The next step will be giving users their own personal blogs on the site. NLCN has been exploring new technologies to improve its news site and on April 18, 2006, switched blogging software from Movable Type to Nucleus CMS, an open source blogging and content management system. The switch was necessary to accommodate unlimited users and personal blogs. It also allows photos to be uploaded to the Weblog for the first time. “We know that [uploading photos] may be common to other Webloggers more experienced with this tool but to us it is new and exciting,” said Isaac Lewis, Jr., founder and chief editor. He also said the software will support such media as video and audio streams on the site. Strategic Human Services is aiming to make the Weblog site more educational and user-friendly and hopes to attract more Weblog posts and comments. The average of unique visitors per month more than doubled from just under 2,500 in the third month of operation to about 5,531 in the eleventh month. From July 2005 to May 2006, the site had almost 90,000 total visits. In another effort to increase site traffic, advocacy groups have been invited to voice their issues on the Weblog and have expressed interest in this opportunity. The focus of several groups is the Chicago Transit Authority and changes it is making to public transportation. Service cuts in key areas and fare hikes have made public transportation unaffordable for many in North Lawndale who rely on the service. The City of Chicago is accepting proposals to create a citywide free wireless Internet network. Strategic Human Services hopes to use the program to establish a wireless user network, a development that would also make the site more accessible. The North Lawndale Community News project receives funding from advertising in the newspaper, on the Web site and Weblog and grant funding. It will match year two New Voices funding with advertising. North Lawndale Weblog Gives Users Full Access February 2006 The norms of the blogosphere generally dictate that posting topics is reserved for the blog’s creator or staff while commenting is available to the masses. But in March, the North Lawndale Community News in Chicago began challenging that standard by offering password access to members of the community, allowing them to start new topic discussions. When the blog first launched in July 2005, only staff could post new topics, but that changed in an effort “to further expand the use and access to our Weblog,” said Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director of Strategic Human Services, which publishes the newspaper and Web site. “We are making progress in getting new users to explore and contribute to the site.” Lewis said he held off on offering the password access until he and his staff knew the Movable Type Weblog software well enough to screen obscene and libelous content. Offering password privileges is only a step toward giving frequent community writers their own blogs, said Lewis. “During the next few months, we will be assigning individual Weblog capabilities to our community writers so they will be able to make posts and establish a following of readership,” he said. Strategic Human Services offers a computer lab to community residents, and that is where Lewis does much of his contributor recruiting. “Our most successful strategy has been to directly ask visitors to our tech lab to go to the site and post,” Lewis said. In the seven months following the blog’s launch, five authors posted a combined 69 topics, which received a total of 369 comments, but Lewis said he hopes giving more writers authorship to make posts will expand the amount of authors, posts and comments. In that time, the North Lawndale Community News site was accessed almost 450,000 times by almost 30,000 unique visitors. There has also been a steady increase in traffic since the Weblog launched, going from an average of just over 2,500 visitors per month in the first three months after the July 2005 launch to over 5,500 per month in the three months before February. Despite the traffic, Lewis said it has been difficult at times to get users to comment on the blog. He attributes this to the fact that many people in the community are not familiar with blogs as a means to voice their concerns on issues. Weblog Nudges the Community to Discuss Issues November 2005 In early November 2005, the Chicago Transit Authority increased fares for riding its buses and trains. “How will the fare increases affect your travel around the city? What changes will you have to make in your budget?” prompted the North Lawndale Community News on its Weblog. One unhappy poster weighed in saying CTA executives should have cut their own salaries instead of raising fares: “There are many other solutions the CTA could have taken … People in the CTA, mainly higher ups, are making too much money and to accommodate their own pockets they overcharge the consumers.” Inviting residents to respond to questions is one way that the North Lawndale Community News, which publishes a twice-monthly newspaper and the Web site www.nlcn.org, is trying to seed Weblog discussions about issues that affect people in one of one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. “What makes us particularly proud is that technology use is growing in our community and with this tool we can more easily add content of news and information that is also interactive,” said Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director of Strategic Human Services, which publishes the newspaper. “Our community can give a louder voice to relevant issues important to them and to more people economically through the Weblog.” WHAT WE USE: Movable Type Weblog software The Weblog has asked readers for their input on everything from a city smoking ban to their eating habits and sports predictions. Responses, so far, have been limited. “Our biggest challenge is getting citizens in the habit of using and being comfortable with using a Weblog and becoming knowledgeable about the benefits and resources it can offer,” Lewis said. The project is trying to attract more contributors by advertising in the newspaper, on the Web site, through staff, and to visitors to the newspaper office and computer lab, Lewis said. The Weblog, which uses the popular Movable Type software, is working on giving users the ability to post photos and audio. One step the organization has taken to make the site more user-friendly was categorizing posts. Now, by clicking on a category in the left navigation bar, a user can browse all posts pertaining to education, entertainment, politics, or spiritual life, among others. The Weblog also offers a “Topic of the Day,” which poses questions to readers on a certain subject, such as health. Lewis said he hopes that the changes will encourage users to post their own thoughts in general topics rather than just commenting on the posted news of the day. Despite the slow response, community feedback has been positive. “When someone has contributed to the Weblog they are delighted to let us know about it,” Lewis said. Efforts are also underway to try to sustain the Weblog financially, either through advertising or collaborating with the Center for Neighborhood Technology for new grants. Chicago’s North Lawndale Community Blog Launches August 2005 When Lee and Aletria Wells became first-time Chicago homeowners, the news of the pilot program that helped them buy and rehab a home at below-market interest rates got to residents of one city neighborhood in a new way: Through the North Lawndale Community News Weblog. “I think that it is a blessing to have the congressman [Danny Davis] help provide a house for you and your family,” proclaimed Towanda Abbott, one of the first people to post to the Weblog. Only weeks after its July 2005 launch, the blog has postings in its Commentary, Community and Entertainment sections — and it is inviting people to post news and comments about Education, Economic Development, Spiritual Life and other categories. The Weblog was launched with a New Voices grant, but editors at its parent, the North Lawndale Community News, knew that it was not enough just to build the blog, they also would have to educate the community about blogs and how to use them. So, along with local news and information, The North Lawndale Community News Web site includes Flash advertisements and a primer on Weblogs to introduce the blog to visitors and showcase its potential. “Launching the Weblog was one of the more exciting and challenging things we’ve done,” said Isaac Lewis Jr., executive director of Strategic Human Services, which publishes the North Lawndale Community News. “We wanted the Weblog to be up to date with the blogs of today with the graphics and the overall navigation flow.” To increase community interest, the newspaper published articles and ads about the project. Staff members are also attending community technology meetings and giving presentations about the project. Twelve young people from the community have been hired as interns and are both contributing to the blog as writers and commentators and marketing the blog to the community. Meanwhile, the staffers are educating themselves about the best uses of blogs. Back to 2005 Grantees \| Back to Home Page \| E-mail This \| Print This


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