New Voices: 2008 Grantees: The Lexington Commons

2008 Grantees

The Lexington Commons

Seungahn Nah, Assistant Professor of Community Communications, Dept. of Community and Leadership Development, University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY

CONTACT INFO

Seungahn Nah
Dept. of Community and Leadership Development, University of Kentucky
514 Garrigus Building
Lexington, KY, 40546-0215
(859) 257-1509
E-mail
Web site

A University of Kentucky partnership will build a digital neighborhood newspaper. While it will highlight Lexington news, the leaders also hope to build a sense of community across lines of race, ethnicity and income. The university’s Department of Community and Leadership Development is spearheading the project in partnership with the University’s Cooperative Extension Service, which will help recruit citizen reporters, and the Department of Agricultural Communications, which will launch and maintain the project’s Web site.

Check back for future news and updates.
March 2009
November 2008

Lexington Launch

March 2009

Lexington Commons Map The Lexington Commons launched its Web site in late January 2009. Still a work in progress, the site allows users to navigate in various ways, including by area of town. A map on the home page (www.kylexingtoncommons.org) divides Lexington into quadrants, each of which contains a list of live links to the area’s neighborhoods.

The Web site also groups information by issues - there are 14 - including politics, business, culture, sports, environment, housing, schools and youth. Citizen reporters can tag their stories by neighborhood and/or issue when they upload material to the site.

Other Lexington Commons features are an interactive poll (a recent question: “Will the CentrePoint project improve downtown?“) and a weather box and forecast. The “Lex Wire” provides links to local news published elsewhere and to blogs that discuss all things Lexington.

Local nonprofits and neighborhood associations can log onto the site to post news of events on the community calendar.

Coming soon is a social-networking feature - Community Connects Citizens - that will allow Web site users to post a profile and meet others in Lexington with similar interests.

The second round of citizen journalism training began in February, with free classes scheduled for the first Saturday of each month. These classes follow a series of workshops held in fall 2008, in which five citizen journalists were trained. The workshops cover basic journalism training, with discussions of journalism ethics, media law, how to recognize news and how to write a story. Participants are taught how to use the Lexington Commons Web site and how to post stories, blogs and podcasts. Class exercises help participants build skills such as writing ledes, structuring stories and interviewing. Citizen journalists must complete at least one training session to be able to write for the Lexington Commons. To date nine journalists have been trained.

Niki King, project coordinator and workshop instructor, says attracting citizen journalists has been a challenge. Efforts to partner with the Lexington Herald-Leader have not panned out, but the Lexington Commons has joined forces with local nonprofit radio station WUKY. Station staff broadcasts news of the free journalism classes and in the future might help teach them.

The first two Saturday workshops this year drew about five people each, King says. To boost attendance, she has linked up with a local high school journalism teacher, who has recruited 10 to 15 students to take part in the next workshop.

“Our hope would be that they’d tell whatever stories that they think need telling,“ King says.

- Hope Keller, 3/18/09

Look Out: Lexington Commons is a Comin’

November 2008

When Seungahn Nah got his doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin, he studied with Lew Friedland, the creator of the Madison Commons, a hyperlocal citizen site funded by New Voices in 2005. Nah was inspired by this model for community news.

Now a professor at University of Kentucky, Nah created the Kentucky Citizen Media Project (KCMP) and with New Voices funding will launch Lexington Commons, which Nah said will be a “nonprofit, digital neighborhood newspaper, created by the people, for the people.“

According to Nah, “Lexington Commons will give new, diverse voices a local outlet, encourage dialogue among citizens and build community through communication.“ The project has begun recruiting and training citizen journalists who will contribute stories, photos, videos, blogs, and other content.

Over the summer, KCMP hired a graduate student (who has a B.A. in journalism) to design and implement tutorials for citizen journalists. These sessions will be offered quarterly, but Nah hopes to eventually host monthly workshops. These sessions will cover the basics: news value, writing, interviewing, computer-assisted reporting and ethics. The workshop will also provide extensive background on the history of Lexington and major issues facing the city.

Nah says five people signed up for the first training, which was promoted through the university, community media groups and the project’s MySpace and Facebook pages. Participants in the initial trainings will create the content that will be posted on the project’s site when it’s up. Nah expect that to happen by the end of October 2008. Graduates of three-part series will be given a “citizen reporter press pass” which Nah hopes will seal their commitment to contribute to the site in the future.

Also over the summer, KCMP hired a computer science grad student to design the Web site, which is in the final stages of design. KCMP originally hoped to use BlogSpot, a site created through the University of Kentucky’s Department of Community and Leadership Development, “but it didn’t provide enough space for the kind of Web 2.0 technologies and content the site will feature, like podcasting audio and video files,“ said Nah. Instead, he purchased a new server for $4,500 and reached out to the site developer of Madison Commons, a decision he’s certain will enhance the project’s technical capabilities. The server will be hosted at U.K.‘s College of Agriculture.

“We have brainstormed some ideas to attract audience to the site,“ said Nah. “The Lexington Herald-Leader has expressed interest in a partnership. They can post what our citizen reporters write and vice versa. Once we have a partnership with the major newspaper company in town, we can more easily publicize our project.“

In addition, Lexington Commons is working with the cooperative extensive service whose county station agents work on a wide range of community issues beyond agriculture and natural resources. The site plans to host neighborhood association newsletter content and a special section dedicated to news and information from local nonprofits. These services will widen the circle of interest in the site. “We’re wide open to the public,“ said Nah. “I don’t think there is a magic number in terms of audience visiting our citizen media site or number of citizen reporters or number of posts. What matters, in my opinion, is how we can make a news audience that can deliver news and information and discuss issues in the community.“

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The university’s Department of Community and Leadership Development is spearheading the project in partnership with the University’s Cooperative Extension Service, which will help recruit citizen reporters, and the Department of Agricultural Communications, which will launch and maintain the project’s Web site. Check back for future news and updates. March 2009 November 2008 Lexington Launch March 2009 The Lexington Commons launched its Web site in late January 2009. Still a work in progress, the site allows users to navigate in various ways, including by area of town. A map on the home page (www.kylexingtoncommons.org) divides Lexington into quadrants, each of which contains a list of live links to the area’s neighborhoods. The Web site also groups information by issues - there are 14 - including politics, business, culture, sports, environment, housing, schools and youth. Citizen reporters can tag their stories by neighborhood and/or issue when they upload material to the site. Other Lexington Commons features are an interactive poll (a recent question: “Will the CentrePoint project improve downtown?“) and a weather box and forecast. The “Lex Wire” provides links to local news published elsewhere and to blogs that discuss all things Lexington. Local nonprofits and neighborhood associations can log onto the site to post news of events on the community calendar. Coming soon is a social-networking feature - Community Connects Citizens - that will allow Web site users to post a profile and meet others in Lexington with similar interests. The second round of citizen journalism training began in February, with free classes scheduled for the first Saturday of each month. These classes follow a series of workshops held in fall 2008, in which five citizen journalists were trained. The workshops cover basic journalism training, with discussions of journalism ethics, media law, how to recognize news and how to write a story. Participants are taught how to use the Lexington Commons Web site and how to post stories, blogs and podcasts. Class exercises help participants build skills such as writing ledes, structuring stories and interviewing. Citizen journalists must complete at least one training session to be able to write for the Lexington Commons. To date nine journalists have been trained. Niki King, project coordinator and workshop instructor, says attracting citizen journalists has been a challenge. Efforts to partner with the Lexington Herald-Leader have not panned out, but the Lexington Commons has joined forces with local nonprofit radio station WUKY. Station staff broadcasts news of the free journalism classes and in the future might help teach them. The first two Saturday workshops this year drew about five people each, King says. To boost attendance, she has linked up with a local high school journalism teacher, who has recruited 10 to 15 students to take part in the next workshop. “Our hope would be that they’d tell whatever stories that they think need telling,“ King says. - Hope Keller, 3/18/09 Look Out: Lexington Commons is a Comin’ November 2008 When Seungahn Nah got his doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin, he studied with Lew Friedland, the creator of the Madison Commons, a hyperlocal citizen site funded by New Voices in 2005. Nah was inspired by this model for community news. Now a professor at University of Kentucky, Nah created the Kentucky Citizen Media Project (KCMP) and with New Voices funding will launch Lexington Commons, which Nah said will be a “nonprofit, digital neighborhood newspaper, created by the people, for the people.“ According to Nah, “Lexington Commons will give new, diverse voices a local outlet, encourage dialogue among citizens and build community through communication.“ The project has begun recruiting and training citizen journalists who will contribute stories, photos, videos, blogs, and other content. Over the summer, KCMP hired a graduate student (who has a B.A. in journalism) to design and implement tutorials for citizen journalists. These sessions will be offered quarterly, but Nah hopes to eventually host monthly workshops. These sessions will cover the basics: news value, writing, interviewing, computer-assisted reporting and ethics. The workshop will also provide extensive background on the history of Lexington and major issues facing the city. Nah says five people signed up for the first training, which was promoted through the university, community media groups and the project’s MySpace and Facebook pages. Participants in the initial trainings will create the content that will be posted on the project’s site when it’s up. Nah expect that to happen by the end of October 2008. Graduates of three-part series will be given a “citizen reporter press pass” which Nah hopes will seal their commitment to contribute to the site in the future. Also over the summer, KCMP hired a computer science grad student to design the Web site, which is in the final stages of design. KCMP originally hoped to use BlogSpot, a site created through the University of Kentucky’s Department of Community and Leadership Development, “but it didn’t provide enough space for the kind of Web 2.0 technologies and content the site will feature, like podcasting audio and video files,“ said Nah. Instead, he purchased a new server for $4,500 and reached out to the site developer of Madison Commons, a decision he’s certain will enhance the project’s technical capabilities. The server will be hosted at U.K.‘s College of Agriculture. “We have brainstormed some ideas to attract audience to the site,“ said Nah. “The Lexington Herald-Leader has expressed interest in a partnership. They can post what our citizen reporters write and vice versa. Once we have a partnership with the major newspaper company in town, we can more easily publicize our project.“ In addition, Lexington Commons is working with the cooperative extensive service whose county station agents work on a wide range of community issues beyond agriculture and natural resources. The site plans to host neighborhood association newsletter content and a special section dedicated to news and information from local nonprofits. These services will widen the circle of interest in the site. “We’re wide open to the public,“ said Nah. “I don’t think there is a magic number in terms of audience visiting our citizen media site or number of citizen reporters or number of posts. What matters, in my opinion, is how we can make a news audience that can deliver news and information and discuss issues in the community.“ Back to 2008 Grantees \| Back to Home Page \| E-mail This \| Print This


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