Intersections: The South Los Angeles Reporting Project

USC Annenberg School for Communication

CONTACT INFO

Francesca DeMarco, Asst Dean for Development
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA
(213) 821-1660
E-mail
Twitter

Website

The Annenberg School at the University of Southern California will spearhead the creation of a community news website for a region that is home to African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and immigrants. The project will use multimedia reporting by journalism students, community residents and community leaders and will focus on education, economic development, housing and immigration. Project leaders will target print and broadcast outlets that might also use Intersection stories. They will also work with student-run Annenberg Radio and Television News and will partner with Mobile Voices, a USC Annenberg storytelling platform designed to help low-wage immigrants develop mobile media skills.

 
• May 2010
• March 2010
• November 2009 Addendum
• October 2009
 
 
 
 

Intersections: No Stopping In Sight

May 2010

Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report was officially launched in May 2009, with a reception attended by university, community, educational and governmental leaders.  A bare bones site went live just before the launch party. 

“We felt we needed to have a working site up and running in order to gain interest and credibility in the community.“ - Seidenberg

The project leader, Annenberg professor Willa Seidenberg, and her team jumped right into getting the site online and did minimal advance planning and outreach.  “It may have been preferable to lay more groundwork before launching,“ she said, “but we felt we needed to have a working site up and running in order to gain interest and credibility in the community.“ 

She explains: “The South Los Angeles area has experienced an onslaught of media attention at various times, such as after the riots or when there is a particularly bad wave of gang crime.  But the attention is always negative and not sustained, leaving the community feeling exploited and abandoned.  We wanted to assure the community our was a serious endeavor and that we intended for it to be long-term.  Therefore, content and engagement started slowly, but has been building steadily ever since.“

From the start, submissions from Annenberg journalism students have been the site’s most prolific and strongest content.  For many students, it has been a profound reporting experience.  For example, in the spring 2010 semester, adjunct teacher Sara Catania had her undergraduate print reporting class of sophomores cover Inglewood, one of the communities Intersections covers.  Intersections agreed to post any publishable stories, even though Sara was not sure any of the stories they wrote would be good enough.  Not only did the site get some it got many.  In fact, every student in the class had at least one story on the site and some had more than one.  Several of their stories were picked up by LA Observed. 

At the end of the class, Sara told Willenberg that it was the best class she has ever taught.  She said the students were inspired by being published on a real working site, excited to see the comments their stories received, and some of them had the experience of going to cover stories and meeting people who had read their work on the site.  As a reporting lab, these students got the very best experience in journalism.  And, in return, the community got a lot of coverage it would not ordinarily receive. 

The site also had a quite strong start with the mentoring program in the high schools, though that was not intentional.  We had some chance meetings at the beginning of the project with some teachers at Crenshaw High School who aggressively pursued our help.  Willenberg found that the high school students and the USC students gained so much from the interaction, and that it increased overall engagement in the community, that the partnership went full steam ahead. 

Willenberg adds, “If we had it to do over again, we may have resisted the urge to give so many resources to the mentoring before we had established community ties.“

Metrics

• Through June 1, published 46 education stories, 71 community stories, 30 arts stories and 47 politics stories in 2010.
• South LA community members produced and contributed 20 stories.
• Average number of visitors to the site is 4,966, with a total of 11,348 page views per month in 2010. That number has risen from an average of 1,000 to 2,000 in 2009.
• 49% of our traffic comes through search engines. 32% comes from referring sites and 19% comes direct.
• Most popular content is the community section, followed by our community events calendar.

Willenberg reports she has not experienced any situations she would consider a setback:  “Each step we have taken has pushed us forward.  If there is any sense of disappointment it is that our number of visitors is not higher.  However, given the huge digital divide in the communities we are covering, it is not unexpected.  We are also cognizant of the fact that we are building community for the long haul, a process that will take painstaking work, patience and time.“

Scope of Project

The project still revolves around three major missions:

1. To serve as a reporting lab for USC journalism students to report from under-served neighborhoods;
2. To be a hyper-local website for the South Los Angeles area, including Inglewood, Compton and Watts;
3. And to provide news and media literacy mentoring in South Los Angeles schools.

Since its last report the group has:

• Tweaked the website.  (“We plan to do a full makeover in the coming year when the Annenberg School switches to a Drupal CMS.  This interim redesign made some needed changes in the feature box, coverage categories, calendar, added an announcement box and a few other changes.“)
• Increased the number of community contributions.
• Created a partnership with CD Tech (http://www.cdtech.org) to conduct social and multimedia workshops.
• Recruited journalism interns from schools throughout Los Angeles as summer reporters.
• Applied for two more grants: UNO Neighborhood grant from USC, a second grant from the McCormick Foundation.
• Hired project manager Emily Henry as a three-quarter time employee.
• Been accepted as a client of USC’s Marshall School of Business Consulting Program.

The summer of 2010 will be a challenge in terms of maintaining the same level of fresh content on the site, reports Seidenberg.  However plans remain in place to keep the site current and prepare for next year.

• Project Manager/Senior Editor Emily Henry is now working 30 hours a week. 
• Second-year graduate Christine Trang will work 24 hours/week during the summer with money from a student worker account.  She will be blogging, reporting and planning a recruiting and orientation program for new and returning USC students.
• Undergraduate student Ariel Edwards-Levy will work 10 hours/week on reporting
• Intersections has “hired” one student intern, and will recruit more, for summer reporting, blogging and other duties.
• The site will hold a high school summer workshop the week of July 19.  Students will produce audio/slideshows that will be posted on the website.

Single Best Idea

If there is any sense of disappointment it is that our number of visitors is not higher.  However, given the huge digital divide in the communities we are covering, it is not unexpected. 

“Our single best idea has to be our community workshops,“ explains Seidenberg.  “They serve a dual purpose: We learn more about the issues and concerns of the community and get content to post from local residents and the workshops encourage and enable residents of an area that is typically under-covered by the mainstream media to take control of their own storytelling network, build an online community, and preserve and share the experiences of the citizenry.“

She continues: “The effect is one of empowerment: the community learns to amplify its voice through a variety of mediums, distribute information for free, and begin to re-define the stereotypes perpetuated by media outlets aimed at audiences outside of South LA. Community members contemplate the effects of negative media coverage, from the social segregation of the area to apathy at the political level, and begin to create a new, more accurate image of South LA in all its vibrancy.“

The Next Year

Seidenberg and her team anticipate the coming year will be one of tremendous growth.  Following is a list of their priorities for the next year:

• Marketing plan: USC’s Marshall School of Business Consulting Program has agreed to accept Intersections as a client.  Over the summer of 2010, the Consulting Program will develop a marketing plan for the organization/website.  We anticipate this will help us refine our mission, outline priorities, and identify strategies for monetizing the website.
• Advisory Committee:  We will form an advisory committee that will help guide the organization’s missions within the community, the University and the high schools.  We will identify potential members from all of our constituents:  USC/Annenberg, community leaders, education representatives.
• Website Redesign:  Plan for a full-scale redesign of the website and switch to a Drupal CMS platform.
• Publicity:  Design publicity campaign to increase traffic to the site and visibility within and outside the community.
• Fundraising:  Identify and apply for more grants.  Explore ideas to monetize the site.
• Outreach: Continue to focus on our connection to the Latino community in South Los Angeles.
• Mobile: Begin exploring mobile content as this represents a key tool in reaching our audience.

Increasing Traffic, Boosting Involvement, and Seeking Sustainability

March 2010

With its website live and any fancy financial footwork in its past (see November 2009 report), Intersections: The South L.A. Report is now alive and well.  Quite well, in fact, reports Willa Seidenberg, the USC Annenberg professor heading up the initiative, as they have seen tremendous growth in the site’s content this quarter.

“We have fresh stories on the site daily, including a mix of stories reported by USC journalism students, high school students and community residents,“ she said.

At the same time, Seidenberg remains focused on efforts to increase traffic and form partnerships with appropriate organizations in the community.  The most difficult and time-consuming component, she says, is seeking community participation. 

“We realize that fostering an audience and having vibrant community participation will be a long, slow process that will take patience and painstaking old-fashioned, on-the-ground recruiting and publicity.  Much of the networking we are doing now has not yet resulted in a swell of activity.“

That said, through partnerships and cross-posting of stories, the site has seen a five-fold increase in visits in the last nine months. 

Content Generation

A majority of the content continues to be produced by USC Annenberg students, even during university breaks, says Seidenberg.  This comes from Annenberg Radio News (“which features mostly daily, deadline-driven stories), a radio reporting class, undergraduate print reporting classes covering Inglewood and Compton, an undergraduate online class that produced a series called “On Jefferson”, an urban affairs course covering the region and freelance reports by more than a half dozen students. 

Highlights this quarter include:

• Remembering Rosa Parks in Inglewood
 
• Washington Prep’s $8.5 million approach to student learning
• The trouble with housing (an audio profile)
• Murals bring street art to Manual Arts High School (an audio slideshow)
• Historic Fox Theatre for sale in Inglewood

Project manager Emily Henry supplements the site’s reporting.  “She has made invaluable connections in the community an filled holes in our reporting, and brought consistent attention to the site by reporting on city government in Compton,“ Seidenberg reports.

Community members have also created content, including:

• The story of Compton United and Victor
• Left behind by the LAUSD, parents get organized
• OPINION:  Leaders listen up!  Gangsta rap made me do it

Readers can also find posts written by high school students who have been mentored by USC students, in the High School Notebook section.  A few recent examples:

• Fremont teachers react to restructuring plan
• OPINION:  Where your electronic waste goes

Partnerships and Exposure

The stories that appear on Intersections may also start appearing on the website of KPCC.org, one of Los Angeles’ major public radio stations. 

“We hope this will extend our visibility,“ Seidenberg writes, “and give residents outside of South Los Angeles a different view of an area that is usually covered in relation to crime and poverty.“

Articles are also distributed on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, as well as on community forums.  So far, stories have also been cross-posted on LA Observed, Just Schools (an education round-up), Leimert Park Beat, Neon Tommy, Witness LA and The Huffington Post.

In addition, Seidenberg has met with a number of community groups with the hope that they will be an ongoing source of content.

Of the five-fold increase in traffic to the site, about 40 percent come through search engines, 35 percent through social media and 20 percent come directly through the front door.  The site’s calendar is the second most popular page, following the homepage.  Comments have gone up, and users spend an average of two and a half minutes on the site, according to their analytics.

Community Involvement

Seidenberg is continuing to lay the groundwork for the future.  Multi-media workshops with existing community organizations are among the ideas for involvement. 

Her staff also will continue to visit churches, libraries, and other organizations in an effort to spread the word about the site and, at the same time, use those opportunities for market research, to find out what issues and features potential readers would like to see about their communities. 

Efforts to develop mobile content and a periodic printed broadsheet will help them reach an audience that has limited online access.

Going Forward

Siedenberg writes that while Intersections is fortunate to have foundation support, she knows that sustainability is not possible on grants alone.  “Therefore,“ she writes, “we plan to eventually monetize the website.“ 
Her next step includes conducting market research to determine the best way to make the site self-sufficient.  In the meantime, Seidenberg plans to gain visibility and community involvement with Intersections. 

Addendum to first quarter J-Lab report

November 2009

Reported spending during our first quarter of J-Lab funding was lower than expected for two reasons. We were unaware until the summer that we were required to take a grants administrator exam for certification, as required by the grants office at the University of Southern California. We were also required to submit a much more detailed budget to the USC grants office than the budget we submitted to the J-Lab competition. Once these technical details were addressed, we were given access to the first round of J-Lab funding.

During this period of time, when we had expected to draw funds from our J-Lab account, we requested and received “bridge” financing of $11,000 in summer 2009 from Annenberg Dean Ernest Wilson to cover costs associated with expanding the website and improving our coverage. Intersections “soft-launched” as a beta site in February with a formal launch on May 5.

From the time of our application to the J-Lab in early February 2009, we were also supported by technical support from the Annenberg Office of Web Technologies and incremental sums from the Annenberg School of Journalism, in hopes of winning one of the J-Lab grants. These modest sums of money were later followed by the much larger “bridge” financing. By the time we had access to J-Lab funds, The South Los Angeles Report had completed many of the improvements we had originally designated as J-Lab funded-projects. We are now in the process of moving some of those expenses to the J-Lab grant so that our reporting to J-Lab more accurately reflects costs associated with the application we submitted last winter.

Moving forward, much of the balance of J-Lab’s first year award will support a website overhaul [$3,000 to $5,000], expand the hours of our now part time project coordinator to accommodate increased efforts in our South Los Angeles communities [another $4,000 to $5,000] and pay for two “citizen journalist” training sessions [$2,000 to $4,000] with two South Los Angeles-based organizations with deep ties to the community.  The first workshop is scheduled Dec. 17; the second one, early next year. As part of our efforts to develop stronger community ties and generate more community-generated content, we also plan to purchase inexpensive video and audio equipment [$1,000 to $2,000]  All told, these expenditures will run $10,000 at the low end to $16,000 at the high end during the first year of J-Lab funding. [Annenberg School support in the form of the aforementioned “bridge” financing will cover any overruns, though we do not expect any.]

We also include website traffic data in this addendum that shows The South Los Angeles Report enjoys increasing use by our readers and visibility in our community. Since May, traffic has increased steadily, as the attached document suggests. [The spike in traffic during May occurred on May 5, the day of our formal launch.]  We are now visited by 100 visitors a day, or an average of 3,000 visitors a month since May, including a number of readers from India and Pakistan. [We are at loss as to why this is.]  We will begin including an analytics report in future accountings to J-Lab.

Off to a good start

October 2009

Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report experienced a strong start-up year, with promise for future sustainability and growth, according to co-director Bill Celis, associate professor of journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. So strong, team members decided to change its name from The South Los Angeles Report from The South Los Angeles Reporting Project, to reflect the site’s evolution and growing maturity.

“We are working to build more bridges into the community to generate more ...  op-ed pieces that speak with candor to and about urban life in a new century.“

Community contributions continue to increase,  the high school journalism program is expanding, and the critical summer months were staffed by nearly a half dozen USC graduate journalism students who produced roughly a dozen multimedia reports.

The site— http://www.intersectionssouthla.org —soft launched in February 2009, with a formal launch on May 5.  After the launch, the site’s continuing efforts have led to “critical community connections” that have generated substantive neighborhood reporting in fall 2009 for the site.

Celis said the New Voices grant played a key role in this growth.

“The New Voices grant enabled us to hire a part-time coordinator whose chief responsibility is engaging the community through workshops, and other community outreach programs that includes canvassing downtown Compton businesses and residents next month,“ said Celis. “Our coordinator also began an aggressive review of the website, comparing its features with those of more mature hyper local sites, and recommended aggregating, for example, daily headlines from other Los Angeles media outlets.“

Celis said the vibrant neighborhoods of South Los Angeles are increasingly represented on Intersections.

Community Coalition, for example, is among the South Los Angeles community groups now contributing to Intersections, both in terms of content and news leads.  The coalition contributed a series of high school student blogs and video reports from a Labor Day trip to Northern California to visit campuses.

It also provided Intersections with several news tips, including one idea this past summer about a free health-care clinic it helped organize in The Forum, a former sports arena in the South Los Angeles city of Inglewood. Thousands of South Angelinos sought free health, dental and eye care during the eight-day clinic sponsored by a Tennessee nonprofit. Story: http://tinyurl.com/psuf5s

Individual contributions are fewer in number, but no less significant, said Celis. For instance, an Inglewood African-American resident wrote about the pathology of young African-American high school males. The column received several posts from community members, the themes resonating with them, establishing Intersections a unique clearing house in its early months for South Los Angeles voices http://tinyurl.com/muyhta
“Few of the five African-American and Latino newspapers serving the area carry such honest pieces,“ says Celis. “We are working to build more bridges into the community to generate more of these op-ed pieces that speak with candor to and about urban life in a new century.“

All told, roughly 15 percent of the site’s content has been generated with community partners, organizations and individuals, he adds.

Future efforts to generate more community contributions include offering $50 stipends to community contributors, and canvassing Compton, an incorporated city deep in South Los Angeles.  Intersections also plans to expand coverage of South Los Angeles’ vibrant faith-based community in 2010. 

But Intersection’s earliest and most successful push into South Los Angeles has been in the area’s troubled high schools, according to Celis. Working initially last fall with the USC Rossier School of Education, Intersections began mentoring one class at Crenshaw High School, just south of the USC campus. During the spring 2009 semester, Intersections organized a workshop for South Los Angeles youth that culminated in multimedia work posted to Intersection’s under one of our new categories, “high school notebook.“  http://tinyurl.com/yah4w2z

The program was so successful that Celis says it’s not only expanding to another local school, but a successful three-day workshop with the Crenshaw students in the spring had led to a request from local schools for Intersections to hold it on a regular basis for students interested in journalism.

“Either through semester-long mentoring projects or future one-day workshops for high school classes and/or newspaper staffs, students contribute community news to Intersections while also learning media literacy,“ says Celis.

In the coming months, these workshops will also be expanded to reach the community at large.

USC Annenberg’s continuing and future role in South Los Angeles

As important as Intersections is to growing members of the South Los Angeles community, Celis says the site is just as important to students at the USC Annenberg School. During summer 2009, to help sustain the site, USC graduate journalism students produced nearly a dozen multimedia reports through directed research credits. One student, for example, produced a two-story multimedia package about South LA youth campaigning for improvement of their neighborhoods and schools before the Los Angeles City Council. This particular project was produced in conjunction with UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, an organization designed to improve educational opportunities for urban youth. We expect to do more joint projects with our UCLA colleagues.

Celis gives credit to USC Annenberg Dean, Ernest J. Wilson, III, and Journalism School Director, Geneva Overholser, now in her second year, for the early success of Intersections. In particular his says Overholser’s support and enthusiasm for Intersections made it possible to introduce the new South Los Angeles Reporting course, one of the seven classes contributing to the site from semester to semester. The South Los Angeles class is a multimedia journalism class that explores life in South LA and it continues to test mobile phone delivery of the news through a relationship with Mobile Voices. Sudents in the class will work closely with Jordan High School in Watts to help students there embrace mobile delivery.

The support from the J-Lab, and the strategic use of the grant money, will enable us to continue growing the project in all the ways we have described here, and will support our ultimate goal of monetizing the site.

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Maryland School Information Mapping

Center for Geographic Information Sciences at Towson University

• Towson, MD

CONTACT INFO

David Sides, Project Manager
Center for Geographic Information Sciences
Towson University
(410) 704-5291
E-mail

Web site

Towson University’s Center for Geographic Information Sciences will partner with the online public policy site MarylandCommons.com to create a Web tool that will combine Maryland Department of Education data with user-friendly geomapping. M-SIM will give parents, educators, policymakers and journalists data and news about K-12 schools at the local, county and state level, and M-SIM maps will complement news and commentary written by Commons staff and citizen journalists.

Check back for future news and updates.
 
• June 2010
• March 2010
 
 
 

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Mapping Project Continues on Course

June 2010

The Maryland School Information Mapping Project continues to evolve, and both the project leader and the collaborating news site, Baltimore Brew, remain hopeful that the mapping application designed for the site will improve its ability to attract audiences.

“Education was not an original area of focus for Baltimore Brew,“ Fern Shen said.  When she launched the site, the Baltimore Sun had a dedicated education reporter and Shen decided instead to focus on areas such as the environment, transportation, city government and other local-level issues of interest.

Now, Shen is seeking funding for a reporter to focus primarily on education, complementing the data that will be available through this application when it launches in Fall 2010.

David Sides, the project manager, explained the site will “allow users to navigate to and select Baltimore City schools of interest, and explore student performance and demographic data.“  It will also include Baltimore Brew-generated content and allow readers to respond and share information.

Shen and Sides are anticipating the map will generate “lots of traffic”, based on their measurements of similar kinds of content.  Neighborhood posts, on issues like a proposed Wal-Mart redevelopment, get some of the most traffic on the Brew.  “A good number for us for page-views-per-day, per post would be 1,000 to 1,400,“ said Shen.  She expects education reporting will attract similar readers.

Sides explains that on the technical end, the launch process has been more complicated:  “Establishing tie-ins between the GIS data layers and Baltimore Brew’s architecture, and solving disagreements between map layer projections in an open-source platform has required more troubleshooting time than expected.“

And Shen adds: “The geo-tagging has been trickier and more time-consuming than we had initially thought.  Some posts are not geographically based, really.“  Shen is also discovering that her initial plan to tag according to broad areas is not enough.  Instead she needs to tag with a specific address and re-tag all older stories.

Both the Brew and the Towson team express difficulty in getting the map to co-exist harmoniously within the site’s content.  It has taken more programmer time to address this issue than either anticipated.

And Shen expressed difficulty in finding writers to cover stories, particularly on a small budget.  “Only so many writers are able to work for peanuts!“

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Maryland School Information Mapping Project Takes A Different Route

March 2010

The team at the Towson University Center for GIS was left searching for another community news site after their original partner, Maryland Commons, abruptly ceased operations. 

“We’ve decided to return to our original focus on education.“

“There was some concern,“ said project organizer, David Sides at Towson University. They were in the middle of creating the mapping application where readers could view school districts and sift through data and information on a specific school. 
“We looked for someone who would be a good fit…we thought of local TV stations with a dedicated education reporter…and we looked at other issue oriented publications.“

In time, and with the help of Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, they settled down with Baltimore Brew. 

The new partnership forced them to rethink the project’s focus and scope. 

Instead of a statewide mapping system, they decided to focus on Baltimore City and County.

“The initial plan,“ Sides wrote, “was to change the focus on the site from schools and educational issues to a site which allowed users to search for and navigate to Baltimore Brew content via the mapping application.“

But that changed again, to better integrate education-related stories and school data into the Baltimore Brew site. 

Since Baltimore Brew’s launch, publisher Fern Shen had never covered education stories because the Baltimore Sun had a reporter on the beat.  But Shen believes coverage in that field is now lacking and welcomes this opportunity to add education-related content in a meaningful way.

It has not been the simplest transition.  While with Maryland Commons, CGIS had spent part of its budget developing the public school performance database that the mapping application was to be based on. 

When all is said and done, Sides said, “readers can click on a school and get data according to test scores…demographics.“

User-generated content will also be integrated into the map.  Citizens can post data about a school or a certain event.

Once the map is complete, it will also show content that the Baltimore Brew had created for that school, from pictures to articles, allowing easy navigation based on location.

 

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New Voices Invests in Eight Hyperlocal News Sites

Embargoed for release
10 a.m., April 21, 2009
Contact Jan Schaffer
jans@j-lab.org
(202) 885-8100

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Eight hyperlocal community media projects from across the United States have been selected as this year’s New Voices grant winners. Each will receive up to $25,000 in start-up funding over the next two years.

The winners were selected from 304 applicants, J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism announced today. With this year’s projects, a total of 48 community news start-ups have been funded from 1,249 entries since 2005.

The 2009 winners proposed frequently updated and robust sites generated by a diverse mix of content contributors. All the projects focus on geographic communities. Most will operate under the auspices of journalism professionals.

“Particularly notable among this year’s winners is a deep understanding of what it will take to launch a hyperlocal site and regularly refresh content. They also had great familiarity with digital media tools,“ said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab, which administers the New Voices program at American University’s School of Communication.

The awards were increased this year so that grant winners will receive $17,000 in the first year to launch their projects and $8,000 in matching support in the second year. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funds the New Voices program.

“What we can learn from the 48 New Voices community news experiments is all the more important in light of newspaper closings across the country,“ said Gary Kebbel, Knight’s journalism program officer.

Added Bruce Koon, News Director of KQED radio and a New Voices Advisory Board member: “With all the anxiety about the future of journalism and news outlets, these projects are a breath of fresh air because of their creativity and commitment to serving communities. They’re providing valuable lessons for the future.“

The 2009 New Voices grantees are:

• GrossePointeToday.com - Wayne State University’s journalism program has recruited more than 20 displaced, retired and otherwise available professional journalists to write and edit content from citizen contributors and online journalism students at WSU and the University of Michigan-Dearborn for a full-service news and information site about Detroit’s five Grosse Pointes. Professionals have pledged $20,000 in seed money to support the first year of the program. The site will receive a 30 percent commission on all advertising sold by a 35-year-old, highly successful community directory called “The Little Blue Book.“
   
• Oakland Local - A daily-updated Web site and mobile service will be created to cover Oakland, Calif., with a focus on environment, climate, transportation, housing, local government and community activism in Downtown, Uptown, North Oakland, West Oakland, Fruitvale, Lake Merritt, and the Dimond District. An editor, publisher and three paid part-time reporters will produce content, as will citizen contributors. The site will geotag content to an XML data map, encourage users to interact via cell phones and employ a range of social networking tools.
   
• Backyard News - A former newspaper reporter and founder of the Linglestown (Pa.) Gazette will expand his model to develop a network of four to six independently operated hyperlocal Web sites, to be updated daily, for communities in suburban Harrisburg, Pa. Backyard News will seek joint ventures to provide local content for the region’s daily newspaper and radio and TV stations. The project will also work to deliver content to cell phones.
   
• Maryland School Information Mapping (M-SIM) - Towson University’s Center for Geographic Information Sciences will partner with the online public policy site MarylandCommons.com to create a Web tool that will combine Maryland Department of Education data with user-friendly geomapping. M-SIM will give parents, educators, policymakers and journalists data and news about K-12 schools at the local, county and state level, and M-SIM maps will complement news and commentary written by Commons staff and citizen journalists.
   
• Intersections: The South Los Angeles Reporting Project - The Annenberg School at the University of Southern California will spearhead the creation of a community news Web site for a region that is home to African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and immigrants. The project will use multimedia reporting by journalism students, community residents and community leaders and will focus on education, economic development, housing and immigration. Project leaders will target print and broadcast outlets that might also use Intersection stories. They will also work with student-run Annenberg Radio and Television News and will partner with Mobile Voices, a USC Annenberg storytelling platform designed to help low-wage immigrants develop mobile media skills.
   
• The Austin Bulldog - A longtime Austin journalist, founder of a monthly magazine and political newsletter, will create a daily-updated Web site for public-interest and investigative reporting, using both professional journalists and input from citizens. The site will also synthesize outside news stories in addition to posting original reporting and commentary. Readers will be encouraged to submit tips and their own commentary.
   
• New Era Media - A Boulder, Colo., foundation will start a blog site covering Colorado news and politics aimed at young people. Initial content will come from 10 citizen contributors (ages 17-30), who will research, develop and post stories. Community contributions will also be invited. In addition, the site will develop feeds that can be posted to Facebook profiles and other social networking applications.
   
• The Villager, News and Notes from Coconut Grove West - A University of Miami visual journalism professor will launch a community news site for one of Florida’s oldest, but newly gentrifying, communities. News stories and visual documentaries will be generated by partners, which include journalism students, the Coconut Grove Collaborative (http://www.cgcollaborative.org/), the CG Homeowners Association (HOATA), a local health clinic and local residents.

Participating in this year’s selection were New Voices Advisory Board members:

• Charles B. Fancher, president, Fancher Associates Inc.
• Jane Brown, executive director, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.
• Bill Gannon, director of online production and programming, Lucasfilm Ltd.
• Bruce Koon, news director, KQED public radio, San Francisco.
• Peggy Kuhr, dean, University of Montana School of Journalism.
• Michele McLellan, associate, Knight Digital Media Center.
• Ju-Don Roberts, managing editor, WashingtonPost.com.
• Rose Ann Robertson, associate dean, student and academic affairs, American University School of Communication.
• Jan Schaffer, executive director, J-Lab.

Track the progress of New Voices grantees online at j-newvoices.org, where quarterly updates, news and features are posted. Follow other citizen media developments at the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org).

About Knight Foundation  The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has granted more than $400 million to advance journalism quality and freedom of expression. Knight Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that create transformational change. To learn more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

About J-Lab  J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org), the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, J-Learning.org and the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative (www.newmediawomen.org).

About American University’s School of Communication  American University’s School of Communication is a laboratory for professional education, communication research and innovative production in the fields of journalism, film and media arts and public communication, working across media platforms and with a focus on public affairs and public service.

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Awesome Graphics

A 2008 New Voices Winner uses an awesome 3D wall for his site’s front page.

StoriesThatFly, a New Voices project by Kent State University professor Joe Murray, garnered some ohs and ahs at the recent Grantee Meeting in Washington, DC. His project brings together journalism professors. student reporters and general aviators to cover Ohio’s 166 public airports, 772 private airfields and 18,000 pilots. Reporters will take photos, audio and video to go on a central Web site. The project also plans to produce mini-documentaries and a book. Content will be available to the Akron Beacon-Journal’s Ohio.com, local public television stations and the university’s NPR affiliate.

The wall on the Web site acts as a scrolling directory of stories and videos. Its stunning design was created by FlashLoaded and is available for purchase on the site.

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Funding for Community News Sites

For immediate release
Dec. 3, 2008
Contact Jan Schaffer
jans@j-lab.org
(202) 885-8100

WASHINGTON, D.C. - J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism is calling for a new round of grant proposals to fund “New Voices” community news start-ups around the country. Eight projects will each receive up to $25,000 in grants during the course of two years.

The deadline for this year’s proposals is Feb. 12, 2009. Eligibility guidelines and the online application are available at the New Voices Web site,
www.J-NewVoices.org.

The eight projects to be funded in 2009 will join 40 other New Voices start-ups that have received micro-grants since 2005. The projects have been selected from 845 proposals.

This year, New Voices project funding has increased to $25,000 from $17,000 over two years as part of a new J-Lab grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to seed micro-local news projects; support them with an educational Web site, the Knight Citizen News Network; and help foster their sustainability with second-year matching grants.

The 2009 projects will receive $17,000 the first year and are eligible for $8,000 in matching support the second year.

At least three of the 2009 grants are targeted for news initiatives in the 26 communities where the Knight brothers once owned newspapers, but projects from all parts of the U.S. are encouraged to apply.

“We are especially seeking ideas from people who find something missing from their local media landscape and crave news and information that engages and builds a sense of community,“ said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab, which administers the program. J-Lab is a center of American University’s School of Communication.

Eligible to receive New Voices funding are 501(c)3 organizations and education institutions or individuals working under the sponsorship of a nonprofit fiscal agent. Only start-up projects may receive funding; ongoing efforts are not eligible unless they are proposing a new venture.

Projects can produce news and information for a geographic area, such as a town or county. Or they can serve a community of interest.

All New Voices projects must develop a publicly accessible, regularly updated Web site to showcase their efforts and have a plan for generating a steady flow of fresh content year-round.

To receive information about New Voices, e-mail contact information and a request to subscribe to the J-Flash newsletter to news@j-lab.org.

About Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has granted more than $400 million to advance journalism quality and freedom of expression. Knight Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that create transformational change. To learn more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

About J-Lab
J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life. It also administers the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org), the Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, www.j-learning.org, and the McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative (www.newmediawomen.org).

About American University’s School of Communication
American University’s School of Communication is a laboratory for professional education, communication research, and innovative production across the fields of journalism, film and media arts, and public communication. The school’s academic programs emphasize traditional skills and values while anticipating new technologies, new opportunities, and new audiences.

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Congratulations!

Two New Voices 2006 projects have won prestigious journalism awards!

ChicagoTalks was named the winner in the Student Category from the Investigative Reporters and Editors. The series, called “Public Payroll, Family Affairs: Aldermen Keep It Relative” by Allison Riggio and Hunter Clauss, was published in 2007 in both CreatingCommunityConnections.org and the Beachwood Reporter. A six-month investigation of payroll records and hiring practices revealed that at least six of Chicago’s 50 City Council members employed relatives on their publicly funded ward staffs. The IRE judges wrote, “After its genesis as a class project at Columbia College in Chicago, this story grew into an interesting expose of nepotism in city government. These student reporters used public records requests and numerous phone calls to identify relatives of city council members who are on the public payroll. Persistence and aggressiveness overcame the obstacle of not being taken seriously by some sources. Both the writing and the sourcing are clear. The importance to readers is high.“ 

Great Lakes Wiki was among the top three student-produced online news reports in the nation by the Society of Professional Journalists. SPJ’s annual Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best in student journalism. Michigan State University students Andy Balaskovitz, John Allison & Ian Walker were named national finalists in the in-depth online reporting category for their work on “Pine River Superfund Site.“  Their investigation details the history and current condition of the environmentally plagued Pine River in St. Louis, Michigan, where Michigan Chemical (now Velsicol) operated a plant.  A producer of both DDT and PBB, the company dumped pollution and toxic waste in the river.

Also…

Two of the movers and shakers at GreaterFultonNews.org were named among the “40 people to Watch under 40” for 2008 by Style Weekly of Richmond, Va. Congratulations to GFN co-creator Annette Cousins and blogger John Murden.

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Twitter Modules on KCNN

Written by Amy Gahran of I, Reporter.

As a “microblog,“ Twitter is built for speed. Posts are capped at 140 characters and can be updated via the Web or cell phone text messages, meaning even if you happen upon breaking news and don’t have your laptop handy, you can still break the story.

Over the last several months Twitter has finally hit its stride as a leading tool for finding and sharing timely information from all sorts of places and sources. Its usefulness for breaking news is obvious. However, Twitter is equally useful for tracking ongoing stories and issues, getting fast answers or feedback, finding sources, building community, collaborating on coverage, and discovering emerging issues or trends.

Read the full article on Twitter Tips on the Knight Citizen News Network’s Web site here.

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New Voices Grantees

View Grantee locations in a larger map

 

Jump to Grant Year:   2009  |  2008  |  2007  |  2006  |  2005

2010 Grantees

Lincoln’s New Voices

Lincoln, NE
   • Visit grantee page

Tipster at VTDigger.org

East Hardwick, VT
   • Visit grantee page

River District News

Charlotte, NC
   • Visit grantee page

Essex County Community Media

Newark, NJ
   • Visit grantee page

NeighborWeb

San Jose, CA
   • Visit grantee page

AllPrinceton

Princeton, NJ
   • Visit grantee page

Morgan MoJo Lab

Baltimore, MD
   • Visit grantee page

Landings

Rockland, ME
   • Visit grantee page

Oregon Arts Watch

Portland, OR
   • Visit grantee page

2009 Grantees

Oakland Local

Oakland, CA
   • One Year In and Ahead of Schedule, June 2010

Grand Avenue News

Coral Gables, FL
   • Grand First Year for the Grand Avenue News , July 2010

Intersections: South Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA
   • Intersections: No Stopping In Sight, May 2010

New Era Media

Boulder, CO
   • New Era News Launches, Gets National Attention, May 2010

Maryland School Information Mapping

Towson, MD
   • Mapping Project Continues on Course, June 2010

GrossePointeToday.com

Detroit, MI
   • Grosse Pointe Today and Tomorrow, June 2010

The Austin Bulldog

Austin, TX
   • Austin Bulldog’s Charging Ahead, June 2010

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2008 Grantees

Mi-Whi.org [Miami-Whitewater Valley Public Media Project]

Oxford, OH
   • Mi-Whi Unveils Citizen Media Portal, July 2009

The Lexington Commons

Lexington, KY
   • Lexington Commons Focuses on Local Non-Profits, July 2010

StoriesThatFly.com [Grass Roots: Digital Journalism in the Nation’s Birthplace of Aviation]

Kent, OH
   • “Stories That Fly” Continues On Course, More or Less, August 2010

Green Jobs Philly

Philadelphia, PA
   • Green Jobs Philly News Becomes A Switchboard for Greening Economy, July 2010

Immigration: The View from Here

Crested Butte, CO
   • Immigrants’ Journalism Flourishes, March 2009

VetVenue [Voices for Veterans]

Columbia, SC
   • Coming Soon: New Site Designed with Vet Feedback, July 2009

Family Life Behind Bars

New York, NY
   • Engaging an Offline Community, September 2009

The Appalachian Independent

Frostburg, MD
   • AppIndie slowly becoming “highly valued and much needed”, August 2009

10Valley.com [Cool State Online]

Los Angeles, CA
   • Cool State Spins to 10Valley.com, June 2009

Voices of Rural Native Alaska

Anchorage, AK

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2007 Grantees

NewCastleNOW.org

Chappaqua, NY
   • Bringing Home the Bacon, August 2008

Vermont Climate Witness

Burlington, VT
   • Collaborations Help Create Climate Content, July 2009

NeighborMedia

Cambridge, MA
   • Robust Contributions from Citizen Journalists Pave the Way for New Web Site Design, August 2009

Greater Fulton News

Richmond, VA
   • GreaterFultonNews.org grows into the future, August 2009

The Eminent Domain

Brooklyn, NY
   • Eminent Domain Poised to Resume Publication, July 2009

Nuestro Tahoe [Bilingual Interactive Environmental Journalism]

Reno, NV
   • Nuestro Tahoe Struggles with Sustainability, August 2009

Saint Paul City Newsdesk

St. Paul, MN
   • Show Time: A Public Premiere, August 2008

Anansi’s Web

Gary, IN
   • A Good Idea Still Struggling, November 2009

News Desk on Access SF

San Francisco
   • Access SF Launches “The Street” Segments and Site, July 2009

Northwest Community Radio Network Collaborative Newscast

Seattle
   • Listen Up! Northwest Rides Strong Wave into its Second Year, August 2009

See all 2007 progress reports

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2006 Grantees

Community Correspondents Corps

Whitesburg, Ky.
   • If These Mountains Could Speak: Giving Voice to Appalachia, End of Year One: November 2007

Bay Voices [Ethnic News Service]

San Francisco
   • Ethnic News Service: Bay Voices Amplifies the Lives of Youth of Color, End of Year Two: October 2008

Chicago Talks

Chicago
   • Community News for Chicago, City of Neighborhoods, End of Year Two: October 2008

PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com [MURL Building Blocks]

Philadelphia
   • MURL Expands Mission to Include Training and Community Media, Follow-up: July 2009

Learning to Finish: Solution that Leads to Graduation

Charlottesville, Va.
   • Crossing the Finish Line, End of Year Two: October 2008

Route 7 Report

Athens, Ohio
   • Route 7 Report: Regular, Dependable, and Popular, End of Year Two: October 2008

Monroe County Radio Project

Morgantown, W.V.
   • Monroe County Radio: Creating a Buzz, End of Year Two: October 2008

GreatLakesEcho.org [Great Lakes Wiki]

East Lansing, Mich.
   • A New Generation, End of Year Two: October 2008

Dutton Country Courier & CrowNews.net [Rural News Network]

Missoula, Mont.
   • Keith Graham’s 10 Lessons Learned on how to Engage Community Members , October 2008

Trenton Policy Options

Princeton, N.J.
   • New Wiki Introduced, February 2009

See all 2006 progress reports

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2005 Grantees

The Forum

Deerfield, N.H.
   • Success Breeds Competition for The Forum, Final Report: October 2007

Radio Free Moscow’s KRFP News

Moscow, Idaho
   • Evening Report Informs Community of Breaking News and Big Issues, Final Report: October 2007

Hartsville Today

Hartsville, S.C.
   • After the Server Crashes, What Happens Next?, Update: October 2009

Noticias Tuyas

Hood River, Ore.

Loisaida Speaks

New York City
   • Podcasts, Projects and Partnerships in the Works for Loisaida Speaks, Final Report: October 2007

kaPow! Hip-Hop Site

Philadelphia, Pa.

Twin Cities Daily Planet

Minneapolis
   • TCDailyPlanet.net Builds Partnerships, Attracts Funding, Final Report: October 2007

Madison Commons

Madison, Wisc.
   • Madison Commons Reports Neighborhood News, Seeks More Contributors, Final Report: October 2007

Loudoun Forward

Loudoun County, Va.
   • Loudoun Forward Rethinks Outreach Strategy in Push for Public Discourse, Final Report: October 2007

North Lawndale Weblog

North Lawndale, Chicago
   • North Lawndale Weblog Looks to Extend Reach, Allow Multimedia Posts, Final Report: October 2007

See all 2005 progress reports

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New Voices Invests in a New Regional News Model,

Community and Niche Web Sites

For immediate release
May 15, 2008
Contact Jan Schaffer, Julie Drizin
jans@j-lab.org, julie@j-lab.org
(301) 985-4020

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Ten innovative citizen media projects have been selected as this year’s New Voices grant winners and will each receive up to $17,000 in start-up funding.

Many of this year’s winners focus on special-interest communities as well as geographic locales. One grantee will create a new model for regional news coverage in Ohio and Indiana. Others will start news and social networking sites for war veterans, families of prisoners, aviation buffs, immigrant and Native American communities and the eco-conscious.

The winners were selected from a record 312 applicants, J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism announced today. With this year’s projects, a total of 40 community news start-ups have been funded from 845 entries since 2005.

“These winners want to build new avenues producing local news and new ways to invite citizens to share particular expertise,“ said Jan Schaffer, director of J-Lab, which administers the New Voices program.

Grant winners will receive $12,000 in the first year to launch their projects and $5,000 in matching support in the second year. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funds the New Voices program.

“The number of applicants signals the growing interest in the power of citizen media to create a sense of place for all kinds of communities,“ said Gary Kebbel, Knight’s journalism program officer.

“New Voices has seeded some of the most exciting examples of journalism - and of active citizenship - in the United States today,“ said New Voices Advisory Board member Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE, The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

The 2008 New Voices grantees are:

• Miami-Whitewater Valley Public Media Project. Partnering higher learning with public and commercial media, this project will create a regional news service for Southwest Ohio and East Central Indiana. Citizen journalists and students at Miami University and Earlham College will produce stories for an interactive Web site and content will be shared with local mainstream media. Pilot partners include WMUB public radio, the Cincinnati Business Journal, Cox Ohio newspapers in Dayton, Hamilton, Oxford and Middletown, and Gannett’s Palladium-Item in Richmond, Indiana. They seek to create a new model for covering regional news.
   
• The Kentucky Citizen Media Project: The Lexington Commons. 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.
   
• Grass Roots: Digital Journalism in the Nation’s Birthplace of Aviation. Kent State journalism professors will mentor student reporters and general aviators to cover Ohio’s 166 public airports, 772 private airfields and 18,000 pilots. Reporters will take photos, audio and video to go on a central Web site. The project also plans to produce mini-documentaries and a book. Content will be available to the Akron Beacon-Journal’s Ohio.com, local public television stations and the university’s NPR affiliate.
   
• Cool State Online. California State University-Los Angeles journalism students and faculty will partner with community groups to launch “micro-bureaus” to cover the San Gabriel Valley’s largely Asian and Latino community. Computer science grad students will help build a news management system for the project.
   
• Green Jobs Philly. A Philadelphia Web entrepreneur will spearhead a new Web site and quarterly publication to cover “green” jobs, grants, and economic initiatives by local businesses, universities and nonprofits. The site plans to translate content to Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese in the future.
   
• The Appalachian Independent. Civic group will create a bi-weekly online newspaper community for the rural community around Frostburg, Maryland, modeled on the National League of Cities’ Inclusive Community Program. Frostburg State University and Allegany College of Maryland students and faculty will participate.
   
• Immigration: The View from Here. KBUT-FM community radio in Crested Butte, Colorado, will explore the local impact of immigration, which has tripled in the last decade in rural Gunnison Valley. The station will train citizen journalists and produce stories for its daily news show and 30-minute specials. All content will be in English, with Spanish translations posted online. The station will share MP3 files of the features with all the state’s community radio stations.
   
• Voices of Rural Alaska. Koahnic Broadcast Corp. will train people in remote Alaskan native villages to record interviews, first-person diaries and reports on issues that affect their daily lives. One-to-three minute segments will be broadcast monthly on KNBA-FM and National Native News. They will also be available online as podcasts and offered to the Alaska Public Radio network.
   
• Voices for Veterans. A community technology center in Columbia, S.C., will create a social network and information Web site for returning veterans. Three nearby military bases and a VA Hospital provide a ready audience for monthly Webcasts and a moderated blog. The project will focus on jobs, services, GI bill benefits, counseling and transition to civilian employment.
   
• Family Life Behind Bars.  A CUNY Graduate School of Journalism professor and students will create a Web site for families of prisoners. Users will be able to share information and tell stories about the financial, social and emotional impact of incarceration, separation and stigma on their lives.

Participating in the selection were New Voices Advisory Board members:

• Charles B. Fancher, president, Fancher Associates Inc., Annapolis, MD.
• Jane Brown, executive director, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.
• Bill Gannon, Director of Online Production & Programming, Lucasfilm Ltd.
• Bruce Koon, News Director, KQED Public Radio, San Francisco.
• Peggy Kuhr, Dean, University of Montana School of Journalism.
• Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE.
• Donna M. Reed, vice president of news and multimedia, Media General.
• Adam Clayton Powell III, Vice Provost for Globalization, University of Southern California.
• Thomas Kunkel, Dean, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park.
• Jan Schaffer, executive director, J-Lab.

Track the progress of New Voices grantees online at j-newvoices.org, where quarterly updates, news and features are posted. Follow other citizen media developments at the Knight Citizen News Network (www.kcnn.org).

Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and interests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Four of the 2008 New Voices projects are in Knight communities.

J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate public life. J-Lab supports and spotlights journalism innovations, interactive storytelling, citizen media, entrepreneurship and research.

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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
Website
Twitter

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 website.

Check back for future news and updates.
July 2010
July 2009
March 2009
November 2008
 
 

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Lexington Commons Focuses on Local Non-Profits

July 2010

In the spring of 2008, the Kentucky Citizen Media Project (KCMP), created in part by the University of Kentucky and funded by New Voices, launched an online citizen journalism initiative to give new, diverse voices a local outlet.

The goal of Lexington Commons was to encourage dialogue among citizens and build community through digital communication. It was envisioned that the Lexington Commons website would be a place for citizen journalists to post stories, pictures, videos and information they gather from the Lexington community. There was also a desire to host blogs and forums where residents could converse and network.

Essentially, the Lexington Commons was to be a nonprofit, digital neighborhood newspaper, created by the people, for the people. Workshops and ongoing training for citizen journalists, along with high quality of contents and discussions among community members, were key to the project concept, as citizen journalists were meant to be the primary content creators.

The site was launched in late January, 2009. Since then the staff has continued working towards fulfilling the mission and vision.

Non-profit Support

Lexington Commons has received growing support from nonprofit organizations throughout the community.  Seungahn Nah, director of the project, wrote: “We have been producing a significant amount of citizen stories covering these different organizations and those volunteers who have been working for the nonprofit sector.  We feel that these stories have continued to be a great way to enhance both PR for the different organizations as well as promote the Lexington community. Recently, we have been building our neighborhoods section, continuing the goal of encouraging local citizens to participate in forums and blogs.“

Accomplishments

Nah indicated that the staff has been striving to reach the original mission.  Overall content creation has increased significantly and production of stories has become more frequent.

The Commons staff is encouraged to report that the nonprofit organizations it works with are tremendously happy with their work and generally appreciate the platform for outreach.
The webmaster is expanding information on the site as a tool to bring neighborhood associations closer together.  “Although we have maintained partnerships with university and community organizations, we also have a goal of partnering with the City Council,“ Nah said, “which will bring us closer to our goal of connecting with citizens around the community… and continue to pursue partnerships with other institutions and organizations.“

In July 2010, Lexington Commons counted 269 Facebook fans, a number it says steadily rises, as does the number of visitors to their site.  They credit their social media presence with driving traffic growth.

Challenges

“We have reached a point in our project where we would like to expand our influence,“ explained Nah.  But like other university-based projects, it faces a lack of employee dedication and support because it relies heavily on students and student interns for content creation.  “We are experiencing a sense of immaturity,“ said Nah.  “Employees regularly miss deadlines given and find their priorities lying elsewhere.“

His hope is to re-energize staff and keep the project infused with fresh, cutting-edge ideas.  They also hope to increase participation at citizen journalism workshops.  And, perhaps most importantly, their challenge remains to find secure and sustainable financial funding, from internal and external funders. 

Content Creation

The founders of Lexington Commons believe the local nonprofit community is “seriously camouflaged” by the local mainstream media, and so the Commons will remain a place to highlight local nonprofits and celebrate their impact on the community. 

Citizen journalists interview local nonprofits and produce multimedia reports - articles, video and photos - which they believe bring more life to the story. 

“We continue the hope to expand out from strictly nonprofit news and have the ability to cover neighborhood and community local news as well as we have planned,“ wrote Nah.  In addition, they have a community event and social calendar that highlights local nonprofit events. 

Lexington Commons has partnered with:  University of Kentucky Agriculture Communication Services, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky Nonprofit Leadership Initiative, University of Kentucky Public Relations and WUKY Public Radio.

Conclusion

Although Lexington Commons has encountered various challenges, founder Seungahn Nah expects the project to contribute to community by continuing to highlight nonprofit organizations and their volunteers, create more public discussions, and enhance social networking of readers.

 

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After a rocky start, Lexington Commons looks to reconnect with its community

July 2009

For The Lexington Commons project, the first months of 2009 were tough ones. A lack of workshop participants and citizen journalists meant the project’s website, which launched in January of 2009, was not able to create much content, according to Seungahn Nah, director of the Kentucky Citizen Media Project.

“This fall will see a renewed effort to recruit citizen journalists through various media and community sources.“

But Nah says Lexington Commons will begin a renewed effort this summer to bring information and news to the site with interns doing stories on local nonprofits.

Nah says the fall of 2009 will see that effort continue with a drive to recruit citizen journalists through various media and community sources, especially established print and online local media outlets like Smiley Pete Publishing, whose publications focus on the Lexington community and neighborhoods.

Once they have received training, Nah hopes these citizen journalists will cover community issues and problems (e.g., local politics, the economy, city development, environment, agriculture, education, health, youth, culture, etc.) with a focus on specific neighborhoods. Nah also hopes that trained citizen reporters will participate in online discussions regarding community issues and problems. Nah says the site will also post profiles for those individuals who have contributed to the Lexington community as members, volunteers, and donors.

Lexington Commons has also reached out to local journalism classes. Starting in fall 2009, approximately 100 Univerity of Kentucky community journalism students, who can create content on a regular basis, will work with the site.

To further boost content, Lexington Commons will exchange community news and information with local partners: the University of Kentucky’s Public Relations Department and the Agricultural Communication Services, along with WUKY public radio. WUKY will not only exchange news and information with the Lexington Commons but will also provide technical support for citizen journalism workshops.

Lexington Commons plans to invite community leaders and bloggers as guest columnists and plans to aggregate links to community blogging sites on the citizen media site.

Finally, Nah says plans for 2009 call on Lexington Commons to encourage ordinary citizens to help build social networks under Community Connects Citizens on the citizen media site.

Taken all together, Nah says Lexington Commons will make every effort to produce content on a regular basis, which he hopes will attract general users and contributors to the citizen media site.

—Tom Regan

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Lexington Launch

March 2009

The Lexington Commons launched its website 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 website 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 website 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 website 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

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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 website, 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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Miami-Whitewater Valley Public Media Project

Cheryl Gibbs, Assistant Director, Journalism Program, Miami University

• Oxford, OH

CONTACT INFO

Cheryl Gibbs
Miami University Journalism Program
260A Bachelor Hall
Oxford, OH 45056
(513) 529-1923
E-mail
Website

Partnering higher learning with public and commercial media, this project will create a regional news service for Southwest Ohio and East Central Indiana. Citizen journalists and students at Miami University and Earlham College will produce stories for an interactive website and content will be shared with local mainstream media. Pilot partners include WMUB public radio, the Cincinnati Business Journal, Cox Ohio newspapers in Dayton, Hamilton, Oxford and Middletown, and Gannett’s Palladium-Item in Richmond, Indiana. They seek to create a replicable model for covering regional news.

Check back for future news and updates.

• July 2009
• March 2009
• November 2008
• July 8, 2008, Press Release
 
 

 

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Mi-Whi Unveils Citizen Media Portal

July 2009

For the Miami-Whitewater Valley Public Media Project, the first year has seen its share of successes and frustrations.

As project director Cheryl Gibbs noted, after many stops and starts Mi-Whi (the site’s abbreviated “nickname”) has its basic web portal built. But problems with the university’s firewall meant the site was not visible to the outside world until July. Those problems have been fixed, though, and you can see the new site at http://www.mi-whinews.org.

After the launch, Gibbs said, “Whew! What I know now, having worked on the portal!“

Her basic goal was to create a portal that an “eighth grader could use to submit a story and a photo,“ and provide a place where content from the site’s professional partners could be aggregated, creating a truly regional news site. “It does those essential things, but it’s not as beautiful as I’d like it to be—or as interesting/interactive,“ said Gibbs, an assistant professor of journalism at Miami University.

The next step, technologically, will be to “dress up the portal a bit,“ Gibbs said, adding that she’d “like to include a carousel on the front page, for example.“

The portal’s lack of visibility (until recently) meant that while the 12 to 46 students who had worked on the site had created a steady stream of content, there had been no place to showcase it.  You can now see past examples of the students’ work on the newly visible portal.

“If I had to pick one example that comes closest to the perfect example [of what the students can contribute to the site], it would be the story they did on education and the economy, in part because the students also held public forums about those stories,“ said Gibbs. You can read a news story about one of those forums here and you can watch a video recording of the forum here.

“Whew! What I know now, having worked on the portal!“

This fall, students in at least two of the journalism department’s Intro to Journalism classes (25 students each) will be producing citizen journalism stories in addition to the work Gibbs’ online journalism students (18) will be doing with a partner newspaper. “Now that the portal is up, we have the capacity to engage many more students in producing real stories for real news organizations, and one of my tasks is now to work with my colleagues to try to get as many of them on board with that as possible,“ said Gibbs.

Gibbs said Mi-Whi has also begun scheduling meetings with its media partners and with libraries and other community organizations to discuss plans for its citizen journalism initiative. Currently plans call for the initiative to kick off during spring semester in 2010.

Mi-Whi is also seeking funding from community foundations to purchase camcorders and other equipment to place in public libraries, so that citizen journalists can check them out. Mi-Whi will then need to work with its media partners to develop a training format, and train students as trainers. It will then schedule citizen journalism trainings in various communities by partnering with community organizations and schools who may be willing to host those trainings.

Mi-Whi continues to grow its list of partners, especially in the area of community organizations. Gibbs said there has been a degree of ebb and flow in these relationships; editors/news directors come and go, or turn their attention away from the students’ work on Mi-Whi and toward other projects. Yet all of its original partnerships remain viable and new ones have been cultivated, particularly new partnerships with Girls Inc. and Whitewater Community Television in Richmond, Indiana.

But Mi-Whi’s relationship with Miami University’s IT department is one that Gibbs did not foresee. The project had originally hired an outside designer to help with the site, but when problems developed with deliverables, Gibbs found herself relying on the university’s IT department. She believes this partnership has value for both parties. The difficult patches have come, however, when Mi-Whi has called on the IT department to go beyond its “comfort zone” on computer server security issues.  “A lot of the conversations I’ve had with the IT folks remind me of conversations I’ve had or overheard with the gatekeepers of journalism when similar concerns began to arise there,“ said Gibbs.

Surprisingly, Gibbs said that the response from the IT folks has been that they want to be involved in the project because they actually enjoy finding ways to rise to these challenges.

Another challenge is the struggle to work within the university’s current budget restrictions to ensure that the project will be sustained.  Yet despite the harsh economic climate, the university has given permission to hire a faculty member who will serve part-time in journalism, part-time in interactive media studies, and that position has been authorized at a “clinical faculty” level (which means the person will not be required to have a Ph.D., only a master’s degree). Gibbs said this person is expected to take a significant leadership role in the Miami-Whitewater project.

—Tom Regan

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Online in Ohio

March 2009

Mi-Whi News‘ student journalists continue to contribute content to the story-budget site, content that is then made available to area news organizations. Success in partnering with media outlets, however, remains uneven: Some, but not all, area newspapers are picking up student-generated copy. Says project leader Cheryl Gibbs, assistant director of Miami University of Ohio’s journalism program: “We remain optimistic and are continually working to sustain existing partnerships and cultivate new ones.“

Student journalists are working with an editor from the Dayton Daily News this semester, but they are not collaborating directly with other local papers, in Middletown and Hamilton, Ohio. Student stories have been used in the past by those news outlets, both in print and online. Says Gibbs: “It is clear that we need to form personal relationships with editors at the early stages of creating student work we plan to offer to them.“

Mi-Whi News continues to partner with The Palladium-Item in Richmond, Ind. Students’ work on a special website set up for the newspaper’s coverage of the 40th anniversary of a deadly explosion in Richmond contributed to the paper’s winning a first-place award for public service from the Associated Press in Indiana. However, layoffs at the newspaper have complicated the partnership, as key newsroom contacts have assumed additional work and are considerably busier than ever.

Student content created in late 2008 included an election website that The Palladium-Item featured on its own online site. The students’ work is accessible at http://extra.pal-item.com/election2008/Welcome.html.

Mi-Whi - short for the Miami-Whitewater Valley Public Media Project - is waiting for the completion of a web portal that will allow greater interactivity among student journalists, local news outlets and readers. The Richmond, Ind.-based web design firm Summersault is working on a portal that will allow student, citizen and professional journalists to upload to and preview stories on the Mi-Whi site. Student-generated material is posted to the website after it has been fact-checked and edited by a professional and/or faculty editor.

Designated media partners will be able to access a raw materials archive (primarily audio, video and documents gathered by student journalists), while readers can search the archives, view printer-friendly versions of stories, e-mail content and contribute feedback. Regular users may set up accounts to receive e-mail updates and post attributed comments. Data drawn from this user base could be used in the future to solicit readers’ thoughts or even contributions based on their demographic profile.

Gibbs and her team are actively seeking grants to continue the Mi-Whi project. Two faculty members are working to secure National Endowment for the Humanities funds to collaborate with the Dayton-based ThinkTV on a documentary. In addition, Gibbs has contacted the university’s development department about creating a “donate” button on the Mi-Whi website.

The mood at Mi-Whi is upbeat. “The most amazing thing about this project is seeing students get excited about using these new tools for doing journalism - and exploring ways to use these tools in innovative ways,“ Gibbs says, adding, “The students also are transformed by doing actual journalism in which they interview real people about actual situations.“

Among the web projects created by Miami University journalism students was www.JRN421TheLearningCurve.com, which grew out of an assignment to look into declining funding for public education in two communities near Oxford - Union County, Indiana, and Middletown, Ohio, a former industrial center that Forbes magazine recently dubbed one of the “fastest-declining towns in America.“ Students gave public presentations of their work in each community.

Journalism major Danny Lautar, who reported from Middletown, wrote of his experience: “No longer is [journalism] just my major or a ticket to law school. It’s a real profession and it’s a passion that I’m now glad I have pursued.“

  * Hope Keller, 2/25/09

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Mi-Whi News Up and Running

November 2008

The Miami-WhiteWater Valley Public Media Project has landed on a snappy new name: Mi-Whi News. Based at Miami University, the project is pulling together students, community, and mainstream news organizations to partner on regional coverage.

One of the partners is the Richmond Palladium-Item in Indiana, a newsroom where Mi-Whi News coordinator Cheryl Gibbs once worked. “Five department level managers were recently eliminated there. They are a small enough paper, so they are open to the help,“ she said. “They don’t have the tech equipment. So, our school will provide cameras.“

In October 2008, students participated in a Palladium-sponsored online chat during the vice presidential debate. Gibbs says it was a good experience, despite technical difficulties. The students also put together a special report for Election 2008.

“We’re experimenting with news way of doing journalism,“ says Gibbs. “We’re learning about Twitter, Mogulus and bandwidth.“ Mogulus is site that enables users to create their own TV studios. Mi-Whi used it to stream a candidate’s forum in Richmond.

The project is continuing to reach out to new potential partners. WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio and Whitewater Community Television, the cable access channel in Richmond, have both expressed interest. Community partners are encouraged to use Mi-WhiNews content, with credit.

“Students are getting excited about doing multimedia. We’re helping them write to a professional standard. They do a lot of good work that doesn’t get any audience.  So this is a good way to make it public and serve the community,“ said Gibbs.

Mi-Whi has hired Summersault.com to design its open-source web portal where assignments will be tracked and all content will be aggregated.
Gibbs’ advice to other citizen media initiatives: “If you don’t know what you’re doing, do it anyway.“ Professors are learning to use new technologies right alongside their students.

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Earlham Students Will Shape Local News Coverage

Press Release: July 8, 2008

RICHMOND, Ind. — Earlham College students will have a chance to change how local news is reported, thanks to an innovative partnership between Earlham and Miami University and funded by the New Voices program of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. J-Lab, the Institute for Interactive Journalism, administers the program.

Ten innovative media projects were selected from a record pool of 312 applicants, reports J-Lab. The grant winners will receive $12,000 in first-year funding to launch their program and $5,000 in matching support in the second year.

The project, known as the Miami-Whitewater Valley Public Media Project, will partner higher education with public and commercial media to create a new regional newsgathering model for Southwest Ohio and East Central Indiana. Citizen journalists along with students from Miami and Earlham will produce stories for an interactive website and content will be shared with more traditional media outlets.

Read the full press release on Earlham College’s website…

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Cool State Online

Jon Beaupre, News Director, University Times, California State University, Los Angeles

• Los Angeles, CA

CONTACT INFO

Jon Beaupre
University Times
5151 State University Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90033
(323) 223.6287

E-mail
Website

California State University-Los Angeles journalism students and faculty will partner with community groups to launch “micro-bureaus” to cover the San Gabriel Valley’s largely Asian and Latino community. Computer science grad students will help build a news management system and the University Times will publish content.

Check back for future news and updates.

• June 2009
• February 2009
 
 

 

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Cool State Spins to 10Valley.com

June 2009

The CoolStateLA New Voices project to engage students in covering Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley has hired two student reporters to generate material exclusively for the endeavor, reports Jon Beaupre, the California State University (CSULA) professor in charge of the effort.

Beaupre also has established a new website to house CoolState’s New Voices material. “We’ve just registered the name ‘10Valley.com’ for the project,“ he says. “It refers to the 10 freeway, which runs down the center of the Valley.“

“We just need to put time and effort into the process to see what will work and what won’t.“ - Jon Beaupre

Now the roughly 250 New Voices stories created by student journalists since the project launched in mid-2008 will have their own home. Until now New Voices material has been part of the mix at CoolStateLA.com, which also contains content created by reporters for the university news site and the University Times newspaper.

The CoolState New Voices project also is moving forward with plans to create microbureaus in the string of communities that make up the San Gabriel Valley, which stretches 60 miles west to east from Los Angeles. Beaupre seeks to establish a minimum of two bureaus, each of which would consist essentially of a desk for a student reporter in the newsroom or office of a community partner.

One of the new hires, Gareth Howell, is posted in CoolState’s microbureau at Youth Radio, the first community partner to sign onto the New Voices project. Youth Radio is a nationally recognized training, production and distribution organization that has contributed widely to National Public Radio and other national news outlets. Howell is teaching the students about radio journalism and their audio stories, in turn, will be available on www.10Valley.com.

The other new student journalist, Stephanie Hill, was hired to work in the CoolState newsroom to manage the New Voices project. In addition to assigning, editing and reporting stories, she also is helping to locate potential community partners and handling Web-site matters.

Plans for a second microbureau in a newsroom of the San Gabriel Valley News Group have not panned out. Beaupre’s main contact at the newspaper group, which has three papers in the Valley, was promoted to a new editing position last year and since has been unable to help with the New Voices effort.

Beaupre is scouting out other prospective community partners - which could include Los Angeles County libraries, senior centers, high schools, and colleges and universities - and has high hopes for success.

“We are still moving forward with a planned two bureaus,“ Beaupre says. “It is my hope and desire to simply continue adding bureaus as we contract with community sponsors and raise funds. Practically speaking, I’d love to have five bureaus up and operating within the next year.“

Beaupre is philosophical about the challenges in matching student journalists with community partners. “The whole thing is an experiment,“ he says. “We just need to put time and effort into the process to see what will work and what won’t.“

Meanwhile, the CoolStateLA.com website has continued to gain in popularity. For all of 2008 the site received about 31,000 unique page views. This year to date the site has gotten more than double that, close to 77,000 unique page views.

Beaupre has secured his New Voices’ Year Two match, raising $2,000 in display advertising in the university’s newspaper, the University Times, and on the CoolStateLA.com website. He also received $3,000 from the Youth Radio Los Angeles bureau, an in-kind donation that included the use of office space and equipment and staff support.

Also, Beaupre reports that CoolState is now an affiliate of The Associated Press, which gives the news operations timely access to breaking developments. The cost of the affiliation is divided among the University Times, CoolStateLA.com, Cool State Radio and the New Voices project, making the outlay “nominal” for each venture, Beaupre says.

Another encouraging development is the completion of CoolState’s news management system prototype - a collaborative project with CSULA graduate computer science students. “The system is Web-based and can handle text, audio, video, photo, animation and any other sort of new media,“ reports Beaupre, who dubs it an “inside track” to manage, edit and repurpose news products. “For example, as we get Youth Radio online, they will be able to examine our daily news budget and we’ll be able to examine what they are working on,“ he says.

CoolState’s two New Voices reporters will follow several stories in the coming months. Among them:

* The scramble by local candidates to replace Congresswoman Hilda Solis, who was chosen to serve as U.S. secretary of labor.

* The economy: With Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate pushing 12 percent and its poverty rate over 11 percent, the San Gabriel Valley - “with its used car lots, Asian markets and restaurants and warehouse industries” - is particularly hard-hit, Beaupre writes.

* “Legal” marijuana dispensaries: Much of California has agreed to them, but a number of Valley cities are considering moratoriums on the outlets.

* The effect, if any, of federal stimulus spending in the Valley.

- Hope Keller, 6/5/09

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Cool for School

February 2009

Operating out of the offices of the 50-year-old campus newspaper, CoolStateLA.com has a very modern aim: to create a multimedia citizen-journalism website to present local news that the area’s increasingly strained mainstream media outlets are not covering.

“The goal is to find new and effective ways to harness the power of computers to deliver higher quality news,“ says Jon Beaupre, the California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), professor in charge of the project.

“We want to make better citizens.“

Beaupre also states another, overarching goal of the CoolState project, which uses text, photos, video and audio to deliver the news: “We want to make better citizens.“

Cool State seeks to cover the San Gabriel Valley from a hyperlocal perspective, reporting on developments in the burgeoning area east of Los Angeles that is home to two million people, most of them Asian or Latino. It also hopes to partner with local ethnic media organizations to translate Cool State’s content for foreign-born news consumers.

CoolState shares five general assignment reporters with the campus paper, the University Times. The reporters dedicate 10 percent to 20 percent of their efforts to covering stories for the online venture. Beaupre reports that CoolState is close to hiring its first employee who will work entirely on Web-site pieces.

Students are expected to write, shoot video and still photos and record and edit audio, Beaupre says. “All of our reporters know they are expected to work in all forms, media and platforms. I think it is fair to say they have embraced the concept without a single hesitation and with lots of enthusiasm.“

Even as the CoolState team struggled with the logistics of setting up a new media venture in the second half of 2008, it still managed to produce a considerable amount of news from the San Gabriel Valley, thanks mainly to student journalist Marlene LeBouvier.

The indefatigable LeBouvier visited most of the 31 cities in the valley, where she picked up local publications that she combed for news tips and sources. She filed about three dozen stories and was a prolific photographer. “The coverage has been lively, vibrant and visually oriented,“ Beaupre reports. “What the stories have lacked in depth and polish they make up for in breadth of coverage and understanding of their topics.“ Her graduation in December has left Beaupre searching for a new lead reporter.

Because the coverage area is large—the Valley stretches 60 miles west to east—Cool State is working to set up a network of community partners to house “microbureaus” staffed by CSULA student journalists. Possible partners include Los Angeles County libraries, senior centers, high schools, colleges and universities and “Big J” journalism outlets.

Beaupre and his CoolState team succeeded in setting up a community partnership with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, which is part of the MediaNews Group chain. Beaupre and his team, seeking a newsroom point person to oversee a CoolState intern, doggedly wooed Frank Giradot, an editor - sealing the deal by bringing him lunch in the newsroom.

However, Beaupre is now looking for another newsroom contact, since Giradot’s job responsibilities have significantly increased with the Valley Tribune’s recent acquisition of the copy desks of The (San Bernardino) Sun and the (Ontario) Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. “It seems likely that we will need to recruit another liaison within that newsroom, as Mr. Giradot’s time will be severely limited,“ Beaupre reports.

A student journalist is already in place 20 hours a week in the offices of another community partner, Youth Radio. The CSULA student helps teach high school students how to produce radio news programs and in turn sends story ideas back to the CoolState newsroom on campus.

Besides securing community partners to establish microbureaus throughout the San Gabriel Valley, Beaupre and his team face several other challenges:

• CoolState’s business manager has been out on an extended medical leave, creating a backlog of tasks that Beaupre must handle in addition to his other responsibilities.
• CoolState generally loses 25 percent to 50 percent of its staffers each quarter due to graduation, attrition or unavailability.
• The learning curve on student payment has been steep. Beaupre says he must be careful to use the New Voices grant to pay student journalists in a way that does not invalidate or otherwise endanger their financial-aid packages.
• Finding strategic partners in the for-profit sector is a priority. “We hope to recruit a ‘super ally’ to help brand and underwrite our efforts,“ Beaupre says.

CoolStateLA.com has seen a steady increase in the number of visitors to the website. In October 2008 the site received less than 500 unique visitors. In November the number more than doubled, to 1,171 unique visitors. In December it rose again, to 2,150 visitors, who made slightly more than 13,000 page visits.

- Hope Keller, 2/23/09

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Grass Roots: Digital Journalism in the Nation’s Birthplace of Aviation

Joe Murray, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Kent State University

• Kent, OH

CONTACT INFO

Joe Murray
Kent State University
101E Franklin Hall
Kent, OH 44242
(330) 672-1914

E-mail
Web site
Twitter

Kent State journalism professors will mentor student reporters and general aviators to cover Ohio’s 166 public airports, 772 private airfields and 18,000 pilots. Reporters will take photos, audio and video to go on a central Web site. The project also plans to produce mini-documentaries and a book. Content will be available to the Akron Beacon-Journal’s Ohio.com, local public television stations and the university’s NPR affiliate.

Kent State has launched a Website for their project, www.StoriesThatFly.com.

Check back for future news and updates.

• August 2010
• June 2009
• March 2009
• November 2008

 
 

 
 

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“Stories That Fly” Continues On Course, More or Less

August 2010

It’s been quite a ride this year for Joe Murray, whose “Stories That Fly” project involving narrative nonfiction and online storytelling about aviation remains sky high.  The Ohio Board of Regents recognized Murray with one of 10 Faculty Innovator Awards, his project received an additional $30,000 in grant money, and donors are willing to help buy a 1946 Piper Cub aircraft for the project if he can contribute $10,000.

Despite those gains he notes that his team at Kent State University produced about one-third as many online stories in the project’s second year while he trained his eyes on fundraising.  “I am disappointed that we did not produce more, but it is necessary to support the project with external funding to continue our success into the future.“

That meant writing 10 competitive proposals, totaling $935,000.  While four proposals were not funded, four were, totaling $30,000.  Two proposals for $147,000, which would exclusively support fieldwork and story production, are pending notification in the fall.  Murray is also collaborating on two currently funded research projects.

And Murray has spent time cultivating prospective partners by writing three 4,500-word feature stories published nationally in Pilot Magazine. 

Students produced an additional 20-30 features for the “Stories That Fly” online magazine and another 15-20 story assignments will be added next month. 

Meanwhile, outreach continues as Murray has conversations with the editor of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s magazine (circulation 700,000) which may write a piece about “Stories That Fly”. 

Murray has also spent time searching for an aircraft that would improve access to the many rural airfield and farms in Ohio.  After contacting more than 70 owners and pilots, he reports that he found one priced at $50,000, as well as two local pilots who are willing to donate $40,000 toward the purchase.  He is currently seeking the remaining $10,000.  The plane would also help his project attract students and allow for collaboration with researchers in the biology department.  They plan a partnership with the Knight Center for International Media and onewater.org to have biology and journalism students create stories about local water ecology throughout Northeast Ohio.

This year has also seen an impact on the curriculum, reports Murray.  Two professors have assigned writing and photojournalism students to generate content for “Stories That Fly”.  On another bright note, Murray was able to replace textbooks with online content, saving his students approximately 80 percent in out-of-pocket costs every semester and earning him a Faculty Innovator Award.

The site was also recognized as a notable entry in J-Lab’s Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism in 2009.

Murray is taking this time to consider his site’s social media strategy.  Rather than direct e-mail subscriptions, he has recognized the significant presence of a large aviation community on Facebook.  The site’s Twitter followers - about 400, he reports - include aviation and adventure travel marketers, commercial, private and military pilots, flight training organizations, national and international aviation magazines and blogs, schools, airlines, film producers, authors storytellers, journalists and even NASA.  Combine the two, and Murray believes he can capture a greater audience than by subscriptions alone.  “It will also reduce workload to manage subscribers and eliminate the subscribing hackers and spammers,“ that are attracted to the site. 

That social media drive, along with uncovering an extra $10,000, will be a part of his plan for the coming months.

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“Stories that Fly” Gets Off the Ground

June 2009

After nearly a year of collecting content, the Stories That Fly crew launched its online magazine May 2 with a fete for aviation enthusiasts, Kent State University faculty and students and members of the public.

Several pilots flew in to the University Airport and caught a free shuttle provided by the university’s flight school to get to the celebratory barbecue on time, wrote student reporter Leila Archer in a May 4 story for StoriesThatFly.com.

As his site got off the ground, editor and project leader Joe Murray - a Kent State journalism professor and a pilot - reports that Stories That Fly, or STF, will begin a partnership with the Denver-based PilotMag, which has a hard-copy circulation of 800,000 and receives 3 million Web-site visits a year. One of Murray’s feature-length articles appears in PilotMag’s May-June issue and another will be published in July-August. Both stories are illustrated with photos by student photographers.

PilotMag would like to incorporate STF into its Web-site redesign and share its own videos and stories on the STF site, adds Murray, who will discuss further opportunities with PilotMag’s publisher this summer.

Murray also reports that he is developing a partnership with Kent State’s aeronautics and flight program, “We can leverage their expertise in flight education and safety in a lot of good ways.“

He is also happy to report that Stories That Fly has snagged the attention of the editor of AOPA Flight Training and AOPA Pilot magazines. Murray said the editor would like to run a story about Stories That Fly in one or both of the national aviation magazines, which have a combined hard-copy circulation of 493,000 and log more than 5 million online visits annually.

Stories That Fly also has received accolades from other aviation industry insiders and publishers, including JetWhine.com, Rent-A-Plane.com, MagazineLaunch.com, Plane and Pilot News (April 2009, page 5), General
Aviation News, Airplane Geeks and ThirtyThousandFeet.com.

Murray has met his second-year New Voices match and also has applied for two other grants to sustain and advance his project. The awards would allow his team to expand its coverage of aviation and the environment and extend its reach into rural Ohio communities and airfields, Murray says.

So far, 20 photojournalism students have contributed pictures, 25 writing students have provided stories and research, and about 100 people have taken part in articles and interviews. In addition, 284 people have signed up to follow STF on Twitter and 40 have joined the site as subscribers.

The Stories That Fly site employs several up-to-date features to engage its audience, including an eye-catching 3-D Wall that functions as the site’s home page, a user-commenting feature and a 10-star voting system for all content, a Flickr group and a YouTube channel. Users can submit original content and receive updates via Twitter.

Site user David McCartney contributed a story about a Florida subdivision that is centered around an airfield. “Imagine the thrill of living a few feet from your own airplane and wishing it ‘sweet dreams’ every night from just down the hall,“ he writes - adding, however, that some of the community’s home hangars are used as “ballroom dance floors.“

Whatever floats your boat - or your plane. Stories That Fly also offers a three-minute feature about the pilot of a “float boat,“ a small plane with pontoons that can land on and take off from water as well as land. Murray shot the footage himself, from the ground and aboard the bright yellow aircraft. He talks with pilot Dan Marks as Marks traces the course of a river and buzzes above the green summer countryside. The video story leaves you wanting more. It is also educational: Viewers learn that if they don’t retract the landing gear on their pontoons before setting down on water, they’re likely to capsize the plane.

Photos by Stories That Fly staff.

- Hope Keller, 6/11/09

“Stories that Fly” Takes Off

March 2009

The online aviation magazine Stories That Fly will officially launch on Saturday, May 2, 2009, with a daylong celebration at Kent State University’s newly renovated converged media complex. Project leader Gordon (Joe) Murray and his team are finishing work on the magazine’s Web site, which even in its prototype stage has attracted online visitors.

The attractive, interactive online magazine has succeeded in gathering content from Kent State faculty and students as well as from members of the aviation, academic and general public. Approximately 30 stories are now being produced from interviews and video footage recorded in summer 2008. The Stories That Fly team aims to have one to two months’ worth of feature stories, video, photographs and photo essays in reserve so that roughly five new features can be published every month once the site goes live, as well as an unlimited number of contributions from the public.

Murray and his colleagues have focused on making the Web site engaging and easy to use. “We are ... integrating, developing and testing a targeted variety of interactive features intended to facilitate social networking, the sharing of content and contributions from participants, members of the aviation and academic communities and the general public,“ he writes.

Among the Web site’s features:

• Users can subscribe to the magazine online (it’s free).
• Subscribers may comment on all stories via a reply dialogue associated with each feature story, video, slide show and regular column.
• A 10-star ranking system allows site users to “vote” on all stories and other material.
• A Flickr group permits users to upload images to the Stories That Fly site to share with others.
• Via a YouTube channel, users can upload video clips to the Web site.
• On the main page, video excerpts of features are presented in an interactive, 3-D video wall to attract and engage users and encourage them to enter the magazine site.
• A “share this” link accompanies every story, video, news item, event and slide show to allow users to e-mail content directly from the magazine.
• Users also can post magazine content directly to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

Content-wise, Murray and his team are experimenting with slide shows (photo essays) and with short- and long-form articles. The idea is to test reader interest in the various formats.

Challenges remain. “A number of technical hurdles are being overcome that are related to the preview videos that will be presented on the video wall,“ Murray reports. “We are experimenting with formatting and quality settings for video and audio that will be delivered via YouTube.“

To sustain the online venture, Murray has been talking with numerous aviation-related groups, including Jeppesen Sanderson, a publisher of flight information; the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA); the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA); and the Kent State University School of Aeronautics.

Murray reports that he will receive $2,500 from the University Teaching Council as well as a $3,500 fellowship from the Faculty Professional Development Center, which will be his match for Year Two funding from J-Lab. He does not now have the money to hire an ad sales representative, but he hopes to do so in the future. The Stories That Fly team has engaged Jennifer L. Kramer, manager of public relations and marketing for Kent State’s College of Communications and Information, to organize the May 2 public launch.

Funding is Murray’s primary worry. He estimates that the magazine will need approximately $25,000 to cover annual stipends and expenses. “This is not a lot of money,“ he writes, “but without it the project will fail.“

To read a beautiful piece of writing, click on http://www.storiesthatfly.com/main/flyboy-seeing-is-believing.

- Hope Keller, 2/26/09

Up, Up and Away!

November 2008

Grassroots, Blue Skies: Stories That Fly.  Here’s a project that inspires both great content and, well, corny flight clichés.

Kent State journalism professor Joe Murray and his project co-pilots Jacquie Marino and Gary Harwood (and their students) have flown all over the state of Ohio, shooting video, photographs, writing stories, all about the world of aviation.  It’s a rich beat in a state that’s home to 18,000 pilots, 166 public airports, 772 private air fields, and a $10.5 billion flight industry.

Marino teaches the advanced storytelling class at Kent State; Harwood teaches photography. Murray is the new media czar. All of their students are on board. And, how often does a student reporter get to fly to an assignment in a plane piloted by a professor?  Murray is expecting 25-30 stories to come out of it.  And the stories are as colorful as the characters they cover:

* A hot-air balloon fair.

* A septuagenarian flight instructor.

* A 15-year-old, too young to drive, pilots her first plane.

* A small field airport owner who attracts 450 people to his airport diner every Sunday.

* Mechanics who can fix everything from the fabric on a 70-year-old antique to the most modern twin-engine turboprop.

* Airplane owners who donate time to fly sick patients to the hospital.

* A former steelworker who races pigeons at a local airfield.

Some of the features will be written by aviator/citizen journalists. Murray said Forest Barber, who owns an airfield and knows everyone, is interested in doing a column. He also has a grad student who might write a column called “Flight Groupie,“ which would look at aviation traditions and rituals from a general public perspective.

“The aviation community is very enthusiastic about it,“ said Murray. “I was starting to worry it might wear thin, since they are hearing from videographers, writers, photographers, going out multiple times, but it hasn’t.“ The project has received positive press on campus.

Murray newest idea for the site is to put a video wall on the front page.  “It was an epiphany for me. You’ll see 30 videos in a 3-D space, you can hover over them, as windows into each story.“  The video wall creates the effect of looking out of the front of an airplane windshield.

Murray said he’s starting to plant some seeds for a public launch in the spring, possibly with an event at Kent State, which has a new J-school with a huge auditorium and three giant screens. He’s considering coupling the launch event with some usability testing on the site.

With the “skyrocketing” price of commercial air travel, you might wonder how much it costs for project staff and students to traverse the state by air.  Murray said he can rent a 4-seat plane from Kent for $65 to $85 an hour or borrow a plane from a friend.  Airplane fuel is $5 a gallon.  He can take students 100 miles away in a 45-minute flight. “I can drop them off and pick them up in one day.  Cutting travel time in half,“ said Murray, who paraphrases an old bush pilot, “A mile of road will take you one mile. A half-mile of runway will take you anywhere.“

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Green Jobs Philly

Paul Glover, Editor, GreenPlanners

• Philadelphia, PA

CONTACT INFO

Paul Glover
GreenPlanners
140 W. Sedgwick St.
Philadelphia, PA 19119
(215) 805-8330

E-mail
Website
Twitter

Philadelphia’s eco-economy is featured in this bimonthly newsletter sent to thousands of local officials, organizations, businesses and job seekers.  The focus of GreenJobsPhilly is on grassroots initiatives because most new jobs in a tight economy will be created by small local businesses. This site also makes it free and easy for Philadelphians to offer and request green jobs, services, grants and loans.  Plans are to translate content to Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese. 

Check back for future news and updates.

• July 2010
• June 2009
• February 2009
• November 2008
 
 

 

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Green Jobs Philly News Becomes A Switchboard for Greening Economy

July 2010

Five years ago, there were quarterly ‘green’ meetings in Philadelphia.  Today, there are several daily, says Paul Glover, whose Green Jobs Philly News serves principally as a compiler of ‘green’ news.  “It provides a lively and efficient digest of Philadelphia’s economic greening,“ he says, “but we have created original content, too.“

Articles from GJPN have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia City Paper, and Grid magazine.  These drive more traffic to the website, and Glover noted he has scooped other media by meeting innovators at festivals and in parks, prompting stories by mainstream press. 

Green Jobs Phillly News’ subscriber base of current emails reaches over 7,000.  Many others visit the site via links, RSS feeds, forwarded emails and searches. 

During the past 23 months, he has issued 21 editions of the News.  He estimates his web version receives about 120 hits per day, and double that number subscribe to his RSS feed.  By his estimation, the News is viewed 12,000 times per month.

The News is now distributed via Constant Contact, giving Glover statistics for the number of times an email is opened and the usage.  It shows a 22 to 25 percent open rate, or roughly 1,200 to 1,400 of 7,000 subscribers, he says, as well as a 32 percent click rate. 

“Our opens rate [the percentage of people who read the email from GJPN] is nearly the highest among all sectors tabulated, and our clicks rate [the percentage of people who click on a link within an email] is higher than any other sector.“  That is, Constant Contact has indicated GJPN’s click rate is higher than the average for other categories, such as education-, sports-, or news-themed newsletters, says Glover.

He also noted that 12 percent of visitors remain on the site for more than 15 minutes, with dozens browsing for more than an hour.

“We’re action-oriented, providing links to new local initiatives, prompting readers to help create good news.“  He adds that the letters section reflects enthusiasm for the News and a reliance on Glover for connections and advice.

Despite those statistics and anecdotes, Glover has found it difficult to sell online ads for Green Jobs Philly News.

Glover also describes himself as a serial entrepreneur:  “I start organizations,“ all of which fit in with greening the Philly economy, he explained.  Among these is the Patch Adams Free Clinic for primary care and green jobs training; Philadelphia Regional & Independent Stock Exchange (PRAISE), which gathers capital of all kinds for eco-development; Philadelphia Fund for Ecological Living (PhilaFEL) which gathers donations for installation of green technologies in lowest-income neighborhoods; and Neighborhood Enterprise SchoolTeachers (NESTS), which rewards and credentials low-income neighbors for teaching neighborhood kids.

Green Jobs Philly News often links to these organizations, which Glover often starts and then hands off to others to run on a day-to-day basis.  There’s no conflict of interest, he says, since this is “a new medium that is different from hum-drum media.  There’s no bad news.“

He also delivers speeches to religious, civic and professional groups about green jobs. 

Green Jobs Philly News continues to evolve, says Glover.  He has reserved the domain trabajosverdes.org (which translates to green jobs) and is preparing to launch content in Spanish soon, too.

“I’ve done good for others,“ he said, “but haven’t been as successful” financially himself.  He also wishes he had greater technical and advertising-related skills: “If I could get a partner who can help with advertising, fundraising and is an internet-savvy person, the site could be solid and reliably permanent.“

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Green Jobs Philly Gears Up

June 2009

Green Jobs Philadelphia News continues to gain subscribers, with more than 5,200 people now signed up to receive the monthly e-mail publication - a nearly 25 percent increase since February. The Green Jobs Philly website had 3,720 unique visitors in May, up from 889 uniques when GJP launched in August 2008.

The newsletter serves to market GreenJobsPhilly.org, a digest of everything green-related in the Philadelphia area. Project manager and site founder Paul Glover updates the site, which functions primarily as an aggregator, as often as news and information come in.

Glover, the one-man showman behind Green Jobs Philly, is also working to create local microbusinesses that will help green Philadelphia and build on his New Voices-sponsored website and newsletter.

Green Jobs Philly is also providing original content - Glover has written 18 articles and linked to hundreds of stories and new initiatives. He and the site also work as a switchboard, linking job seekers with companies and individuals offering employment. About 550 people have registered to be able to offer and/or request jobs. Of those, 348 people sought jobs, 221 uploaded resumes, 48 offered green jobs, 30 offered green services and 28 sought grants.

To help evaluate the impact of his site, Glover has contracted with Constant Contact, an e-mail marketing company that also provides web services to small firms and groups. Constant Contact reports that Green Jobs Philly’s “click through” rate - the percentage of site visitors who click on a link to open it - is 33 percent, about six times higher than average for websites monitored by Constant Contact. “The site is ‘sticky,‘“ Glover says. “Many of my subscribers are on it for over an hour.“

Glover reports that all his GJP stories have been copied or linked to by a number of blogs. Several magazines also have reprinted his articles.

Glover has made his New Voices’ Year Two match, consisting of $1,000 from in-kind donations, $1,000 from speeches, $2,400 from teaching at Temple University, $400 for a January 2009 City Paper cover story he wrote and $200 in advertising.

Among Glover’s in-kind donations was an original illustration of a “greened” Divine Lorraine Hotel by an artist who usually charges several hundred dollars for his work. Glover paid $50 for the painting of the former luxury apartment building, which stands at the corner of Broad and Fairmount streets, awaiting its transformation. The artwork illustrates the 12th Green Jobs Philly newsletter, published May 15, 2009.

Glover’s launch of the Green Jobs Philly site prompted Temple University to ask him to teach two Metropolitan Ecology classes. Glover reports that he will cut back to one class in the fall to better devote himself to his website, newsletter and related projects.

His expertise also means Glover is in demand as a speaker; he has given about a dozen speeches in the last year. In addition, Glover estimates that he’s been interviewed on the radio at least 30 times since GJP launched, discussing his plans for a local currency and a health co-op. (Glover was quoted in an April 2009 CNN.com story about local currencies).

Glover is working on several spin-off ideas, including the creation of a Philadelphia factory that would manufacture insulation using recycled materials and employ citizens with the least formal education.

This enterprise and others would “raise the profile and credibility of GJP as a leader creating new institutions” and accelerate the greening of Philadelphia’s economy, Glover says.

Glover would like to increase the frequency of his e-mailed newsletter. “With reliable funding, Green Jobs Philly could publish weekly, filling in where conventional media lag,“ he says. The semester over, Glover is now pedaling his bicycle around town seeking potential advertisers. He has also made a list of about 20 Philadelphia-based grantors and begun submitting grant proposals.

Esoteric as his ideas may seem, Glover told the CNN interviewer that he’s never been busier: “As the economy has fallen apart, my phone has been ringing off the hook.“

- Hope Keller, 6/4/09

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Green and Growing

February 2009

In six months, Paul Glover’s GreenJobsPhilly.org website and newsletter have developed a devoted readership in Philadelphia, the nation’s sixth-largest city, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. 

“Readership” might be putting it too mildly; “fan base” better captures the enthusiasm of Glover’s audience, which apparently includes a bunch of Big-J journalism types. “A treasure trove” is how Philly.com (the website of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News) recently described the Green Jobs Philly newsletter.

Philly.com, in its Earth to Philly blog, also hailed the Green Jobs Philly newsletter as “the value-packed local resource that everyone who’s down with the ‘Green’ thing is reading. Some people, in fact, have been known to start hyperventilating when the new issue comes out.“

Launched in September 2008, the website functions as a bulletin board for those seeking and offering green jobs in the Philadelphia metro area, as well as for people looking for or providing venture capital and grants. As of mid-February, 115 resumes had been uploaded to the site and more than 300 people had registered as users. The website - which is updated as job, loan and grant information comes in - receives about 3,000 unique visitors per month.

Philadelphia officials, businesses, organizers, environmentalists and jobseekers read Glover’s newsletter, which is e-mailed to more than 4,300 subscribers once or twice a month. (Click here for the most recent newsletter, Glover’s ninth, which includes the first article in Spanish - a translation of a story Glover wrote for the Philadelphia City Paper.) The newsletter highlights green economy initiatives by local businesses, universities, nonprofits, government agencies and individuals; it also features a calendar of relevant local conferences, meetings and cultural events. Glover hopes eventually to feature online videos showing Philadelphians performing environmentally beneficial work, as well as Flash animation that explains how the work is done.

Glover reports that J-Lab/New Voices’ support for the site has “conferred broader authority” on his overall project to “green” the Philadelphia economy. In addition to being asked to write for local publications, he was recently interviewed by Pacifica Radio and is frequently sought as a speaker by Philadelphia neighborhood and church groups. Also, Temple University has invited him to develop and teach a green jobs course. Glover says he plans to train students to research and post content to the GreenJobsPhilly.org site.

Glover eventually would like to publish a quarterly print edition of Green Jobs Philly, which he hopes would raise his venture’s profile and provide advertising income. He also plans to update the website - “make it look a little spiffier” and make the archives more easily accessible. In addition to articles in Spanish, he is seeking a translator to prepare Chinese-language articles for publication, and down the road he would like translations into Vietnamese, Korean and other languages. 

Glover’s larger plan is to create a network of organizations that will work to green Philadelphia’s economy and change the dismal arithmetic of the city, which has double-digit dropout and illiteracy rates and tens of thousands of uninsured. He has a kind of citywide Works Progress Administration in mind, which he calls the Green Labor Administration, or GLAD.

Glover’s biggest challenge is finding the time to expand his venture. “If I were five people we’d meet much more of the city’s green networking needs,“ he says. “I’m excited to find and report the accelerating volume and variety of initiatives here, but am too busy with daily work to quickly build the broader organization.“ Calling himself “old school,“ Glover says he is gradually learning the technology that will allow him to post multimedia news items to the website. He is also working with two grant writers to help him sustain the GreenJobsPhilly website and newsletter and to enable a second-year matching grant from J-Lab. 

- Hope Keller, 2/24/09

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All Things Green and Local

November 2008

On Sept. 15, 2008, 3,706 residents, public officials, neighborhood organizers and environmentalists in Philadelphia received an e-mail announcing the launch of GreenJobsPhilly, a new website publishing news and promoting opportunity in the evolving local green economy. The site is a clearinghouse of everything green when it comes to jobs, services and grants sought and available on the local level.

Project director Paul Glover said he’s contacting businesses, nonprofits and government agencies, inviting them to post jobs on his site. Job seekers are also posting jobs wanted.  The response has been very positive; the listings are free.  Ten jobs have been posted; 31 job seekers have deposited their descriptions into the job bank. Glover said the presidential campaign and the economic downturn on Wall Street have given new attention to the green-collar jobs as a solution for both climate change and rising unemployment.

As of Oct. 16, GreenJobsPhilly had distributed four editions of its twice-monthly e-newsletter. Each edition includes comprehensive coverage of related legislation, book reviews, links to resources and research, job opportunities and more. Glover said people in the community are sending him event listings and other content, which he is editing and compiling in the newsletter.

The newsletter spotlights some of the green job seekers and quotes from their posts on the website. For example:  “I love to help people make their flat roofs last longer and use less energy, while avoiding costly repairs. I specialize in small repairs, cool roof coatings, and vegetated roofs. I’m certified by two different companies in green roof installation, and have over two years of experience on flat roofs and nine years of construction experience.“  Anyone need a roofer?

Glover is proud of one promotional gimmick he’s using to attract e-subscribers. Every e-mail in his database is assigned a number and on a monthly basis, he randomly picks a person to receive a $10 gift certificate donated by the Infusion Coffee Shop in the Mt. Airy neighborhood.

Glover, a longtime community organizer, isn’t relying on viral marketing to get the word out.  He’s been pounding the pavement, speaking at schools, church groups, doing outreach at every environmental-themed community event. In early September, he joined over 200 businesses and groups at the GreenFestPhilly, an outdoor fair. 

Word about the site is getting out. The Philadelphia Daily News’ enviro-blog, “Earth to Philly,“ recently applauded the new site.  Glover published an article in Grid magazine and wrote a textbook also named Green Jobs Philly, which he uses in his green jobs course at Temple University.  The Philadelphia Student Sustainability Coalition has asked him to serve as an advisor.

Glover said he’s still in the learning curve, as he manages new web publishing tools, databases and college interns.  He’s reserved the right hand column of the home page for advertising, but hasn’t decided yet what to charge for it.

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The Appalachian Independent

Cherie Snyder, Alternative Newspaper Facilitator, Citizens for a Secular Government

• Frostburg, MD

CONTACT INFO

Cherie Snyder
Citizens for a Secular Government
87 Broadway
Frostburg, MD 21532
(301) 689-0195
E-mail
Website
Twitter

Civic group will create a bi-weekly online newspaper community for the rural community around Frostburg, Maryland, modeled on the National League of Cities’ Inclusive Community Program. Frostburg State University and Allegany College of Maryland students and faculty will participate.  The Appalachian Independent has launched its website: www.appindie.org.

Check back for future news and updates.

• August 2009
• February 2009
 
 

 

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AppIndie slowly becoming “highly valued and much needed”

AppIndie’s presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Google increases traffic

August 2009

You know you’re having an impact as a budding community news organization when local town officials cite you as being “highly valued and much needed.“ The Appalachian Independent earned these accolades this year for its coverage of events and news in Frostburg, Md., and nearby communities.

And it received a $10,000 grant for 2009-2010 from the Ottaway Foundation in New York for general operations and to boost participation by young people in the website.

The Appalachian Independent (AppIndie.org) has slowly been growing in the number of unique visitors and contributors. Project director Cherie Synder reports significant readership increases: Between January and July 2009, the number of unique visits has grown from 2,271 to 11,568, while the number of pages views more than doubled from just over 16,000 to 34,000. An important part of AppIndie’s strategy to reach new readers has been the creation of Facebook and Twitter accounts, and better use of SEO for Google. Currently the site has 12 Twitter followers, 76 Facebook friends, and has found that 33 percent of all traffic is now coming from Google.

The AppIndie news story with the biggest share of readership this quarter was a major fire May 26 at the old Prichard’s Hardware store in Frostburg.  Dramatic photos that were posted for this story came from Frostburg resident Steve Sullivan, who lived just down the street from the buildings that were involved. His spectacular photos were shot after he grabbed his camera and ran to the scene in the middle of the night.

Other important stories included an 11-part series on “The Raging Controversy of the Allegany County Road Patrol,“ which probed possible overtime pay irregularities, and “Deluge Devastates Saturday’s Delfest Festival,“ which received more than 4,234 views of on-the-scene coverage and photos of a near-tornado that struck a local concert. There is also a new series on wild flowers, “Weed or Wonder,“ written by Mary Spaulding. Kara Rogers Thomas has been covering the new Mountain City Traditional Arts Center in Frostburg.

Synder reports that the number of published articles has decreased, reflecting fewer submissions by core staff due to other work/family commitments (content is still primarily being generated by the core staff of 11). There are, however, steadily increasing numbers of articles submitted by readers, community members, local groups, such as the Frostburg Rotary and students at Allegany College of Maryland and Frostburg State University. In addition, an FSU journalism class intern who is assigned to AppIndie has been submitting articles throughout the spring semester. A total of 33 non-core staff contributors submitted articles that were published since March 1.

AppIndie has been steadily working to increase citizen journalist submissions and reader involvement. Craig Etchison and Kurt Hoffman have held three information and recruitment sessions in the community to encourage citizen involvement, but attendance has been low. The home page of the paper also now has a large icon - WANTED: CITIZEN JOURNALISTS! - that provides information on how to get involved. In addition, the site has a “comment button” after each story to encourage reader involvement.

But Synder says that recruiting more contributors and encourages readers to interact with stories on the site continue to be a challenge and the source of much discussion among the core staff. The staff is considering a number of ideas to boost the level of citizen dialogue and the number of contributors, including: 

• Obtaining a full time AmeriCorps volunteer (recruited from FSU or ACM) who would work to actively publicize the website and recruit citizen journalists from community groups and in the general community.
• Issuing a call for applications from interested individuals to serve as “roving reporters” and identifying two or three who would serve in this capacity in return for a small stipend.
• Recruiting an intern to work under the supervision of a core staff person and be responsible for doing outreach in the community, writing stories and recruiting citizen journalists, particularly students.

In the meantime, Synder says the site has made significant technological process. A comment button has been added to story pages and the website now has Twitter and Facebook accounts. The site has also purchased three new Flip video cameras for use by core staff and reporters, as well as Adobe CS4 software so that it can create and offer podcasts. AppIndie also received approval from J-Lab for a technical contract to redesign the site and develop a community page and calendar.

Sustainability has also been a primary focus for the past four months. Along with a donation button on the home page, AppIndie has sent out an e-mail letter to readers, members and supporters requesting donations towards their local match for the 2009/2010 J-Lab grant. Still pending are proposals that have been submitted to two other foundations The Snow Foundation and the local Community Trust Foundation.

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Tell It on the Mountain

February 2009

Unabashedly liberal and determined to rout citizen apathy, the Appalachian Independent - motto: “The Dialogue of Democracy” - seeks to create a virtual community in the mountainous region where Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania meet. The area’s disparate towns and hamlets make difficult a physical sense of community, and its geographic and cultural isolation from urban areas limits a diversity of perspectives, AppIndie’s founders say.

Launched in September 2008 by a group of nine friends, neighbors and colleagues in Frostburg, Md., AppIndie takes as inspiration Abraham Lincoln’s dictum from the Gettysburg Address: “[G]overnment of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.“

The Appalachian Independent is staffed primarily by volunteers. Managing Editor Richard Kerns, Community Manager Kurt Hoffman, Technical Director/Webmaster Steve Robinett and Technical Intern Ben Strozykowski receive annual stipends that total $5,500. Business Manager Cherie Snyder is unpaid. Each member of the core staff is responsible for a particular area or bureau. (For a brief overview of the staff, click here.)
The Appalachian Independent strives to be a source of diverse perspectives and a new kind of news organization: “We hope to encourage critical consumers of the media and ‘independent’ thinking in our readers.“

Not least, AppIndie also aims to produce stories that celebrate and preserve Mountain Maryland’s unique heritage. “It’s a core part of what we’re doing,“ says Cherie Snyder. “It’s a very poor community and Appalachian heritage is not particularly known or valued.“

An Oct. 30, 2008, story focused on a trip through Appalachia by a Frostburg State University professor and six students. Their intent was to survey the results of “mountaintop removal,“ a controversial method of coal mining that does what it says: removes the peaks of mountains, the better to uncover seams of coal. In so doing it devastates communities and the environment.

Professor Kara Rogers Thomas vividly described the scene at the top of the decapitated mountain: “Surveying the ruin, we gathered around [local resident Sam Gilbert] as he gazed over the Mountaintop Removal project on Hale Gap, near Whitesburg [Ky.]. With tears welling up in his eyes, he told us how he’d grown up at the base of this mountain. It was here that he’d learned the ways of the woods. ... Mountaintop Removal is destroying more than the mountains; it is jeopardizing a way of life for a people who maintain a strong bond with the natural world.“

AppIndie focuses on the local but is also concerned with the wider world, and its contributors are not shy about expressing themselves. Craig Etchison on Dec. 23, 2008, wrote an impassioned piece about failures of the Bush administration and about the need for an informed citizenry.

Encouraging citizen vigilance is an integral part of AppIndie’s mission. Helping create a “watchdog effect” - keeping citizens apprised of what their elected officials are up to - is one of the online newspaper’s core values, Snyder says. 

Snyder, AppIndie’s business manager and a social worker trained in mind-body therapies, oversees the site’s Wellness section, which seeks to promote good health in a community rife with obesity and poverty. “We’re trying to build self-care skills [that] very much tie in with the concept of empowerment,“ she says.

After much debate, the fledgling AppIndie staff chose Joomla!—a free, open-source product—as the paper’s content-management system. Though this saved money and was philosophically in tune with AppIndie’s mission as a grassroots news site, the learning curve has been steep. Not all members of the core staff are technically skilled, so logjams and frustration have been common.

Interactivity is still an issue: AppIndie’s overworked tech staff has yet to create a comment-response button to articles that would foster a writer-reader dialogue—a core part of the project’s mission. AppIndie is also still working to create an online community calendar. In addition, the tech staff is setting up AppIndie YouTube and Flickr accounts. Site users will be encouraged to submit video and still photos.

In addition, AppIndie’s staff would like to dramatically increase news reporting by citizen journalists; much of the site’s current content is commentary. “Although a great majority of stories remain generated by the core [staff], there is a nascent but encouraging trend toward ‘outside’ authorship,“ AppIndie reports.

From early September 2008 to mid-January, 11 staff members and 33 contributors posted 239 articles on the AppIndie.org website.

The staff is also working to develop a short-term marketing program aimed at increasing awareness of the paper and readership. Considerable outreach has been done in the community, including AppIndie.org spots on local radio, displays at area events and venues and a large banner hung across Water Street in Frostburg.

Meanwhile, discussions are under way about using advertisements to generate revenue, with the goal of making the newspaper self-sufficient. Staff members also visited the New York office of the Foundation Center and identified several potential funding sources. Proposal summaries were submitted to three national foundations and phone contact was made with three others. AppIndie is working with two local colleges to request that the online newspaper serve as a project for a student team that would develop a marketing and/or business plan. For now, a student is conducting an online search for small social-action grants that would fund AppIndie projects to engage senior citizens, young people, minorities and other underserved populations.

The Appalachian Independent receives an average of 26.5 hits per day, with a total of 4,272 unique visits since the site was launched in September 2008. Almost 17,000 pages have been viewed, with an average of 3.9 pages viewed per visit. The site has 58 registered users.

- Hope Keller, 2/23/09

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Immigration: The View from Here

Chad Reich, Program & Music Director, KBUT Community Radio

• Crested Butte, CO

CONTACT INFO
Chad Reich
KBUT Community Radio
508 Maroon Ave.
P.O. Box 308
Crested Butte, CO 81224
(970) 349-5225

E-mail
Website

The last Census cites Gunnison County, CO as 96% White, but this rural and remote area has changed. KBUT Community Radio has partnered with the Crested Butte News and Gunnison Country Times to explore the issues, impacts and history of immigration in the Gunnison Valley. Local immigrants as citizen journalists are recording personal diaries, interviews and blogs. Stories will broadcast on KBUT and kbut.org will have an audio archive and additional content including listener/user feedback. KBUT will share MP3 files of the broadcast pieces with Colorado’s 12 other community radio stations.

Check back for future news and updates.

• March 2009
• November 2008

 
 

 
 

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Immigrants’ Journalism Flourishes

March 2009

The last quarter of 2008 was a productive period for KBUT’s immigrant journalism project, despite turnover among the immigrant journalists and the radio station staff.

Since the last KBUT quarterly report in November 2008, three of the then-five immigrant participants dropped out to return to their native Mexico. The two that remained - Clara Valdes from Oaxaca, Mexico, and Marketa Zubkova from the Czech Republic - have been joined by Alejandra Gonzalez from Mexico City and Miguel Mansilla from Lima, Peru.

Kim Carroll Bosler, the project leader, recently left the station to take a job elsewhere. Staff producer Chad Reich succeeds her as project leader.

The radio station’s homepage at www.kbut.org includes information about the immigrant journalism project, including photos and biographies of the journalists, photos of the training sessions and archived audio. In one piece, Clara Valdes stops to interview a man on the street whom she overheard speaking Spanish while he shoveled snow. A mechanical engineer, Hugo Cisneros worked for Hewlett-Packard in Guadalajara, Mexico, for almost 20 years until his job was outsourced to Malaysia last summer. Seeking employment, he moved to a Colorado ski town that he had visited in better times. In fluent, nearly unaccented American English, Cisneros describes - without rancor - how he does building maintenance and shovels snow to make money to send home to his wife and two children. (He has since returned to Mexico after developing carpal tunnel syndrome, Bosler says.)

Asked what drew her to the KBUT program, Valdes says: “I am an immigrant and I meet many other immigrants [in her thrift store]. It’s very hard for us to have American friends. We go to work; we go home. We are ghosts. We are tools. We have no voice. I want the community to know my story - our stories.“

Bosler reports that the project’s four immigrant journalists took part in a daylong workshop at the KBUT studios. Also, six newspaper reporters from the local Gunnison Country Times and the Crested Butte News participated in a two-day workshop designed to shift their reporting skills from print to broadcast.

Both training sessions covered writing for the ear, using sound to tell a story, field production and reading on-air. Independent radio producer Adam Burke, a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, led both workshops. Burke’s intensive classes also included equipment training, audio examples of citizen journalists’ radio diaries and tips on how to gather sound and conduct successful interviews. Bosler reports that the newly trained print-to-radio journalists created content specific to the project and provided information for KBUT’s newsletter (www.kbut.org/media/pdfs/Red%20Newsletter%20Win%2008-09.pdf).

Burke’s work with the newspaper journalists paid off, Bosler says. “The daily news modules the reporters are submitting to the station have been much improved since the workshops,“ she writes. “[The reporters] are no longer simply narrating a story that they wrote for the paper. Sound is increasingly driving the story, actualities are replacing quotes and the writing is crisp, efficient and focused in the present.“

Print-turned-radio reporter Will Shoemaker recently reported a 20-minute audio story about the history of immigrants’ contribution to local ranching.

While the new radio journalists’ material is available online, project leader Reich plans to edit and package the audio into a special series, the first installment of which is to air in summer 2009. It, and all future series, also will be archived online.

In addition, Reich hopes to amass material for short segments that could air on a regular basis.

- Hope Keller, 3/13/09

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Opening the Door to Non-Citizen Journalists

November 2008

Clara Valdes of Oaxaca, Mexico moved to Crested Butte, Colo. in order to provide her children with an American quality education. She did that. Her oldest daughter graduated from high school. Valdes is a hard-working woman; she runs a home-based day care and a thrift store. She’s also a community activist. Valdes pushed the local town council to donate a kitchen in a public building so that immigrants make and sell their native foods.  Her next big thing?  She’s going to be a citizen reporter for KBUT-FM’s New Voices project, “Immigration: The View From Here.“

“She does more before noon than most people do in an entire day,“ said Kim Carroll Bosler, the project leader. “She’s activist-oriented; for her to have a chance to tell her story and have a voice is a motivator.“ 

KBUT has partnered with the Gunnison County Multicultural Resource Center to identify potential participants and contributors from the immigrant community. The center hosted the first meeting where about a dozen (mostly Mexican) men and women attended. “The response from the immigrants was very positive and enthusiastic,“ said Bosler. “Four people have signed on to the project.“

“People want a chance to say, ‘We are coming here to work hard and take care of our families. We want the same things you do,‘ “ said Bosler.

KBUT has struggled with the question of how to compensate its citizen journalists who may not be citizens at all. Instead of cutting checks, the station has decided to provide gift cards for local supermarkets and Wal-Mart.

Immigration: The View From Here also represents an historic collaboration between the three main media outlets in Gunnison County: the radio station, the Gunnison Country Times and the Crested Butte News.  KBUT has committed six journalists to creating content for the project and each newspaper has offered three. “We’ve had the partnership with the two local newspaper for a year now, but this is the first time content is being pushed by KBUT,“ said Bosler.

KBUT has hired an independent producer to provide training workshops in October and November. Print reporters will learn how to use recording equipment, write for the ear, use sound to tell a story, read copy on air, incorporate sound clips.  Immigrant journalists will also learn how to use equipment, interviewing tips and the basics of blogging.

So far, the project has been challenged by staff turnover at both KBUT and one of the newspapers.  As a result, the timeline has adjusted to meet the new reality.  “We had hoped to use our local immigration stories to frame the national debate about immigration in time for the November 2008 election.  We won’t be ready,“ said Bosler. “We’ve realized that for this project, creating content starts with building relationships,“ and that takes time.

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Voices of Rural Native Alaska

Thea Lawton, Koahnic Broadcast Corporation

• Anchorage, AK

CONTACT INFO

Thea Lawton
Koahnic Broadcast Corporation
3600 San Jeronimo Drive
Suite 480
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 793-3500
E-mail

Koahnic Broadcast Corp. will train people in remote Alaskan native villages to record interviews, first-person diaries and reports on issues that affect their daily lives. One-to-three minute segments will be broadcast monthly on KNBA-FM and National Native News. They will also be available online as podcasts and offered to the Alaska Public Radio network.

WITHDRAWN

 
 
 
 

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Voices for Veterans

Dee Albritton, Executive Director, Fast Forward

• Columbia, SC

CONTACT INFO

Dee Albritton
Fast Forward
3223 Devine St.
Suite 3
Columbia, SC 29205
(803) 343-2577

E-mail
Website

VetVenue is a technology based information site for veterans that includes a blog, newsletter, website and webcasts.  Veterans communicate daily with
each other on the blog and determine the subjects that are featured in the interactive monthly webcasts.  The site has a primary focus on employment readiness and available jobs. Veterans share information about job openings, veterans’ discounts, and their employment needs.  VetVenue is maintained by Fast Forward, a community technology center in Columbia, South Carolina.

Check back for future news and updates.

• July 2009
• November 2008
 
 

 

Coming Soon: New Site Designed with Vet Feedback

July 2009

A redesigned site, more content and a marketing campaign to help sustain their efforts are some of the newest developments at Fast Forward’s Vet Venue.org.

Giving veterans the tools to improve their lives is the mission of Fast Forward, a technology training center in the military community of Columbia, S.C. And Fast Forward’s site, Vet Venue.org, aims to provide veterans access to information, resources and support.

Since its last update in November 2008, Dee Albritton, the executive director of Fast Forward, said two new writers are contributing to Vet Venue.org. “Hope Furtado has joined us as a veteran correspondent. Furtado served in the Army and is going to begin conversations with veterans. We have also worked with a professional writer in Columbia, Rachel Haynie, who is contributing stories on some local veterans,“ she said.

The work created by these writers, and others who contribute, will be live on the redesigned site that is scheduled to make its appearance during the summer of 2009. In the spring, the Vet Venue team worked with local veterans to see how they could improve the site to appeal to its target audience. Albritton said the redesign of the site will be based on feedback from focus groups of these veterans about their needs and what they would like to see on Vet Venue.

“We are most pleased with the ownership the veterans are beginning to take in the site, their interest in the changes and their participation in the new design.“

“We have been working to incorporate more graphics and easier access while maintaining our handicapped compliance,“ said Albritton.

Fast Forward has formed a relationship with nearby Midlands Technical College to help with the maintenance of the site. And it’s also started a marketing campaign to sell banner ads on the new site. Albritton said Fast Forward has scheduled meetings with six companies as part of this campaign.

While traffic has been relatively slow - in June 2009 it was 386 site visits - Vet Venue has attracted an international audience, with traffic from 18 countries on five continents.

Countries with the highest page views, outside the US, were Israel, Bulgaria, United Kingdom and India; pages were viewed in 11 different languages; 66.84 percent were new visits to site (257); 32.9 percent of the visits lasted between two and 10 minutes; 53.37 percent were from referring sites; 36.27 percent were from direct traffic; and 10.36 percent of referrals came from search engines.

Albritton said more than 20 vets have attended job fairs that they found out about on Vet Venue.

With its new design and additional content, Albritton is optimistic about the future of Vet Venue.

“We are still very concerned about the number of veterans using the site, although the ones who are see a definite benefit. We are most pleased, however, with the ownership the veterans are beginning to take in the site, their interest in the changes and their participation in the new design.“

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A New Venue for Vets

November 2008

Giving veterans the tools to improve their lives is the mission of Fast Forward, a technology training center in the military community of Columbia, S.C.  And now, the center has something new in its arsenal:  A website that provides veterans access to information, resources and support.

As of October 2008, VetVenue.org has hosted two live audio Webcasts, mainly to find out from vets what they need from the site and what they most want to learn. The site’s blog has generated 415 visits, including posts about job openings in the region.

“We are really focusing on vets talking to vets right now. And we’re taking away some of the preconceptions about who vets are,“ said Dee Albritton, the executive director and project leader. “They aren’t all 24-year-old men. They don’t all know how to use Skype. One of our vets, Laura, is 50, and she deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.“

Simplicity and functionality weighed heavily in the design of the black-and-white site. “We are tech nerds here but we had to pare down the site to meet the needs of our clientele. Once they are not afraid of it, they will be more inclined to use it. We are facing the digital divide. We have some people in their late 20s who have never owned computer.“

Plus, Albritton said the site needed to be fully handicapped accessible. “We’re seeing a lot of vets with vision problems from TBI (traumatic brain injury) and they respond more to a simpler format.“

FastForward has hired a tech-savvy college student to manage the site in-house.
Albritton said the next big step for the site is to incorporate video. Her team has learned how to use closed captioning software to make those videos more accessible, too.

Promotion is also on the agenda. Albritton had the opportunity to talk the project up on a local radio showcalled “UNeed2Know” and in a keynote address she delivered at a recent Combined Federal Campaign/United Way event. She also said the new service is mentioned on a lot of military e-lists around the country.
“What happens with military - they stay in contact with each other,“ says Albritton. “We are hopeful that [VetVenue.org] will market itself.“  With five military bases within a 45-minute radius and a Veteran Affairs Hospital, the outreach possibilities are endless.

“I’m hopeful that people will begin using the site as a means of communication to share employment information. Finding employment, transitioning from military life into civilian life, developing a supportive community” are the key goals, Albritton said.  “The news part is going to come later.“

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Family Life Behind Bars

Sandeep Junnarkar, Associate Professor, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism

• New York, NY

CONTACT INFO

Sandeep Junnarkar
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
219 West 40th
New York, NY 10018
(646) 469-4334

E-mail
Website
Twitter

A CUNY Graduate School of Journalism professor and students have launched a site that allows users to share information and tell stories about the financial, social and emotional impact of incarceration on lives. The site posts content from “columnists” from the affected communities and from graduate students. Even folks who stumble across the site and want to share their own stories of the impact of incarceration can share their stories by joining the community to post their own photos, videos and audio. The site is updated several times a week.

Check back for future news and updates.

• September 2009
• November 2008
 
 
 
 

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Engaging a Community that Isn’t Always Online

September 2009

Family Life Behind Bars is a site designed to encourage people to share information and tell stories about the financial, social and emotional impact of the incarceration of family members on their lives.

The website’s community “is both geographical and one that shares a common experience regardless of geography,“ says Sandeep Junnarkar, CUNY journalism professor and project director. “These are people who have a family member in prison.“

Yet while the site aims to be a place for people from across the country to talk about these issues, the reality is that “the community we tap is from NYC, usually Brooklyn and the Bronx.“

Our community “mostly does not have high speed Internet access at home.“

But it faces a not-totally-unheard-of problem for a community site trying to reach a group that is underserved by most other media. Many of the people Junnarkar and his student staff hope to reach don’t have high-speed Internet. Or any Internet at all.

So much of the summer was spent strategizing about how to bridge this digital divide, Junnarkar says.

“I am in the process of starting a new set of workshops this fall that will involve community members in creating content,“ says Junnarkar. “I am trying to find older people who can dial in, using a telephone to leave a message, which can then be posted on our site.“

He says he has cultivated and worked with about eight community residents and hopes to turn them into regular contributors.

Currently, Family Life Behind Bars receives about 2,000 page views per month, with about 500 unique visitors per month.

Junnarkar says the site’s BlogTalk programming - a monthly web radio show that people can listen to over their phones or on the Internet - has been successful but in order for it to grow, some shoe-leather marketing will be needed. “We plan to hand out fliers to let people know about it rather than e-mail messages because the community does not have as much access to the Web.“

Family Life Behind Bars depends on interacting with the community it serves, but engaging people in those interactions isn’t always easy. The hardest thing has been to get people who find the site to leave comments and messages. The site often poses questions designed to encourage debate, but most people leave comments that avoid the question and instead write about how they liked the site. But again, some non-web ideas have helped the website.

“Nonetheless, our implementation of Skype voice message [visitors can use a regular phone to call a regular phone line] has resulted in several people calling in and leaving messages on our site,“ he says. “This is yet another attempt to bridge the digital divide.“

Another growth pain has been interesting sponsors in supporting the site.

“Corporate sponsorship of this topic has been difficult because not too many companies want their brand associated with prison,“ says Junnarkar. So he will try a new approach this year. This fall, he plans to work with business students at Baruch University to help train members of the community to do some hyperlocal ad sales.

- Tom Regan

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Prison News 2.0

November 2008

Family Life Behind Bars launched on Sept. 26, 2008 with a site that incorporates content from professional journalists and community collaborators. So far, three community columnists have been trained in video:  Makeba Lavan, Davian Reynolds and Emani Davis. The goal is to get the work of one of them posted on the site each week.

Family Life Behind Bars is a news and social networking site for people whose lives have been affected by the incarceration of a family member.  With more than two million Americans in prison, and many others with experience in the criminal justice system, this new site holds tremendous promise for capturing human stories and overcoming stigma.

Sandeep Junnarkar, the CUNY journalism professor who is shepherding the project, said most of his outreach has been to younger people, who seem especially interested in learning the tools of production.

“A lot of these young people have no one to guide them, so the training helps make them media literate and gives core skills that can be used for something positive.  It resonates with them,“ said Junnarkar. He added that he hopes to attract contributions from the diversity of people affected by imprisonment, such as a grandmother who has sons in prisons.

“As in any reporting project that involved communities who are stigmatized, I have had to build trust within the communities affected by incarceration of a family member,“ said Junnarkar. He has attended meetings with the Osborne Association, which provides assistance to families of prisoners, and CASA NYC, which provides court-appointed special advocates for children in foster care.

From these connections, Junnarkar has gathered a team of columnists who will tell their own stories in their own words. He said they have provided helpful feedback on the project and recommended that the site aggregate news on prison issues from around the world which would be of great interest to that community.

“I’ve gotten e-mails from around the U.S., Reston, VA to Texas, inviting me to come do a workshop to teach people these tools,“ said Junnarkar, with some surprise. “Because the U.S. has the biggest prison population in the world, this could become more of a national thing.“  While chat forums exist for families of incarcerated people, Junnarkar’s project offers them journalistic training. “Once they finish a workshop, I give them a certificate.“

Family Life Behind Bars has also set up a ning, a social networking site. A month after launch, the ning has 16 members. Junnarkar is strategizing ways to boost that participation, and community involvement in general. He’s creating flyers for students and community columnists to hand out, inviting conversation, and has purchased a Skype phone number which will allow people to call in and leave voicemails about their lives and concerns.  The professor’s work-study students have compiled a list of blogs on incarceration issue and are posting comments inviting conversation and links back to Family Life Behind Bars.

Junnarkar is thrilled with the tremendous interest from students at CUNY.  He said 20 attended a meeting in September, which turned into a pitch session for multimedia stories for the site. Some CUNY faculty have agreed to allow their students to produce features for the site for class credit. Two graduate students working on their master’s degree capstones will also create content for the site.

Building relationships will be key to this project’s success. “I’m in the process of getting permission to go to Bedford Hills, a maximum security facility in New York that offers a college training program. It’s up to the warden to decide what kind of equipment we can bring in and which graduates of the program we can speak with,“ said Junnarkar.

He said he is monitoring traffic on the site carefully and has noticed that the site is busier earlier in the week, so he’s rethinking his posting schedule.

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Limiting Legal Risk

As participatory and citizen journalism explode, lawsuits with sometimes scary damages claims are sparking anxiety.

If you’re running a citizen media site or contributing to one, these 10 rules will help you avoid potential legal piftalls. Get advice in videos from Harvard Berkman Center experts and Media Law Resource Center attorneys. The module was produced for the Knight Citizen News Network by Geanne Rosenberg, associate professor at City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism and Baruch College.

In conjunction with the module, Rosenberg has also created a Question & Answer blog to help those with concerns not covered by the module.

“Whether you’re a hyperlocal citizen journalist or someone practicing journalism of any sort, or a blogger of any sort or a publisher of any sort ... you need to know how to stay safe.“
—Jeff Jarvis, Journalism Professor, CUNY

  •See the Top 10 Rules for Limiting Legal Risk module.
  •See other Knight Citizen News Network learning modules.

Knight Citizen News Network is a project of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism and is produced with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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New Voices Gr

• These projects were selected from hundreds of entries to receive New Voices funding during the first three years of the program. Listed under each of the projects is their latest progress report.

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Jump to Grant Year:   2008  |  2007  |  2006  |  2005

. Step 1: Register Click here to register. Please fill in all contact information accurately and use an e-mail address that you check frequently. This information will be used to contact you with notifications regarding your application and to communicate with you if you receive a New Voices grant.  We will not share your contact information with outside sources. NOTE: If you registered last year, even if you did not complete an application, you can still use the username and password that you created at that time. Be sure to keep a record of your username and password. You will need these to login and to return and edit your application. Step 2: Login Click here to log in with the username and password you created when you registered. Step 3: Start your application Click here to start your application. You may save your application so you can return later to edit it. Once you submit your application, however, you will no longer be able to make edits. The deadline for applications is midnight EST, March 1, 2010. Step 4: Submit your application to New Voices Click here to submit your application. Once you submit your application you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing your application number. Please retain this confirmation for future reference to your application. Step 5: Submit proof of non-profit status OR a fiscal agent form Once you’ve submitted your application, you need to send us proof of your own non-profit status (usually in the form of a letter from the IRS), or this form filled out by a non-profit organization that is willing to act as your fiscal agent. (Click here to download the Fiscal Agent Form.) Fax to (202) 885-8110 or mail to: New Voices c/o J-Lab 3201 New Mexico Ave. NW, Ste. 330 Washington, DC 20016-8178 Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This SIDEBAR             You are not logged in. Please log in or register.       New Voices respects the privacy of its site visitors. The information we collect will be used only to send you information related to New Voices and its affiliated programs. It will not be sold, traded or given away to any third party. The information gathered is processed securely to prevent spam and other unauthorized access. 2010 New Voices Grant How to Apply   Deadline: March 1, 2010 Please check back for possible future funding opportunities. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at news@j-lab.org or 202-885-8100.     First, read the funding guidelines and our frequently asked questions page. Then, fill out the application form. If you have further questions feel free to call us at 202-885-8100 or e-mail . Step 1: Register Click here to register. Please fill in all contact information accurately and use an e-mail address that you check frequently. This information will be used to contact you with notifications regarding your application and to communicate with you if you receive a New Voices grant.  We will not share your contact information with outside sources. NOTE: If you registered last year, even if you did not complete an application, you can still use the username and password that you created at that time. If you have any problems with the login process, contact anna AT j-lab DOT org. Be sure to keep a record of your username and password. You will need these to login and to return and edit your application. Step 2: Login Click here to log in with the username and password you created when you registered. Step 3: Start your application Click here to start your application. You may save your application so you can return later to edit it. Once you submit your application, however, you will no longer be able to make edits. The deadline for applications is midnight EST, March 1, 2010. Step 4: Submit your application to New Voices Click here to submit your application. Once you submit your application you will receive an e-mail confirmation containing your application number. Please retain this confirmation for future reference to your application. Step 5: Submit proof of non-profit status OR a fiscal agent form Once you’ve submitted your application, you need to send us proof of your own non-profit status (usually in the form of a letter from the IRS), or this form filled out by a non-profit organization that is willing to act as your fiscal agent. (Click here to download the Fiscal Agent Form.) Fax to (202) 885-8110 or mail to: New Voices c/o J-Lab 3201 New Mexico Ave. NW, Ste. 330 Washington, DC 20016-8178 Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This Learning to Finish Launches Graduation Rate Calculator    The calculator’s results for Baltimore City, the state of Maryland and the United States.    Learning to Finish, a project of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change and a 2006 New Voices grantee, has created what they call “The Finish Line Calculator.“ Users choose a state and school district from drop down menus and the calculator shows graduation rates for that district for 2003, 2004 and 2005. It also offers a comparison for the graduation rates in that district’s state as well as the whole country in the same years. Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This SIDEBAR Check out the agenda. To reserve a room at the J.W. Marriott at the APME discounted rate of $235 per night, click here. Rooms must be booked by Wed., Sept. 12, to receive this rate. If you would like to pay with credit card, please click here to register rather than filling out the form on this page. Citizens Media Summit III October 2, 2007 Hear from top citizens media entrepreneurs from around the country. See the agenda. Submit your name and contact information below to register for the Citizens Media Summit.  Registration Fee: $90; $50 for APME members. If you are paying by check, please continue on this page. If you would prefer to pay by credit card, please click here to register. Checks should be made to University of Maryland Foundation. (This is recognized as a University of Maryland Foundation event and all checks will be deposited by UMF.) Mail to: J-Lab Citizens Media Summit 7100 Baltimore Avenue, Ste. 101 College Park, MD 20740-3637 Your name:     Your job title:   Your organization:   Your street address:   City, State, ZIP:           Your e-mail address:   Your phone number:   APME Member?   Yes  No Your comments: Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This Citizens Media Summit III Agenda October 2, 2007 A day-long workshop on citizen journalism at the APME conference. J.W. Marriott, Washington, D.C.—Salons F and G Sponsored by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism in conjunction with the Associated Press Managing Editors Conference. Supported by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. $90 registration fee, $50 for APME members. Attendees are eligible for the APME discounted room rate of $235 a night at the J.W. Marriott. Click here to book a room at this rate. You must book by Wed., Sept. 12, to receive the discounted rate.   AGENDA 9:30-10:30 a.m. Touching the Community—Outside Traditional Media Jack Driscoll, Founder, RyeReflections.org; Editor-in-Residence, MIT Media Lab Suzanne McBride, Co-Founder, CreatingCommunityConnections, Columbia College Chicago Keith Graham, Co-Founder, DuttonCC.org, Associate Professor, University of Montana 10:30-11:15 a.m. Filling in the Gaps—Emerging Competition Debbie Galant , Editor, Baristanet Lise LePage and Christopher Grotke, Founders, iBrattleboro.com 11:15-11:30 a.m. BREAK 11:30-Noon Twenty in Thirty Twenty good ideas for citizen participation—Jan Schaffer, Executive Director, J-Lab Noon-1:30 p.m. LUNCH Rob Curley, Vice President of Product Development, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive, provides an inside look at the strategy behind LoudounExtra.com. 1:40-2:15 p.m. AP’s Now Public Initiative Lou Ferrara, Deputy Managing Editor, Multimedia and Sports, The Associated Press 2:15-3:30 p.m. Mainstream Media Goes Hyperlocal Olivia Garcia, Managing Editor, Mercado Nuevo, The Bakersfield Californian Steve Yelvington, Founder, BlufftonToday.com, Vice President of Strategy and Content, Morris Communications Kyle Leonard, Editor, TribLocal.com, Chicago Tribune 3:30-4:00 p.m. Lessons Learned Mark Potts, Founder, Backfence.com, gives a post-mortem on what worked and what didn’t. 4:00 p.m. Open Air—Discussion and Wrap-up TRAVEL & LODGING Attendees are responsible for their own travel and lodging, but are eligible for the APME discounted rate of $235 a night at the J.W. Marriott. You can reserve a room at this rate by clicking here. You must book by Wed., Sept. 12, to receive this rate. The J.W. Marriott is located at: 1331 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC 20004 Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This Vermont Climate Witness Bill Finnegan, Tamarack Productions • Burlington, VT CONTACT INFO Bill Finnegan Tamarack Productions 1 Steele Street, Ste. 111 Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 238-5938 E-mail Website To create a map-based interactive experience to track how residents see climate change affecting the state’s economy, from fall foliage and maple syrup to skiing. Tamarack Productions, a nonprofit environmental awareness organization, will work with the Vermont Natural Resources Council to develop user content and create Google Map mash-ups to help users visualize weather data and real-time weather indicators. Check back for future news and updates. • July 2009 • February 2009 • August 2008 • March 2008 • November 2007     Vermont Climate Witness from J-Lab on Vimeo. 2007 grantee Bill Finnegan talks about the challenges of launching the site, where content is generated by the community. People can share their stories and report on local conditions. The interview took place on April 5, 2008, at the New Voices 2007 Grantee Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. Collaborations Help Create Climate Content July 2009 The first half of 2009 saw a great deal of activity on the Vermont Climate Witness website. After a slow second half of 2008, project leader Bill Finnegan was happy to report that a new and improved website was launched in spring 2009 with rich content due to new collaborations with students, teachers, and local environmental organizations. VCW was created to empower citizen scientists and citizen journalists to connect a global, abstract issue to the backyards and everyday decisions of ordinary people in the state. At the same time VCW wanted to harness the latest developments in interactive websites - user-generated, multi-media content, presented through an interactive map - to support grassroots environmental activism. In order to accomplish this goal during the term of their New Voices grant, VCW faced two main challenges: the proper use of technical resources and the consistent creation of original and meaningful content. Originally, Finnegan says VCW saw the allocation of 42 percent of its project budget to the customization of the content and media management system by its technical partner Legitify as an investment in a strong technical platform for the site. But upon reflection, Finnegan now believes that VCW may have been better served through some combination of open-source software or existing mapping, social networking, and media sharing services. Working with a commercial Web-development company meant that VCW often slipped to the bottom of Legitify’s to-do list because of its small budget. “We were forced to put on hold some of our more ambitious additions to the site (for example, a live weather conditions widget that also presented historic climate data and climate change models) in order to get the basic functionality in place.“ On the content creation side, Finnegan says the problem was one of defining clearly the reason for the site’s existence and how those interested in climate change could contribute information. Basically, people weren’t sure just what they could actually write about. “We began to realize that part of our problem was the framing of the issue and the focus on observations or witnesses, which limited our community of contributors to people who felt they had hard evidence of changing conditions in the state.“ Finnegan adds that the lack of incentives for contributing affected the number of posts, as did the informal nature of the web that provided little pull to bring visitors back to he site. But VCW was able to overcome many of these limitations thanks to two very successful initiatives: working with Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility to identify two interns to help create content for the site, and a new partnership with Main Street Middle School in Montpelier that saw VCW as a way to use - indeed, to go beyond—formal learning activities about climate change. The two interns helped VCW produce content for two new features it added this spring, Actions and Voices. One intern, a recent graduate from the University of Vermont, focused on researching and writing case studies to fill the Action strand of content. The second, a sophomore at Burlington College studying activism and film, produced a series of videos of a cross section of Vermonters talking about climate change for the Voices strand of content. Over their three-month, part-time internship, they each produced a number of high quality pieces for the site, averaging one to two in-depth posts each week. Finnegan says this boost of content from a pair of “highly motivated young people” was a very efficient use of the project resources. “Given the success of this dimension of the project, we will be seeking similar collaborations with teachers and after school programs in the next academic year.“ Meanwhile, Finnegan says VCW found the perfect collaborator in Eli Rosenburg, a science teacher at Main Street Middle School. “Eli instantly saw the potential of the website as a platform for integrating the seventh and eighth grade energy curriculum with local exploration of climate change.“ Rosenburg recognized that the use of new media would provide the “hook” to keep kids interested in the project. Armed with Flip cameras, the students headed out into the Montpelier community to interview expert and local citizens. Using this material, they produced stories, videos, and slideshows on the site. “Given the success of this dimension of the project, we will be seeking similar collaborations with teachers and after school programs in the next academic year. “ Finnegan says VCW will also continue its collaboration with the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) to identify potential stories for the site and content contributors. VNRC is the lead organization behind the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network (VECAN), a loose affiliation of community organizations throughout the state. Because of time and resource limitations, VECAN has been slow to develop. So Finnegan says that rather than compete with VECAN, VCW hopes to capture stories of VNRC members and cross post them on the VECAN site. As the move beyond their New Voices grant, Finnegan says VCW will continue to seek partnerships and funding from the environmental community to further support the mission of VCW. —Tom Regan Stormy Weather February 2009 After a slow second half of 2008, Vermont Climate Witness this winter is set to launch two new site features, Actions and Reactions. The first will showcase efforts undertaken by local individuals and communities to respond to climate change. The second will feature on-the-street, video-blog discussions of climate change and weather.  Project leader Bill Finnegan is gearing up to produce and solicit more content for the VCW 3 website, which has not been refreshed since early 2008. He and Tamarack Productions (the nonprofit arm of the Burlington,Vt.-based Tamarack Media) also plan to work with a local middle school science teacher to develop and test a multimedia unit on local climate change, which will be a part of the teacher’s curriculum. Finnegan plans to broaden the unit’s reach by offering it to Vermont’s network of community media centers and public access television stations. He also seeks to collect oral histories about climate change from older Vermonters. “I am very excited about harnessing these tools to give voice to people suffering from air, water and other toxic pollution.“ The site’s goal is to provide a platform for Vermonters to participate in a dialogue about climate change and what it means for the state, Finnegan says. As users share their thoughts and comments, they will also be creating a digital archive of climate observations that will in effect provide a time-lapsed picture of climate change in the state. Finnegan picked up food for thought at the April 2008 New Voices grantee gathering, where he and other grant recipients discussed the potential of a multimedia, map-based tool for addressing social justice issues. Finnegan hopes that linking climate change to social issues, such as diseases attributable to environmental pollution, will bring more users to the Vermont Climate Witness site. To that end, he has reached out to Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), an environmental justice organization based in Boston. Tamarack and ACE have discussed plans for an interactive map and an online platform for environmental justice advocates to share their stories. “I am very excited about harnessing these tools to give voice to people suffering from air, water and other toxic pollution,“ Finnegan says. Meanwhile, Finnegan continues to tap into the network of local climate activists, including members of the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network and the Vermont Natural Resources Council. He will keep in regular touch with these sources to gather case studies for the new Actions feature of the VCW site. The Vermont Climate Witness project has faced several challenges, Finnegan reports. One issue is technical: Tamarack has relied on a custom Web-development firm to build and update the VCW website. As the company gained customers, the VCW site—with its limited budget—slid to the bottom of the firm’s priority list. Finnegan cautions others to think hard before partnering with a for-profit web developer: “I would strongly recommend that any similar projects harness open-source software or utilize existing online media services, such as YouTube and Flickr.“ Another, larger, challenge has been articulating the website’s reason for being. Even some people who had been enthusiastic about the project in the planning stage appeared puzzled once the site went live. The original idea was to solicit, collect and post weather- and climate-related observations from citizens in text, photo or video form. What Tamarack/VCW at first failed to do, Finnegan says, was tell users why their input was important and how it could help further understanding of climate change. The site failed to explain to potential users that out of individual observations could appear, over time, a comprehensive (and digitally archived) picture of climate change in Vermont. “We never fully thought through why people would want to share this information and actively participate in a small, niche online network,“ Finnegan says. For the next six months, Tamarack plans to produce about 75 percent of the site’s content, with 25 percent created by 25 users. Finnegan hopes to reverse that ratio over time. He is working with Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility to find and interview interns to help Tamarack with content production. Finnegan hopes to increase traffic to the site by regularly posting new content. - Hope Keller, 2/23/09 Ripening August 2008 Vermont Climate Witness has completed its beta testing phase and is preparing now for a more formal launch this fall.  Is it raining at Lake Champlain? You can now find out by logging on to Vermont Climate Witness, which has added the live National Weather Service Doppler radar feed of cloud cover as a layer to its map. In the meantime, VCW has been doing grassroots outreach to spread the word about the new site, which welcomes citizen scientists and citizen journalists to share their observations about the weather.  VCW exhibited at a recent sustainable living expo in Burlington, and the project was profiled in an article that was published in central Vermont newspapers:  The Rutland Herald and the Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus. Bill Finnegan, VCW project leader, says outreach will continue to be his focus.  “As with any website that depends on user-generated content, we know that it is not enough simply to go live with the site and expect people to find it.  Nor is a simple blitz of e-mail lists enough to garner the attention and activity that will sustain the website in the long term.“ So VCW will work with its partner the Vermont Natural Resources Council’s Energy and Climate Action Network, which consists of community-based teams that are engaging citizens in discussions about climate change. VCW will put together a simple guide for using the site and distribute it through the VNRC. VCW is on the road over the summer and fall to spread the word widely, face-to-face. And to engage new audiences, they’ve reached beyond the environmentalist community to the Vermont Ski Areas Association. If they feel they need an extra push before launch, they may place targeted advertising and a contest through the Front Porch Forum, a popular Burlington-based neighborhood electronic newsletter. “We are also very interested in finding ways to capture the stories of older Vermonters who are less tech savvy but have plenty to teach us about the Vermont climate over the years,“ said Finnegan.  One possibility is to create an intergenerational oral history project. Beta Testing 1-2-3 ... March 2008 Vermont Climate Witness went live in beta version in December 2007.  Since then, it has recruited a posse of weather buffs, student activists and environmental educators to test the site and contribute seed content, as site producers fine-tune the back-end systems and the site interface in advance of the public launch. “The transition from concept to actual functioning website has been an interesting and exciting process,“ says Bill Finnegan of Tamarack Productions, the project leader. “There were many things that we couldn’t fully anticipate - issues that only became clear once we created the site and people started posting.“ The testing period has helped producers simplify the site’s location tagging and create a more user-friendly system for setting up accounts, uploading content, adding comments and forwarding posts to friends. Finnegan says the team still has some technical and content challenges ahead. “For the map interface, we are still trying to figure out the best way to represent multiple posts to the same location - we will likely add either a multi-post icon for popular locations or add more specialized statewide, regional, and city/town level views that include different information on the map. We are also working on the best way to integrate Vermont Climate Witness with existing media sharing websites, like YouTube and Flickr, so users don’t have to re-upload existing online video clips or photographs.“ With heightened awareness of global warming, many people tend to blame all sorts of weather conditions on greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.  So Vermont Climate Witness knows it must proceed cautiously, encouraging people to share weather stories on the site without losing credibility for featuring information that’s not really related to climate change or trends.  Finnegan say they are developing a strategy to recruit and support a social network of regular contributors.  A key partner will be Seventh Generation the national non-toxic cleaning products company which happens to be based in Burlington, VT.  The company is leading a regional “Low Carbon Diet” initiative in which community-based eco-teams post their stories to Vermont Climate Witness as they track their personal progress using a carbon footprint tool developed by the EPA. They have also started a conversation with Greenopolis.com, a social network for green living, about replicating Climate Witness at a larger scale. Vermont Climate Witness had originally planned its public launch for January 31 to coincide with Focus the Nation, a national teach-in, but Finnegan says his team concluded the site wasn’t ready yet. Instead they seized the opportunity to share the Beta version with the 27 schools and other organizations participating in the event around the state. The site will also do heavy promotion at March 4 Town Meeting Day gatherings around Vermont in partnership with community energy and climate groups.  They are also considering touring libraries and community centers around the state to publicly launch the site this spring. Can I get a Witness? November 2007 Vermont Climate Witness is gearing up for a soft launch of the site in late November, 2007. The site will encourage Vermonters to think globally, but act locally, by documenting the impact of climate change on their lives and immediate environment. The site introduction reads: “We all know what Global Warming is. We hear it on the radio, see it on the television, and read about it in the news. Whatever the myths and truths surrounding Global Warming: its causes, its consequences, or possible solutions, ignoring the topic is no longer an option for any conscious individual. This website aims to create a unique regional perspective of our climate. By sharing observations seen where you live, we can together build a strong regional view of some rather drastic changes.“ Through summer, the Vermont Climate Witness project has been hard at work preparing the digital soil for the new site. Key partners in the project are Legitify, a media firm that specializes in web development and content management, and the Vermont Natural Resources Council, the state’s leading environmental organization. Project leader Bill Finnegan of Tamarack Productions says, “We are confident we can create a powerful platform for citizen science and citizen journalism with an active community of users and contributors.“ Over the past few months, they have been working to adapt Legitify’s “Studio” web application for a website driven by user-generated, multi-media content. They have refined the interface and the interactive map, which Finnegan says “must be intuitively organized to fully engage users ...  In many ways it’s been a reality check in terms of the time it takes to develop a complicated software application that is user-friendly.“ A local graphic designer has developed a logo and design for the website, including icons that will indicate the different types of content available through the site’s embedded Google Maps:  weather conditions, plants/foliage, wildlife/hunting/fishing, farming/sugaring, outdoor recreation/skiing, and climate action. The project has reached out to a slew of climate experts to advise and participate: Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux, the Vermont State Climatologist and a Professor in the Geography Department at the University of Vermont.   Mark Breen, Senior Meteorologist at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium and Host of Vermont Public Radio’s “Eye on the Sky” weather programming.   Tom Messner, Chief Meteorologist of WPTZ NewsChannel 5 and the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center.   Alexander Quarles van Ufford, Coordinator of the Climate Witness Initiative at WWF International. During the soft launch phase, the Vermont Natural Resources Council will link to the site and help recruit 50 contributors already interested in climate change, from student activists involved in the Step it Up climate action protests to energy commission members from small towns. “This first set of users will upload seed content while testing the software,“ says Finnegan. He expects these pioneering participants to ultimately become active contributors and an important network for promoting the site. “In an effort to get beyond those already interested in this issue, or who represent a particular perspective, we plan to involve weather buffs from the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program, as well as Vermont celebrities, such as artists musicians and business leaders.“ The public launch is slated for January when Finnegan says the site will be fully tested, chock-full of rich multimedia content, and buzzing with activity from a co-hort of contributors. The launch date is planned to coincide with and ride the promotional coattails of a national teach-in on global warming called Focus the Nation, on Jan. 31, 2008. Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This Northwest Community Radio Network Collaborative Newscast Jonathan Lawson, Executive Director, Reclaim the Media • Seattle CONTACT INFO Reclaim the Media PO Box 22754 Seattle, WA 98122 (206) 931-0565 E-mail Website Twitter To launch an hour-long, weekly newscast culled from the best public affairs programming produced by more than 40, often-isolated community, college and independent radio stations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Seattle-based Reclaim the Media will use the newscast to anchor a new content-sharing network that will expand the pool of regional news and programming for local audiences. Check back for future news and updates. • August 2009 • August 2008 • April 2008 • November 2007       Northwest Community Radio Network Collaborative Newscast from J-Lab on Vimeo.. 2007 grantee Karen Toering talks about what parts of the project make her proud, as well as what challenges it has faced. This interview took place on April 5, 2008, at the New Voices 2007 Grantee Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. Listen Up! Northwest Rides Strong Wave into its Second Year August 2009 By Tom Regan Early this summer Reclaim the Media’s Listen Up! Northwest (broadcast, podcast and blog) celebrated its first full year on the air and on the Web. The show is now being carried on 18 stations in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Northern California, plus a number of online Webcasts. “The issues-based focus of the program has helped Listen Up! Northwest become a useful resource for community organizations around the region…“ Executive Director Jonathan Lawson reports that Listen Up! Northwest remains the only regionally focused community media program currently being carried over such a broad area. The program’s podcast, available at http://www.listenupnw.org and through the Apple iTunes store, has over 750 subscribers. As a result of the program, communities in the urban centers of Seattle, Portland, and Anchorage, as well as in rural Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and British Columbia, are able to hear a unique range of stories produced by their regional neighbors - stories describing social and environmental initiatives and solution-oriented community action.  Lawson says audience response continues to be strongly positive, communicated via e-mailed comments and listener feedback from stations carrying the program. From the beginning, one of the main goals of the project has been to pool the audiences for high-quality community radio journalism being produced around the region. Lawson believes this goal has been met, with the number of stations and organizations - now 29 - providing material to the show expanding faster than the number of stations currently airing Listen Up! Northwest. Stations currently carrying Listen Up! Northwest: • CJLY Nelson/Kootenay, BC • CJSF Burnaby, BC • KAOS Olympia, WA • KBCS Bellevue/Seattle, WA • KBOO Portland, OR • KEUL Girdwood, AK • KPOV Bend, OR • KRFP Moscow, ID • KSER Everett, WA • KSOW Cottage Grove, OR • KSKQ Ashland, OR • KSVR Mt. Vernon, WA • KUGS Bellingham, WA • KWMD Kasilof/Anchorage, AK • KYRS Spokane, WA • Boise (ID) Community Radio • Hollow Earth Radio • Partytown Radio (Modesto, CA) More significantly, says Lawson, “the issues-based focus of the program has helped Listen Up! Northwest become a useful resource for community organizations around the region working for civic engagement and positive change on environmental or social issues.“ “I often will hear from listeners thanking us for featuring stories that are not otherwise given much air time, or from organizations whose contact information we mentioned on the air,“ says producer Yuko Kodama. “Organizations want to know how to get copies of the program, to share with constituents or use as an organizing or educational tool. One listener appreciated that Native American voices are featured so prominently on the show. Others have appreciated hearing many perspectives on race on a number of shows. I’ve heard from Oregonians and Washingtonians who just appreciate hearing about community activities in British Columbia and Alberta - a world which often seems weirdly cut off from the States despite our proximity.“ Aside from the number of regional radio stations that broadcast the program, Lawson says that in the fall of 2009, the show will also be posted regularly to Pacifica’s AudioPort system. Lawson is also investigating other Web-based distribution platforms including the Public Radio Exchange. Recognizing that not all rural areas have high-speed bandwidth to download the program from the show’s website, rural stations will be given the option to receive current and archived programs by mail. Stations and other organizations providing content to Listen Up! Northwest: • Boise Community Radio • CFRO Vancouver Coop Radio • CJLY Nelson/Kootenay • CJSF Burnaby • Common Language Project, Seattle • Crossing East, Portland • Destination DIY, Portland • Earthbeats • Encounters North, Anchorage • KAOS Olympia • KBCS Bellevue/Seattle • KBOO Portland • KCAW Sitka • KRFP Moscow • KSKA Anchorage • KSKQ Ashland • KSVR Mt. Vernon • KWMD Kasilof • KYRS Spokane • One America, Seattle • Rabble Radio, Vancouver • Reclaim the Media, Seattle • Redeye Coop, Vancouver • Reel Grrls, Seattle • SCAN-TV, Seattle • Sierra Club Radio • Steppin’ Out Of Babylon, Eugene OR • TUC Radio • Womens Independent News Gathering Service, Burnaby Lawson says that in the future, the distribution strategy will be evaluated in terms of how four goals are being met: Making the program available to community radio stations for weekly broadcast, regardless of each station’s urban/rural setting, financial constraints, technology infrastructure or ability to access membership-based distribution networks such as Pacifica’s Audioport or PRX. Ensuring that distribution is easy to integrate with different ways community stations already acquire syndicated programs. Keeping the program easily available for individual web listening and keyword search. Modeling low-cost ways of accomplishing distribution using a combination of free software, widely adopted internet technology, and, where necessary, non-web distribution, including physical mail. While the long-term financial stability of the program remains somewhat uncertain, Reclaim the Media has been able to leverage some additional funding for the program and plan to begin direct station funding in January 2010. Listen Up! Northwest has primarily been supported with start-up funds from J-Lab, an unsolicited gift from the Media Works Initiative, in kind support from KBCS, other grants and individual contributions. As the program moves into its second year, Lawson says they will attempt to diversify the show’s funding in two ways: By instituting carriage fees in January of 2010 for participating stations. By seeking specialized foundation support for gaining carriage on rural and native stations, and for supporting more radio journalism by producers covering rural and native issues. “This fall we will conduct an interview-based assessment of community radio stations in Northwest states and provinces, to identify stations’ need for local/regional programming, their interest in broadcasting Listen Up! Northwest, and their ability to pay monthly carriage fees,“ says Lawson. “At the same time, we will also assess each station’s local public affairs production capacity and interest in journalistic collaboration through Listen Up! Northwest.“ Reclaim the Media will then set a carriage-fee schedule based on a station’s operating budget, amount of public affairs programming and other factors. Lawson feels good about what the program has accomplished in its first year of operation. “Listen Up! Northwest has established itself as a rare vehicle for regional collaboration among Northwest community radio stations, and an equally rare home for grassroots coverage of regional responses to environmental, economic and social issues,“ he said.   Listen Up! To Radio Activity August 2008 The Northwest Community Radio Network is on the air.  As of June 2008, host and producer Yuko Kodama has been assembling a weekly edition of Listen Up! Northwest at community radio station KBCS, in Bellevue, Wash., culling and curating contributions from station-based and independent producers in the region.  Some programs have been produced around a central theme.  For example, one edition featured stories about local agriculture while another featured a profile of the movement to save local seeds, backyard chickening, and taking over public land for farming. So far, seven stations in Washington state and Idaho are regularly airing the program, and in prime times too:  morning or evening drive. Carriage is expected to grow with greater outreach efforts, including at this summer’s GrassRoots Radio Coalition conference in Portland, Ore. The program is available online for download or streaming.  The network is offering it for free, but asking station subscribers to pitch in $10 to $50 per month to help cover costs. Check out Listen Up! Northwest’s FAQ to glean more details on distribution and producer participation. Reclaim the Media is planning to launch a special website for Listen Up! Northwest, featuring blogs, links and photos related to the stories. They also plan to offer radio production training workshops to recruit more producers to the program.  Producers receive $35 per story.  You can read submission guidelines here. Hear Here! April 2008 A new collaborative radio program produced by and for community radio stations in the Pacific Northwest has finally found its voice. After months of planning, Reclaim the Media hired community media producer Yuko Kodama to produce and anchor a pilot, completed in early April. The program has a home: KBCS radio has agreed to provide office and studio space. And, the show has a name: Listen Up Northwest. You can listen to the MP3 by clicking here. The pilot edition featured pieces contributed by four member station producers on an environmental initiative of the Samish Nation, homelessness in Seattle, arts and empowerment in women’s prisons, and remembering Japanese internment. According to Reclaim the Media’s Jonathan Lawson, the new producer will focus on acquiring, assigning and editing content for the program while his administrative team will emphasis fundraising, promotion and outreach/station recruitment.  Regular weekly production is under way. They hope to have 6 stations committed to broadcasting the program by May, doubling to 12 stations by fall 2008. Station-based producers are invited to pitch stories and ideas that give a sense of regional identity. Lawson reports they’ve decided to shift some grant funds away from equipment and toward stipends to reward reporters whose stories make it into the program. A New News Network for the Northwest November 2007 Reclaim the Media is confident its effort to build a regional network of noncommercial radio stations will soon lead to the launch of a collaborative, regional news and public affairs program.  The network is bringing together stations from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. A dozen stations are represented on the project’s new steering committee, which has met via conference call to discuss content, style, production issues, and the hiring process for the grant-funded position of organizer/producer. That position was formally posted and 25 people applied for the job. The steering committee interviewed top candidates but decided to postpone the hire in order to raise additional funds from network member stations to pay this new staff person.  In the interim, Gavin Dahl of member station KAOS in Olympia, Washington, has taken on the role as producer through an Evergreen State College internship. Dahl is producing pilot newscasts in the fall, developing relationships with contributing producers and helping secure financial contributions from member stations. A blog provides updates on issues of interest to participants. Reclaim the Media has purchased portable recording kits for reporters to use. They have been working with the Pacifica Network to use and customize its Internet-based Audioport content-sharing system. This will enable NW Community Radio Network contributors to file their stories through the Web. On a related note, Reclaim the Media assisted several community groups in their applications for FCC noncommercial licenses, anticipating that successful applications would expand and strengthen the radio network. In October, Reclaim the Media held a Community Media Film Festival which offered another opportunity to promote the Northwest Community Radio Network news project to potential participants and donors in Western Washington. And, the project got a promotional boost in the Prometheus Radio’s winter newsletter, which reaches many low-power broadcasters. Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This Saint Paul City Newsdesk Mike Wassenaar, Executive Director, Saint Paul Neighborhood Network • St. Paul, MN CONTACT INFO Saint Paul Neighborhood Network 375 Jackson St. St. Paul, MN 55101 (651) 298-8900 E-mail Website Twitter To create and pay for a network of citizen journalists to cover neighborhood and municipal news for use by media outlets throughout the Twin Cities. Network stories, videos and radio pieces will be published on the St. Paul Neighborhood Network cable-access television website and on the Twin Cities Daily Planet site. Check back for future news and updates. • August 2008 • March 2008 • November 2007     Saint Paul City Newsdesk from J-Lab on Vimeo.. 2007 grantee Sherine Crooms talks about the work involved in getting the project going as well as surprises met along the way. This interview took place on April 5, 2008, at the New Voices 2007 Grantee Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. Show Time: A Public Premiere August 2008 Saint Paul Neighborhood Network opened its doors to producers, community members and viewers in May 2008 when it hosted a public premiere of Saint Paul Newsdesk, a screening of pieces produced for the New Voices-funded project. The event was widely promoted on the cable channel, and the celebration was well attended and received.  From stories about the Digital Divide to a profile of a marble collector, a visit to a gay and lesbian archive and lending library to an investigation of deaths by tasers, Saint Paul Newsdesk has produced a diverse array of features on cultural and political issues of interest and importance in the community. A total of 20 new and experienced producers participated in the program. Project coordinator Sherine Crooms said about two-thirds of those who went through the training completed their segments. Video production clearly has a steep learning curve. “It took [lots] of time to work with people who do not necessarily have journalism training or video production experience,“ said Crooms, who is evaluating the program and thinking about creating collaborative production teams. “A different approach may be to pair writers/storytellers with producers, so a single individual isn’t burdened with story generation and production responsibilities.“ SPNNing into Control March 2008 The St. Paul Neighborhood Network held a competitive application process and enrolled 14 participants in News Desk, a citizen journalism initiative which aims to bring more voices from diverse communities to the cable channel’s programming. Those selected for the project went through an orientation and training program on video, lighting and editing. The diverse group of participants includes people who’ve worked at local TV stations, an activist deep into the independent music scene, a local rap artist, a retired theater stage manager, a community activist, a youth media maker, a print reporter, a public radio producer, and more. At the orientation, citizen journalist Robin Hickman said, “I’ve worked in media for years, but I feel like I’m missing that technology piece and this is my chance to step my game up another notch.  This is what it’s about, us telling our own stories.“ Half of the participants were already proficient in video production, while the other half brought some journalism, communication or media skills to the table. SPNN launched a blog to help News Deskers communicate with each other and pair up on productions, for technical assistance. As with all volunteer efforts, life can get in the way. Two trainees have dropped out, so project coordinator Sherine Crooms says SPNN is back in recruiting mode, hoping to enroll a few more local community producers for a total of 19. In the meantime, they’ve identified a host for their four-part series which includes interesting features on “colorism” among young African American women, a toy store owner’s obsession with marbles, a piece about a local Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, and a profile of the pagan community in St. Paul. Other segments in post-production include coverage of community opposition to an incinerator and a new light rail train route. Features will soon be available for viewing online and the series has been slotted to begin airing on SPNN’s channels in May. The project is developing a web page to post preview snippets of upcoming programs, and will hold a community screening ceremony for the final productions. Stories will also be posted on Twin Cities Daily Planet, a 2005 New Voices grantee. Some Static on this Set November 2007 Saint Paul Neighborhood Network is seeking to improve coverage of St. Paul neighborhoods by recruiting, training, assigning publishing and producing the work of citizen journalists working in print, radio, online and video.  SPNN is working with several collaborators to create a Saint Paul Newsdesk, including the Twin Cities Daily Planet, an online community news site. Saint Paul Newsdesk began commissioning stories on neighborhood issues, some of which were posted on the TC Daily Planet in July and August, including a piece on AIDS prevention work, a children’s march against deportation, and community opposition to proposed tunneling under a congested intersection. SPNN staffer Sherine Crooms, a public TV producer, developed a formal training program for Newsdesk contributors and SPNN has been recruiting St. Paul residents to apply to participate in its series of workshops on journalism, camera work and video editing. “This is an opportunity for community folk to produce short news stories in written and visual form, about issues that are important to them and their communities,“ the home page reads. “To encourage citizen journalism and promote democratized television these news shorts may appear on Twin Cities Daily Planet and SPNN websites as well as SPNN broadcasts. Each participant will receive a stipend in exchange for their 3-5 minute video submission.“ “Our goal for the training is to sustain a group of 15 citizen journalists producing video stories of Saint Paul through April 2008, “ says SPNN Executive Director Mike Wassenaar. “Citizen journalists will be recruited from the broad community of Saint Paul residents, and may or may not have technical training ahead of time. We believe this will increase the diversity of voices featured in the project.“ First video posts are expected at the end of November. SPNN continued promotion of the project on its own channels, and through materials distributed to community based producers, youth groups and schools, civic leaders through Saint Paul e-Democracy, the Community Technology Empowerment Project, and the Twin Cities Youth Media Network. Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This NewCastleNOW.org Christine Yeres, Project Leader, NewCastleNOW.org • Chappaqua, NY CONTACT INFO NewCastleNOW.org 11 Apple Tree Close Chappaqua, NY 10514 (914) 861-2136 E-mail Website A weekly cyber newspaper built from citizen-generated content for the Chappaqua area in Westchester County, N.Y., which has lost its local newspaper. The project is spearheaded by volunteers under the auspices of the Friends of the Chappaqua Library. Check back for future news and updates. • August 2008 • March 2008 • November 2007     NewCastleNOW from J-Lab on Vimeo. 2007 grantees Ann Marie Fallon and Christine Yeres talk about building a reputation for their site. They serve as publisher and managing editor, respectively. This interview took place April 5, 2008 at the New Voices 2007 Grantee Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. Bringing Home the Bacon August 2008 NewCastleNOW.org is a site rich in content and advertising, with more than 15 local businesses investing in homepage ads, an impressive achievement for a one-year-old hyperlocal website.  That might translate into about $40,000 in income in their first year of operation, but the editors admit they are just too busy to count.  Who’s responsible for raking in the revenue?  “My neighbor John,“ says project leader Christine Yeres, suggesting that a homegrown venture in a small town can rely on the kindness of neighbors. Girl Scout exhibit on display at the Horace Greeley House. “We’re publishing every Friday, still up all night Thursday, mainly because we choose to live family lives on weekends,“ says Yeres, taking a breath from an all-nighter to send us a quick e-mail update. The advertising revenue could liberate Yeres and her founding partners, Ann Marie Fallon and Susie Pender, from the intensity of the deadlines.  “It would be really great to be able to pay a few people to mind certain features we’d like to offer, like always providing town government meeting agendas each week, or the sports round up, relief from which would free us to do the stuff only we can do:  talk to people, dream up and sniff out stories and see how they connect to other stories.“ The editors are proud of their coverage of school board elections.  They’ve urged residents to wake up and pay attention.  The site has covered more mundane issues like tree removal, leash laws, real estate transfers.  But the heart of NewCastleNOW is its section called “People,“ which celebrates the winner of the citizen of the year award, the soldier just back from Iraq, the retiring teachers, the residents performing at Carnegie Hall or raising money to combat diseases, the Girl Scouts receiving honors, the athletes competing in triathlons, the people who make Chappaquans feel proud of where they live. 57 Contributors and Counting ... March 2008 The three musketeers of NewCastleNow.org - Christine Yeres, Anne Marie Fallon and Susie Pender - can hardly believe the pace they’ve had to keep to put out their weekly hyperlocal edition. “It’s tons of work from Tuesday night through Thursday night into Friday morning around 4 a.m.,“ says Yeres, “But then we’re free to live our lives until the following Tuesday afternoon.“ Dear Editors, Looking back at the news in ‘07 brings to mind the lyrics of the Beatles’ “A Day in The Life” - “I heard the news today, oh boy!“ - sung with a heavy hearted sigh. But wait!  There is a shining star, NewCastleNOW.org! You do a fabulous job in keeping us abreast of local news, opinions and events. And for me, there’s no question that by being better informed, I feel more a part of my community. Just wanted to say many thanks! ~Sharon Rosen Lopez NewCastleNOW.org has become a vibrant, thriving local fixture, attracting 57 citizen content contributors.  Remarkably, they’ve raised enough revenue through advertising from realtors and local businesses to cover their costs. But even there, Yeres admits she hasn’t had a moment to actually calculate the receipts. NewCastleNOW.org has clearly filled a void in the community, becoming an All Things Local Considered for Chappaqua. Stories about leash laws and emergency drills, the chamber orchestra and the Cub Scouts, are coupled with regular features such as a column by local librarians and weekly police, ambulance and fire department blotters.  The site now features dynamic slide shows of everything from the ceremony honoring the retiring police chief to high school students who spent their spring break rebuilding New Orleans. The site’s prominent links to local weather, traffic and train information are a critical and savvy service to commuters. Meanwhile, the editors are navigating the tricky terrain of being citizen journalists who cover the place where they live. “The three of us are involved in various issues and are quite opinionated ourselves,“ explains Yeres. “But we try to cover fairly those issues we feel strongly about and believe that the advantage to us of knowing the issues from very close up - even from inside - is greater than the difficulty of remaining balanced in our coverage. And we’re pretty confident that what people want is not just straight coverage of all news, but for us to pick and choose what’s important and present it to them in an interesting way.“ Dear Editor, As long-time residents here and after raising our four children in the school system, your presence is long overdue.  Thanks to all the folks who are taking time to cover so many topics in such an objective way. We really needed you. Keep up the excellent work. ~Vera and Bob Bruno Even so, NewCastleNOW.org’s attention to hot issues like education and development has made some officials a bit nervous. “We did what we said we would, and have acted in a rather newspaperly way,“ says Yeres. “We solicit articles from residents, accept pitches from anyone but don’t promise that we’ll publish, and write quite a bit of the copy ourselves. We’ve resisted soliciting instantaneous online opinion and we like it this way: people write letters, and they think about what they write.“ While NewCastleNOW.org has had great success getting residents to participate, they’re still on the lookout for more, as evidenced in a recent shout out to readers: “Calling all Sports Nuts! We want your sports news. Games, stories, scores, news!“ Even without extensive sports coverage, it’s clear that NewCastleNOW.org has a winning team that is making many touchdowns for its community. What do we want? New Castle News! When? Now! November 2007 The NOW in NewCastleNOW stands for News & Opinion Weekly, an online newspaper that’s bursting with local content. The site actually got launched over the summer thanks to a news nudge from the New York Times. Managing Editor Christine Yeres tells the story: “We had advance warning that our web address would be mentioned in the Times.  We wanted residents to meet with something more than ‘Under Construction’ when they visited, so for five days we worked to put together a sample NewCastleNOW.org.  A severe storm passed through the week before and there was plenty of damage; school children stranded on their buses, people in their cars, waiting for live wires to be subdued. We made the storm the focus of our front page - along with a story about the three of us, our J-Lab grant and our purpose.“  Add an events calendar, a gardening advice column, an obituary of a beloved resident and voila: an online newspaper was born. To promote the new site, they set up a mock wooden farm stand with a striped canopy in the library lobby. In the basket where someone might find fresh produce, they put flyers advertising the website and announcing upcoming planning meetings to be held at the library two in the evening, two in the daytime. The promotional strategy bore fruit:  “The meetings drew every kind of person imaginable,“ recounts Yeres, “from non-profits, churches, business; young and old, worker bees and aspiring writers, puzzle junkies, sports nuts.“  Smartly maximizing free promotional opportunities, NewCastleNOW founders persuaded five prominent local writers to offer a free mini-course in citizen journalism, workshops which were listed at no cost in the high school’s Continuing Education booklet mailed to every home in town. “It feels like a barn-raising around here - in this town of both McMansions and more modest cottage homes, all equally without a news source for so long,“ says Yeres. “We’re not just delivering news, but are making the place where people can find out from one another both what’s happening in our town (issues and events)and what others think.“ The site invites readers to become writers:  “Familiarize yourself with NewCastleNOW.org.  Read it, and see if you’re moved to write it!  If you have an expertise or interest in writing for NewCastleNOW.org, either by consistently sending us events and calendar information about your non-profit, or by submitting feature articles of interest to the community, contact us.“ Yeres predicts that managing the flow of people and content will be a challenge. “We think the secret around here is to look and behave very much like a newspaper and not overwhelm people. We’ll work with them to edit their work. And we have to learn to delegate.“ “Whew!  Since we launched on October 5, it’s been a crazy-busy and very exciting ride,“ says Yeres, who holds a daily conference call with co-conspirators Anne Marie Fallon and Susie Pender. Together, the three share editing responsibility for everything posted on the site. The weekly edition publishes Fridays before dawn.  “We come up with great stories each week from conventional sources like budget materials, police and ambulance blotters; and from odder perspectives too, such as op-ed pieces by a cowardly conservationist; a travel journal from a college graduate searching for isolated Jewish communities around the world; a woman promoting community farm markets. We’ve covered a controversial schedule change proposed at our local high school and the story of the cancellation of remaining dances by the principal.“  Yeres expect NewCastleNow to develop a vibrant local sports section. “We found a guy who graduated from our high school and remembered aloud to me how much it meant to him and his friends in those days to be recognized in the local paper for their sports achievements.  And we’re pairing him with a woman soccer player who feels ‘enough with the kids!‘ and wants to emphasize team sports for adults. Together, they’ll make a great section.“ NewCastleNOW is aiming to partner with local cable access TV and the League of Women Voters so that the League’s written accounts of public meetings can be synchronized with cable-TV recordings, making it possible for people to find the parts most relevant to them.  They are working to recruit contributors from Millwood (the smaller, lesser-known, non-Chappaqua hamlet of New Castle) and are inviting the town’s “constructive needlers” to write opinion pieces. NewCastleNOW is planning to meet with the local chamber of commerce to make a pitch for the online paper to play a larger role in downtown revitalization. The site is publishing an old official report on the subject that few residents ever read. Says Yeres, “We think that we can ‘re-gift’ this material by presenting it in manageable-size chunks with pictures and related stories, and revive interest and a town-wide discussion about solutions.“ One local volunteer is pounding the pavement and the phones, promoting the site and selling ad space to businesses in the community.  And editors are keeping track of which articles are most read, using Google Analytics to see how readership is building. Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This NeighborMedia Formerly titled Neighbor to Neighbor Susan Fleischmann, Executive Director, Cambridge Community Television • Cambridge, MA CONTACT INFO Cambridge Community Television 675 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 661-6900 E-mail Website Twitter An innovative citizen journalism initiative empowers local residents to use technology to bring attention to issues in their community that they deem newsworthy.  NeighborMedia’s nine citizen journalists, based in all of Cambridge’s zip codes, are using a unique combination of web and television media to promote community events, alert neighbors to proposed development, and explore difficult issues like violence and racism.  NeighborMedia content is available for viewing on the web at www.ccvcambridge.org/neighbormedia and on CCTV’s community cable channels. Check back for future news and updates. • August 2009 • August 2008 • March 2008 • November 2007     NeighborMedia from J-Lab on Vimeo 2007 grantees Julie Adler and Clodagh Rule of NeighborMedia discuss the rewards of their program. This interview took place on April 5, 2008, at the New Voices 2007 Grantee Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. Robust Contributions from Citizen Journalists Pave the Way for New Website Design August 2009 As Cambridge Community Television’s NeighborMedia project moves into its third year, NeighborMedia journalists are more active than ever, covering a wide range of stories using television and the Web. CCTV originally received New Voices funding in 2007 to plan and implement the Neighbor-to-Neighbor project, now known as NeighborMedia. By embedding citizen journalists in each of the city’s five neighborhoods, the project seeks to provide Cambridge residents with information to help them decide what action they need to take about local issues and events, and create a synergy between CCTV’s community cable channels and website. After year one, CCTV’s community media coordinator, Colin Rhinesmith, and former program coordinator, Julie Adler, developed a list of goals for the project’s second year that included expanding the website’s pool of citizen journalists; developing a new training program which offers opportunities for gradual skill building; making portable, easy-to-use video equipment available to citizen journalists; and offering one-on-one technical assistance to citizen journalists. “When you have a city of 100,000 whose boards, commissions - even the city council - is mostly uncovered by traditional media, the need for what we do at NeighborMedia is clear.“ In September 2008, NeighborMedia started towards these goals with 11 citizen journalists participating. At the start of their term, these new journalists attended an orientation where they learned about project goals and discussed the basics of citizen journalism. All were given easy-to-use Flip video cameras and learned to operate them. At that time, each citizen journalist selected an area of production to focus on:  blogging, digital photography, audio production, and/or video production. Journalists were directed to training based on their areas of focus and received access to digital still cameras, video cameras, editing software, and computers to produce web and television media highlighting neighborhood issues and events. As of June 2009, nine of these journalists remain active contributors. Since September, they have produced a steady flow of web content, posting more than 150 blog entries on CCTV’s website. Participation on the site is increasing, with more individuals responding to articles. Citizen journalist Karin Koch, for instance, continues to use both CCTV and the website to cover community issues in English and Spanish.  Another, Maria Burns Ortiz, has published three breaking news stories over the past two months, covering a fire at a church, an accident at a train station, and a bomb scare in Harvard Square.  A third journalist, Karen Klinger, is covering proposed development and zoning issues in her neighborhood that have been neglected in the mainstream media. Reflecting on a recent story about the attempt by Zipcar, a car-sharing service, to change city zoning regulations, Klinger explained, “My story elicited dozens of comments on the Porter Square Neighborhood Association listserv which is now sending a letter to the planning board laying out its position. But none of this would have happened without NeighborMedia. There has not been a word about this proposed change in the (Cambridge) Chronicle or The (Boston) Globe. When you have a city of 100,000 whose boards, commissions - even the city council - is mostly uncovered by traditional media, the need for what we do at NeighborMedia is clear.“ This year, two journalists are hosting television shows on CCTV’s BeLive set.  Each program is being shown on Cambridge Channel 9 and streamed live on CCTV’s website.  In addition, journalists have begun to experiment with field production, shooting and editing more than 60 videos. On June 11, 2009, NeighborMedia journalists hosted a screening of their work at CCTV. Meanwhile, staff members at CCTV have been strategizing about ways to develop NeighborMedia’s audience. While an attempt to partner with Cambridge’s weekly newspaper was not successful, the website’s use of Twitter has helped raise the program’s visibility substantially.  Since developing a Twitter account, online news outlets including www.universalhub.com, bostonist.com and even www.boston.com have linked to NeighborMedia stories.  As it continues to work to brand the CCTV website as the place to go for Cambridge news and information, the group is also searching for ways to improve the website.  CCTV will use some additional technical assistance from J-Lab to support the work of Proof Group, a web consulting company that specializes in informational design, to develop a new design for NeighborMedia to make it easier for readers to find stories they are interested in and comment on them. Blogging From the Backyard August 2008 “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but at Cambridge Community Television, you can take Cambridge residents out of their neighborhood meetings and into the digitally dominated 21st century.“  So begins a glowing article about CCTV’s NeighborMedia in Wicked Local.  The piece profiled NeighborMedia’s Karen Klinger, a longtime journalist who resigned from the board of the Porter Square Neighborhood Association to avoid a conflict of interest while reporting for CCTV.  “I don’t think you should both cover a neighborhood association and be one of the board members,“ Klinger told the Wicked Local correspondent. Klinger is the mover behind one of NeighborMedia’s most popular features, Cambridge Eyesores, which documents decrepit and abandoned buildings that seem to have escaped official notice or attention. In its first nine months of life, NeighborMedia’s six citizen journalists have covered gentrification of Central Square, the delayed opening of city parks, proposed development projects, and have provided information about holiday events and citywide emergencies. They have posted 110 blog entries and hosted 27 half-hour BeLive interview programs on local topics. In recent months, NeighborMedia has taken its message of civic engagement through information to community meetings throughout the city, learning from residents about the issues that matter most to them and making them aware of the project. NeighborMedia has received a grant from the Cambridge Commission for Persons with Disabilities to produce media that brings attention to accessibility issues across the city. Meanwhile, NeighborMedia leaders are in the process of evaluating the program’s goals and impact as they head into their second year.  Some changes they are considering include: Creating a larger group of technical mentors. Offering open office hours for technical assistance. Developing a new training program which offers opportunities for gradual skill building. Making portable, easy-to-use video equipment available to NeighborMedia reporters. The project is recruiting additional citizen journalists. “Are you interested in digging deep into Cambridge to highlight meaningful issues and events? Are you passionate about storytelling but don’t know quite where to begin?“ Thus reads a recent email blast to CCTV listserv subscribers.  You can also check out NeighborMedia’s own recruitment page and application here. Correspondent Sharon Steniford, who has covered the 02139 ZIP code, says it’s a rewarding experience. “You have your hand on the pulse of what’s happening in your neighborhood - things that may not be covered in the local newspaper but are important, anyway.“ Building Skills and Community March 2008 Since September 2007, Cambridge Community Television’s NeighborMedia project has been giving its six citizen journalists the tools they need to cover the homefront. A new Blogging 101 class is assisting reporters in strengthening their posts. And reporters have been using CCTV’s easy-to-use BeLive set to host discussions about local concerns. In fact, between November and February, the NeighborMedia team hosted 10 half-hour BeLive programs that aired Wednesday and Sunday evenings on Cambridge Channel 9 and streamed live on CCTV’s website. Each NeighborMedia citizen reporter zooms in on the ZIP Code where they live, posting and hosting about a slew of issues:  Gentrification and development, traffic issues and snow emergencies, energy efficient homes, and even a coyote sighting in a local cemetery. A new project called “Cambridge Eyesores” invites residents to help photograph and document abandoned businesses that cause urban blight. The recent gunshot death of a Haitian-American teen prompted messages in memory of a promising young man. “I knew not Lucien, but his face is familiar to me. Surely I have bumped into him on some basketball court around the city, I must have said ‘hey now’ ... with a ‘y’all be safe’ to boot. I must have seen him amongst the gaggle of teens who weekly liven up the CCTV hallways - and matter of fact he made his mark by getting involved at CCTV in 2005.“ While NeighborMedia members have been writing, uploading photos and anchoring on-camera conversations, they haven’t yet leapt into the heart of field production. To address this challenge, CCTV has recruited a seasoned community TV producer to serve as a technical mentor.  They’ve also offered a new four-session class in news production, which will lead students through the stages of planning, shooting and editing stories for broadcast. In the meantime, a CCTV video editor is creating monthly wrap-up shows using segments produced by the NeighborMedia team. Those shows are airing on Channel 9 and on Blip TV. And, the citizen journalists are hitting the streets to promote NeighborMedia, attending community meetings throughout the city to make residents aware of the project and get their input about issues of concern.  As NeighborMedia coordinator Julie Adler described in her year-end blog post, one clear goal of this outreach is to inspire more engagement from the community. Lights! Camera! InterAction! November 2007 Over the last few months, Cambridge Community Television (CCTV) staff has been implementing a comprehensive outreach plan, hiring a project coordinator, recruiting 7 citizen journalists, and a team of news correspondents for Neighbor to Neighbor, newly renamed NeighborMedia. CCTV has promoted the program to city departments and community organizations that are searching for ways to promote their issues. In April of 2007, CCTV began a collaboration with the CTC VISTA, a program that connects Americorps*VISTA members with nonprofits that use information and communications technologies to address the needs of low-income communities.  Through this program, CCTV recruited a Boston University College of Communications graduate Julie Adler to coordinate all aspects of the NeighborMedia project.  Over the summer, CCTV interviewed candidates for its citizen journalist positions. Each must have a history of working in the neighborhoods in the Zip Code to which they are assigned. The citizen journalist’s job is to identify important local issues not adequately explored in the media, and lead the planning and production of news segments to cover those concerns.  Seven journalists were invited to join the NeighborMedia team. These individuals attended a training program where they learned about the project and some basics of citizen journalism with Lisa Williams, founder of Placeblogger and H2otown.  After orientation, participants jumped right in, creating blogs on CCTV’s website.  They’ve written about topics such as greening of Cambridge schools, the delay in opening a much-anticipated public park, and the Arts Central festival in Central Square. The citizen reporters have been using CCTV’s BeLive single-camera studio to hone their interviewing skills and get comfortable on camera.  Since mid-September, the NeighborMedia team has produced six 27-minute BeLive programs which aired on Cambridge Channel 9 and streamed on the CCTV website. “While NeighborMedia journalists have been producing a wealth of content, many are struggle with the technology,“ says CCTV Director Susan Fleischmann.  So, CCTV staff members are recruiting technical mentors to assign them in field production. And they are seeking an intern to edit video segments into a monthly NeighborMedia program. The project is also monitoring closely NeighborMedia’s effectiveness in facilitating civic engagement, while working on building CCTV’s web capacity to foster more participation and interactivity on local issues. Recently CCTV launched a Groups feature on its website in an effort to foster a dialogue about events at CCTV and in the larger community. Back to Spotlights | Back to Home Page | E-mail This | Print This Bilingual Interactive Environmental Journalism Donica Mensing, Director, Graduate Program in Interactive Environmental Journalism, Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada - Reno • Reno, NV CONTACT INFO Reynolds School of Journalism Mail Stop 310 University of Nevada Reno Reno, NV 89557-6531 (775) 784-6531 E-mail Website Spanish-Version Website A Spanish language newsletter and website highlight issues of importance to the Latino population in North Lake Tahoe. Environmental concerns are just part of the challenges this community deals with; employment, economics, housing, and community cohesion are closely related. Several Latino residents are writing regularly for the publication, which is distributed in the Kings Beach and Incline Village communities. Check back for future news and updates. • August 2009 • August 2008 • March 2008 • November 2007     Bilingual Interactive Environmental Journalism from J-Lab on Vimeo.. 2007 grantee Donica Mensing talks about getting the community involved in environmental journalism. This interview took place on April 5, 2008, at the New Voices 2007 Grantee Meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Washington, D.C. Nuestro Tahoe Struggles with Contributors, Sustainability August 2009 By Tom Regan It’s a problem familiar to many community news sites - how to keep contributors contributing. After a very active first year, Nuestro Tahoe’s community news site has struggled to keep contributions coming. “We have one primary Latino writer who has journalism experience,“ says project director Donica Mensing, who is also an Associate Professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno. “He was the one-person editor/reporter for a Spanish language newspaper in Reno but was recently laid off. He has helped the project since the beginning, but is now taking a more active role. We also have two active contributors from two different community organizations.  Most of the contributors who started with us early on have either moved or gotten busy with other activities.“ Mensing notes that best way to get contributors is to talk face-to-face about what they want for their community, and then discover together how participating in Nuestro Tahoe can help them. “Phone calls and e-mails haven’t been very effective at getting participation,“ she says. Traffic to the website has also been disappointing. Early in the life of the project, Mensing and her team started producing a four-page newsletter, first in English and Spanish and eventually just in Spanish. “We distribute 400 copies of our (mostly) biweekly publication throughout the community, and most are picked up,“ says Mensing. “This seemed to generate more attention and readership among our community than the website. We advertise the website in the newsletter but it has yet to generate much traffic. We need to do more work on our website to increase participation.“ Mensing says immigration has been the most popular issue examined, with poor housing conditions and health issues also generating interest. Work in the area of immigration has been the most satisfying aspect of the project she says.  Knowing that working immigrants in the community have an opportunity to participate in bringing issues to the attention of their neighbors is rewarding. But while the work may be rewarding, Nuestro Tahoe is struggling with sustainability and long-term survival. “There is a local foundation that would potentially be interested in contributing in the future,“ says Mensing. “We have kept them abreast of our progress and they have categories of funding that would be appropriate for future support. We had plans for advertising sales but haven’t had the personnel to get our ideas implemented.“ Mensing admits that she is most disappointed in Nuestro Tahoe’s ability to get more traction in the community. “One significant barrier is not living in the community myself and having to commute an hour to get to meetings. The second disappointment is the rate at which people get interested and then disappear. I don’t feel we’ve yet found the right combination of nurturing, supporting and follow up that we need.“ Mensing knows that this problem with contributors will not come as a surprise, but it is a strong reminder again that a project like this takes a tremendous amount of commitment and follow-up. “It’s difficult to do without having the day-in and day-out opportunities to interact with people and talk about the project. That said, when we hold regular meetings, people do come and they always express great appreciation for the idea and the opportunity to participate.“ Living La Vida Tahoe August 2008 Nuestro Tahoe made its debut in the Spring of 2008. Billed as “A place for Spanish and English speakers in North Tahoe to work together on community issues that affect all of us,“ the Ning site functions as part newspaper, part social network, and part community service center. In May and June, the bilingual journalism project also published a free bi-weekly print edition with stories relevant to the local Latino community: Kings Beach improvement plan voted down Youth Take Charge to Make a Difference Traditional Mexican Charreada Rodeo comes to Truckee Garbage Problems in Kings Beach Along with project leader and University of Nevada Reno journalism faculty member Donica Mensing, all of the content is written by community members, many of whom are immigrants from Latin America. The print publication aims to serve community members who may not have Internet access. One article discussed the parents’ role in children’s educational success; another featured an interview with the Deputy Sheriff. The biggest story in May was the planned visit to Tahoe by famed labor activist Dolores Huerta, who worked alongside Cesar Chavez and leads the movement he started for farm workers’ rights. Nuestro Tahoe also profiled a local “person of the week.“ In the May edition, it featured a short interview with Marcelo Castro, who has lived in Incline Village for 18 years. A proud father of two University of Nevada Reno graduates, Castro is a maintenance service worker and handyman, a member of the Lion’s Club, a square dancer and sculptor. Now, Castro can also call himself “citizen journalist.“ The June 13 edition of Nuestro Tahoe featured a front-page article he wrote about a recent Boys and Girls Club fundraising event. Nevando en Nevada (Snowing in Nevada) March 2008 Mother Nature proved a formidable competitor in the race to launch University of Nevada Reno’s Bilingual Environmental Journalism project, an eco-news initiative that aims to engage Lake Tahoe’s growing Latino community.  UNR’s Donica Mensing says record snowfall made travel from Reno to Tahoe tougher than ever. “Roads are often closed and when they are open it can take two to three hours to make the journey in winter conditions. This has prevented us from making the in-person contacts we need to be successful.“ Despite all that, Mensing says the project is back on track, emerging from hibernation, and looking forward to a spring in full bloom. “While we regret the slow startup time, we are committed to the project and excited by the steps we are taking and response we are receiving from the community.“ Some of these steps include: Working with a class of middle school students in Incline Village that is half-white and half-Hispanic. A graduate student will be meeting with the students weekly throughout the spring to guide them as they document each other’s lives. Some of that work will be published on OurTahoe.   Conducting four citizen journalism workshops for the King’s Beach community during March. These workshops will be in English with simultaneous Spanish translation.  Attendees will be divided based on skills and experience, but organizers expect the first in the series to go over the basics of computer literacy and social networking.  Subsequent workshops will cover creating short videos, taking photographs, and reporting:  How to identify story ideas and sources.   Creating a Ning (social networking site) in Spanish for the participants of the workshops and north Lake Tahoe residents. “We hope this site will help them maintain contact with each other and begin an informal network that can be maintained over time,“ says Mensing.   Redesigning OurTahoe. Just recently the site moved from a Drupal-based to a Wordpress-based platform to make it easier for users to contribute content to the site and easier to offer a Spanish-language version of the site.   Getting ready to offer OurTahoe in Spanish, with the help of an automatic translator plugin - they’ve installed a Spanish/English widget - and human translators who are getting started translating stories into Spanish.   Distributing a simple newsletter in Spanish that summarizes the content on OurTahoe and the social networking site and provides citizen journalism tips from the workshops.   In its last report, UNR had decided to refocus the project on fire prevention and issues.  But now, that issue sparked little interest among residents, so they’ve returned to their original focus of providing hyperlocal, bilingual and environmental news. Mensing says, “The residents we talk with are much more concerned about personal issues and immediate community problems related to development, education, health and housing. Our thinking now is that we will need to engage people with journalism on the issues they find most immediately relevant.“ Along the way, the UNR project will build some bridges of understanding between different communities. In a recent blog post on OurTahoe.org, the graduate student called “Nevada Journalist” explained the motivation behind his participation: “As the immigration debate continues, it seems the gap between American-born citizens and immigrants, particularly Hispanics, widens ... Perhaps nowhere is the division so obvious as it is in Incline Village, where the rich are really rich, and the poor equally so ...  “As my project for this semester in the journalism graduate program at the University of Nevada, Reno, I will be working with ... a dozen seventh graders, equally split down ethnicity, and teach them the basics of journalism. They’ll photograph and write about their own lives, then work with each other to edit their work. In the process, I hope, they will learn something from and about one another. What it’s like to walk a mile in each other’s shoes, or zapatos, so to speak. And as they learn from one another, maybe we can learn something from them.“ Bilingual News: The Fire Next Time November 2007 Initially, the Reynolds School of Journalism in Reno proposed to create a bilingual website that would serve the growing Hispanic population of Kings Beach, a small town on the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada. To that end, project coordinators met with several Hispanic community leaders in Kings Beach to learn more about the community and its interests. Then came the Angora Fire, the largest forest fire in the Tahoe Basin in over a century. It destroyed 254 homes and 11 commercial buildings. The community was unprepared. Out of the ashes rose the phoenix of a new journalism project: a comprehensive online resource about catastrophic wildfire prevention. Donica Mensing, Director of the Graduate Program in Interactive Environmental Journalism at UNR, says, “Our informants tell us [this issue] wi