How Can New Media Empower Community for 2010?

A Community Forum presented by GoLocal and EmpireReport.org

Jan. 14, 2010

Given the major disruptive role new digital media have played in the traditional media landscape, we wish to explore what role it can serve in helping a local community become informed and engaged in civic life.

As new media continue to change the ways people inform themselves and interact, local communities face questions and opportunities about how new media can best serve them. What is the nature of new media, i.e. define new media and its attributes. What are the local issues you think need to be addressed? How would you like them addressed? What opportunities do new media provide you, personally, and the local organizations you value?

Community forum:

How Can New Media Empower Community for 2010?

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010. 7-9pm

Santa Rosa Hall Council Chambers

All are welcome to attend

No charge to attend.

Full details and mapping.

The following explanation will clarify why GoLocal is interested in public journalism and new media. GoLocal’s stated mission is to “reclaim our local economic power”. This is a tremendous challenge. The first leg of our mission entails redefining what local means. There are numerous articles on this site that provide that definition from our perspective.

The second challenge is to rethink economics as it applies locally. To that end we have also generated much thought and practice that is also available on this site.

News media figures into the mission because of the power of media to communicate ideas, events and news instantly and community-wide. As we rethink economics, we believe that we also need to rethink journalism and how it can serve the community. The web has introduced massive disruption of traditional media and forced many to examine the state of journalism and the business models that provide informative and engaging coverage.

What follows is a brief description of GoLocal’s vision for public journalism.

Sonoma County GoLocal Cooperative will create a public journalism news and information hub online that reframes a local journalism objective to focus on ‘quality of life’ topics. Quality of life topics begin as a provisional list (natural resources, environment, transportation, health and well-being, local food, economics, governance, neighborhoods, individuals and relationships) and will be defined through public forum events sponsored by GoLocal members and affiliates at facilities throughout Sonoma County. See the presentation below.

A journalism cooperative will be formed within GoLocal comprised of professional and citizen journalists, and locally owned media companies. (Non-locally owned media companies may participate through affiliation as distributors and contributors). The journalism coop will receive funding through GoLocal membership fees, contributions and local equity coop investment.

GoLocal websites serve as a hub for news publishing and distribution to the general public. Public journalism is defined as “what serves the public good” by providing context through stories and news coverage. The intent of content is to stimulate civic engagement. Content shall consist of two primary types: news of verification and advocacy (opinion-based). Community events will be prominently featured. Prediction markets and news threads will combine to enhance relevancy and context.

Content forms include written word, video, podcasts and other interactive tools (online and live events). GoLocal endeavors to define and measure quality of life in Sonoma County through public gatherings, studies, prediction markets, and news coverage. The concept is to combine high tech with high touch. Online will provide the hub space and traditional forms of media will also be utilized for distribution.

Please choose the full screen option for best view.

Statement from Empire Report (by Michael Aparicio) on Why They're Engaged with This Project

I'm excited about our February 3rd community forum. Of course I've been excited ever since Jake approached me last spring and explained his plans and hopes for EmpireReport.org.

One of the reasons I'm excited is because Empire Report blurs the line between a traditional news source and a community forum (ie, town square). Empire Report is not trying to be a traditional news organization. It's a public forum committed to informing about, and engaging us with, the Redwood Empire's local communities.

In contrast to a traditional news organization, there is no official Empire Report article on a given topic. While I recently published an article on Petaluma's proposed "Target" retail project, anyone can submit a report on the same subject. So long as your submission addresses a local issue or an issue that's likely to impact one of our local communities, and so long as your submission is clear, it'll be published. Empire Report is, in Jake Bayless's words, a digital "soapbox" dedicated to the Redwood Empire's local communities.

I find the project's potential empowering. Take something as simple as a column. Not only does Empire Report provide opportunities for prolific writers who don't fit a corporate news organization's business model, but it provides an opportunity for neighborhood organizations and community groups to create a column to showcase its members, guest speakers, events, and projects.

Then there's the multimedia potential. Any individual or group can video record, say, an interview or public event, post the video on youtube, write a brief introduction, and publish the video on EmpireReport.org. Suddenly any individual can interview someone contributing to the community, from a city council member to an unsung hero who volunteers as a crossing guard, then share the discussion with others. It's a great way to celebrate the wonderful persons who make up our communities.

As a teacher I'm especially excited about the ways new media can empower students and young adults. Suddenly wonderful persons like Jessica Jones can write about her involvement in SRJC's "Students for Sustainable Communities"; and she's only one of the many promising voices that can be added to our communities' discussions thanks to this technology.

The Web's ability to reach over far distances is well documented. Suddenly I can chat with someone around the world as easily as a neighbor. But I think the Web's potential for local communities remains relatively untapped. Among other things, it's an easy way for persons with shared interests to meet; and, when that shared interest is a community issue, it becomes a powerful organizing tool bringing persons together to act locally.

This is why I, personally, am so excited about the upcoming community forum. For, in the short nine months since I started participating on Empire Report, I've become overwhelmed by the thoughtful and thought-provoking persons I've met who care about our local communities; and I've seen the excitement on others' faces as I introduce them to the digital world I'm still discovering.

Whether or not you're excited, too, hopefully you're interested; for I'm willing to bet both I, personally, and our communities would benefit from meeting you and finding ways to getting involved in our communities. You've taken the first step by reading this far. I hope you take that next step, too.