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Submitted by Rick on Mon, 06/30/2008 - 6:55am.
Jun 30 2008 - 9:00am
Jun 30 2008 - 10:00am

Heads up, everyone! I'll be on KUOW's Weekday this morning talking about hyperlocal blogging. Check it out.

Here are the other bloggers that will be on the show. Check out their blogs and see if you can get any cool ideas we can steal!

  • Tracy Record is editor and co-publisher of the West Seattle Blog
  • Rick McKinnon founded OlyBlog and is one of its docents
  • Scott Durham is president of Instivate [IN stih VATE], which builds neighborhood blogging software. He started Central District News to test the software
  • Amber Campbell is a marketing consultant. She writes and edits The Rainier Valley Post
  • Sara Nelson writes the Hillku blog under the name Final Answer. She also contributes to the Capitol Hill Seattle blog
»
Submitted by Sarah on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 12:07pm.

This is an excellent article by Stephen Franklin: Nine steps to citizen journalism online

You can have your own point of view or opinion. But if you want people to pay attention to you, you must give them a chance to make a decision. You can present the information you think is important, and then explain your view. When people feel you are honest and credible, they will return to your place on the Internet. You can also separate your work into clear categories. This means you mark some of what you write as what you have learned and reported, and some as your opinion.
»
Submitted by Rick on Tue, 02/12/2008 - 2:51pm.

Check this out:

CNN to Launch Completely User Generated News Site
Written by Josh Catone / February 11, 2008 11:43 AM

We've been writing a lot about the trend of media companies paying more attention to citizen journalism and amateur reporting tools. Perhaps no mainstream media outlet has done more to push citizen journalism into the spotlight over the past year than CNN. In August 2006, they launched the user generated content-focused i-Report feature on their web site, which has since attracted over 100,000 submissions from users, and last summer they held the first of two CNN-YouTube presidential debates, in which questions were submitted via YouTube. CNN is about to take their participation in amateur news reporting a big step forward with the planned launch of iReport.com, an entire portal dedicated to completely user generated news content.

Read the whole story.

»
Submitted by Rick on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 5:12pm.

I just want to follow up on something that Ehver Green said in the caucus results thread. He said:

This whole thread is amazing. Isn't this what it should be about? Thanks to everyone who has posted this evening - the turnout is telling. Obama looking good.

EDIT: Olyblog was my first news source for results tonight!

I want to emphatically say YES! This is EXACTLY what it should be about. The caucus results thread was a perfect example of CJ in action. And I think we can do lots, lots more. I would love to see this kind of collective reporting about every important event in our community. We all have the stuff to do it (e.g., digital cameras, computers, video cameras, flickr accounts, etc.). Don't be a passive news consumer any more. Go out and find the answers to your questions and then share them with others. Discuss what you find, and you'll know more than any network or newspaper can tell you. As a zen master might say: "Be the news."

»
Submitted by Rick on Wed, 12/12/2007 - 10:11am.

From The American Prospect:

This has to change. There must be some method whereby we can become informed and inspired to action. Maybe the answer lies in retraining journalists to go one step beyond reporting. Get the story, and also seek information about how a reader might constructively respond to it. This, of course, would require increased support for the work of investigative journalists. It would also require strategic partnerships between the professional media and nonprofit worlds, links that already exist between journalism and international affairs schools like those at Columbia University.

Maybe the answer lies in citizen journalists -- folks who often abandon the old-school idea of objectivity and tackle local issues with a verve for making change, not just reporting on it. This trend is already on the rise, and while it makes traditional journalists wince, maybe it could actually serve to empower some of the country's currently disenchanted readers.

All the News That's Fit to Depress | The American Prospect

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OlyBlog is devoted to hyperlocal news and discussion specifically about Olympia, Washington. Contributors to OlyBlog are citizen journalists who care about their community and are tired of corporate media.

If you'd like to contribute, please register for an account. Here is a list of local news beats that need to be covered. You can post your news as a personal blog entry, and it will be reviewed (and possibly edited) for promotion to the front page. You can also send news via email. All members of OlyBlog agree to abide by our Social Contract. You should also look at our comment and fair use policies. If you are frustrated about something said in a comment thread, go here.

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Docents are fellow citizen journalists who volunteer to be at your service in order to help with any blog-related issues. They are:

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Interests: community building; participatory art, democracy and economics; local politics; citizen journalism.

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enpen
Interests: OlyBlog poster calendar, Olympia public art, local artist interviews, his family, poetry and stuff.

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Interests: peace, justice, nature, nonviolence, media, environment

Rick
Interests: citizen journalism, hyperlocal media, the knowledge commons.

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