MyTown, the Boulder Daily Camera citizen journalism venture, has been conducting a series of seminars aimed at getting local residents, groups and businesses to post content on the new sites. Amy Gahran of the new I, Reporter, who is skeptical about MyTown, attended Thursday's seminar and filed her own report:
I was pleasantly surprised that about 25 people attended at 9am on a Thursday morning -- I think that actually indicates a fair amount of public interest.
While Gahran has expressed doubts about MyTown's ability to attract more than event listings and community photos, she had good things to say about the seminar. Editor Kevin Kauffman has said Gahran and others should give MyTown more time before passing judgment.
MyTown launched in April, so it's still early. Let's see whether these seminars generate the kind of citizen journalism that Gahran is promising on I, Reporter. And let's see if MyTown can figure out ways to encourage readers to post content that will generate discussion.
A check of the Boulder MyTown site's home page shows that so far it is being used almost exclusively as a bulletin board for announcements. That's not all bad. Perhaps the site is filling a need. But those items aren't stirring up comments from readers either.
There doesn't appear to be anything to prevent a citizen journalist from posting harder news, so it may simply be a matter of time, a matter of the right person tackling the right issue.
What MyTown could do is promote the ability to spout off on controversial or substantive issues. The language on the welcome page, nudges people more toward the little stuff:
Now we need you to provide the nitty-gritty details that make your community special. No news is too small - from Little League to college scholarships, professional accolades to pie-baking contests, volunteer opportunities to neighborhood watch programs.
The FAQ suggests meatier items, such as reporting "about a decision that is being made" or something "as edgy" as a piece on a rash of home break-ins. (If they're going to use the term "edgy," they might want an edgier example. Maybe a rash of night home break-ins in which the perps take Polaroids of the sleeping residents and leave a copy for them to find when they awaken. Now that would be edgy.)
MyTown's FAQ also directs citizen journalists to stick to straight news in their articles and to save their opinion for the forums and blogs. The most likely candidates to be citizen journalists may be the paper's current letter-to-the-editor writers. They love doing opinion. But those blog and forum items aren't on the MyTown home pages. Just the links to them. Put the blogs on the home page, and you might start getting edgier content than the Optimist Club meetings and bike club items now appearing.
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