Could Grassroots Journalism Work for Library Communities?
October 8th, 2005Tom Grubisich reviewed a bunch of citizen journalisms tools and came to a few conclusions:
“The best citizen journalism sites at the community level — iBrattleboro and WestportNow — buzz with activity. That didn’t happen spontaneously. The proprietors of both sites know their communities, are passionately engaged with them and, in their own ways, are not afraid to put on editor’s (or motivator’s) hats.”
“At iBrattleboro, founders Grotke and LePage, through words and action, gently prod users to put the site to its highest and best uses. ‘We’ve … tried to set a good example on the site and demand excellence from people,’ Grotke says. The site could do a better job of showcasing content, but it’s working. It has more than 900 registered users and thousands more unsigned visitors. Each week, the site gets 3,000 to 4,000 unique visitors — in a town of 12,000. Pretty good.”
Knowing communities? Passionately engaged with them? Sounds like libraries could learn a few things from citizen journalism sites. One of the most often used electronic tool in the library is the online catalog. Besides the web site or blog, it’s the one thing that connects the online community with the library. Let’s make it a bit more community-based…