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Public welcomed to April 27 Massachusetts workshop for librarians and journalists sharing ideas for collaboration

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. – New England librarians and journalists will have an opportunity to share examples and ideas for collaboration, and learn about two experiments that could uniquely serve community information needs, during an April 27 one-day seminar.

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"Common Goals: New Projects, New Ideas for Connecting Libraries, News and Communities," is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 27, 2012 at the Massachusetts Library System's Marlborough Office at 225 Cedar Hill Road, Suite 229 in Marlborough, MA 01752.

 The event is jointly organized by the Massachusetts Library System, the New England Newspaper & Press Association and Journalism That Matters. It’s aimed at librarians and news professionals, but the public is also welcomed. Free registration is required at http://tinyurl.com/biblionews

 “The web is helping converge some of the tools for achieving the historically overlapping goals of public literacy, government transparency, citizen free speech and participation,” says Bill Densmore, a director of Journalism That Matters and director of the New England News Forum at UMass Amherst. “Both are becoming community information services.”

 Densmore says organizers hope librarians and journalists with stories of ongoing successful collaborations – and ideas for new-media approaches that involve media, libraries and government – will come April 27 and share those stories.

 "Librarians may be in a good position to make modern journalism and other forms of information, (especially local info) available to the public," says Greg Pronevitz, director of the Massachusetts Library System. “Journalists and librarians share common goals and technology helps to form tools that can be used in both professions to ensure public literacy, government transparency, free speech, and citizen participation. Both professions provide their local communities with informational services and librarians are nurturing those goals by making that information easily accessible to the public.”

 After informal introductions, the 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. program will include short presentations on two projects just getting underway: 

• The Banyan Project's news co-operative for the "news desert" of Haverhill, Mass., closely aligned with the Haverhill Public Library. Presenters: Carol Verny, Haverhill library director and Tom Stites, a veteran journalist and Banyan's founder/CEO.
• The National Civic Communications Corp., a community-information  initiative of Tufts University and a Woburn, Mass.-based nonprofit, Social Capital Inc.  Director David Crowley will explain how the San Antonio, Texas, library is collaborating at one of three test locations.

 Following the presentations, Densmore and Leigh Montgomery, news librarian at the Christian Science Monitor will lead a round of breakout discussions matching librarians and media professionals in brainstorming both tested and fresh ideas for collaboration.  A key focus will be on methods for preserving and making accessible community information.

 "Common Goals," is an outgrowth of  an April, 2011 event at MIT Center for Civic Media organized by Journalism That Matters and supported by the Institute for Museum and Library Services.  That event was, "Beyond Books: News, Literacy and Democracy for America's Libraries." See: http://www.biblionews.org

 Journalism That Matters Inc., is a Seattle-based non-profit working to shape the emerging news and information ecosystem.  JTM fosters conversations among traditional and citizen journalists with educators, technologists, librarians, public officials and citizens concerned about vibrant communities and civic engagement.  It has held more than 14 events since 2001 at locations throughout the United States, including Boston and Amherst.

 --30 –

 FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=MLS&ref=EK&refNote=TaF#4/27/2012         

Bill Densmore / Journalism That Matters
wpdensmore@gmail.com / 617-448-6600
www.journalismthatmatters.org
www.newenglandnews.org

 

Greg Pronevitz, Executive Director
Massachusetts Library System, Inc.
508-357-2121 x303 
greg@masslibsystem.org - www.masslibsystem.org

 

RELATED LINKS:

http://banyanproject.com/index.php?title=Pilot_site_content

http://www.socialcapitalinc.org/about/staff

http://www.haverhillpl.org/

http://www.biblionews.org

 

Key forum on accountability after the age of newspapers -- Oct. 1 in Boston

"Public Accountability After the Age of Newspapers," is the title of a Ford Hall Forum event set for Thurs., Oct. 1 in Boston featuring Martin Baron, editor, The Boston Globe; Paul Starr, co-editor, The American Prospect and Dan Kennedy, Northeastern University media blogger.

It's free and open to the public from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Moot Court Room at Suffolk University, 120 Tremont Street. The event may als0 be streamed live on the web (see below).

Here's the advanced information about it via Alex Minier, of Ford Hall Forum:

"As major metropolitan newspapers around the country struggle to make ends meet, some see dark days ahead for our civic life. Are we headed for a new era of corruption on Beacon Hill and in Washington, DC as the power of print journalism declines? Or, will social media outlets like Twitter, Blogger, and YouTube empower citizens to watch elected officials closer than ever?

"Paul Starr, Professor of Communications and Public Affairs at Princeton University and Co-editor of The American Prospect, joins Martin Baron, Editor of The Boston Globe, and Dan Kennedy, Assistant Professor at the Northeastern University School of Journalism and nationally recognized media critic, will discuss the future of journalism and how the changing news landscape will impact us all."

UPDATE:

Alex Minier writes on Sept. 29: "We're going to try to stream live here: (http://www.fordhallforum.org/uncategorized/live-streaming) . . .  "It will be something of an experiment for us, but hopefully is will allow some people to access the program, and generate some online discussion."

For more information on the Ford Hall Forum, contact Alex Minier, 617-557-2007, alex@fordhallforum.org or visit www.fordhallforum.org. Media contact:
Mary Curtin, 617-241-9664, 617-470-5867 (cell), marycurtin@comcast.net

AUDIO: Online news pioneer acquires competing Maine newspapers

When Richard Anderson came to mid-coast Maine in the mid-1990s, he became the interloper . . . the disruptor. Now that he's mainstream, will he continue to innovate?

Proving that local online news can be a valuable business weapon against legacy media, the owner of Maine's VillageSoup.com is acquiring six weekly newspapers he has been battling competitively for more than 10 years.

Anderson's Village NetMedia Inc. -- two award-winning local community news websites and two weekly tabloid papers -- is acquiring the six other weeklies, four of them direct competitors, from Crescent Publishing Co. LLC, of Greenville, S.C., headed by William deB. (Bern) Mebane, a former Gannett Co. Inc. executive.

In Media Giraffe Project interview,  (PODCAST) Richard Anderson predicts his business victory is a harbinger of things to come -- an indication that once-dominant local media interests must cease thinking of themselves as primarily print businesses or face effective, even overpowering, competition.

Even the seller agrees. "We have adopted the VillageSoup model for our remaining newspapers in Alabama," says Mebane. "We competed with Richard up here . . . and he realized that he was the real deal . . . this is a marriage between the traditional titles and trademarks and franchises of print with the recognition that it isn't just print any longer. It's the three-legged stool of learn, share and shop. News doesn't come down on high."

Anderson said about 26 positions will be lost in the merger and consolidation, in which three flags will be shuttered, leaving a total of five publications in five Maine locations, two existing VillageSoup web communities, and 92 employees. Anderson said the company will launch two new websites to lead and support the print publications it is acquiring.

"With the declining revenue of traditional newspapers -- both in circulation and advertising, the 10-year VillageSoup experiment is finally being recognized in the industry," Anderson said in a statement. "Our approach helps transition traditional community newsppaer companies into community host companies, and that's the future of the industry."

Liste to a 17-minute interview with Anderson by clicking on the left carat of the bar below, or downloading an audio podcast (4MB) for offline listening. A four-page news release about the transaction may be downloaded as a PDF (source: Village NetMedia Inc.)

Seven experts offer advice on web multimedia, blogs and community

Seven experts on aspects of news-industry websites offered advice to about 50 editors and reports at the New England Press Association annual meeting Feb. 9 in Boston. An edited video of the session will be posted at this URL in about a week.

iBrattleboro website owners in Vermont named in libel suit; liability debated

A potential test case of whether operators of local news websites can be held libel for posted comments is underway in Brattleboro, Vt. A key issue will be whether Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act gives the iBrattleboro site absolute immunity from liability. The daily Brattleboro Reformer has a story  (Nov. 28) and background on the suit. Attorney David Ardia has posted and commented on the case at Citizen Media Law Project website, part of the Berkman Center for the Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Ardia's conclusion is that Section 230 will provide absolute immunity for iBrattleboro owners Chris Grotke and Lise LePage. The plantiff lawyer, quoted in The Reformer, predicts the case will clarify that question, one way or the other. 

AUDIO/VIDEO: Editors, reporter discuss multimedia convergence at UMass

WashingtonPost.com video editor Chet rhodes, ESPN.COM Executive Editor Patrick Stiegman and Boston Globe reporter Emily Sweeney urged journalism studnets to learn print, video and audio during a panel discussion on Monday night.  READ PRE-EVENT NEWS RELEASE.

The trio was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for the event: "The New New Journalism: Challenges and Opportunities in Multi-media Reporting." Approximately 200 students, professors and the public attended the 90-minute event in Memorial Hall.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD VIDEO  / VIEW MORE PHOTOS
READ BLOGS/STORIES

LISTEN TO STREAMING AUDIO:

This is the audio of the New New Media session at UMass on Oct. 1

Or click to download audio podcast (43 MEGS).