Quality conversation

Students and profs at Northwestern have come up with a creative way to relate news and also encourage productive feedback — I think this format has potential for a community news environment.

The project, “Newsmixer,” was launched in fall 2008 but appears to have fallen into disuse. No doubt this is because the grad students driving the site have graduated. That’s the way it usually is in academia — student innovators and producers come and go, and the next batch have their own ideas. So, other people’s “babies” get kicked off the doorstep (sorry, that was harsh imagery!) Still, it’s created a stir among movers and shakers, so some of these concepts may actually survive the 3-month lifespan of most journalism innovations/trends. And besides, these ideas have real merit.

The site was a student response from a challenge by NW prof Rich Gordon:

“Nobody’s been particularly happy with the remarks appearing in comment boxes or thinks they further public discourse. By creating a site with richer opportunities for interactive comment, we hope to improve the quality of online discussion that takes place around local news content. We also hope the Facebook connection increases young adults’ engagement with local news.”

The site is an amalgamation of a number of hot social media of the moment. If they choose, readers can interact with the site via a Facebook ID that personalizes the “newsmixer” experience. They may  leave what amounts to “tweets” on stories, and can tag any story paragraph with a question to the journalist — hopefully followed by an answer, newsroom resources permitting! The site also allows “old fashioned” letters to the editor (similar to the extended comments on the end of stories). I wonder if the latter was encouraged by their seaseoned profs.

I’m glad to see that editors on this site  would still have the potential for shaping discussion. They can answer reader questions and they can “highlight” certain reader responses. My philosophy on community journalism is that it only happens when journalists listen carefully to their audiences (Newsmixer allows for at least the possibility of this), AND when journalists “lead” by attempting to tell a community what they think the community “means,” by telling it what journalists think the community holds as important, holds dear, and rejects (i.e., journalists setting an agenda). Newsmixer has the potential to do both of these.

But I’d like to see more of the “third leg” of community journalism. That’s the part where community journalism  encouarages authentic interaction, helping individuals find their way around the community (whether geographical or virtual). Perhaps newsmixer could include a geographic mapping tool with stories in which location is relevant. Perhaps newsmixer could offer links to events going on in certain areas, or contact info for relevant advocacy groups/govt services, citizen orgs, neigborhood clubs, etc.  Encourage serendipity! Newsmixer does that in an online environment by connecting people via Facebook, but they could also do this geographically. Geography and bricks and mortar organizations are still very much alive and relevant in our lives, and people in an insanely busy world that increasingly encourages naval gazing, protecing one’s own and isolation, must have encouragement to connect in a substantive way.

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