I teach journalism at UMD and one of the things I’m interested in is learning how information flows through a community. I’m writing to ask for your help with a project.
Here’s the background: Lots of smart people agree that one of the assets of a community is its storytelling networks: Strong, healthy communities have lots of ways for people to share their stories. The term media ecosystem has been used to describe the increasingly complex ways that people in a community exchange information. This can include third places, where people meet and talk to their neighbors about things that are going on in their community; community bulletin boards where information about everything from lost cats to upcoming events are posted. Obviously, it also includes more and more online channels such as this very website.
So, here’s what we’re going to do. One of my journalism classes is going to try to catalog all the forms of “media” we can find and think of in Duluth. So, this will obviously include all the professional media outlets that reach this community, but I’d like your help in finding the lesser-known channels. It could be a small neighborhood newsletter, like The Hillsider, for example, or maybe it’s a local blogger who writes about issues — say Astro Bob’s excellent blog as an example. It might also include community-based groups, CHUM for example, that put out issues relevant to their work.
We’re eventually going to try to take this information and create some kind of directory of the information. Now it’s your turn. Got any you think should be on our list? Hit reply and add it. Thanks.
