Community Blogging
From DoWire Wiki
Related: UK highlights and Case Study List
CONTACT: Mr. Griff Wigley
Tel: 507-645-8319
Email griff@wigleyandassociates.com
Community Blogging
Background Information
Title: Community Blogging
Location: Northfield, Minnesota, USA
Primary Sponsor Organisation: Northfield Citizens Online
URL: http://www.northfield.org
Budget: Not applicable
Project Start Date: Autumn 2003 (Community Blog)
Project End Date: ongoing
Executive Summary
Northfield Citizens Online (NCO) formed in 1993 out of a desire by a group of residents to use the Internet to strengthen connections between people in the community. By 1996 they incorporated as a non-profit organisation. In 2003, the group has directed its energy toward providing citizens with community news and comment, encouraging and supporting blogging by citizens and public officials, and organizing discussion forums between officials. Blogs by public officials often present facts to help citizens understand the processes and range of issues involved in local decision-making.
Technologically speaking, this blogging "speaker's corner," is a dynamic collection of headlines which are produced by most blog software platforms. Northfield Citizens Online plans to add more news content to the website and increase the number of citizen and civic leader blogs. If board members succeed in obtaining funding from sponsoring organizations, they plan to establish clear expectations of that relationship, and ensure that community news content remains visually separate from other parts of the site. Website: http://northfield.org
Project Rationale and Objectives
Northfield Citizens Online (NCO) formed in 1993 out of a desire by a group of residents to use the Internet to strengthen connections between people in the community. Since the autumn of 2003, the group has directed its energy toward providing citizens with local news and editorial content, encouraging and supporting blogging by citizens and public officials, and organizing discussion forums between officials and citizens regarding issues of mutual concern. In 1996, NCO incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organisation. Through its Web site, Northfield.org., Northfield Citizens Online aims to achieve the following:
- Engage citizens in participatory democracy
- Encourage citizen-source journalism that complements and in some cases competes with local for-profit news organizations
- Enable government officials to communicate with constituents more often, more easily and in a more meaningful way
The target audience is anyone interested in local community issues.
What was delivered?
Northfield.org - Community News Blog, Event Calendar
The Web site provides news content that includes meeting coverage, photos and timely updates about ongoing civic issues. Community groups can submit items for a syndicated calendar of events, which has links to supporting organizations.
The Web site often reports news items not covered by other local media. For example, after a local sheep farm sustained damage in an arson fire, the local newspaper initially didn't cover the story. However, a Northfield.org representative went out to the site, took photos, interviewed the farm owners and posted the information to the site within hours. Northfield.org continued to update the information in the days following the fire and let readers know how they could help.
Citizen-organised Online Events (Consultations)
Northfield.org representatives occasionally moderate online exchanges in which civic leaders offer their expertise and opinions on particular issues. Citizens are invited to ask questions to further the discussion. The most recent discussion, in January 2005, involved concerns about the safety of pedestrians crossing one of the city's main highways. As a result of that online discussion, the city's mayor appointed a task force to study the issue and offer recommendations of how to increase the safety around crossing the highway. One month later, the task force presented a list of 10 recommendations to the City Council.
Another discussion forum, in August 2004, arose out of a citizen's query about burning bush at the city compost site. Hosted by Northfield.org, the two-week online discussion included explanations from the city engineer and a state official. The entire discussion is archived online, complete with names, photos and links.
Northfield.org also hosts an ongoing, open topic, e-mail discussion forum on local issues.
Local Civic Blog Network
Northfield.org connects its readers to a diverse array of local weblogs through its "civic blogosphere." Public officials with weblogs include a school board member, the police chief, a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, a planning commission chairwoman and a county commissioner. Headlines from these and additional locally-focused weblogs from a handful of non-profit organizations and about nine citizens are also carried on the site.
Technologically speaking, this "speaker's corner," is a dynamically generated aggregation of RSS headline feeds that are produced by most blog software platforms. Many times a day, Northfield.org automatically pulls the headlines from the local blogs and presents them alongside community news content. While site visitors may read the full community news content in the left column, a click on the right column "blogosphere" headlines sends the user straight to the source blog. Local residents appreciate the ability to quickly scan all of the local content and headlines in one place.
Communication Activity
Northfield Citizens Online actively encourages civic leaders and citizens to create weblogs and provides them with support and education by A) assigning a volunteer coach to each new blogger; and B) offering community education classes on blogging.
Board members regularly communicate with the public through the Northfield.org Web site, and they attend civic meetings and local events.
Successes
The organization continues to evolve as a provider of community news and information. It fills needs that are not met by other media organizations and helps citizens gain access to local government.
Griff Wigley, who frequently posts to the site, said that through the combination of civic weblogs and discussion forums, Northfield.org has addressed citizen concerns that previously had been ignored or underreported by other local media. Public officials have either responded to citizen suggestions by taking action, or they have offered more in-depth explanations. Citizens have felt empowered by the exchange of ideas and the autonomy of being able to be publishers, not just consumers of civic-related information.
Benefits to Citizens
People who write community blogs and those who read them said they believe that the establishment of an “electronic commons” has resulted in a more productive exchange of ideas within the community.
Rob Brown, an NCO board member and blogger, said having a blog allows him to bypass the restraints of organizations he describes as “closed boxes,” such as the local newspaper, which don’t allow for two-way communication.
“It gives me a voice,” he said.
Keith Covey, who ended his term as Northfield mayor in January 2005, said the issues forum has generated some valuable discussion and has succeeded in attracting people’s attention regarding issues such as the safe pedestrian crossing of a busy highway.
“There haven’t been all that many people involved, but those involved have been very influential,” Covey said. “It’s been a vibrant exchange. It’s allowing people to raise issues and discuss them in ways we haven’t before.”
Benefits to Officials
According to some elected and appointed officials, it is sometimes difficult to get a sense of who is reading their blogs because they do not receive many written responses. However, they often hear directly from citizens when they see them at a store or at an event.
Betsey Buckheit, the chairwoman of the city planning commission, said by providing a new and quick way to access government, citizens and officials are connected more efficiently. Instead of driving to City Hall to fill out a form or ask a question, a person can complete the task online. Blogs also have invited involvement from a wider range of citizens, many of whom couldn’t or didn’t participate in a more traditional way.
“It’s an interesting way to bring people together and get information out in the open,” Buckheit said.
Rice County Commissioner Jessica Peterson, who took office in January 2005, said she uses her blog to present facts and help citizens understand the processes and range of issues involved in county decision-making.
“It’s not always procedurally appropriate to expound on my views (during meetings),” Peterson said. “The blog gives me an opportunity to explain my decisions and my position. Writing the blog also helps me think things through – how can I talk about things in a way that will be meaningful and diplomatically appropriate for a blog audience? It has helped me understand the political dynamics of a situation and hone my own opinion about it.”
Limitations
Northfield.org is a non-profit volunteer organization (est. 1996), with no budget or financial sponsors. Board members said they plan to obtain funding through grants in the future. A budget would allow the organization to pay reporters to deliver news content, pay editors, encourage citizen reports and develop new online strategies for community building.
While the strength of the organisation in part is derived from its 'outsider' status -- it's not an arm of the city, an established media organization, or a previously existing non-profit -- this would not necessarily be undermined by obtaining outside funding, even from the city.
Evaluation
With no budget, NCO's continued existence, its blog, local blog network and other content are a sign of its endurance as a volunteer-based effort. NCO is able to sustain its activities. No formal evaluation has been undertaken by the board or any formal expert or researcher since this project's creation.
Lessons learnt
Board members said the organization has been successful because it has remained open to all citizens and because it has retained its autonomy, rather than becoming part of the city.
Citizens and officials who blog had several pieces of advice: keep things short and to the point, don’t rant, and state your opinion in a respectful way.
“Put it up there and get feedback, and don’t be afraid of criticism,” said Bruce Morlan, the NCO board chairman and a frequent blogger. “You’re going to be putting it up, so you can get information back from your readers that can help you.”
What could happen next?
Northfield Citizens Online plans to add more news content to the Web site and increase the number of citizen and civic leader blogs. If board members succeed in obtaining funding from sponsoring organizations, they plan to establish clear expectations of that relationship, and ensure that news content remains visually separate from other parts of the site.
Bloggers said they expect to see more use of audio and video.
“There will be other competing organizations like us in Northfield, other independent media,” said NCO board member Rob Brown. “The Northfield News (the local newspaper) will start emulating our format, and our format will change. But they will always be for profit, and we will always be not-for-profit. That’s probably the biggest difference – our missions are different.”
Additional information and sources
Detailed budget: Not applicable
Project sponsor: Northfield Citizens Online
Further Information:
Video Interviews with Northfield Bloggers
- http://dowire.org/media/cases/northfieldinterviews.wmv
- Download first and view locally with slower connections. 10MB File.
Web Movie - Produced by Steven Clift
Article - From Town Blog to Town Hall
Contacts: Griff Wigley, griff@wigleyandassociates.com
Author: Joy Riggs