I can’t stop thinking about this episode of Open Source. In it, the topic of hyperlocal journalism is discussed. They point to Wikipedia’s definition of hyperlocal:
In journalism, local news refers to news
coverage of events in a local context which would not normally be of
interest to those of other localities, or otherwise be of national or
international scope.
The term "hyperlocal" sometimes used to refer to news coverage of community-level events usually overlooked by mainstream media outlets.
On the show, they mention several good sites for hyperlocal coverage. I’d like to suggest that there’s a real opportunity here for journalism students to participate in some really authentic journalism.
Why wouldn’t a journalism class focus their efforts for a time on the events that they are in the best position to cover? I can see my students becoming content providers for Your Hub, a local citizen journalism site. Real audiences and reasons for writing for them, a useful service for the community.
More on this later.
This was my first “ah ha” moment with hyperlocal journalism. Listen to this IT Conversations bit from Rob Curly of the Lawrence Journal World. The possibilities will blow you mind.
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail550.html
http://www.ljworld.com/
Good luck with the Your Hub project. I also teach journalism at the high school level and advise the newspaper as well. Knowing that they have a real audience makes a huge difference in the quality of work. It can also make kids realize the power of the press by having to deal with their own mistakes. I’ll be watching your progress on this with interest.
Just to better the odds of it being seen, I’m going to repeat myself: The Service Agreement is nutty. Don’t do it.
http://www.15grant.com/mrsizer/blog/archive.php?blogid=705