Journalism is evolving and getting closer to home

By Rick Seifert

The Southwest Community Connection, Jan 29, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

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I’m about to take my involvement with “community journalism” into the Internet’s “hyperlocal journalism movement.” An inelegant term, but what would you expect from a culture that gave us the word “blog”?

In January I learned that two Hillsdale organizations I wrote grant applications for were awarded them. The City-sponsored grants total $2500 for the purpose of creating two Web sites devoted to Hillsdale.

I’ve noted here before that in October I started a “toe-in-the-water” site called The Red Electric (theredelectric.blogspot.com) to learn more about the web.

The Red Electric, named after the old inter-urban train that served Hillsdale 90 years ago, is only remotely like what I have in mind for the community sites.

That said, what has “Red” taught me about the wild and wooly web?

n A miserly time-sink: These web critters take time. I now find my days begin early, often at 5:30, with feeding our cat. Izzy, and then my Web site, “Red.” So far no one has found a way to pay for web kibble, or the time it takes to ladle it out.

n Blowback and discourse: Web sites invite readers to comment. That’s when the real fun can begin. The pool of knowledge and awareness expands. The back and forth often can take on a life of its own. That can be good or bad. Tone can go berserk. Cleverness can trump civility. Posturing shoves aside propriety. Individual expression takes precedence over concern for community. “Hyper local” is reduced to hyper; local becomes “me.”

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