reimagining hyperlocal news:searching for a sustainable future

1community media innovation project

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Executive Summary

II. Introduction

III. Audience Insights• Research• Findings• Recommendations

IV. Business Insights• Research• Findings• Recommendations

V. Local News Insights• Research• Findings

VI. Case Study Insights: Evanston Now• Research• Findings• Recommendations

VII. Sourcerer: A Context Management System

VIII. Usability Insights• Research• Findings• Recommendations

IX. Appendices• AudienceQuestionnaires• UsabilityTests• Technology&Tools• MeettheTeam

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ThankyoutoMedillfacultymembersRichGordon,JeremyGilbert,RachelDavisMerseyandOwenYoungman;andalsoTheChicagoCommunityTrust,EvanstonCommunityFoundation,

BillSmith,MicheleMcLellan,Dr.KellyPage,NealVitale,AbePeck,VivianVahlberg,NgoanLe.

Community Media Innovation Project final report 2.0 (Dec. 15, 2010)

2 Local Fourth

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Thepagesthatfollowdeliveradetailed,comprehensiveaccountofhowtheLocal Fourthteam(MedillSchoolmaster’sstudentsen-rolledintheCommunityMediaInnovationProjectclass)conducteditsresearch,developedrecommendationsandbuiltawebsitepro-totypethatwebelievewill improvelocal journalismontheWeb.Here’sasummaryofouractivities,findingsandrecommendations:Audience

Beforewecouldreallybegintodevel-opatoolthatwouldbeeffectiveinnavigat-ingthehyperlocalspace, theLocalFourthaudience teamspent threeweeks trying tobetter understand who exactly our audi-encewas.Wecraftedalistofquestionstoaskpotentialaudiencemembers,createdasurveytoreachouttocommunitymembersthrough Facebook and conducted 40 in-depthinterviews. We found a number of issues thatresonatedwithmembersofthecommunity(crime,taxesandschool-relatedissueswerethemostprominent).Onceweaccumulatedall the information, we began developing“personas,” by identifying patterns in thedata.Wedeveloped seven personas in all,and began development on a product thatcould serveall sevenof thosepersonas inuniqueways. These seven personas, featured onpage 12-15, are ascribed different quali-tiesthatdirectlyrelatetohowtheyacquirenews. For instance, some of our personasgettheirheadlinesthroughword-of-mouth,some through their Facebook news feed,andothersthroughmoretraditionalmeans–identifyinghowtheymightinteractwithawebsitehelpeduscatertotheirneeds.

Business & Revenue

Thebusinesssideofcommunityjour-nalismisoftenanafterthought,untilitbe-

comes something completely necessary.Ourbusiness/revenueteamdedicateditselftofindingbusinesssolutionsforthisspace,focusingonthreeprincipalgoals:Toiden-tifykeycategoriesfor localnewspublish-ers, to understandwhy companies chooseparticular media outlets when purchasingadvertising space and to learn how theseadvertisersdefinesuccess.Thisprocesswasspearheadedbyinterviewswithlocalbusi-nesses. In the second round of interviews,wegave localbusinessesa survey thatal-lowedthemtorankalistofadvertisingop-tions,1-10.Wefoundthatbusinessownersplaced littlevalueonWeb-based formsofadvertising,butdidhappentofindtheideaofsponsoringanentiresectionofawebsiteparticularlyappealing.Whenregardingad-vertisingfortheWeb,weidentifiedthefol-lowingneeds:High site traffic, simplicity,interactionandtargetedadvertising. Like theaudience team, thebusinessteam developed personas for the differenttypesofbusinessesinthearea(legacybusi-ness and growing business). This processproducedasetoffindingsthatcanbefoundonpage20. Although the majority of its workfocused on advertising opportunities, thebusiness team found that selling ads maynot fully support anewswebsite. Inaddi-tion to exploring local advertising, com-munitynewssites shouldexperimentwithhostingevents,acceptingdonationsandof-feringclassesincommunityjournalism.

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Technology

Hyperlocal journalism is a rapidlychanging space, and understanding howpeopleinteractwithlocalnewssitesprovedtobenosmalltask.Therearecontentpro-ducersandnewsaggregators,andwewant-ed something in between. We wanted tohelpbuildcontextforcomplextopics,andthus developed Sourcerer, an open-sourceprototypeofacontextmanagementsystem,designed to promote community in localnewsecosystems. Theprototypefocusesonnewstopics,

ratherthanindividualstories,andwithinatopic, provides broader context for the is-sue. Inside the topic bins are interactivequestion-and-answerareaswherequestionsserveasatoolforuserstodefinethedimen-sionsofatopicandtheanswersexpandonthecontext. In addition to simply providing aquestion-and-answer format, users are al-lowed to respond positively to questions,whichwillraisetheirpositiononthepage.In addition to “upvoting” questions, userscan“flag”answers,iftheyappearquestion-ableorunreliable.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Key Recommendations for Hyperlocal Publishers

• Learn more about your audience. Research about peoplewholiveinyourcommunitywillyieldinsightsintowhattop-icsshouldbecovered,whatfunctionalityalocalnewswebsiteshouldhave,andhowitcanmakemoney.

• Ifyoudon’thavetimeormanpowertodostructuredaudienceresearch,look into partnering with a market research class at a nearby college.

• Make revenue a priority rather than an afterthought. • Develop different ad sales strategies for legacybusinesses

(thosethathavebeeninthecommunityforyears)thanfornewand/orgrowingbusinesses.

• Consider alternatives to the open-ended comment box. Communitymemberstoldustheywouldvalueaninteractionplatformbasedonaquestion-and-answermodel.

4 Local Fourth

It’swellknownthatmostpeoplewholiveinEvanston,Ill.,aneconomicallyandraciallydiversecitynorthofChicago,careaboutthepublicschoolsystem. Parents caredeeply about the educa-tion their kids get at Evanston TownshipHigh School. The school enrolls a truecross-sectionofthecommunity’steenagers,from young people bound for IvyLeaguecolleges to those who struggle to gradu-ate. Sowhen the high school proposes toeliminateaseparate“honors”trackfortworequired freshman courses, it ought to at-tractalotofinterestamongparentsofkidsboundforETHS. Researchbyourclassof15journalismmaster’sstudentshasfound,however, thatit’snot a foregoneconclusion thatparentsofaffectedkidswillevenfindoutaboutthechangeintimetocontributetoacommunitydiscussion.And if theydohearsomethingabouttheissue, it’shardfor themtogath-erthefullcontextofastorywithahistorythatcanbetracedbacktotheintegrationofEvanstonschoolsinthe1960s. Evanston has a relatively richmediaenvironment – the city is served by twoweeklynewspapers,TheChicagoTribune’sTribLocal,AOL’sPatch.com,andan inde-pendentwebsite run by a veteran journal-ist.Inaddition,Chicago’sdowntowndailiesregularly cover Evanston news, given itssize,importance,history,andadjacencytothecity.TheproliferationoflocallyfocusedWeb publications could conceivably en-sureawell-informedcommunity–butourresearch found littleevidence thiswas thecase.Web publishers still cover the newsintraditionalways–coveringcitycouncilandschoolboardmeetings,writingstoriesthataddresswhathappenedtoday.Buttheirsiteslackcontextandenoughuserengage-ment to ensure that people find out aboutissuesthatmattertothem.

OurclassattheMedillSchoolofJour-nalismsetoutthisfalltoevaluatethenewsand information ecosystem that serves lo-calcommunities.Evanston,Medill’shometown, served as our laboratory. During a10-week period, we asked Evanstonwhatitcaredabout,explored thebusinesschal-lengesforhyperlocalpublishersanddevel-oped ideas to improve Evanston Now, anindependentnewssite.Beyondthat,ourde-velopment team of “programmer-journal-ists”builtaprototypewebsitedemonstrat-inginnovativewaysthatWebtechnologiesmight build engagement with local news,fuelbetterreportingandhelppeopleunder-standthe wholestory. On thepath towardcreatingoursys-tem– “Sourcerer,” an interactivewebsitewhere anyone can ask, or answer, a ques-tion–we15Medilliansmademanystops. First there was painstaking audienceresearch–pollingEvanstonresidentscurb-side, chattingwith themon the phone forhoursandemailingbackandforth.Wethenappraised our conversations, categoriz-ingourinterviewees’thoughtsandloggingtheminadatabase.Fromthere,weformed“personas,” archetypical depictions of therealEvanstonianswhomwewouldwanttoserve. Let’s take a look at one persona ex-ample:SamanthaPrice.Price, as youwillread later in this report, could be called a“Supermom.” She’s a stay-at-home mom.Herhusbandworksatawell-payingcorpo-ratejob.ShelovesEvanston’sdiversityandcaresdeeplyaboutitsschoolsystem–shewould,actually,beoneoftheEvanstoniansmost interested in a story about the pro-posedchangesatETHS. Hannah Lewis, an older African-Americanwoman,wouldalsobeinterestedin the story because of her concerns thatETHS’strackingapproachhasdeprivedmi-

INTRODUCTION

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noritystudentsofopportunitiestobechal-lenged. ButourresearchdigsdeeperthanSa-mantha’sandHannah’smedianeeds–wetookthetimetolearnwheretheyshopandspendtheirfreetime.Thesefacts,ofcourse,are highly indicative of how they mightspendtheirdisposableincome;andthat’saflagforadvertiserswhoaretryingtoreachshopperslikethem. Andbecausewewantedtoknowhowtoreachthehyperlocalnewsconsumersweweredescribing,ourbusinessandrevenueteam at the same time researched Evan-ston’sbusinesses. Those team members called localsmallbusinessownersandtalkedwiththemabouttheiradvertisingstructure,needsandthoughtsaboutWebandprintmedia.Dur-inga fewweeksof research,ourbusinessteammemberscreatedadetailedviewoflo-calbusinessneedsandhowourfinalprod-uct–oranylocalmediacompany–couldbestservethem. Like the advertising team, the busi-nessteamcreatedprofilesofpotentialman-agerswhomightseektobringincustomers.Oneof theirpersonas,George,managesaGreekrestaurantthathisfatheropenedde-cadesago.Asyou’llreadlaterinthisreport,George, and several of the other advertis-ingpersonas,wouldbe receptive to offer-ingdealsorcouponsonhyperlocalsiteslikeSourcerer. Our business and audience researchteamsfedtheirdata,personasandinsightstoanall-importantthirdteam:ourdesignersand programmers.Weworked together tocreateahyperlocalnewssystemthatisbothhighlyfunctionalandinnovative.Sourcereris awebsite structured so that it could fiteasilyontoalmostanyhyperlocalsite–oritcouldoperateindependentlyofnewsor-ganizationswhilehelpingthemdoabetter

jobofinformingacommunity. We startedourprojectbyadoptingalocalpublisherasacasestudy.Ithasnowbeen10weekssinceBillSmith,proprietorof theEvanstonNownewswebsite, stoodin frontofour class and toldus abouthisprocess, output andneeds.Hewantedouradviceandinsightsforimprovinghissite. “Well,whydoyoudowhatyoudo?”astudentasked. “Partly because I love it,”Smith an-swered. One aspect of our work is a set ofrecommendations to Smith for improvingEvanstonNow.Wehopeour researchandfindingswill behelpful toSmith and alsotohundredsofotherhyperlocalpublishersacrossthecountryfacingsimilarchalleng-es. We also wanted to make sure thatSamantha Price, Hannah Lewis and allourotherpersonashadall the informationthattheyneedtomakeimportantdecisionsabout their children’s futures. We thinkSourcerer,whichweplantomakeavailableforEvanstonianstotestonrealnewstopicsinthecomingweeks,willhelpthemgettheinformationtheyneed. WhileEvanstonwasthefocusofourresearch,we think the lessonswe learnedthisquarterareapplicableinothercommu-nitiesaswell. Pleaseenjoyourreport.

INTRODUCTION

Early during our research, we adopted the team name “Local Fourth.” The name is a nod to the Fourth Estate, a term for an outside-of-

government group – traditionally the media – that seeks to inform the public. And we thought our research would help us inform locals. So

Local Fourth was born.

Read more about our work at LocalFourth.com.

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AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

Research

A major challenge for the Local Fourth teamwas getting in touchwith asmany Evanston residents as possible in ashortamountoftime,whilealsotakingintoconsiderationthediversegroupofresidentswholiveinthecity.Inourcase,theprimaryaudience research phase lasted approxi-matelythreeweeks.

Step #1

Theteamcameupwithalistofques-tionstoaskpotentialinterviewees(Appen-dix1A).Thiswasalonglist;approximately50-60 total questions, with none thrownoutorturneddown.Then,theentireLocal Fourthteamhitthestreetstoseehowwellthe questions tested with audience mem-bers. Thiswasessentiallyatestofthetest.Wewerelookingforanswerstothefollow-ing:Which questions generated insightfulresponses?Whichquestionswereansweredwithconfused,puzzledlooks?Whichques-tionsmadeus,ortheinterviewee,feelun-comfortable?Thisinitialstephelpedusfig-ureoutwhattoaskandwhatnottoask.

Step #2

Wetestedasecondroundofquestions(Appendix 1B). This step was similar tothefirst roundof researchbuthadamorefocused approach.Wenarroweddown thelong list ofquestions to the10-12we feltwere the best of the bunch. Then we didshort, man-on-the-street interviews in dif-ferentpartsofEvanston. If people were particularly helpfuland/orwilling,weaskedthemfortheircon-tactinformationandaddedthemtoourlistofEvanstoncontacts.

Step #3

The audience research team createda short online survey (Appendix 1C) andlinked to it through a targeted Facebookadvertisement.Wealsousedvarioussocialmedia–e.g.Twitter,Facebookupdates–todrivetraffictothesurvey.Wedesignedthesurvey questions so theyweren’t too per-sonal but still gave us useful information.BillSmith(ourpartnerintryingtonavigatethespace)alsoputupthelinkonEvanstonNow’swebsite,asdid theEvanstonCom-munityFoundationinanemailblast. In all, approximately 135 people re-spondedtoouronlinesurvey.

Step #4

Perhapsthemostinterestingresearchcomponent was our in-depth interviewswith Evanston residents (Appendix 1D).Weconductedthemoverthecourseofaboutoneweek.Theseweredoneoverthephoneorinpersonandtookapproximately30-50minuteseach.Theseconversations–about40of them inall–provideduswithverythorough information regarding Evanstonresidents’concernsandmediause. Some of the things we wanted toknow:Aretheypassionateaboutlocalnewscoverage?Are they simply news grazers?What do theywish they sawmore/less ofin their local news coverage?Maybe theydon’t care one bit about Evanston news.Andifthatwasthecase,itwasOK—ween-couraged completely honest participation.Whatevertheanswer,wewantedtoknow.

Step #5

Once we had all of the informationand survey results,we had to analyze thedata.Weidentifiedpatternsandtrendsand

8 Local Fourth

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

looked for ways we could intervene andmake the local news process easier andmorebeneficialtoEvanstonresidents.

Step #6

Thefinalstep in theprocesswas thedevelopmentofpersonas.Indoingthis,weincorporatedAlanCooper’smodel of per-sona building and Medill Asst. ProfessorRachelDavisMersey’s academic researchon publication audiences. Each and everypersona characteristic canbe found some-whereinouraudienceresearchdata,wheth-eritbepreviouslypublishedresearch,man-on-the-street conversations, online surveyresponsesorin-depthinterviews. Inhis2007bookAbout Face 3,AlanCooperetal.saycreatingaproductwiththeintent to satisfy a largevarietyof users isflawedthinking.Coopersaysthebestwaytohit awidevarietyofusers is, rather, to“design for specific types of individualswith specific needs.”1 He suggests teamstargettheuserswhose“needsbestrepresenttheneedsofalargersetofkeyconstituents”andthen“prioritizetheseindividualssothatthe needs of themost important users aremet without compromising our ability tomeettheneedsofsecondaryusers.”2 Printpublications–oranyothercurat-ed editorial publication– typically chooseone ideal reader “persona” to set thepub-licationapartfromothersinthemarket.Abetterunderstandingofaudienceshasalsobeenproposedasawaytohelprescuethedecliningnewsindustry.Inher2010book,Can Journalism be Saved?, Rachel DavisMersey says adapting to the current newsenvironmentisnotenoughto“savenews.”

1AlanCooper,AboutFace3(WileyPublishing:Indiana,2007)772AlanCooper,AboutFace3(WileyPublishing:Indiana,2007)77

Merseysays“newsmustberedefinedfromacommunity-servicepropositiontoonethatprizesindividuals’useandgratifications.”3 Keepingthisresearchinmind,theLo-cal Fourthteamstartedbysegmentingourpotential audience pool into “archetypes.”Todo this,we lookedatour collectionofaudience data and identified patterns; inturn,thosepatternsdefinedpersonas. Mosthelpfulwasouropen-endeddis-cussion process: Three audience researchteammemberssatdowntogetherandsiftedthrough thedata. Ifwe found a trend thatseemedinteresting,wetalkeditthroughasagrouptoseeifweallfeltthatpatternwasenoughtostartthebaseforapersona.Thenwe went back through to see what othercharacteristicsfitthatsamepattern/persona. For example:Weinterviewedahand-fulofcommunitymemberswhoareincred-iblyengagedand interested in localnews.Afterlookingthroughthedata,wesawthissame group consumed a variety of localnewssources–asif theyweren’tsatisfieduntil they knew everything and anythingtherewastoknowaboutEvanstongoings-on.After thinking back to in-depth inter-views, onemembermentionedgetting thefeeling this person considered himself the“go-to” guy when it comes to Evanston.Andhe’sproudof it!Thisperson seemedtobetheonewhoinundatednewscommentboards,becausehe’snotafraidtovoicehisopinions.Also, he tended to be conserva-tive. These characteristics – discoveredthrough this process– combined to createStanEvans. In all, we developed a pool of ninepersonas.We then presented these perso-nastotherestoftheLocal Fourthteam.InAbout Face 3,Cooper says each interface(an abstract term which could mean any-

3RachelDavisMersey,CanJournalismbeSaved?(Praeger:California,2010)93.

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and secondary personaswould also inher-entlysatisfythosepersonaswhoweremoresupplementary in nature. Two personaswere tossed out, as theywere such outly-inguserswedidn’t feelwecoulddoany-thing tomake themconsumeourproduct. Creating this persona pool and ana-lyzingtheaudiencedatawasalsointendedtohelpthebusinessandrevenueteam.Wewereabletogatherinformationaboutwhatthesepersonaswantandwheretheyspendtheirtimeandmoney.

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

thingfromawebsitecomponenttologode-sign)shouldbefocusedononeprimaryper-sona’sneedsandwants.Thethinkinghereisthataprimarypersona–suchasStanEvans–won’t be happywith a design “targetedatanyotherpersonaintheset.”However,ifaprimarypersonalikeStanisthedesigntarget,“allotherpersonaswillnot,atleast,bedissatisfied.”4 The Local Fourth team decided tokeepournumberofpersonasatseven,sincewefeltsatisfyingtheneedsoftheprimary

4AlanCooper,AboutFace3(WileyPublishing:Indiana,2007)104-105.

10 Local Fourth

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

• More integration/interaction between dif-ferenteconomicandracialgroups

• Reducecrime,violence,gangs• Betterlightingatnight• ImprovedpublictransportationtoChicago• Curbgrowth(highrises,businesses,etc.)• Improveparkingregulations• Reducetrafficcongestion• Lowercostofliving• Morebikelanes• Improveschoolsystems(thisresponsein-

cludeddetailsthatranthegamut,fromcon-solidatingschools,toreplacingadministra-tion/superintendentstobuildingaschoolinthe5thward)

• ReducehostilitytowardNorthwestern• Lowertaxes

WhenaskedwhatEvanstonresidentswouldchangeabouttheircommu-nity(iftheycould),respondentslistedawidevarietyofchanges.Thefollow-ingwerethemostfrequentresponses:

FindingsIssues & Concerns

Astheresponsestoouronlinesurveycamein,itquicklybecameclearwhatissuesandconcernsmatteredmosttotheEvanstonresidentswhoparticipated.Weusedopen-endedquestions–respondentsfilledintheirownanswers–soitwasinterestingtoseepeoplestillfeltcertainissuesweremoreimportantthanotherswithoutbeingpromptedbyalist. Respondentsfeltthefollowingwerethebiggestconcerns/issuesinEvanston.NOTE:Respondentswereal-lowedtoincludemorethanoneconcern/issue–manylistedtwoormore,someevenlistedthreeormore.

• Crime,violenceandgangs• Taxes• School-relatedissues• Highcostofliving• Citycouncil-relatedissues

Otherissuesthatgeneratedafewvotes but weren’t mentioned asfrequentlyasthetopfiveinclud-ed:

• Trafficandparking• Citybudget• Evanston’sfinancialstability/

economicissues• Unemployment

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News & Information Sources

TheEvanstonresidentswhorespond-edtoouronlinesurveygettheirlocalnewsfromawiderangeofmediasources.Weal-lowedrespondentstoidentifywheretheygoto find local news and information, ratherthanmakingthemchoosefromalist;manylistedseveraldifferentresourcesinsteadofjustoneortwo. The following are the local publica-tionsthatrespondentssaidtheyusethemostwhenlookingforEvanstonnewscoverageandinformation:

• EvanstonRoundtable• EvanstonNow• EvanstonReview• DailyNorthwestern• CityofEvanstonwebsite• ChicagoTribune/TribLocal• EvanstonPatch

Otherfrequentlycited“newsresourc-es” included word-of-mouth communica-tions,theInternetingeneral,andonlineingeneral.

Diversity in Evanston

Evanstonisaraciallydiversecity.Ac-cording to 2010 Census data, 19.2% ofEvanston residents areAfrican-American,8.9%areHispanicorLatino,and7.3%areAsian.Race can play a significant role inwhat issues residents feelaremost impor-tant,soweneededtomakesurewereachedouttoallracialpopulationsduringouraudi-enceresearch. In hindsight,wewishwewould haveaskedforracial/ethnicityinformationinouronlinesurvey,butwewereafraidthismightturnpeopleaway.Wedidmakesuretoaskforthosedemographicsduringourin-depthinterviews. Of the approximately 40 in-

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

depth interviewswe conducted, six of theintervieweeswereblack,twowereLatino/Hispanic,andonewasAsian. Interestingly,Evanston’sminoritypop-ulation seems to share the same concernsasmanywhite residents.When theywereasked inouronlineor in-depth interviewsthey listed the same/similar issues: “highamountofcrimeinthearea,”“closingtheachievementgapinschools,”etc. However, there are significant differ-encesinhowthedifferentracialgroupsper-ceiveaspecificissueonceyougomorein-depth.Forexample,thebusingofstudentstointegrateschoolsisaconcernamongallracial groups. Samantha – our Supermompersona – is sometimes torn, because shewantsherkidstoliveinadiversecommu-nityandishappythatherchildreninteractwithkidsofdifferent racial and socioeco-nomic groups. But, she also worries herkidsmightbeheldbackas teachers focustheir attention on closing the achievementgap. So she’s glad thatwhen her kids getolder,EvanstonTownshipHighSchoolof-fershonorsclassessoherchildrencangetthehighesteducationpossiblewhilestillin-teractingwithadiversegroupofstudents. Hannah,ontheotherhand,seesthingsdifferently.Sheseesthehonorsclassesasawayforparentstokeeptheirsuccessfulchil-dren(whoaretypicallywhite)outofclasseswith lower-performing students. Hannahthinkswhiteparentsfeelthatifschoolsareservingminoritychildren,they’renotserv-ingtheirkids. On the next four pages youwillmeetourEvanstonpersonas.

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AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

PersonasSarah Gomez: Word-of-Mouth Communicator / Nostalgic About the City of Chicago

SarahGomezisa29-year-oldwhoworksinpublicrela-tions.Shetypicallygetshernewsfromotherpeopleorthroughsocialmediaoutletsfirst,ratherthanreadingitsomewhereonherown.Ifshehearsaboutsomethingandcaresenoughaboutthetopic,Sarahwill lookformoreinformation.Whennotactivelyseekingnews,Sarah issimplya“newsgrazer”–sheusesavarietyofsitesandpublicationsbutdoesn’tstickaroundforverylong.

Sarahdoesn’twanthercommunitytobeseenasasub-urbbecause shedoesn’tparticularly see it asone.Shedoesn’t think it’splaguedwithcrime thewayChicagois but has diversity and offers cultural variety.To her,Evanstonis“middleground.”Shelivedinthecityatonetime,butmovedtoEvanstonforaslower-pacedenviron-ment.Sarahstillwantshercommunitytobeconsidered“cool,”becausethat’sthewaysheviewsit.

ToSarah,thereiscurrentlynonewspublicationorwebsitethatfullyembodiesthecul-turalvarietyanddiversityofviewpointsthatsheperceivestoexistinEvanston.

Topics Sarah cares about:Local“gossip,”trendynewsstories,exhaustivelistsofthingstodoinEvanston.

Functionality:Sarahneedsfeaturesthatfeelconversationalandcanbeeasilyshareableonsocialmediapages.

Business:ClothingstorieslikeFrancesca’sandHotMama,andlocalcoffeeshopsareplacesSarahfrequents.

Paul andPattyPowers are in their 50swith twokids – ages 21 and19.Theirkids attend Big Ten universities. Pauland Patty love their community, andtheywanttoseethatloveandpridere-flectedintheirlocalmediaoutlets.Theywantnewsand information thatmakesthemfeelgoodaboutEvanstonbecausetheyfeelsogoodaboutEvanston.

Theirlistsof“Evanstonmisconceptions”areoftentheoppositeofwhatmostpeoplesay.Forexample,whenotherscallEvanstoncrime-ridden,PaulandPattysaythisis

Paul & Patty Powers: The Positive Thinkers

“I use Facebook on my mobile phone. I’ll sometimes do some quick research on something I might have heard about or have pop-ping into my head. Not much reading of articles, though – just headlines. I haven’t bought a newspaper in the LONGEST time!”

– Sarah Gomez

“People think Evanston is dangerous and has a lot of gang problems, but that’s not true. And why do people think the public school sys-tems have problems? They’re amazing! Just as good as the private schools in the area.”

– Paul and Patty Powers

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untrue.Maybebecausetheyactuallybelieveit,andmaybebecausetheyjustdon’twanttohearanynegativenewsabouttheirtown.

PaulandPattycamehereasNorthwesternundergraduatesandneverleftbecausetheylikedEvanstonsomuch.

Topics Paul/Patty care about:Longerfeaturestories,profilesofdo-goodersinEvan-ston.

Functionality:Functionalityisnotthebiggestconcernforthesetwo.Theyarewillingtoreadlong-formarticlesontheWebiftheyhavethetypeofinformationthey’relook-ingfor.

Business:Farmer’smarkets,grocerystores–PaulandPattyareprettythriftypeople.

Samantha is part of Evanston’s affluent community.She’sastay-at-homemomwithtwoyoungkids,bothinD65elementaryschools.Shestaysontopofanyandallschool-relatedissues,fromwhat’sbeingservedforlunch that day to the latest school board referendum.Her husband has a well-paying corporate job. She’svery interested inallcommunityservices that involvekids–libraries,recreationcenters,etc.

SamanthaappreciatesEvanston’sdiversitybecauseshewantsherchildrentointeractwithdifferentracialandsocioeconomicgroups.That ispreciselywhy sheandherfamilychosetoliveinEvanston!

Topics Samantha cares about:Schools,parks,libraries,anythinginvolvingkids.

Functionality:Shelikesbrowsinglocalcoffeeshopbulletinboardstofindservicesandeventshappeninginthecommunity.Somethingthatprovidesthatsamefeelingwouldbehelpfultoher.

Business:FrequentstheshoppingareauponCentralStreet–LinzandVail,localres-taurants,etc.Shehasmoneytospendandlikeslocalboutiqueclothingstores.

DaveAlexanderisa35-year-oldwitha9-5officejob.Hetypicallydeliversacanned,genericresponsewhenaskedaboutissuesthatmattertohim.Hefeelslikeitdoesn’treallymatterifhepaysattentiontolocalnewsbecausehehassolittlepower.It’snotsomuchthathegoesoutofhiswaytoignorelocalnews;rather,Davejustgoesabouthisdailylifeandneverreallyconsidershowhiscommunityiscovered.It’snotsomethingthatcrosseshismind.

Samantha Price: The Supermom

Dave Alexander: The Disaffected Citizen

“I want the very best for my kids. I want them to look back someday and be glad they grew up in Evanston instead of in another ‘whiteout’ suburb. But I want to make sure they succeed and get a good educa-tion at the same time, so sometimes there’s conflict there.”

– Samantha Price

“What issues concern me most? Um….taxes and the public school system. And parking tickets – I hate those.”

– Dave Alexander

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

14 Local Fourth

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

Topics Dave cares about:Simpleissuesthataffecthimdirectly,i.e.parkingandtaxes.

Functionality:Anyfeature thatgivesDavemorepoweror“say”inthecommunity;thesensethatpeopleareactuallylisteningtohiscon-cerns.Ifheasksaquestiononlineanditisanswered,thiswouldpo-tentiallyengagehim.

Business:HeshopsonAmazonandiTunes,morechainrestaurants/storesthanlocalshops(ex.Chilis,BarnesandNoble,Target,Jewel,etc.).

StanEvansisobsessedwithlocalpoliticsandbusiness.Andhe’sanextremist–hedoesn’tjusthaveviews…hehasviews.Heutilizesneighborhoodemail lists tokeepcommunitymembers informed.He is interestedin many things in his community – from upcomingBBQstoareacrimetolocalpolitics.

Stanfallsontheconservativeendofthepoliticalspec-trum.Hetendstohaveoneortwotopicsatatimethathe gravitates toward and fully immerses himself in,butthesecatalysttopicscanchangeasdifferentissuescatchhisattention...

StanreadsPatchandTribLocalbecauseheneedstoknoweverythingthat’sbeingsaidabouthiscommunity,buthedoesn’tthinkthosepublicationscouldevercoverEvanstonadequately.

Topics Stan cares about:Thebudget,cityhall,localpolitics,business…

Functionality:Timelinefeatures/elementsareveryapplicabletoStanbecausehetendstotakealonger-termviewonsocialandpoliticalissuesthanmostpeople.Hewilldefi-nitelylikecommentingonlineandofferinghisknowledgeandopinions.

Business:Heshopslocally,buthe’salwayssobusytalkingabouthisviews/issuesyoucan’tgetawordinedgewisetoaskabouthisspendinghabits.

Hannahisa67-year-oldAfrican-Americanwoman.Sheisaholisticsocietalandissue-basedthinker.HernephewworksatNorthwesternUniversity.Whenthinkingaboutatopicorissue,Hannahdoesn’tjustconsiderthepastfiveor10years;shegoesallthewaybacktotheverystartoftheissueandconsidersdecadesworthofnews.

Stan Evans: The Involved Townie

Hannah Lewis: The Historical Thinker

“To fix things in this community I’d throw out the left-wing ultra liberal politicians and bring back some fiscal responsibility. We need to trim waste from these city budgets. The alder-men need to close the branch libraries until we have the funding to actu-ally support them.”

– Stan Evans

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She’sanactiveword-of-mouthcommu-nicator.She’s even friendswith schoolboard members, which helps her stayup-to-datewith new information.Han-nahisdifferentfromSarah,whotypical-lyhearsnewsincasualconversationorthrough socialmedia.Hannah gets herword-of-mouth news in a more directway–fromthesourceitself.

HannahusestheWebprimarilyasareference.Shelikesitbecauseshecanreadevery-thingthereistoknowonissuesthatpiqueherinterest.

Topics Hannah cares about:Evanstonschools–particularly,theachievementgapbe-tweenAfrican-Americanandwhitestudents,schoolboardmeetings;Evanston’sinabil-itytosuccessfullyretainlocalbusinesses.

Functionality:Needsthefulltimelineforeachsocialissuesheisresearching,datingbackdecadesormoreifnecessarytounderstandthecompletecontext.(Forexample:Evanstonschoolintegrationin1969.)

Business:GoestoOldOrchardmallforgeneralshopping,butshewouldliketoshopmorelocally–shedoesn’tthinkEvanstondoesenoughtoretainlocalbusinesses.

Charlie isa35-year-old, relaxedkindofguywithnorealopinion.He’snotapathetic,buthedoesn’tmindnothavingavoice.Askforalistofcommuni-tyconcernsandhehasone,thoughhe’snotveryup-to-dateoncurrentevents.HelovesEvanstonbutisbusywithworkandfamily–he’sadoctorwithtwoyoungkids in pre-school (will go toD65 schoolswithin the next couple of years) – so he doesn’thavetimetositaroundandthinkaboutit.

Hedoesn’tgooutofhiswaytoreadlocalnews,buthe’shappytoknowwhat’sgoingon.

Overall?Charlie’sinterested…butnotoverlyconcerned.

Topics Charlie cares about:Charlieletsthemediasettheagendaandtruststhatjudg-ment,forthemostpart.

Functionality:Wouldvalueaweeklyemailblastofthemostdiscussedtopics.

Business:Appreciates localbusinesses–nobigboxstores.Likes theCentralStreetarea.

Charlie Johnson: The Content Citizen

“I love Evanston. It’s a nice place to live and raise a family. If there’s something really crucial I need to know, then by all means, tell me! Other than that, I don’t have much to say.”

– Charlie Johnson

“Successful parents, whose children are achieving, don’t want to get rid of the honors classes because they don’t want low perform-ing children of color in their classes. They think their children won’t get what they need – that if you’re serving the chil-dren of color, you’re not serving their kids.”

– Hannah Lewis

AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

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AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

Recommendations

We realize most hyperlocal sites arerun by only a handful of staffmembers –or,insomecases,onlyone.Soconductingeachoftheseaudienceresearchstepsisn’tnecessarilyfeasible.TheLocal Fourthteamhadacrewof15graduatestudentsconduct-ing interviews in the earliest stages of re-search;afterthat,ateamofthreededicatedthemselvessolelytoanalyzingthedataandmakingsenseofit–notalwayspossibleforahyperlocalpublisherwhoalsoneedstobeproducingcontentforhisorhersiteeveryday. Therefore,we’vecompiledalistofthekeytakeawaypoints–shortcuts,ifyouwill.Remember:thegoalistobetterunderstandtheaudience.Gettingjustabitmoreinsightwillonlyimproveahyperlocalsite.Inthiscase,somethingisbetterthannothing. Thefirstthingtolookintoispartneringwithalocalcollege’smarketresearchclass.Medill graduate students have previouslyworkedwithCrain’sChicagoBusinessandaided them in their audience research ef-forts. See if there’s a similar college class in your area that would be willing to help out. Mosthyperlocalpublishersareshort-staffedandpressedfortime;therefore,wesuggest skipping theman-on-the-street in-terview portions of our research (Steps 1and 2). These steps require quite a bit oftime out of the office and away from theassignment desk. Instead, head straight tothe online survey (Step 3).We found thiswas the easiest way to gain some insightinto what Evanstonians cared most aboutwithout using toomuchmanpower. Sinceyouwon’thavetestedyourquestionsaheadoftime,take a look at the types of ques-tions the Local Fourth team asked–theyprovedhelpful inour researchandcanbe

foundintheAppendix. If you have the funds available, try purchasing a targeted Facebook adver-tisement to get word out about the on-line survey. These are cost-per-click ad-vertisements. In thecaseofLocal Fourth,for $193.24 spent,we received223 clickswhichturnedinto45completedsurveyre-sponses. Don’thavethefundstodothat?Uti-lize other social media tools like Twitter – and, of course, your publication’s website – to direct traffic to your survey. Dosomeresearch and see if there are any leader-shiporganizationsinyourcommunitythatwouldbewillingtoincludeabriefdescrip-tionofyourgoalsandalinktothesurveyinoneoftheirnewslettersoremailblasts. Duringyourresearch,makeitknownyou’redoingthisnotforanincreaseintraf-fic, not to gain more ad revenue, but be-causeyougenuinelywanttodoabetterjob

The Facebook ad we used was seen by users who listed Evanston as their cur-rent city. We limited it to people above the age of 21 to eliminate as many col-lege students as possible.

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AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

covering the goings-on in the community.Ofcourse,ifyouplayyourcardsright,thetrafficwillcome.Butpeoplearesmart,andthey’ll see right through you if you comeoffashavinganinsinceremotive. If you receive a particularly helpfulonline survey, follow up with that personand see if theyhaveanythingelse to add.Weincludedsomemorein-depthquestionsintheAppendixtohelpguidethisdialogue.Make the discussion more conversationalintone–it’llmakethepersonfeelmoreateaseandlesslikethey’rebeinginterviewedforanewsarticle. Once those steps are completed, look over the data and identify the most important trends.Seewhatissuesconcern

local residents most. See if there’s any-thing about current local news coveragethatbotherspeople.Then,lettheseinsightsguideyourreportingprocess.Forexample,if themajority of survey respondents saidanupcomingschoolreferendumwasatthefrontof theirminds,make sureyoucoverthatissueasin-depthaspossible.Yourroleas a journalist hasn’t necessarily changed,you just now have a better understandingwhat your audienceneeds to feel satisfiedwithlocalnewscoverage. Whatitallcomesdowntoishavingabetterunderstandingofwhatyouraudienceneedsandwants.Contrarytowhatjournal-istshavebeentaught,content–inthiscase–isn’talwaysking.

18 Local Fourth

Research

Overview

Hyperlocal publishers seem to find iteasytooverlooktheneedtosurveythelo-cal business landscape, in order to under-stand audience and business needs beforecreatingarevenuestrategy.Whilethissec-tiondescribesthemethodweusedtocon-ductresearchintheEvanston,Ill.,market,what’smostimportantisthemainfinding:that Evanston’s businesses can be dividedintotwogroups(legacyandgrowingbusi-nesses),andthatthisshouldshapeoursalesstrategy. Following a similarmethodmayresultinasimilarbreakthroughforpublish-ersinothermarkets.

Methodology

In researching the local advertisingmarketinEvanston,ourgoalwasthreefold:

• Toidentifythekeyadcategoriesforlocalnewsandinformationpublish-ers,bothinprintandonline;

• To learn the reasons why advertis-erschoosegivenmediaandvehicleswhen purchasing advertising; and,mostinterestingtous,

• To learn what these advertisers de-fineassuccess.

We started by compiling a brief data-baseof theadvertisers in the localmarket–bothinprintandonlinepublications.Af-tereachmemberofourteamidentifiedandclassifiedtheadvertisers,weidentifiedthemostfrequentcategoriesofadvertisers(Re-tail, Banking, Community Organizations,Restaurant/Café,ProfessionalServicepro-viders,etc.)todetermineafocusforourin-terviews.

Nextitwastimeforpossiblyourmostimportant task: talk to the businesses andsee what they think. In the first roundsof surveys, the following questions wereasked:

1. Whatisthebackgroundofthebusiness?Howlonghasitbeeninoperation?Howmany employees? How does it definesuccess?

2. Whoarethecustomers?Wheredotheyliveandwork?Isthereaparticularage,gender, or any other demographic theytarget?

3. What advertising outlets do they use?(print,online,localcableTV,radio,out-door, direct mail, etc.) Can they put arough estimate –percentages –onhowmuchtheyspendthrougheachoutlet?

4. Whatistheirdefinitionofasuccessfulad,orasuccessfuladcampaign? Whichoftheir outlets most consistently producesthatkindofsuccess?

5. Do they have a website? Are they onFacebook orTwitter or any other formsofsocialmedia?

6. In thinkingspecificallyaboutonlinead-vertising: If they are using it, how longhavetheybeendoingso?Whatsitesandtechniqueshavebeenmostsuccessful?Ifthey’renot,whynot? Does itmatter tothemifthesitestheyadvertiseonarelo-cal,regional,ornational?

7. Inthinkingspecificallyaboutlocalinfor-mationsites:Howdotheydecidewheretoadvertise?Havetheycomparedresultsfrom multiple sites? What persuadesthemtochooseoneoveranother?Howdo theymeasure the results, and decidewhethertobearepeatcustomer,orswitchtheirdollarselsewhere?

In seeking to understand advertisers’goals,wewantedtoknowbothhowthesuc-cessofan individualadmightbegauged,aswellasthatofanentireadvertisingcam-paign. The interviewers also gathered in-formationregardingtheircustomers’demo-

BUSINESS INSIGHTS

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BUSINESS INSIGHTS

graphicprofile,howadvertisersallocatedtheiradbudgetsandtheiruseofsocialmedia.Ourgoalwastobegintoidentifyadvertiserpersonasandtoassesstheirneeds. Inasecondroundofbusinesssurveys,weaskedlocalbusinesstorankthefollowingformsofadvertisingonascaleof0to10(0beinguseless,10beingawesome).Thefol-lowinglistshowsboththetypesofadvertisingweaskedthemtorankandtheaveragerankeachformreceived:

1. Sponsorships–events,full-pageWebads,spread,etc.(4.8averagerating)

2. Coupons(3.8averagerating)3. AnEventsCalendarsponsorship–eitheronlineorinprint

newsletter,newspaper,etc.(3.4averagerating)4. Emailblasts(3.2averagerating)5. Single-textads–akintoGoogleAdWords(3.2averagerat-

ing)6. Directmail(3averagerating)7. Twitter,Facebook&socialmediaadvertising(2.8average

rating)8. Videoorothermultimediaadvertising(2.5averagerating)9. Pop-upWebadvertising(2.4averagerating)10.Outdoor(billboards,etc.)(2.4averagerating)11. Audio/radioadvertisements(2.2averagerating)12.Traditionalprintadvertising(2averagerating)13.CableTVspots(1.4averagerating)14.Onlinebannerads–anysize(1.2averagerating)15.Advertorials–aneditorialwrittenintheformofanadver-

tisement(1averagerating)

WhatisinterestingabouttheseresultsisthatbusinessownersinEvanstonplacedlittlevalueonmostWeb-basedformsofadvertisingexceptfortheconceptofsectionsponsor-ships(inwhichabusiness’sadwouldappearondifferentsectionsofthewebsite–frontpage,eventslisting,etc.–andreceivegreaterprominence,eitherbybeingtheonlyspon-soronthatpageorhavingalargeradspot,anoptionthatwouldlikelyresultinthehighestcost).Moreinterestingwaswhatlittlevaluewasputontraditionalprintadvertisements,2onascaleof10despitethefactthatitisthemostcommoncurrentpracticeamonglocalbusinessesintheEvanstonmarket.Itshouldbenotedthatwhenweaskedbusinessestorankthesecategoriesofadvertising,itwasundertheassumptionthatthebusinesshadanunlimited,hypotheticaladvertisingbudget(somethingmost,ifnotall, localbusinessinamarketwillnothave).Inotherwords,therewerenofinancialconstraints–theyweresimplyrankingwhichformsweremostvaluabletothemifmoneywerenotanissue.Inre-ality,ofcourse,inmanycasesbusinesseswouldlovetoadvertisehereortherebutsimplydonothavethebudgettodoit–anotherroadblockforahyperlocalWeb-basedpublisher.

20 Local Fourth

Findings

Business Needs Ourinterviewswithbusinessesshowedthattheyneededalotofhelpadvertisingon-line.Mostof theadvertisers interviewedhavebeen in themarket for a long time, andadvertisingintraditionalmediaiswhattheyareusedtodoing.Manydidnotknowmuchaboutonlineadvertising,wheretostart,orhowtolookforthebestsitetoreachtheirtargetcustomers.Thefollowingaretheirhigh-levelneeds:

• Site traffic: Generating traffic to theirwebsitewas a commonneedamonginterviewees,evenifthewebsitewasjustastaticadfortheirbusiness.Onepersondescribedtheirwebsiteasan“elec-tronicbrochure.”

• Simplicity:Theydon’twantanythingcomplicated.Manyofthebusinessesdon’thavethetimeorextrahelptoresearchforaweb-sitetoadvertisein.

• Advertisements to generate action:Advertiserswantpotentialcustomerstolookattheadandhavesomekindofresponsesuchascallingthebusiness,goingtothebusinessestablishment,etc.

• To find a “fit” betweenthespecificmediaproductswheretheyadvertiseandthecustomerstheywanttoreach.Forexample,doesthereadershipor“feel”ofalocalpaperseemtoreflecttheirowncustomerbase?DotheircustomersuseFacebookorTwitter?

Business PersonasThesurveysrevealedthat,inthehyperlocalsetting,eachcategoryofbusinesscanbefur-therparsedintotwogroupswithdistinctneeds:legacybusinessesand growingbusinesses.Webelievethesetwotypesofbusinessesarecommontomany,ifnotall,communities.Theyaredefinedasfollows:

• Legacy business:Abusinessthatisrecognizedbythelocalres-identsasacommunitylandmark.Suchlegacybusinesseswilloftentargetlong-timeresidentsofthecommunityandenjoyanestablishedbaseofregularcustomers.

• Growing business:Thesebusinesseshaverecentlyopenedormovedintothearea.Suchbusinessesareespeciallyconcernedwithlocaladvertisingbutdonothaveenoughexperience,orthebudget, to isolate andpointoutwho their frequent customersare.Naturally,theyarepronetothewhimsofficklecustomers.

BUSINESS INSIGHTS

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BUSINESS INSIGHTS

Toexaminethedifferentadvertisingrequirementsforthesetwo,we’vecreatedthefol-lowingpersonas:

• BrianisphotographerwhorecentlymovedtoEvanston.Hehasbeenaprofessionalphotographersincetheearly1990sandhasrecentlysetupasmallstudiodowntown,wherehehasapart-timeassistanttohelpwithhisassignments,whichmainlycon-sistofweddingsandportraits.Toadvertisehisbusiness,hebuysadspaceinthelocalpapersandmailsoutflyers.He’sheardofGrouponandsocialmediabutisfartoobusytoconductfurtherresearch.Ifhehadithisway,Brianwouldspendlesstimefind-ingnewbusinessandmoretimephotographingpeople.

• George isthemanagerofaGreekrestaurant,whichhisfatheropenedinEvanstonduringthe1980s.Therestaurantisconsid-eredapillarofthecommunityandhasitsshareofloyaldiners,fromlong-timeresidentstothestreamofNorthwesternstudents.Becausetherestaurantissowellknown,advertisingrarelyex-tends beyond simple ads in the local paper.Recently,Georgewasapproachedbyasalesmanforasmallbusinessspecializingindealsandcouponsforlocalbusinesses.Heisopentotheideaaslongashedoesn’thavetospendalotofmoneyortimewithit.

Wealsolookedattheinformationpro-videdbyourin-depthconsumerinterviews,especially where they shop, what busi-nesses are important, andhow they spendmoney online. In the SurveyMonkey re-sponses,businesswasnotapriority–onlyfourrespondentsacrossbothgeneraltrafficandEvanstonNowtrafficthoughtbusiness-relatedissueswereimportant. TheRoundTablewasthetopsourceofinfoforSurveyMonkeygeneralrespondentsandthesecondmostpopularforEvanstonNowtraffictothesurvey.WemonitoredtheadvertisingdisplayedonalloftheEvanstonlocalsites.TheRoundTablehasaverylim-itedstableofadvertisersthatincludeamixofnational,regional,andlocal;withregion-alandlocalmakingupthemajorityofads.These are served through rotating display

ads–althoughwithsofewadvertisers,anadrarelyrotatesoffofapageentirely. Other sites did not score as highly inthesurvey,especially ingeneral trafficre-spondents.Ingeneral,theEvanston Reviewgetsanumberofadsservedthroughitssis-ternewspapertheSun-Times,withamixoflocalandnational.TribLocalhasasimilarmix,andPatchseems toonlyservea fewnationaladssofar. In-depth survey respondents seemwell-acquaintedwith online shopping andservices at a few sites thatwere commontomany of them.Many haveNetflix andiTunes accounts, andmanyusedAmazon.A fewnamedsubscriptions tonewsor in-formationservicesbutotherssaidtheyweremorecomfortablewithprint.

Media Sources

22 Local Fourth

Consumer Needs Local restaurants were mentioned fre-quentlybyin-depthinterviewees–evenbythose who didn’t otherwise shop at localbusinesses.TheserestaurantsmaybeseenasaculturalhubforEvanston,accordingtoourin-depthaudienceresearch. Restaurants may be ideal places forpublishers to formmore in-depth relation-shipsthatwillboostawarenessofthenewspublicationaswellastherestaurant.Busi-ness could be drawn back to established,well-knownrestaurantsthroughcouponsorotherdeals. Interviewees’ responses about retailweremoremixed,withchainstoresappear-ing about as frequently as local ones.Lo-cal food stores seemed to farebetter evenamongrespondentswhootherwiseshoppedatchainstores.Manyofthoseintervieweddidnotconsider themselvesshoppers,and

Challenges & Difficulties Ourapproachwasaimedatidentifyingthe needs of the consumers and the localbusinesses. Once the needs are identified,aswehavedonethroughoursurveys, thisapproach ultimately attempts to presentourproduct (orourwebsite) as amediumthrough which consumers and local busi-nessescometogethertosatisfytheirrespec-tiveneeds. Inpractice,however,wefoundtheneedsof the consumers and the local businessesto be quite disparate, perhaps even to thepointwhereconnectingthetwoseemstobealmost impossible.Forexample,Evanstonresidentswe surveyed have a tendency toshopatnationalchainstores(asopposedto

most of the places mentioned were food,home stores, or in thewords of the inter-viewees, “just the typical stuff” or “basicthings.” A key factor in Evanston residents’movetochainandonlinestoresseemstobeconvenience–manyintervieweesaren’tin-terestedinspendingtimeshopping,andsogotorecognizablestoresandfamiliarsites.Advertising solutions for these consum-ersneedtomakethemawareofwhatlocalstores can offer that sets them apart fromconvenient sitesandchains. Inadditiontotraditionaldisplayads,couponsordealsthathighlighttheiruniqueofferingsareanoption.Other possibilitiesmaybe aYelp-styledirectory that includesEvanstonians’comments and reviews, or even adverto-rialcontentthatprovidesanarrativeback-groundforthebusiness.

local“momandpopshops”)becausebrandfamiliarityplaysamajorfactor.Inaddition,theysimplydonotspendmuchtimeshop-pinginEvanston. Ontheotherhand,nationalchainstoresare uninterested in advertising through ahyperlocalmediumbecauseoftheiralreadywell-established presence. Local shops,however, arewilling to advertise hyperlo-callyifthereisevidencethatcustomersac-tuallyreacttotheads.Unfortunately,Evan-stonresidentsmaynotrespondtosuchadssince they are inclined to go for nationalbrandsinthefirstplace.

BUSINESS INSIGHTS

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BUSINESS INSIGHTS

Sellingadsisn’teverything–inreality,itshouldonlybepartofyourincomestream.Onceyou’vedevelopedasubstantialaudiencebase–ataskthatcouldtakesome time – there are plenty of choices for supplemental revenue opportunities.Someofthemarelistedhere:

• Events:Ifahyperlocalsitehasdevelopedasubstantialaudiencethrough

itsbrandandcontent,theycannowputittouse!Usetheleverageinthelocalmarkettohostaluncheonordiscussionpanelatalocalbookstoretodiscussahotnewstopicthathasbeendrawnupon.Getanadvertisertoagreetosponsortheevent–andmaybefootaportionofthebill.TheSt. Louis Beacondoesthiswell–ithostsaweeklyBeacon&Eggseventatalocalspotinthecommunity.

• Donations:Sometimesthebestwaystomakemoneytojusttoaskforit.Ifahyperlocalpublicationhasdoneitsjobontheaudiencefront,contentcreationandbranding,thantherewillsurelybeanumberofloyalread-erswillingtocontribute.

• Case study:MinnPost isgoodexampleofanewswebsitethat has found success generating revenue through dona-tions. In 2009, they sought “micro-sponsorships” of $10and$25fromreadersofBrauBlog,oneofitsblogscover-ing localmedia and politics. The campaign attracted 328donorswhohelpedraise$6,595.AmatchinggrantfromtheHarnisch Foundation inNewYork pushed the total dona-tionsto$13,190.

• Classes:Ifahyperlocalpublisherisshortoneditorialstaff,expandbyofferingclassesincommunityjournalism.OurresearchintheEvanstonmarketshowedthattherewereplentyoflocalresidentspopulatingthemessageboardslookingtosinktheirteethinonsomeissues.Soteachthem.Byofferingacommunityjournalismcourse,ahyperlocalpublish-ercanleadthesepassionatecommunitymembersintheskillsofwrit-ing,editingandreportingoncommunityissues.Oncetheirtrainingiscomplete,sendthemouttoreportonvariousstories.Thisaccomplishestwothings:First,itexpandsyourreportingreachthroughoutthecom-munitythatyoucover;itgivesyoumorecontenttopopulateyoursitewith.Second,itpromotesahealthydoseofcommunityengagement–ahyperlocalpublisherisusinghis/herpresenceinthecommunitytopro-moteanoblecause–andismakingalittleextramoneyalongtheway.Chargeasmallfeefortheseclassesatfirst,andasthedemandincreases,starttohikethefeeupanotch.OaklandLocal,basedoutofOakland,Calif.,hasalsohadsuccessinthiscategory–thesiterecentlyhelda$75workshopforsmallbusinessesteachingthemhowtomarketthemselvesthroughsocialmedia.

Supplemental Revenue Opportunities

24 Local Fourth

BUSINESS INSIGHTS

Peoplehavedifferentreasonsforstartingahyperlocalnewssite.Forsome,it’sasideprojectthattheyenjoyorthattheyundertaketoservetheircommunity.Forothers,it’safull-timegigthattheyhopewillprovidethemwith an income.Eitherway, communities becomebetter-informed and arebetter off for having a hyperlocalresource.Thefollowingisalistofrecommendationsmeanttohelphyperlocalsitesfindtheirpathtofinancialsustainabilitysothat,ultimately,theycancontinueservingtheircommunities.

• Thetaskofgeneratingrevenue,likewritingorreporting,consumesbothtimeandat-tention.To become financially sustainable, hyperlocal publishers need to make revenue a priority rather than an afterthought.Therefore,itmaybeworthwhiletohiresomeonewhosesoleresponsibilityistofocusonadsalesandbusinessmatters.

• Identify who’s already advertising in your community by researching local pub-lications, print and online. Thesebusinessownersalreadybelieveintheideaofad-vertising;youjustneedtopersuadethemthatyoursiteisworthaninvestmentoftheiradbudget.

• Talk to local businesses and figure out how to best serve their advertising needs. Thismeetingshouldbeexploratorywithagoaloflearningaboutthebusiness’sneeds–notmakingasalespitch.

• Advertising needs vary depending on the size and age of the business. Legacybusi-nesses,thosethathavebeeninthecommunityforyears,canspendlessoftheirtotaladbudgetbyadvertisingonline.(OnesandzeroesontheInternetarecheaperthaninkandpaperintherealworld.)Growingbusinesses,ontheotherhand,needtobuildtheirbrandrecognitioninthecommunity.Theyaremorelikelytoexperimentwithnewerformsofadvertisingthroughsocialmediaandvideo.

• Keep it simple.It’slikelythatlocalbusinessownerswon’tunderstandInternetjargon,soavoidbuzzwordslikeconversionrates,click-throughs,andCPMs.Youwillfinditeasiertoattractadvertisersbyavoidinglong-termcontractsandminimumbuys.

• Visualizationiskey.Print out handouts so local business owners can see how and where their ad will appear on your site. Followstandardadunitguidelines,whichcanbefoundatthewebsitefortheInteractiveAdvertisingBureau.

• Mostbusinesseswilltendtogravitatetowardsimplebannerads,thestaticplainkind.Butdon’t be afraid to offer more creative modes of advertising like Flash andvideo,especiallyifit’sagrowingbusinesswillingtoexperiment.Plus,youcanchargemoreformultimediaads.

• Use free tools to manage, schedule and track your ad inventory. Google’sDouble-Click forPublishers service, formerlyknownasGoogleAdManager, allows smallpublishers todoall this, thoughthereisamildlearningcurvetogeteverythingsetup.

Recommendations

Amoredetailedreportfocusingsolelyonthebusinesschallengesforhyperlocalsitesisavailablefordownloadat:

http://bit.ly/Sustaining-Hyperlocal-News

25community media innovation project

LOCAL NEWS INSIGHTS

Research

If Chicago’s news and informationecosystem is any indication, local onlinenews is becoming increasingly crowded.Research supported by theChicagoCom-munity Trust identified 368 news sites inthe Chicago area that provide news andinformation. And members of the publicseem to think they have sufficient accessto information. Anothercommunity trust-supportedstudysurveyedthegeneralpublicandcommunityleaderstogaininsightintohow they valued local news. The surveyfoundthat87percentofsurveyedChicago-ansfeltadequatelyorwellinformedbythenews theyconsumed. Surveyparticipantsalso found that the existing informationecosystemoffered ampleopportunities forvoicing theirownviewsaboutcommunityissues. With a proliferation of online localinformationsources,fromindividualblog-gers to traditional news organizations, isthere a need for technological innovationaroundlocalnewsandinformation?It’safairquestion.Meetingcommunityinforma-tion needs is a noble cause, and onewithprofoundimplicationsfordemocracy,equi-ty,justiceandavibrantciviclife.However,throwingtechnologyataproblemmaynotbe sustainable, effective or appropriate.Pushingforinnovationinaspacewherein-formationusersbelievetheyarewell-servedrunstheriskofdisrespectingtheverycom-munitiesthatmediahopetoserve. Acarefulreadingoftheresearchsendsa clear message to potential innovators:simplycreatingmore informationormoretechnologyisn’thelpful.Therearedistinctunmet informationneeds that canact as afocusfor technological innovation. WhiletheCommunityTrust survey reported thatChicagoans felt generally well-served by

theirmedia,italsofoundthatmanyhaddif-ficultyprocessingtheinfluxofinformationavailabletothem.Abouthalfwereunhap-pywithcoverageofissuesthatmatteredtothemandasimilarpercentagewantedmoreorbetterpoliticalinformation.Almosttwo-thirdsofrespondentswantedmoreopportu-nitiestoheartheviewsofothers.Thestudyalsofoundthatpeoplewithlessincomeandeducation and people belonging to certainracialgroupsorlivingincertaingeographicregionshadmoretroublenavigatingthein-formationecosystemthanothers. Whilethisanalysisofrecentresearchprovidesatargetforinnovation,italsosetsahighbar.Innovationshouldbedirectedattheunmetneedsortowardpeoplewhohavedifficultynavigatingtheecosystem.

26 Local Fourth

LOCAL NEWS INSIGHTS

Findings

A Lack of Context

The online local media in Evanstonreflectsa full rangeofplayers.Thecity isserved by hyperlocal sites like EvanstonNow,newspapers likeEvanstonRoundTa-ble,hybridslikeTribLocal,andwell-fund-ednationalplayers likeAOL’sPatch.com.Oneofthemostapparentchallengesisthedifficulty ingrapplingwith the abundanceofnewsandinformation. We aren’t Evanston natives, whichputsusinapositionsimilartoacertainclassofresidents:thosewhoarenewtotheareaornewlyinterestedinalocaltopic.Manylocalissueshavealonghistoryandrequirecontextforreaderstounderstandtheimpacton their lives. Whileonlinenewsorgani-zations are experimenting with new con-tent management technologies and socialmedia, littlehaschanged in thewaynewsisreported.Storiesarewrittentohighlightthelatestdevelopments,givingnewcomersfewentrypointsforunderstandinganentiretopic. Forexample,theEvanstonRoundTa-blepublishedtheNov.16story“Tomlinsonto Speak onDifferentiated Instruction” initsschoolsection.Areadernewlyinvestedinschoolissuesmightaskiftheeventisre-lated to a current controversy surroundingthetrackingofstudentsatEvanstonTown-ship High School, or wonder which par-ents are most impacted by “differentiatedinstruction.”A talk by an expert could beagoodwaytounderstandeducationpolicyandmethods,butreadersaren’tlikelytoat-tendifthey’renotfamiliarwiththejargonorthedistrict’spedagogy.Furthermore,al-thoughit’sapparenttheeventwaspostedbysomeonefortheschooldistrict,thereisn’taclearpathforanaudiencetoaskquestions

thatwouldhelpthemdeterminetheevent’srelevance. ThelibraryisanotherongoingtopicofpublicinterestinEvanston.ArecentEvan-ston Now article, “Aldermen wash handsof libraries,” details a recent decision onlibraryfundingandiswrittenwith theex-pectationthatareaderalreadyknowsthere-lationshipbetweencitycouncilandLibraryBoard. A newcomermay get the impres-sion that the possibility of branch libraryclosures and funding are components ofthisissue.However,thearticlecoversthecontroversy rather than helping the readerunderstand the context. The article linkstootherlibraryrelatedstories,butthesear-ticlesalsotrackrecentdevelopmentsratherthanprovidecontextfortheissue. Inreviewingtheseexamples,thepointisnottocriticizethereportingorlocalnewsorganizations.Inbothexamples,reportersor editors have surfaced relevant and cur-rent information about their community.The question is whether this informationisbeingpresentedinitsmostusableform.Theroleofreportersisnotjusttodiscoverorrecordinformationbutalsotopresentitin a way that helps audiencesmake civicandcommunity-relateddecisions. Webe-lieve rethinking the technology used topresentlocalnewscanhelplocalpublishersbettermeet the information needs of theiraudiences.

Questions & Concerns Don’t Surface

The comment sections of a localnewswebsiteareusefulinbuildingcontextaroundastory.However,theseinteractionsoftenbecomeargumentative,deterringen-gagementbysome. Inmanycases,userslack ameans of evaluating the credibilityofinformationsurfacedincomments.Andthough reporters sometimes participate in

27community media innovation project

thediscussion,userconcernsandquestionsdon’tseemtodrivefurtherreportage. In thecommentsof the library fund-ing story mentioned earlier, a user withthehandle “MicheleHays” asks, “is thereanykindofrubricouttherecomparingtaxrates/incomes/etc.aroundtheCity?Arethenorthsideresidentsinpointoffactsendingmoreoftheirincomestopropertytaxes?” This question exposes unaddressedneeds for information about libraries: toclarify statements of public officials andmeasure the equity of different residents’taxcontributions. Another user, using the handle “Dr.Who Knows,” replies “I think that what[6thwardalderman]Tendammeansisthatthepeopleinthe6thwardhavemoreexpen-sivehouses,sotheyarepayingmoremoneyin taxes...therefore, theydeserve tohaveabranchlibraryinadditiontotheirnewfirestation.” IsthiswhatTendammeans?Becausewedon’t haveTendamon the record, andwe don’t know the identity behind “Dr.Who Knows,” this information is neitherreliablenorusefulforsomeoneseekingad-ditionalanswersontheissue. Asecondreplyfromauserusingthehandle “Q” takes amore adversarial tone.“Q”writes:

LOCAL NEWS INSIGHTS

“The north branch library is in the 7th ward. There are no li-braries or community centers in the 6th ward. The 6th ward has 3 parks, 3 pocket parks, and the lone Cook County For-est Preserve District property in the city. Feel free to continue to begrudge the fire protection provided solely to the 6th ward residents.”

ThiscommentbothoffersclarificationthatthereisnotabranchlibraryinTendam’sward,butfanstheflamesofthecomparisonbetweenthetwowards.Auserwhomaybeseekingsuchclarifyinginformationmaybedeterredbythisturntowardsargument.

28 Local Fourth

Findings In order to examine the challengesfacedbyhyperlocalpublishers,wefocusedonEvanstonNow,anindependentwebsiteservingthecity. EvanstonNowwas founded in 2005byBillSmith,anEvanstonnativewhore-turned home after a career in journalism,digital media and academia. He built thesite using the open-sourceDrupal contentmanagementsystem,installingandcustom-izingithimself.InaninterviewSmithtoldusabouthisoriginalvisionfortheEvanstonNowwebsite: “TheultimategoalistobeasbroadarepresentativeoftheaudienceofEvanstonaspossible.Thereareobviouslysomewaysthat wemight try to segment that and tieit toadvertiser interests tobettermonetizeit,butthegoalbyandlargeistoservethecommunityofEvanston.”

Coverage & Audience

Smith is thesite’sonly full-timeem-ployeeandprovidesmostofthenewscov-erage.HeconcentratesheavilyoncoveringnewsgeneratedbythecitygovernmentandCityCouncil,includingtaxesandeconomicdevelopment.HealsocoverscrimeinEvan-stonandprovidesaregularlyupdatedmapandlistofcrimesreportedtocitypolice.

EvanstonNowusesGoogleAnalyticsfor internal trafficmeasurement.Over thepastyear,thesitehasconsistentlyattractedmorethan30,000visitspermonth.InSep-

“The ultimate goal is to be as broad a representative of the audience of Evanston as possible. There are obviously some ways that we might try to segment that and tie it to advertiser interests to better monetize it, but the goal by and large is to serve the community of Evanston.” – Bill Smith

tember,whenamanwaskilledinabombexplosionataparknearanEvanstonmiddleschool,visitstothesiterosesharplytoal-most45,000,andthevisitortotalremainedsteadyat thathigher level inOctober.Thesitenowgeneratesmorethan100,000pageviewspermonth. According to Quantcast, a measure-ment service used by Smith, the site isparticularly appealing to older people; 39percentofviewersare50orolder,and33percent are between 35 and 49 years old.Almosteightin10ofthesite’susershavenochildrenunder18.EvanstonNowread-ersarealsoaffluent,with68percentmak-ingover$60,000ayear.Ouronlinesurveysandin-depthinterviewsweconductedinthecommunity generally corroborated thesefindings. In addition to news coverage, Smithwrites andposts signed editorials onvari-ousissues(seeFigure1and2),especiallythose related to government spending andtaxes.Healsopublishes theworkofa lo-cal editorial cartoonist.Siteusers are ableto create their own blogs,where they canpostnewsstoriesoreditorials.Butoverall,there is notmuchWeb traffic attracted tothisblognetwork,noristheremuchactiv-ityfromeachindividualblogger.ButSmithsaidhemonitorsthecontent,andwillsome-timespostusers’opinionpiecestothemainEvanstonNowblog.

EvanstonNowallowscom-ments on all content on the siteanddoesnotrequireuserstoregis-tertopostacomment.Thismeansmany comments are identifiedonlyasbeingwrittenby“Anony-mous.”Smithsaidhebelievesthe

anonymous-comment option is necessarysopeoplearenotdiscouragedfrompostingunpopularopinions.

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

29community media innovation project

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

Notes:*Comment frequency was determined on the following basis: “Low” frequency topics routinely contained 0-2 comments per article, “Moderate” topics routinely contained 3-5 comments per article and “High” topics routinely contained 6 or more comments per article.

*Content categories were determined qualitatively by the Local Fourth team. We chose not to use the Evanston Now site categories because they are too broad in some circumstances. For instance, the “Education” category on the website includes stories written by Evanston Now and also ag-gregated stories from The Daily Northwestern. Combining them would inadequately portray the website’s coverage of local Evanston schools, a major point of interest in the community.

Figure1

30 Local Fourth

Fromthesite’strafficandtheamountofuseractivityon its commentpages,wedetermined that readers engage most fre-quentlywitharticlesaboutcityhallandtax-es(seeFigure1).Signededitorials–mostof which address the same topics – alsodrawagoodamountoftraffic.Readerstendtointeractstronglywithanti-taxeditorials,asisevidencedbytherobustandsometimesaggressivecommentcultureonthesite. Thesitehasasectiondevotedentirelyto opinions, called “Views”, but websiteanalytical data indicates the section doesnot have a significant dedicated audience–people access “views” content by click-ingdirectlyontheopinionpiecesfromthehomepage. Based on this analysis, we believeEvanston Now appeals primarily to theStanEvansaudiencepersonadevelopedbythe audience team.Evans is an activist orcitizen within the community who is de-

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

voted to–andpossessesahighdegreeofknowledgeon–municipalgovernmentandrelatedissues. IsEvanstonNowholdingtruetoitsvi-sionofbeingabroadrepresentationofthecommunity?Tofindoutwhat residents inEvanstoncareabout,theLocal Fourthteamconductedonlinesurveysandextensivein-terviewswithover150Evanstonresidents.Fromourresearch,wediscoveredthefourmostpressingissuesare:

1. Crime/Violence/Gangs2. Schools3. Taxes4. CityCouncil

Evanston Now’s crime map and listaddress the top news interest, at least inpart.AndthesiteprovidesalotofcoverageofCityCouncilandtaxissues.Butthesitedoesn’tdevotenearlyasmuchattentiontocoveringEvanstonschools,whichouraudi-

Figure2

31community media innovation project

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

Bill Smith has written several editorials on tax issues.

Editorials on tax issues generate many comments.

32 Local Fourth

enceresearchfoundwasthesecond-highestranked topicof interest in thecommunity.ThisispartlybecausetheCityCouncilandschool boards in Evanston schedule theirmeetingsonthesamenight,“makingitim-possibleforonepersontocoverallthree,”Smith said. “I’m forced to choose…AndI’ve chosen to gowith the subjectmatterthatinterestsmemore.” Smith has made clear in his signededitorials thathe is concernedabout taxesin Evanston, and covers city governmenttaxationissuesclosely.Buthedoesnotde-votecomparableattentiontotaxandspend-ingissuesinthecity’stwoschooldistricts,

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

even though roughly two-thirds of Evan-stonresidents’propertytaxesgotoschools.(ThecityofEvanstonaccountsforonly20percentofpropertytaxes.)Inthepastthreemonths,only6percentofEvanstonNow’sreporting,and10percentofitsopinioncon-tent,hasbeenschool-related. EvanstonNowalsoincludesavarietyofcontentonlocalartsandtownlife.How-everthecommentpagesaretypicallyemptyonthesestories,andthearticlesthemselvestendtobemuchshorter..Thesetwofactorsindicate lower audience engagement withthis.

Community Perceptions

During conversations with residents, we found perceptions and attitudes towardEvanstonNow’snewscoveragethatmightpresentstrategicchallengesforthesite.Someyoungerresidentssaidtheyfeltthesitewas“aimedatanolderaudience.”Andduringin-depthinterviews,someuserstooknoteofthetax-focusedcoverageandSmith’seditorialsandsaidtheyfeltthenewscoveragereflectedaconservativeperspective.Belowareafewoftheonlinesurveyresponseswegatheredaboutthesite:

• Awomanbetween55and59said“nowtheRoundtable,TheEvanstonReviewandEvanstonNowareallflawed.EvanstonNowtoooftenmixesopinionsandnews.”

• Onewomanover60,whenaskedaboutwhereshegoesforlocalcoverage,listedEvan-stonNow,“despiteanoccasionalopinion,apparentbiasandgrammaticalerrors.”

• Anotherwomanbetween55and59yearsold toldus,“theRoundtable isareliablesourceforlocalnewsandIreadeveryissue.IalsocheckinwithEvanstonNowforuptodatenewsbutthecoverageisprettysparse.”

Smithsaiditisnothisgoalto“produceaconservativepublication.”Hesaidhiscov-eragethisfallhasbeenfocusedonCityHallandtaxesmostlybecauseofthetimeofyear. “Thistimeperiod,ofcourse,isthetimewhenthecitypreparesitsbudgetforthecomingyear–andsobudgetissuestendtodominatethepublicdebate,”Smithsaid. “Havingsaidthat,”hesaid,“IthinkthatkeepingEvanstonaffordableformiddleandworkingclassresidents isacritical issueinthecommunity.Therecessionhasseverelyconstrainedincomesformanyanddevastatedthevalueofthehomesthatformthelargestsingleassetformostfamilies.Yetpropertytaxbillsandothercostsoflocalgovernmenthavecontinuedtorise.”

33community media innovation project

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

Recommendations: Audience & Content

Localpublisherswon’tengagetheircommunityunlessthepublisherswriteontop-icsthataretrulyimportanttoresidents.Smithhasbuiltupabaseofloyalreaderswhoareinterestedinmunicipalgovernment,publicsafetyandtaxes.Webelievehecouldchannelthisbasewhilealsoappealingtootherreaderswithsimilarcharacteristics(activist,opin-ionated)butdifferingviews. Theeditorialsonthesitehaveabaseofvaluedreadersand“powerusers”whocom-mentregularlyonthesite.ButsomeresidentsinEvanstontoldusthattheyaretroubledbythefactthatSmithwriteseditorialsaswellasnewsarticlesaboutsometopics.Thefollow-ingarewayswethinkSmithcouldleveragethehighdegreeofintelligenceinEvanston,aswellasharnesstheenergyonthecommentpages,tocreateamorerobusteditorialsectionthatwouldincludemorecommunitymembers.Doingsowouldhelpincreasethedistancebetweenhim(asthemainreporter)andtheopinionwritingonthesite.

• Keep up to speed on what interests residents. Insightsonwhatmatterstothecom-munityneednotcomefromextensive,time-consumingresearch.Itcouldbeaseasyasconductinginformalinterviewswithresidentsinthecourseofreportingdailynews.Asdemonstratedbyourconversationswithresidents,theprocessdoesn’thavetobeafullquantitativestudy,butanopendiscussionwithcommunitymembers.

• Reach out to potential editorial contributors. Whileprofessionalreportersmaybeexpensivetohire,goodopinioncanoftenbecheap.Smithshouldtrytorecruitwell-knownandactiveresidentsinEvanstontowriteopinionpiecesforthesiteonvariousissues.Aswasthecasewithconductinginformalaudienceresearch,hecoulddothiswhileoutreportingorotherwiserunningerrandsandattendingeventsintown.

• Re-design the “views” pagetomakeitmoreofanappealingandunifiedlandingpadforavarietyofcommunityvoices.Addlinkstoadditionalop-edcontentontherightsidebar.Insteadofshowingjustatinypieceofeacheditorialcartoononthe“Views”homepage,trytocreatescalableversionsofthecartoonssoreadersandseetheentirecartoon,butstillmustclickonitforallthedetail.

• Make users log in to comment on articles, or prioritize comments from users that have identified themselves. Reachouttotheseactiveusersandencouragethemtowritesignededitorialsforthesite.

• Post ‘explanatory’ content—meaningarticlesthatexplain“howitworks”writtenbycommunitymemberswhohaveknowledgeofatopicbutnotalwaysanopinion.Thiswouldaddresstheneedofreaderswhowantthingsexplainedwhilealsobalanc-ingthenegativeperceptionofcommentsections.Findingpeopletowritethiscontentwouldbeanorganicprocessasconversationswithcommunitymemberswouldrevealknowledgeablecandidates.

• Allow for users to have different kinds of interactions with content on the site. Onegoodoptionwouldbetouseanadd-oncommentingservicesuchasDisqus,whichallowsuserstoflagcommentsasoffensiveorhelpfulwithouthavingtocomment.Dis-qusalsodisplaysTwittertweetsaboutthecontent,increasinginteractivityandpossiblyattractingyoungerusers.

34 Local Fourth

CASE STUDY INSIGHTS

Recommendations: Business & Revenue Toreachalargerormoreengagedaudience,EvanstonNowwillhavetocovermoretopicsthanitdoesnow.ButasSmithnotes,itisimpossibleforawebsiterelyingmostlyonasinglereportertocovereverythingofinterestinacommunityasactiveasEvanston.ThisiswhyrevenueshouldbeahigherpriorityforEvanstonNow. TheLocal FourthbusinessandrevenueteamfocusedonEvanstonforitsresearchonadvertisinginlocalmarkets.HerearesomerecommendationsforEvanstonNowbasedonthebusinessresearch:

• Hire a sales person. Smithshouldconsiderhiringasales/advertisingpersonforEvan-stonNow.Itcannotbehimsinceheismorefocusedonthecontentandsitemainte-nanceHavingsomeonewhoissolelycommittedtoadsalesandbusinessisvital.Thispersoncoulddothemarketresearchneededtofindadvertisers.

• Actively look for advertisers.Thebestwaytogetadvertisingistoshowyouhaveadvertising.EvanstonNowonlyhasafewstaticadvertisements.Inordertogetmore,wesuggestheofferfreeone-weektrialsofadvertisementstoenticemorebusinessestothesite.

• Keep it simple. Smith needs to keep the advertising packages straightforward andavoidbuzzwordssuchasclick-throughs,rotatingadsandcost-per-thousand-impres-sions(CPM).Localadvertisersareconfusedbythisapproachanddonothavethetimetoputintheresearch.Publisherssellinglocaladssuccessfullyoftenfindtheyshouldselladsappearinginfixedpositionsonthesite,pricedbytheweekormonthinsteadofbynumberofimpressions.

• Add a coupon bank. Freecouponswouldpromotemoretraffictothesiteandbetterrelationswithlocalbusinesses–andcouldbeconvertedtopaidadvertisingifsuccess-ful.

Final Thoughts

AllowingcommunitiestohaveopeninteractionswithjournalisticcontentisoneoftheguidingphilosophiesbehindtheLocal Fourthproject.Webelievethereareadvanta-geouswaysofinteractingonlinethatareburiedbyone-dimensionalcommentpagesthatoftenfosterunhelpfuldiscussion.Manyusershaveagenuineneedforexplanationswith-outopinions,oradesiretointeractaroundanissuewithoutbecomingpartofanargument. Sourcerer,thewebsiteprototypedevelopedbyourclass,aimstohelpreadersandre-portersinteracttocreatecontextaroundnews.Itwillalsobeastreamlinedwayforreaderstoaskquestionsaboutcommunityissuesthatreporters,professionalsorevenneighborscanobjectivelyaddress.Wehopethiswillbeausefultoolforhyperlocalpublishers,in-cludingBillSmith,whohavetheenergytoreportessentialnewstotheircommunitybutmaybenefitfrommoreinformationaboutwhatissuesaretrulyessentialtoreaders.

Sourcerer:

a context management system

36 Local Fourth

SOURCERER

Whenwe started designing ourWebapplication tohelpbuild context for com-plex topics,wewerewaryof creating an-othersitethatsimplyaggregatesnews.Wealsoavoidedsolutionsthatforcelocalnewssitestochangethewaytheycreateandsharecontent.Insteadwechosetobuildasystemthataddedvaluetothecontentandinterac-tionsalreadyhappeninginlocalnewseco-systems. Sourcerer is our open-source proto-typeofacontextmanagementsystem,de-signedasaplatformforengagementaroundlocal news and information. Sourcerer ismadeofafewimportantconceptualunits:• Topics• Questionsandanswers• Answersbasedonlocalcontent• Additional interactions:Votingand

flagging• Visualizingcontext

Topics

Topicsare thecontainers for interac-tionsinSourcerer.Weenvisiontopicstobebroader than a single story butmore spe-cificthanthesectionsofanewspaper.Forexample, “Education”wouldbe toobroadtobeatopic,but“ProposedWestSideEle-mentarySchool,”“PublicLibraryFunding”

or “Tracking at Evanston Township HighSchool”wouldallbewell-scaledtopics. Topicsalsohavesummaries,designedtoprovidecontextforusers.Thesummarycurrently allows for free-form HTML sothatcuratorscanexperimentwithdifferentformats. Thus far, we’ve tested three dif-ferentapproaches:paragraphsofplaintext,paragraphs of text and hyperlinks, and abulletedlistoutliningkeyconcepts.Thelastapproachelicitedthebestresponsefromourtestsubjectsbecauseitwasthefastestandeasiesttoread. Resultsmayvarydependingoncon-tent and audience, sowe encourage newssiteoperatorstoexperimentwiththesum-maryformat.

37community media innovation project

Appendix.Technology and Tools: LessonsLearned

Ourtoolkit

We built Sourcerer using Python and theDjangoframework.Wechoseawebframe-workbecauseweknewitwouldsavetime

A topic summary organized as paragraphs of text and hyperlinks.

A bulleted list of key concepts for the topic summary. Users preferred this format in our testing.

SOURCERER

38 Local Fourth

SOURCERER

Q: Why limit user interactions to the Q&A format?A: Choosing a set of interactions that best fits a wide range of local audiences can shape community and create more positive interactions around news.

Ourgoalistobuildrichcontextandnavigationpointsfortopicsoflocalinterest,buthowdoyoudothis?Awikicanbeeffectiveforgeneratingcontextualinformationarounda topic,so thiswasoneofouroriginal ideas. However,contributing towikis requireslearningthesyntax,whichmayactabarrierforsomeusers.(Therearealsotoughques-tionsabouttheinclusivityofpopularwikicommunities.)Instead,weattemptedtobuildcontextthroughinteractionsthatarealreadyhappeningaroundlocalnewsandinforma-tion:questionsandanswers.Sourcererliftstheseinteractionsoutoftheheatedspaceoflocalnewscommentpagesandencouragesparticipation.

Q: Another Q&A site? Really?A: Unlike other Q&A sites, the primary focus of Sourcerer is the topic, not the question. Questions are a tool for users to define the dimensions of a topic and answers are a way to build context for the topic.

Question-and-answersitesarebecomingacrowdedparty:

• Yahoo!Answersisawell-knownandvenerableQ&Asite.• Aardvark,acquiredbyGoogleinFebruary2010,leveragesauser’ssocialnetworktoanswerquestions.• Quoraisapromisingnewcomerthatemphasizesthereputationandexpertiseoftheanswerer.• StackOverflowispopularwithsoftwaredevelopers,andhasopeneditsplatformtoallowotherstocreatetheirownQ&Asites.• FacebookQuestionsisanewfeatureonthelargesocialnetworkingwebsite.

Sourcererdiffersfromthesesitesbecausethecorechunkofinformationisthetopicratherthanthequestion.Questionsandanswersarethemeansbywhichthetopic’scon-text isbuilt. Furthermore,we’vestructuredanswers inaway thatencouragescredibleinformationandpromoteslocalinformationproviders. Whendesigningthequestion-and-answerfunctionalityforSourcerer,wewerecare-fultomakethetoolaccessibletoawiderangeofuserswithvaryinglevelsofWebsav-viness. Furthermore,wewanted to encourage thebestpracticesof commentingwhilediscouragingtheworst.

Questions & Answers

39community media innovation project

TheinteractionsofferedinSourcerershouldbefamiliar tousersofexistingQ&Asites.IntheprototypeofSourcerer,userscanaskquestions,answeraquestionwithaclipfromanewssource,“upvote”onquestionsandanswers,andflagananswerasopinion.However,thesebasicinteractionshavebeenstructuredinawaythatlimitsrantsandsoap-boxing.Forinstance,we’veenforceda140-characterlimitonquestionstoencourageus-erstobeclearandtothepoint.Thisparticularlimitwasselectedbecauseitfollowssocialmediaconventionsandanticipatesfutureintegrationwithsocialmediaandmobileplat-forms.However,additionaltestingstillneedstobedonetodeterminetheoptimallimit.

Answers Based on Local Content

Q: What’s wrong with opinion in the discourse around local information?

A: Nothing, but there are many places where this can happen and, in some cases, the tone of the conversation deters participation. We wanted to design a more accessible commons that still encour-aged vibrant participation and respected the insight and experi-ence of community members.

Whenauseranswersaquestion,thecurrentprototypeofSourcererrequirestheusertoprovidesupportingevidence for theanswer fromanotherwebsite.TheuserentersaURLofthesitethatinformedtheiranswer,andSourcererloadsaversionoftheremotesitewithanadditionalpanelthatallowsthemtoeditthearticletexttheywanttoincludeandanyoftheirownwordstheywanttoaccompanytheclip.Articletextselectedwiththemouseisautomaticallycopiedtothequotationbox.Thesourcewebsitecanbeanything:localnewssite,governmentwebsite,blog,orevenasocial-networkstatusupdate. Whiletheadditionalstepofprovidingthesourceofananswercouldbeseenasabarriertoparticipation,wefeelitopensupparticipationinotherwaysspecifictothelocalmediaspace.Localpublishersandresidentstoldusthatsomepeopledidnotparticipateoronlyparticipatedanonymouslyinthecommentsoflocalnewssitesbecausetheyfearednegativereal-worldresponsesfromtheirneighborsiftheyvoicedaconflictingviewpoint.Sourcerer’scliprequirementcentersthediscussionaroundsharinginformationratherthanvoicingordebatingpointsofview.Inthisway,ausercanshareinformationthatrepre-sentstheirinterestswithoutfeelingliketheyhavetoenterintoanargument.Currently,onlyauthenticatedusersarepermittedtoanswerquestionsandtheirresponsesareshownwiththeirusername.Thispolicyissomethingthatwilllikelyhavetobeexaminedtofitthemoresofeachcommunity.However,evenifusersareallowedtoanswerquestionsanonymously,thecliprequirementaddsalayerofaccountabilitytotheanswer.

SOURCERER

40 Local Fourth

SOURCERER

Requiring users to provide a sourcefortheiranswershasthebenefitofdrivingtraffictolocalnewsandinformationsites.While the relevant snippet appears in theanswer, usersmay follow the link to readthe rest of the article. Theway inwhichcontentissurfacedinSourcererisquitedif-ferent from other aggregators. While themostrelevantpartofanarticlewouldbein-cludedinSourcerer,thefirstfewparagraphsorarticlesummaryarenot. Thisprovidesan additional incentive for a user to readmore of a clipped article. As Sourcererstores information about which pages aremostclippedandwhichsiteshavethemostclipped pages, these could be highlightedonaSourcerersitetodirectfurthertraffictolocalnewsandinformationsites.

Additional Interactions: Voting & Flagging

In addition to asking and answeringquestions, there are twomore interactionsavailable.Userscanrespondpositivelytoaquestionoranswerbyclickingathumbsupiconaswellasflagginganswersasopinion.These interactions are important becausetheyprovide amechanism formaking thequestionsandanswersself-moderating,al-lowing ones with more positive feedbacktoshowuphigheronthepage.Inthepro-totype, we’ve included the concept of a“burning question,” an unanswered ques-tionwithmany”thumbsup”votes.Thesequestionsreceiveaflameiconandappearinaseparatetopicsidebar.Weincludedthe

Q: Wouldn’t Sourcerer divert traffic from local publishers?

A: Sourcerer’s clip functionality is not an aggregator, but instead references a snippet of information that can highlight the value of existing local content and encourage users to visit sites where content originates.

abilityforuserstoflagananswerasopin-ionbecausesomeaudiencememberswein-terviewedwereconcernedabouttheoften-blurrylinebetweenfactandopinioninthecommentsectionsoflocalnewssites.SitesrunningSourcerermaywanttogivehighlyopinionatedanswerslessvisibility. Sourcerer allows readers to discoverusefulinformationaroundlocalnews,butitcanalsobeusedbyreportersandotherin-formationmediatorsasawaytodirecttheirreporting.Unansweredquestionsrepresentagapincoverageandcouldbeastoryideaoraquestiontoberedirectedtoapublicof-ficial.While it is our hope that Sourcererwillbeusedbyinformationmediatorstobemoreresponsivetotheircommunity,itstillallows users to mine valuable nuggets ofinformationoutof reporting, even if localnews organizations change nothing aboutthewaytheycovertopicsoflocalinterest.

Questions and answers with the most “thumbs ups” rise to the top.

41community media innovation project

Q: What other ideas do you have for helping people understand the context of an issue?

A: It should be easier for people to discover and navigate previous coverage.

Indevelopmentisatimelineinterfacetohelpuserscombthroughtopics,especial-lythosewithnumerousquestions,answers,and clips. Each bar in the timeline repre-sentsaclip fromananswer toaquestion.The clips are arranged in chronologicalorder basedonwhen the sourcewaspub-lished.Mousingoverabar in the timelinerevealsapopupoftheclippedinformationandalinktotheoriginalsource.Theheightof thebar represents thepopularity of thecitedmaterial,asmeasuredbythenumberofpositiveresponsestotheanswerthatgen-erated the clip. The color of the bar dis-playstheperceptionoffactvs.opinionforaparticularclip.Thisisbasedonthenumber

SOURCERER

oftimesauserflaggedaparticularansweras opinion. Clips that users considered tobemoreopinion-basedshowupasadarkershadeinthetimeline. WithoutSourcerer,auserseekingin-formationaboutalong-runningtopicwouldlikely have no choice but to use a searchengine.Thetimelineinterface,whichsetsSourcerer apart from ordinaryQ&A sites,allowsSourcereruserstocreatetopic-basedcontext in a more meaningful way. Thetimeline becomes a powerful way to letusers navigate through stories related to along-runningtopic,aswellastounderstandtheperceptionsotherusershaveaboutthosestories.

Visualizing Context

42 Local Fourth

Sarah Gomez isa“newsgraz-er”andaword-of-mouth/socialmediacommunicator.Ifshe’sparticularlyinterestedinatopic,sheseeksoutthatinformation,butshe’softendirectedbyoth-ersratherthanfirstfindingnewsonherown.

How Audience Research Technology

Persona Needs/Wants How Sourcerer Fulfills These Needs/Wants

4 theabilitytosharewhatshereadsthroughsocialmedia4 contentthatismorecon-versationalintone

4 canloginthroughFacebookConnect(willalsohelpSarahgettothesiteinthefirstplace,sinceshetypicallyhearsaboutnewsfrompeople/throughsocialmediafirst)4 QandAformatisdesignedtoinitiatecommunityconversations,islessformalthantraditionalnewscontent

Paul & Patty PowerslovetheircommunityandwishEvanstonnewscoveragewasmorepositive.Theydon’tmindreadinglongerarticlesanddon’treallycareawholelotaboutfunctionality.

4 profilesofpositivenews-makersinthecommunity

4 linksandcitationswilldirectPaulandPattytothelongerarticlestheyliketoread4 allowsthemtoseewhoelseintheircom-munityfeelsthesamewaytheydo

aa

Samantha Priceisalreadyvery“intheknow”whenitcomestoschool-relatedissues.She’salsoveryinterestedinanytopicthatsomehowrelatestochildren,suchaslibrariesandcommunityevents.

4 aplacetoshareherknowl-edgeandgainyetmoreknowl-edge

4 providesaplacewhereSamanthacanbethe“expert”–shewillbeabig“answerer”4 allowshertoseewhatothersaresayingabouttheissuesthatmattermosttoher

Dave Alexander doesn’treallyfeellikehehasanypowerorcontroloverwhatgoesoninhiscommunity.Therefore,hedoesn’tthinkitmattersifhepaysatten-tiontolocalnews.

4 tofeellikehisopinionsandconcernsmatter

4 ifDaveasksaquestion,andsomeone“answers”him,hewillfeelmoreinvolvedinhiscommunity

SOURCERER

43community media innovation project

Stan Evansisveryinvolvedinthehyperlocalspace.Hecon-sumesasmuchlocalnewsaspossibletonotmissanything–helikesbeingthe“go-to”guyforinformation.Healreadyfrequentscommentboards.Hisfavoritetopicsaregovernmentandpoli-tics.

4 toknowallthereistoknowonalocalissue4 aplacetosharehisknowl-edgewithothersanddemon-stratehispassionforcommu-nitynews

4 QandAletsStandemonstratehisknowl-edge,butinawaythatwon’tdeterothersfromparticipating4 timelinecomponentgiveshimacom-plete/overallsummaryofanissueratherthanjustbitsandpiecesatatime

Hannah Lewis isaveryholisticthinker–whenitcomestoanis-sue,shelooksatthingsfrompasttopresent(ratherthanjustthenewsoftheday).SheoftenhearsnewsfromfriendsandcolleaguesandusestheWeboftenwhenlookingforinformation.

4 toknowallthereistoknowonalocalissue–datingbackdecades4 wantstoseeequalrepre-sentationinthenews–feelssegmentsofEvanston’scom-munityareneglectedincurrentlocalnewscoverage

4 timelinecomponentgiveshertheholisticdetailssheneedswhenresearchinganissue4 insteadofrelyingononlyjournalistsforcoverage,QandAletsanyonedirectnewsdiscussion

Charlie Johnsonletsthemediadictatetheagenda,he’sacon-sumerofnews,notaparticipator.Helikesknowingwhat’sgoingoninhiscommunitybutdoesn’tstressoverkeepingupwiththenews.

4 aregular(butnottooregu-lar)updateofthemostimpor-tantthingsheneedstoknow

4 aweeklyemailblastofthemostpopularQsandAs,themostrecenttimelineaddi-tions,etc.wouldsatisfyCharliejustfine

Persona Needs/Wants How Sourcerer Fulfills These Needs/Wantsa

SOURCERER

44 Local Fourth

Similarly,siteownerswillneedtode-cidethelevelofinfluencethattheywanttohaveoverwhichinformationismostpromi-nentlydisplayedinSourcerer.Traditionally,newspapereditorshadfullcontroloverthehierarchy of information in their publica-tions.Many newmedia platforms rely onaggregating user interactions to push con-tentupordown.While theSourcererpro-totype surfaces content based on user in-teractionsandcouldallowuserstochoosehow to sort questions and answers, futureversionscouldalsoallowforamixtureofcrowd and editorial control over themostprominent content. Featured questionscouldbeselectedbyprivilegedusersonthesite.Amoderatormighthavemoreheavilyweightedvotesthanotherusers. Another question for site owners ishow to leverage information about users’behaviortoimprovethesite.Whilethepro-totypestoresdataaboutuserinteractions,itdoesnotyetprovideaneasyinterfacetoag-gregate these interactions.Providingsomekindofreportinginterfacewouldallowsiteownerstoweighusers’contributionsbasedon their prior interactions. For instance, asiteownermaywant togivetheuserwhoprovidedmanypopularanswersforatopictheabilitytoupdatethetopicsummary.

Sharing Interactions With Other Sites

The Sourcerer prototype provides apowerful mechanism for aggregating in-formation froma localnewsand informa-tion ecosystem through theNewsClipper.We’vealsomentionedourvisionofthewayinwhichquestionsandanswersinSourcerercoulddrivereporting.Inaddition,thereareotherways thatcommunity interactions inSourcerercouldbesurfacedonothersites. Onepossibilitywouldbeawidgetfor

SOURCERER

Our team had less than 10weeks towork on this project. With this timeline,weweren’table tobuildouteveryfeaturewe imagined or respond to each piece offeedbackwe heard in audience interviewsor usability tests.However,we do have aclear ideaof thedirectionswewould taketoevolvetheproject.

Who Would Use Sourcerer?

We see Sourcerer as a platform thatcould be deployed much like the popularblogging software WordPress, both ableto be downloaded and installed on a siteowner’sWeb host or offered as a hostedservicebyacentralorganization.Sourcerercouldbeoperatedbya localnewsorgani-zation looking to add interactivity beyonditsexistingsite’sfunctionality.Itcouldalsobe run as a cooperative effort bymultiplecommunity information providers or bya citizens group interested in encouragingdiscoveryandconversationaroundlocalin-formation.With any of these possibilities,we think it is important that theSourcererownerencourageuserstoanswerquestionswiththeinformationsourcestheythinkaremostuseful,notjustwithcontentcreatedbythesiteowner. Weimaginedthatsiteownersorem-ployees would take a curatorial role bydefining topics and updating summaries.The person doing this could be an owneroreditorofalocalnewssite,orareporterlookingtounifyreportingonaparticularis-sue.However, itwouldbeeasy tomodifythe software to allow any user of the sitetocreatetopicsoreditsummaries.FurtherdevelopmentofSourcerer shouldnotonlyincludeconfiguration to allowsiteownerstotrydifferentlevelsofaccessforusers,butalsometricstogaugetheresults.

Future Development

45community media innovation project

news organizations to put on their articlepages, listing thequestionsansweredbyaparticulararticle.Amoresophisticatedver-sion of this widget could even highlightsegmentsofanarticlethatanswerspecificquestions.ThiswouldbeastepbeyondtheWinerLinks,recentlyadoptedbyTheNewYorkTimes, which provide permalinks toparagraphswithinapage. AthirdversionofaSourcererwidgetcouldprovidealistofuserswhocontributedquestionsthathelpedguidethereporting.Inthisway, reporters couldacknowledgeus-ersoftheirinformationanddrivetraffictotheirsite fromfriendsandfamilyof thosewhocontributedquestions.

Becoming the Place for Information that Doesn’t Yet Exist

WhileSourcererisdesignedforongo-ing community issues, about which thereisalreadyexisting informationandreport-ing, theplatformcouldbeenhanced toal-lowasiteownertocreateemptytopicpagesthatanticipateinterestaroundanemergingcommunityissue.Forinstance,asiteownercouldcreateatopicpageinanticipationofanewdevelopmentproposaltobeunveiledat a zoning meeting. The topic creationprocess could generate a Twitter hashtag,shortened URL or SMS code that wouldallowmeetingattendeestoreportfromthemeetingandallowthosenot inattendancetoaskquestions. In thisway, theSourcer-erinstancewouldnotonlybeasourceforcontextaboutcommunitytopics,butalsoageneratorofkeywordsforacommunitytoshareinformationaroundatopic. AnotherwaythatSourcerercouldac-commodate future information would bepre-generated placeholder questions. Justase-commercesitesgeneratebatchesofon-linecouponcodes,Sourcerercouldgener-atepermalinksforquestions.Theplatform

couldgenerateprintableleafletsthatwouldallowsomeone toaskaquestiononpaperandthenwritedownortearofftheaddresstoviewthequestionandanyanswersonlinelater.Areporterorothersiterepresentativecould thenenter thequestion inSourcererontheuser’sbehalf.Thiswouldbeagreatwaytoengagelesstech-savvyusersoral-lowuserstosubmitclose-to-real-timeques-tions around an eventwithout requiring amobiledevice.

Articulating “This is Important to Me”

Readers typically do more than askand answer questions on traditional newssites, but sites allowing free-form com-mentsareoftenoverwhelmedbyramblingandmudslinging commenters.By limitingthe interactions in Sourcerer to questionsandanswers,weavoidsomeofthisnoise,butwealsolosesomecontextandframingoftopics. Inacommentonastoryaboutthepos-sibility of building a new neighborhoodschoolinEvanston’s5thWard,auserusingthehandleKimberlywrites:

SOURCERER

“Why should students in the 5th ward have to get bused while other stu-dents can walk to their attendance area schools ... It is simply not fair ... I used to live in the 5th ward when I was younger and I was bused out the ward to go to school to make sure the schools were racially equal for stu-dents in Evanston ... There is no com-munity school in the fifth ward.. Please build another school.”

Kimberly’s comment contains someunverifiedstatements(thatstudentsinotherareasofthecitycanordowalktoschool),and opinion (that the disparity inwalkingaccess for different students is unfair). Itwasfollowedbyathreadofcommentsthat

46 Local Fourth

whilediscouragingargument.Thelanguageusedtopromptthesekindsofcommentsisimportant.Anearlyversionoftheprototypeallowedusers tovoicebothquestions andconcerns,buttheword“concern”wascon-fusingtomanytestusers.

Refining the Question Prompt

Thecurrentquestionpromptisjustatextform.Wewanttoencourageclear,di-rect questions and discourage users fromsimply rewording opinionated statementsas questions.While the “thumbs up” iconand“flagasopinion”linkarewaystomod-eratequestionsaftertheyhavealreadybeenposted, theremaybeways to solicitmoreusefulquestionsonthefrontend. Sourcerer could employ natural lan-guage processing to analyze whether thetextenteredbytheuserseemslikeaques-tion,thengentlyasktheuser“areyousurethisisaquestion?”Anoptioncouldalsobeadded to let users rephrase another user’squestion,allowingusersthechancetocol-lectivelyconvergeonthemostusefulword-ingofaquestion.Finally,wealsoimaginedamoredirectedquestion form thathelpedguideusers indevelopingaquestion.ThisformmightresembleaMadLibsgame.

Direct Attribution

We realize that clips are really justa mechanism to attribute information tosomeone,andclipsmaynotalwaysbethebestwaytoansweraquestion,especiallyifjournalistsarereportingbasedontheques-tionsbeingasked.SoSourcerercouldalsoallowa journalistor sitemanager to attri-bute a statement to an individual person,evenifthatpersonisn’tactivelyusingthesite. For example, suppose someone asksaquestion:“Asidefromthesupposedben-

SOURCERER

included this response from another usertitled“TheCostof‘Fairness”:

“Kimberly since you are such a strong proponent on building a new school perhaps you and the other supporters would like to volunteer to finance the construction yourself. Let’s see – as-sume 10,000 of Evanston’s 80,000 residents strongly support the new school. At a $20 million construc-tion cost, you and the other support-ers only have to come up with $2,000 each. Then maybe an extra $500 per year per person each to pay for the ex-tra staff and maintenance every year thereafter. Are you OK with that?”

Thisexchangeislikelynotusefulforthosewhowanttobetterunderstandtheis-sue.However,Kimberlydoesarticulateanimportantdimensionoftheissue,thatsomeresidents think children should be able towalk to school. Exposing these concernswould allow people to better understandan issue and their neighbors. If Sourcerercouldsurfaceconcerns,not justquestions,theplatformcouldleadajournalisttowritea story about the effect school construc-tionwouldhaveonchildren’sbeingabletowalktoschool.Suchareportmightrevealthatotherfactors,besidesdistance,prohibitstudentsfromwalkingtoschool,oritcouldsimplydepictadisparitybetweentheexpe-riencesofdifferentstudents.Regardlessofthefindingsofreporting,breakingoutcon-cerns would allow information mediatorstoexploreacomplexissueratherthancol-lapseittotwopositions. Sourcerercouldbemodifiedtoallowusers toexpress“this iswhat is importanttome”inadditiontoquestionsaboutatop-ic.Acharacterlimitontheinputformanddisablingreplies–permittingusersonlytovoteornotvoteforaparticularconcern–might help zero in on community values

47community media innovation project

efitstoEvanstonbusinesses,whatelsedoestheUniversitydotobenefitEvanstonoritsresidents?”Andthatareporterfoundanan-swertothatquestionbyinterviewingNata-lie Furlett, an administrator atNorthwest-ern’sCenterforStudentInvolvement. In that scenario, we would want theinformation attributed to the source ratherthana“clipped”article.Withsomefurthertechnology development, a reporter couldinterviewFurlettandcreateaprofileforheronSourcerer.ThereportercouldenterFur-lett’sanswersandattributethemdirectlytoherprofile.Theresultmightlooklikethis:

SOURCERER

Furlett doesn’t ever have to use theprofilethereportercreatedforher,butifshedid,Sourcerercouldallowhertoverifyheridentityandclaimherprofilesoshecouldanswerquestionsdirectly.

Social Media Narratives

AsSourcerercollectsclips,questions,andcomments, itbecomesanatural indexoflocalnewsandinformation.Ifwestarttoimagineeachtopicasafeed,itbecomessomething similar to Twitter. We moveawayfromdeliveringthenewsasanarticleandstarttogatherinformationaspartofanongoingconversation(aqualitymanyofthebest journalistswork diligently to achievein theirwriting). We’recreating informa-tion packets – questions, answers, links –thatcanbereconfiguredintoapersonalized

social media narrative delivered to eachuser. We could take the attribution modela step further and allow reporters to self-attribute–allowingforeditorialcontentorsummationsthataredisplayedinthesameformastherestofthecontentonSourcerer. By approaching thenews as a socialmedianarrativeinsteadofasagroupofarti-cles,Sourcerercandeliverthemostimpor-tantnewstoeachuser. Using thepacketsofinformationfromSourcerer–questions,comments,answers,clips,statementsfrompublicfigures,etc.–wecanbuildpersonal

context. Wecan look at thetopics a userhas contributedto or viewed,the other usersthey’ve inter-acted with, thestatements,edi-torial content,and any other

contentfromSourcerer.Thesitecoulddis-play these information packets in chrono-logical order andwe could even encapsu-latetheminatimeline. Thesenarrativescouldspananylengthof time,soausercouldget theentirehis-toryofatopic–orjustwhathashappenedsincethelasttimeheorsheloggedon.Bymanagingtheconversationandthecontextaroundthemostvitalelementsofthenews–highly targetedanswers andquestions–Sourcerer can prioritize stories of specialrelevancetoeachuser.

48 Local Fourth

SOURCERER

Business & Revenue Possibilities Webelievethereareavarietyofpos-sibleapproachestogeneratingrevenuewithSourcerer.

Widgets & an Ad Network

As outlined above, one approach tobuilding connections between Sourcererandotherlocalsiteswouldbetoofferwid-gets that other sites would publish. Anyof thesewidgetsalsocouldincludeanad-vertisingposition, soldbyoneormoreofthe sites participating in this collaborativenetwork. Ad revenues would be sharedbetweentheownerofaSourcererinstanceandthesitewherethewidgetappears.Therevenue-sharing approach would increasethedesireofotherpublisherstocollaboratewiththeSourcerersite.

Leading Questions

We considered another model formonetizingaSourcererinstancethatlever-agedthequestion-and-answerformattoof-ferclassifiedadsoradvertisementsforlocalbusinesses.Whendiscussingthisproposedfeature, we used the term “leading ques-tion”asitdescribedthewayaquestionre-lated to advertisinghad apurposebesidessatisfying curiosity. While the user inter-facewouldhavetobedevelopedtodistin-guish between real, user-generated ques-tions and sponsored advertisingquestions,the leading question could be a fun andattention-grabbingwayforindividualsandbusinesses to sell things in their commu-nity. Aleadingquestionmaybe“HowdoIwatchtheWildcatsgamethisweekend?”withananswer“OnagreatSonyflatscreenTVthatI’msellingforonly$400!”Thein-teresting advantage of using the question-

and-answerformatforanadvertisement isthat it automatically provides a means ofinteractionbetweenthesellerandpotentialbuyer.Withourexampleleadingquestion,another usermight ask “How large is theTVanddoesithaveanHDMIinput?”asafollow-upquestion.Thisinteractioncoulddrawfurtherattention to theadaswellasoffer useful information to other potentialbuyers. Manylocalonlinenewsorganizationslack either the resources or desire to helplocal advertisers develop more impactfuladvertisingcopy.Theideaofleadingques-tions in Sourcerer provides a mechanismfor crowdsourcing thewritingof this spe-cificbrandofadcopy.Sincequestionsaremeant to be short and direct, clever userscould quickly contribute a question pitchforaproduct.Asmallamountoftheadrev-enuecouldbesharedwith theuserwhosequestionispickedbytheadvertiser,ortheonethatismostclickedon.Thisfunction-alityisanupdatetotheadvertisingwritingcontestspopularinthemiddleof20thcen-tury. Likethosecontests, itengagesaudi-ence members in advertising rather thanjustpushingadcontentatthem.

Sites in a network using the Sourcerer widget could share in ad revenue.

49community media innovation project

USABILITY INSIGHTS

Research ThroughoutOctoberandNovemberof2010,theLocal FourthmembersformedausabilityteamtoinformthedevelopmentoftheSourcererWebproductandconductau-diencetesting.Sevenphasesoftestingwerecompleted,involvingbothonlineandpaperprototypes.Eachroundoftestingledtoad-ditionaliterationofthetechteam’scurrentsitedesignandoverallgoals. Approximately 40 participants weretestedduringthisprocess.Inearliertestingphases,testsweremainlyconductedontheNorthwesterncampusamongstudents andfaculty.Whilethesegroupsmaynotseemtoadheretotheaudienceteam’spersonapool,theseearlytestsweredesignedtotargetverybasicsiteinteractionsandelements.Forex-ample, we tested elements such as layoutfloworusingabuttontovoteonquestionsand answers.Additionally, limiting initialteststoourimmediateareahelpedkeeptheusabilityteaminclosecontactwiththede-velopmentteamandspeeduptheprocessofcreatingnewiterationsthataddressedtesterconcerns. LatertestsbroughttheusabilityteamintotheEvanstoncommunity.Withamorevisually finalized prototype, wewent intocoffeeshopsintheareaforinformaldem-onstrations and discussions with Evansto-niansofallageranges.Thisprocesshelpedtheteamdeterminewhataspectsofthesitewere confusinguponfirst impression, andwhat garnered the strongest positive reac-tions. The team built upon these tests bycontacting previous in-depth audience in-terview participants and visiting them foran extended usability test and discussionofsitefeatures.Whileusabilitytestingwassomewhat compressed due to time con-straints, thisoverall processhelpedus en-surethatnear-finalchangestothesitealso

served the purpose of bringing itmore inlinewiththeneedsofourpersonas. Almost all of the tests focused on agroupof fundamentalsite interactionsandelements thatwere identified as key traitsofSourcerernearthebeginningofdevelop-ment.Elementsrepeatedlytestedincluded:

• Questions; including on-siteprompts, tagging, and whetherto allow concerns and/or com-ments

• Answers;introducingandusingtheNewsClipperfunctionality

• Voting features to allow userstoindicatewhichquestionsandanswersaremostimportant

• The best organization for topicoverviewpages

• Attribution, moderation, andbuilding a trusted on-site dis-course

50 Local Fourth

Findings

Workingunderashortdevelopmentcycleofapproximatelyeightweeksmeantthatproject goals had to be identified quickly. Specific testing goals frequently changed toaddressnewissuesbroughtupbysubjects.Usabilitytestingbecameanessentialprocessin identifyingkey issues in the site thatdeservedourattention.Onemajorexampleofthisisthevotingbutton,whichdidnotinitiallyseemlikeaproblematicaspectduetotheprevalenceofFacebook’sLikebuttonandothersimilarvotingexperiencesonline,butwasquicklyrevealedintestingtobeanareathatrequiredcloseattentiontolanguageused.Thefollowingaresomeofthekeythemeswediscoveredaboutusabilityinahyperlocalspace.

• Moderation, registration, and attribution are essential. Overall thenumberofparticipantswhoappreciategoodmoderationfeaturesfarout-weighthenumberofuserswhoareworrieditwouldlimitthenumberofusersonthesite.

• Audiences want more than a message board. Communitydiscussionsgainvaluefrombeingshaped–inthiscase,byouradherencetoaQ&Aformatinsteadoffreelyallowingopinion-basedcommenting.Manytes-tersexpressedappreciationforaformatthatvariedfromtheirusualun-filteredexperiencewithcommentboards.

• Site language is very important. Almostalltesters,whethertech-savvyornot,areawareofandinfluencedbyfinedegreesofdifferenceinlan-guageinfeaturessuchasvotingbuttonsandinputprompts.

• Site design should highlight important features and create a strong first impression. Aswemovedtowardafinaldesign,manytesterswerefirstunimpressedorconfusedbythesite,butastheyinteractedwithit,begantoappreciateless-visibleelementsliketheNewsClipper.

USABILITY INSIGHTS

51community media innovation project

Recommendations

Members of the usability teamwere new to the process of usability testing andthroughexperimentingwithdifferentteststylesandgroupsizesdevelopedthefollowingrecommendationsforhyperlocal journalistsandpublisherswhomayalsobeunfamiliarwiththeprocess:

• Work in pairs. Oneteammembershouldaskthequestions,whileanothertakesnotesonthetest.

• Test early when developing new ideas for functionality.Simple“paperprototyping”canprovidevaluableinsightsbeforedesignandfunctionalityareimplemented.

• Testing one user is better than none at allwhenexploringanewfeature.

• Test individuals or small groups (2-4).Largergroupsmake itdifficultforallopinionstobeheard,andcanencourage“group-think.”

• Encourage people to think aloud astheyviewsomethingonlineoronapapertest.

• Tests can range in complexityfromsinglequestionstointeract-ingwithallelementsofthesite.

• Develop a script that allows for open ended questions. “Yes/no”answers rarelyprovideuseful insights for thedevelopmentprocess.

• Let subjects know that all feedback is good feedbackandthattherearenowronganswers.

• Don’t identify yourself as tied to particular features/design el-ements. Distancingyourselffromthedevelopmentprocesswillencouragesubjectstoprovidehonestfeedback.

• When testing in the community, provide incentives to encour-age participation. Weused$5coffeegiftcards.

• Tell users in advance how much time you will need from them andkeeptestswithinthattimelimit.

• Ask follow-up questions. Youmightbe testingoneparticularfeature,butaskingfollow-upscanleadtoinsightsaboutotheras-pectsoftheproject.

USABILITY INSIGHTS

52 Local Fourth

Medill Community Media Innovation ProjectFall 2010

Initial Audience Research Questions

TEST QUESTIONS – PART I

MEDIA USE1. Whatareyourprimarymedia

sourcesinEvanston?2. Howdoyougetbasicservices–

joblistings,realestate,etc.3. Describeyourmediause.4. Gothroughyourdayrelatedto

mediause.5. Wheredoyougetinformation

thatyoutrust?6. Whenyougetinformation

you’rewaryof,wheredidyougetit?

7. Doyougoonlinetogetlocalnews?

8. Doyoureadblogsregularly?Doyoutrusttheinformation?

AFFILIATIONS

1. Whatgroupsdoyoubelongto?2. Whichgroupstakeupthemost

timeinyourlife?3. Whydidyoujointhosegroups?4. Doyoudonatetoanygroups

causes?

LEISURE TIME1. Whatdoyoudoinyourfree

time?2. DoyoustayinEvanstonordo

youventuretothecityorothersuburbs?

3. Wheredidyougoforyourlastvacation?

4. WhatdoyoudoinEvanstonafterwork?Howaboutweekends?

EVANSTON CONNECTIONS

1. Didyougrowuphere?2. WhydidyoumovetoEvanston?3. DoyouintendtostayinEvan-

ston?Why?4. Whatfigures/institutionsdoyou

seeasimportanttothecity?5. Whatdoyoulike/dislikeabout

Evanston?6. Whatareyourfavorite3spotsin

Evanston?7. Whatdifferencesdoyouseebe-

tweenWilmetteandEvanston?8. Whatdifferencesdoyouseebe-

tweenChicagoandEvanston?9. Whatdifferencesdoyouseebe-

tweenSkokieandEvanston?10.Wheredoyouspendmostofyour

time?

DEMOGRAPHICS

1. WhereinEvanstondoyoulive?2. Whydoyoulivehere?3. Howdoyougettowork?4. Whatisyouroccupation?5. Ifyouhadtomoveawayfrom

Evanstontomorrow,howhard/easywoulditbetorelocate?

6. Whenisthelasttimeyouconsid-eredlivingsomewhereelse?

7. Ifyouweren’tlivinginEvanston,wherewouldyoubeliving?

FAMILY COMPOSITION1. Whodoyoulivewith?2. Ifyouhavekids,wheredothey

gotoschool?3. Howdidyouchoosewhereyour

kidsgotoschool?4. Howlargeisyourimmediate

family?

APPENDIX: AUDIENCE 1A

53community media innovation project

APPENDIX: AUDIENCE 1A

IMPORTANT ISSUES

1. Whatarethetop3issuesaffect-ingyourightnow?

2. Thinkaboutyourdailyroutine.Whatbugsyou?

WORKPLACE

1. Wheredoyouwork?2. Howdoyougettowork?3. Full-timeorpart-time?

LOCAL AWARENESS

1. WhatmisconceptionsdoyouthinkpeoplehaveaboutEvan-ston?

2. DefineEvanstoninthreewords.3. HowdoesthepresenceofNorth-

westernUniversityaffectyou?4. Wheredoyougotofindoutwhat

eventsaregoingoninEvanston?

54 Local Fourth

APPENDIX: AUDIENCE 1B

• WhydoyouliveinEvanston? oHowlonghaveyoulivedin Evanston? oWhatisamisconception peoplehaveaboutEvanston?• Istheresomethingyouwishpeople

inEvanstonknewmoreabout?• DefineEvanstoninthree

words?• Whatdoyounormallydoonyour

freetime? oHowdoyounormallyfindout aboutthingstodo?• Howdoyougetaround?• Whatdoyoudoforaliving?• Whatorganizationsorgroupsdo

youbelongto?• Whatconcernsyouthemostabout

Evanston?(Whatwouldyouchange?)

oWhatpublicfiguresandinsti tutionsdoyouseeasimpor- tanttotheseconcerns?• WhatplacesinEvanstonaremost

importanttoyou?• ArethereplacesinEvanstonwhere

youwishyouspentmoretime?• Whatareyourprimarysourcesof

information? oWhataboutEvanstonspecifi- cally? oWherewouldyougoifyou wanttofindajob? oWherewouldyougoifyou wanttofindahouseorapart- ment?

Medill Community Media Innovation ProjectFall 2010

Audience Research Questionnaire

For this weekend: Interview5–10Evanstonresidentsusingthefollowingquestions.Weaddedsub-questionswefeltwereobviousfollow-upstohelptheconversationflowandtolearnmoreinformationabouttheseEvanstonians.

Remember to get as diverse a group of interviewees as possible.

The questions:

• Areyoumarried?• Doyouhavekids? oHowmanydoyouhaveandhowold arethey? oWheredotheygotoschool? oHowdidyouchoosewhereyourkids gotoschool?• Wouldyoubecomfortablegivingusyour

emailaddressornumberincaseweneededtofollowupwithyoulater?

55community media innovation project

Medill Community Media Innovation ProjectFall 2010

Survey Monkey Questions

1.HowlonghaveyoulivedinEvanston? a. lessthanayear b. 1-5years c. 6-10years d. 11-20years e. 21yearsormore

2.WhatisthemainreasonyouchosetoliveinEvanston? a. Bornand/orraisedhere b. Relocatedforajob c. WantedachangefromChicago d. Goodplacetoraiseafamily e. Schoolsystem f. Other(pleasespecify)

3.AsanEvanstonresident,whatconcernsyoumost?(open-endedquestion)

4.WhatwouldyouchangeaboutEvanston,ifanything?(open-endedquestion)

5.WheredoyougetEvanston-relatednewsandinformation?(open-endedquestion)

6.Age a. Under18 b. 18-24 c. 25-29 d. 30-34 e. 35-39 f. 40-44 g. 45-49 h. 50-54 i. 55-59 j. 60andover

7.Gender(fill-in)

8.Maywecontactyouifwehaveanyfollow-upquestions?Pleaseenteryournameandcontactinfo.(fill-in)

APPENDIX: AUDIENCE 1C

56 Local Fourth

APPENDIX: AUDIENCE 1D

Medill Community Media Innovation ProjectFall 2010

In-depth Interview Questions

Life in Evanston

• HowlonghaveyoulivedinEvanston?• WhydidyouchoosetoliveinEvan-

ston?• Whatmisconceptionsdopeoplehave

aboutEvanston?• What3wordsbestdescribeEvanston?• Whatdoyounormallydoinyourfree

time?• Whatdoyoudoforaliving?• Whatorganizationsorgroupsdoyou

belongto?• Whatconcernsyouthemostabout

Evanston?/WhatwouldyouchangeaboutEvanston,ifyoucould?

• WhatplacesinEvanstonaremostim-portanttoyou?

Family/Household

• Tellmeaboutyourhousehold(spouse,partner,kids,anyotherrelativeslivingwithyou).

• Areyourkidsinschool?DotheygotoschoolinEvanston?Publicorprivate?Whydidyougothatroute?Whatdoyouthinkabouttheirschool?

Media Use

• DoyoureadanyEvanstonnewspa-pers?Howoften?Whatdoyouthinkaboutthem?Or...whatwouldittaketomakeyoureadone?

• DoyoureadanyonlineEvanstonnewswebsites?Howoften?Whatdoyouthinkaboutthem?Or...whatwouldittaketomakeyoureadone?

• Doyoureadthenewspaper?Whichpapers?Howoften?Where(online,

print,etc.)?• Doyoureadmagazines?Whichones?

Howoften?Where(online,print,etc.)?• DoyouwatchTV?Whichshows?

Howoften?• DoyoubrowsetheWeb?Whichsites?

Howoften?Where(online,print,etc.)?• Doyouaccessinformationonyour

mobilephone?How?Howoften?

Goods/Services

NOTE: In the following section, we’re trying to find out “where” people go to find out the fol-lowing information (for example, do they look for a job in newspapers, or online?) If they’re willing, try to really find out why they choose to look in the places they do. For example, are they crazy about cutting coupons? Do they house hunt even though they don’t plan on moving? Are they happy with the information they find, or do they feel like the need more?

• Wheredoyougowhenyou’relookingforajob?

• Wheredoyougowhenyou’relook-ingforahouse/realestate?(ex.print,websites,etc.)

• Wheredoyougowhenyou’relookingforupcominglocalevents?(ex.print,websites,etc.)

• Wheredoyougotostayontopoflocalnews/issues?(ex.print,websites,etc.)

• Wheredoyougoformoney-savingtips,couponsand/orotherdeals,etc.?

• Wheredoyougotofindoutinforma-tionaboutdoctors,dentists,childcare,mechanicsand/orothergoodsandservices?

57community media innovation project

APPENDIX: USABILITY TESTS

Testing Timeline

Test 1

Protoype Live Site, six participants, week of 10/11/2010, Northwestern campus

Keyquestionsaddressedbythistestincluded:

• Would users be interested in submitting questions andconcerns,oronlyquestions?

• Wastaggingwell-understoodbyourtestaudience?• What types of voting systems were intuitively recog-

nizedorpreferredbyusers?

58 Local Fourth

ThistestintroducedaveryroughprototypeofwhatwouldeventuallybecometheSourcerersite,featuringplaceholdertopic,question-and-answercontent,afieldforuserstoenterquestionsorconcernsandtagthem,andavotingbuttonusingtheword“share.”Testerswereencouragedtocompletebasicinteractionswitheachofthesefeatures,andthenaskedsomequalitativefollow-upquestionsabouttheiropinionofthesite. ThisroundoftestingsoughttoexploreourmostbasicassumptionsabouthowuserswouldwanttouseasiteconceptbasedaroundcommunityinteractionandQ&Adrivennews.

Findings:

• Thesitewaspresentedinarelativelytraditionallayoutofsummary,questionfieldandfinallyquestionsandanswers‘belowthefold.’Mostusersimme-diatelyscrolled,wantingtoseethequestionsandanswersfirstorhigherup.

• Tagswereapointofconfusionevenforourrelativelytech-savvyon-campustestgroup.Manyconfusedtheword‘tag’withthe‘tab’navigationthatthissiteiterationemployedfortopics.

• Thistestdemonstratedthatusersareawareoffinedistinctionsofconnota-tionbetweendifferent‘votingwords’:“like,”“share,”“agree”and“vote”allreceiveddifferentreactions.

• Userswereconcernedthattheirinteractionsonthesitemightbepushedtosocialnetworkswithouttheirapproval.Theydidnotwantthistooccurbydefault,andtheywantedaclearexplanationofhowthesitewouldinteractwiththeirsocialnetworkprofiles.

• ‘Concerns’orcommentswere lesspopular thanquestions,andoverall theideaofamorecurated,fact-basedexperiencewasreceivedbetterthanamoreopen,typicalcommentboardone.

“This might lose my interest if it wasn’t the top issues of the day.”

Tester comments

Recommendations:

Eachtestdroverecommendationsforfuturetestingandfuturedevelopmentonthesite.

• Languageforavotebuttonshouldbechosencarefullyandtestedrepeatedly.• Someuserswanted tosee themost recentquestionsfirst;otherspreferred

tohighlightthemostpopularquestions.Usersshouldbeabletomakethischoicethemselvesthroughadropdownorothermenu.

• Explorealternativestotaggingasameanstocategorizecontent.• Exploremodelswhereopinion-basedcommentsorconcernsarelesspriori-

tizedornotpresentatall:willthislimitinteractionorimprovethefeelofthecommunity?

APPENDIX: USABILITY TESTS

59community media innovation project

Test 2

Card sort, six participants, week of 10/18/10, Northwestern campus

Thesecondtestcycleconsistedofacardsort,worksheetsandpaperprototypetest-ingdesignedtodiscovermoreabouthowusersvaluedquestionsandanswersasaconcept,andhowtheymightranktheimportanceofdifferentquestionsandanswers. Testcontentbecamemoredevelopedinthisphase,focusingontwoissuesthattheaudienceteampreviouslyidentifiedaskeyEvanstonconcerns:town/gownrelationswithNorthwesternandtaxissuesrelatedtofundinglocallibraries.Whilethisdidallowustoavoidthefeelof‘filler’content,insomecases,testersdidunnecessarilybecomefocusedon the subjectmatter or relative quality of the content as journalism rather thanmoreusability-centricquestionsaskedbyteammembers. In thecardsort test,membersofa four-persongroupwereeachgiveneightnotecardswithavarietyofpre-seededquestionsandcomments.Subjectswereaskedtogroupthecardsintolikestacks,andthenexplaintherationalefortheirsortingmethod.

Findings:• Theword‘concern,’previouslyusedbydevelopmentandtestteamstode-

scribecommentsonthissite,wasnotusedbyanytesters.Termsusedbytestersincludedopinions,issues,debate,complaints,statements,voices.

• Questionswereagainconsideredmoreimportantthanopinionsandtestersfeltthesiteshouldbedesignedandweightedtoreflectthis.

• Testerswouldnotmindcommentsonthesiteaslongastheywereclearlydistinguishedfromquestions.

• Moderationand‘ahumanelement’behindthetechnologywerepreferred• Adesireforaccurateanswersfromofficialsandotherexpertswaspreferred

to‘random’opinions.

Tester Comments

“I don’t want another ‘bathroom wall’ of opinions.”

“If you have a question, it automatically means you are con-cerned about the issue.”

Recommendations:

• Eliminatetheword“concern”andcontinuetode-emphasizeoreliminatetheabilitytosubmittheminfutureiterations.

• Includefunctionalitythatpreventsduplicatequestionsbyalertingtheuserthattheyareabouttosubmitaquestionsimilartoonepreviouslyasked.

• Don’tallowvotingoncomments/opinions:continuetofocusthesitemorestronglyonanattributed,moderatedexperiencethatisfact-based.

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Test 3

Prompts and questions paper test, three participants, week of 10/23/10, Northwestern campus Inthistest,subjectswereaskedtoreadtwodifferentlyformattedlocalnewsstories:oneashortsummaryinparagraphsandtheotherconsistingofbulleteditems.Theywerethenaskedtoformulatethreefollow-upquestionsthatcametomindafterreadingeacharticle,designedtoidentifywhataspectoflocalnewsaudiencesmaywanttoknowaboutthataren’ttraditionallycovered. Theparticipantswerethengivenalistofpre-writtenquestionsandaskedtocomparewiththosetheywrote.Withquestionsthatoverlappedorseemedsimilar,theywereaskedtoselectawordfromalist(Agree/Samehere/GoodQuestion/MeToo/Totally)thatbestexpressedthesimilarity.Thiselementofthetestwasdesignedtocontinuetestingfinedegreesofdifferenceinvotinglanguage.

Findings:• Manyparticipantsselectedseveraldifferentwordstryingtomatchthe

‘degree’ofoverlap,forexample“Samehere”forthesamequestion,“goodquestion”foraslightlydifferentlywordedquestionwithasimi-laridea.

• Weultimatelyfoundthatrepeatingthistestwithpre-writtenquestionswasbetter,sincetestersdidnotbecomesoattachedtotheirownword-inganddidnotevaluateotherquestions’similarityinexactingdetail.

Recommendations:• Votingshouldbeaone-clickprocessinsteadofallowingmultiple

categoriesofsimilarityoraslidingscale.• Allowuserstovoteonlyoncetokeeptheprocessfair.

Test 4

News Clipper testing, four participants, ongoing throughout Oct. and Nov., Northwestern campus

OncetheNewsClipper,afunctiondesignedtomaketheprocessofenteringattrib-utednewsinformationaspartofananswereasier,wasconceptualized,theteamsfeltthatweneededtotestwhetherthisnewwayofinteractingwiththeQ&Aprocessandnewswouldbewell-received. Thefirstphaseofthistesting(twoparticipants)wasconductedonapaperapprox-imation of the process,where participantswere given a sample topic and question setaswellasthreeprintedarticlesaboutthetopic,andaskedtohighlightinformationtheywoulduseinananswer.Astechdevelopmentprogressed,twootherparticipantswereabletovisittheNewsClipperaspartofalivesiteprototypeandtestitsfunctionalitywithanysitetheychosetovisit.Additionally,laterroundsoftestingwereabletoincorporatetheNewsClipperasanelementoftestingtechdevelopmentprogressed.

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At this early online phase, the News Clipper automatically copies highlighted text, and fills in citation information such as article title and author name.

Findings:

• Testersnotedthatmoderationandattributioniswhatseparates thissitefromexistingQ&Asitesorcommentboards.

• Attributionimprovedthefeelofcredibilityandsometesterssaidtheywouldn’treadunattributedanswers.

• Papertestersexpressedtheneedforaneasy-to-usecopyingtool,onlinetesterslaterfeltthattheonlineNewsClipperfulfilledthisneed.

• Onepaper testerwasa journalist andwas resistant to the ideaof answeringquestionsordoingotheron-sitetasksthatseemedtooverlapwithherjob.

Tester Comments

“Moderation is what separates this from generic question sites or annoying comment sites.”

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Recommendations:• Attributed and non-attributed answers should be easily identifiable, if non-

attributedanswersareallowedinthefinalproduct.Additionally,someaddi-tionaltestingonrequiringattributionisrecommended.

• TheonlineNewsClipperwaswell-receivedbutis‘buried’onthesitebehindseveralotherinteractions(loggingin,choosingtoansweraquestion,clicking‘answerthis’):exploredesignoptionsthathighlightthisuniqueandeasy-to-usefunctionality.

• Thereshouldbeavenues,whetherinourreportoron-site,forreporterstogainabettersenseoftheSourcerertoolandseehowitenhances,ratherthanover-lappingwithordetractingfrom,theirwork.

Test 5

Paper testing on trusted answers, 11 participants, week of 11/1/2010, Northwestern cam-pus

Inthefinalroundofpaperdrafttesting,subjectsweregivenaprintedpageconsistingofashortnewssummaryofthetown/gownissuefollowedbythreedifferentquestion-and-answer‘threads’thatincludedavarietyoftypesofinputincludinghigh-andlow-qualityposts,namedandanonymoussampleusers,“clipped”answersandsamplevoicessuchasmoderatorsorcityofficials.Testquestionswerefocusedonlearningwhattypesofat-tribution,moderationandregistrationfeaturesproducecredibilityandinformationalvalueforusers.

Findings:• Trusted answers come frommoderator, city of Evanston official, reporter,

townresident,studentorganization• Not trusted:students,non-identified:anonymousorusernames

Additional Findings:• Therewasadesiretoseemoderatorsorotherimportantfiguresclearlydenoted

withcolorcodingorotherdesignelements.• Themosttrustedgroupsweretheonesthattestersfeltwouldhavethemostat-

tributionandsourcingtochecktheiranswerifneeded.• Thequestionatthetopofthepageshouldbethemostvaluableandimportant,

butthiscouldbedeterminedeitherbyeditorialcurationorcommunityinput.• Thistestcontinuedtheemergingthemethatmoderationiskeytousersandes-

sentialinmakingoursiteuniquecomparedtootheronlinenewscommunities.

Tester Comments

“Conversation around an issue must be backed up with facts for me to read it.”

“It’s great to have an opinion but it’s great to have some-thing to back it up.”

APPENDIX: USABILITY TESTS

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Recommendations:• Thistestprimarilycontributedtosolidifyingthesitedesign’scommitmenttoa

fact-basedfeelandaQ&A(notcomment)drivenformat.• Continuetoteststrongmoderationfeaturessuchasrequiringattributiontoan-

swer: thisandother test responsesshow thatmorepeopleare farmorecon-cernedaboutpoormoderationdilutingcommunitythanaboutstrongmodera-tionlimitingresponses

Test 6

Informal coffee shop demos in the community, six participants, week of 11/8/10, Evanston

During theweek ofNovember 8-12, test teammemberswent to coffee shops inEvanstonandbeganshowingamorepolishedmodeloftheSourcerersitethatwasvisu-allysimilartothecurrentdesign.Thismodelfeaturedtwodifferenttopicpagemodels:onewithnews article-likeparagraphs andoneorganizedwithbulleted facts and links.Bothversionsalsofeaturedseededquestionsandanswers,aswellasa“thumbsup”votingbuttonandfunctioningvotecounterwitha“burningquestion”graphicaldesign.Thispro-totypeincludedafunctionalNewsClipper,althoughusersinthisinformalsettingdidnotfeelthattheycouldthinkofasitetoclipfromanddeclinedtotesttheansweringfunction. Thistestallowedustoexplore‘firstimpressions’ofamorecomplete,visuallystyleddesignandhelpedidentifykeydesigngoalsforthefinalweeksofdevelopment.

Findings:

• Sometesterswereconfusedbytherelativelyminimaliststylingofsitesections:key issues includedanoverlygrayed-out lookingquestion inputfield, andalackofdesigncuesaboutwhattextboxesrepresentedquestionsoranswers,andhowthreadswererelated.

• A lackofconsistency indesignconceptwasnoticedby testusers: ideasof‘burningquestions’ andfiremotif, ‘thumbsup,’ and the then-currentprojectname‘Querity’allseemedunrelatedandinsomecasesconfusing.

• Subjectswereshowntwostylesoftopicpage.Abulletedstyleoftopicpagewasmorepopular,whileaparagraphed,article-styletopicpageconfusedsomeparticipantswhothoughttheywerelookingatasinglenewsarticlewithcom-mentsinsteadofatopicoverview.

• Therewerepositivereactionstoattributionandclipping,butsplitopinionsonrequiringattribution.

• Seededcontentfeaturedfullnames,usernamesandanonymoususers.Anony-mousresponseswerequicklyidentifiedandnegativelyreceived.

Recommendations:

• Alldesignandconceptualelementsmustbeinternallyconsistentandlogical:Prioritizefinalizingasitename,votebuttonlanguage,andvisualdesignele-mentstoreachthisgoal.

• Lightregistrationwillimproveissueswithanonymousparticipants

APPENDIX: USABILITY TESTS

64 Local Fourth

• Avoidoverlyminimalistdesign,whichrepeatedlyconfusedparticipantsthatfitkeybutlesstech-savvypersonas.BasiccuesinvisualdesignareimportantforaudiencememberslessaccustomedtothevisuallanguageoftheWeb.

• Continuedevelopingalternativetopicpageformatsthatstrivetodeliveraquickoverviewwithout‘filler’

Test 7

In-depth community testing, three participants, week of 11/15/10, Evanston

Inthefinalweeksofdevelopment,testteammemberstooknear-finaliterationsofthenow-namedSourcerertestsitetocommunitymemberswhopreviouslyparticipatedinin-depthinterviewswithouraudienceteam.Thoughourtestpoolwaslimitedduetotimeconstraints,thesetesterswerewillingtospeakatlengthwithourteammembers.Thisal-lowedustogointogreatdetailbothintermsofquestionsaddressingusabilityanddesign,aswellasaudienceresearchandhowwellourproductwasconnectingwithkeycommu-nitypersonas.

Findings:• Theseusersself-identifiedaspeoplewhomaynotvisitthesiteregularly,but

wouldvisitwhentheyhadspecificquestionsandconcernsaboutlocalnewsis-sues.Theywouldonlyaskaquestioniftheyhada“burning”one,andwouldonlyansweriftheyfeltveryconfidentabouttheirknowledgeofthetopic.

• TheNewsClipperfunctionalitywasveryimpressivetothesetestersinaction,butnotwellunderstoodbefore itwasdemonstratedbya test teammember.UsersdidnotknowuntilthisdemothattheClipperautomaticallycopiedandcitedtextforthem.

• Whilesomevisualchangesweremade to thesitesince thepreviousweek’stests,therewerestillconfusingelementsonthesite:Forexample,testersdidnotrealizethatabuttonwasclickablebecauseitwasblack–usuallythecolorofnon-clickabletextontheWeb.Anothermajorpointofconfusionwasaverypalegray‘Q’inthebackgroundofaquestionbox,whichwaseithernotnoticedbytestersorthoughttobeaQuicktimelogo.

Tester Comments

“To me, this is about more than just local issues – it is news that affects me.”

Recommendations:

• FindwaystohighlighttheNewsClipperinthefront-facingdesign,suchasademoscreencastortaglineaboutitseasyfunctionality.

• Continuemakingadjustmentstowardamoreintuitivevisualdesignandtestingthesechangeswithtargetedaudiencemembers.

• Ontherecommendationofthistestgroup:consideroptionstorespondtocom-munityneedssuchasprovidingabilingualsite,forexamplethroughbilingualstafforvolunteermoderators.

APPENDIX: USABILITY TESTS

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Our Toolkit

WebuiltSourcererusingPythonandtheDjango framework. We chose aWebframeworkbecauseweknewitwouldsavetime and chose Django because three de-velopershadsomepriorexperiencework-ingwiththeframework. Still,weweren’tseasonedDjangodevelopersandfoundthatDjango’s documentation and strong usercommunity allowed us to quickly solveproblems we encountered or offer ideasabout thebest patterns to use to approachproblems. Using languages and frame-works thatareaccessible in thisway isofparticularimportanceifaprojectisexpect-ed tobeopensourcedorpass through thehandsofdifferentsetsofdevelopers.Whiledeveloping the application from scratchusingDjango allowed us towork rapidly,developing Sourcerer as aDrupalmoduleorWordpresspluginwouldhavemadethecodemore useful out of the box for localnewsproviders. WemadeheavyuseofjQueryforpro-grammingtheinterfaceelements,againbe-causetheteammemberwiththemostuserinterfacedevelopmentexperiencewasmostcomfortableworkingwith thisframework.One unexpected advantage of using bothDjangoandjQuerywasthewaythattheidi-omsoftheframeworkshelpedstandardizethe way different developers wrote code.Thoughtherearestillinconsistenciesinthecode, it isvastlymorereadablethanifwehadbeenleftentirelytoourowndevicesindesigningtheprojectlayout. We used Postgresql as the databasebackendforourproject,thoughweconsid-eredusingadatastorethatallowedformoreflexible schema. We used the tool Southto make changes to our data models lesschallenging.Choosingtoolsthatfacilitate

APPENDIX: TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS

makingchanges to theprojectcanmakeabigdifferenceinprogrammingdecisions.Ifit’s relatively easy tomake changes, eveniftheyaffectotherdevelopers,there’smoreofanincentivetorefactoruglyportionsofcode. Djangomakesitrelativelyeasytode-velop on individual workstations and thedeploy to theapplicationhost. However,weencounteredsomechallengesgettingalldevelopers up and running with workingdevelopment environments. Even thoughitseemslikeanimpediment,it’sworthin-vesting the time togetalldeveloperswellversedinthesametoolsratherthanwaitingforthepointwhereitbecomesashow-stop-per. We consideredboth developing andhostingSourcererwith a cloudcomputingsolution like Amazon’s Elastic ComputeCloud.However,wedecidedtohoststag-ingandtest instancesofanapplicationonamoretraditionalsharedWebhostbecauseallthedevelopersweremorefamiliarwithsuchahostingplatform. Partwaythroughthedevelopmentpro-cess, we added a scripted deploy processusingFabric.Thismadeiteasierforustoquickly create multiple test instances andwould pave the way to move to a cloud-basedhostingsolutionorforotheruserstodownloadourcoderepositoryanddeploytotheirownservers.However,implementingthis solution did interrupt development offeaturesforafewdaysandwasconfusingto other developerswhoweren’t involvedin developing the deployment scripts. AswithouruseofSouth, itwouldhavebeensmoothertostartusingthetoolsatthebe-ginningof theproject. Even if theywereusedinarudimentaryfashionitwouldhavehelpedalldeveloperslearnthetoolsasthe

66 Local Fourth

projectprogressed.Inarapidlydevelopedprojectwhereresourcesarespreadthin,wefound itwasnecessary foreachdevelopertounderstanda littlebitofallpartsof thecodeanditsenvironment,eveniftheywereoutsideofhiscoreexpertise. Finally, using a distributed sourcecode management system was crucial fordeveloper collaboration. We chose git,once again because of developer famil-iaritywith the tool. We chose to use theGitHub hosted repository service to save

thetimeandoverheadofadministeringourown central repository. In addition, theplatform’svisualization toolshelpedmakemergingchangesandtrackingeachother’sworkeasy.WeusedGitHub’sissuetrackerfordocumentingbugsinthecode,buthaddifficultyopeningthebugtrackeruptothebroaderteamastheyfoundbugs.WetriedusingaGoogleFormtoeasilycollectbugreportsfromourteammates,butmonitoringbug reports in twodifferentplacesprovedtobecumbersome.

The Development Process

Front-to-Back Development

Westarteddevelopmentwithaback-end data model. We spent a few dayssketching out and implementing modelsthat seemed flexible enough to handle allpossibledataneedsforourinterface.How-ever,welaterfoundthattheflexibilityofthemodelsmadeitmorecomplicatedtotieinfront-endfeatures.Inretrospect,weshouldhavestartedwithsimplerdatamodelsandadaptedthemtothefeaturesanduserinter-facerequirementssurfacedthroughtestingandaudienceinsight. Itwas temptingfor thedevelopers tobuild the site from the ground up: sketchoutthecolumnsandtableswe’dusetoor-ganize data, throw together a rudimentarybut graphically limited implementation ofthemostbasicfeatures,thengraduallyaddfunctionality and refine the interface. Butthismeantourearlyworkdidn’thelpothermembers of the team, or potential users,understand how the site would function.DatabaseschemataandplaintextinaWebbrowserdon’tadequatelyillustratehowthesitewillactuallylookandfeel;they’reonlyuseful to developers interested in testing

howthesystemworksbehindthescenes. Wefounditwasoftenmoreusefultocreatewell-designedmockups of the finalsite first, either simply as graphics or asprototypes in HTML/CSS. That lets non-developersunderstandhowthey’llactuallyinteract with the tools. Implementing themoretechnicallyintricatepartsoftheback-endnext letspotentialusersactuallywalkthroughandprovidefeedbackonthemorecomplexinteractionsinthesite.Wewouldhave benefited by working in a sequencefrom paper prototypes tomockups to testimplementations. We ended up workingsimultaneously with all three and it wasextremelydifficulttointegratethefindingsfromtestingintofutureversionsofthepro-totype.

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67community media innovation project

Do the Novel Stuff First

Weoverestimatedtheamountoftimeitwouldtaketodevelopthequestion-and-answerportionofSourcerer. Other tasks,likeimplementingaloginsystemthatalsoallowed users to log in with their Face-bookIDalsoprovedtobetime-consuming.Theseproblemsarebynomeanseasy,buttheyareproblemswheremanyothershaveapproachedversionsofthesamechalleng-es.Ifwecouldgobackintime10weeks,wewouldhavefocusedfirstondevelopingfeatures,liketheNewsClipper,thataren’treplicated in other software projects andsave for last the features for which therewereexistingimplementations. In a developer-driven project likeSourcerer, the order inwhich features aretackled shapes the efforts of other teams.This can create a trade-off between refin-ing user-facing interfaces and interactionsanddevelopingnewinsightaboutuserin-formationneeds.InthecaseofSourcerer,wewereabletogetconsiderablefeedbackaround the question-and-answer interface,but less insight into thekindsof informa-tionsthatpeoplewouldtrytosurfaceusingthe tool and what additional interactions,beyondquestions andanswerswhichmayberequired.Developmentteamsaimingtocreateinnovativeproductsshouldconsidertheirworkaspartofalargerprocessofin-quiry,not justmaking things. Developersshouldask,“whatdoIneedtobuildtofindoutwhatIwanttoknow?” We chose to develop our question-and-answersystemfromscratchratherthanbuilduponopen-sourceQ&Aplatformsorusing commercialAPIs becausewewant-ed considerable control over functionalityandtheinterfacewithothercomponentsofSourcerersuchas theNewsClipper. Fur-

thermore,with the short project time line,evaluatingdifferentexistingsolutionsasastartingpointdidn’tseemlikethebestuseofdeveloperresources.Implementingmorenovel pieces of Sourcerer’s functionalityfirstwouldhavemadetheprocessofevalu-atingpreexistingpiecesasbuildingblocksforourprojectmoredirectedandfaster.

APPENDIX: TECHNOLOGY & TOOLS

68 Local Fourth

AftergraduatingfromHendrixCollegeinArkansaswithadegreeinclassicsandayearspentteachinginJapan,Elizabethdecidedtotryoutjournalism.SheispursuingherinterestinonlinemediathroughMedill’sinteractivepublishingconcentration.

UpongraduationfromMedill,Lorihopestopursueacareerinprintjournalism by taking over the family business. Her parents ownandpublishthePhilippineWeekly,theonlyweeklynewspaperthatservestheFilipinocommunityinChicagoanditssurroundingsub-urbswithnewsfromthehomeland.Lorihopestocreateahyperlocalwebsiteforthebusinessaswell.

A graduate ofMichiganStateUniversity’s School of Journalism,EmilyhasspentmorethanadecadelivingandinworkinginTel-luride,Colorado,intheheartoftheSanJuanMountains.There,shewas editor-in-chief of the region’s daily newspaper andmore re-centlyservedasexecutivedirectorofanaward-winningnon-profitorganizationforyouth.Shecontinuestoworkasafreelancewriter,contributingtoavarietyofpublicationsandcommunityorganiza-tions.

Geoffhasaprofessionalbackgroundincomputerscience,Webde-velopmentandIT,buthasalsospent timecoordinatinganot-for-profitprisonliteracyorganization,workingwithcommunityorgani-zationstowardssocialjusticegoalsandplayingmusic.Hebecameinterested in journalism because he saw it as an important spaceforconvergencebetweentechnologyandreal-worldneedsofcom-munities.

HailingfromthewonderfulnorthsuburbsofChicago,Frankjour-neyedtoMedillinthewinterof2010topursueacareerinsportsjournalism-adreamthathasn’tyetbeenforgottendespitehismod-eratesuccessasabusinessjournalistfortheMedillNewsService.JoiningtheLocal Fourthteaminthefall,Frankwantedtoexploreinnovativerevenueandbusinessventuresinthehyperlocalspace.

Steven has an undergraduate degree in computer science, andworkedinintellectualpropertylitigationforseveralyears.HecametoMedilltowriteproseaswellascode.Heplanstoworkasanews-paperreporterfollowinggraduation.

ElizabethBahmMedillConcentration:Interac-tivePublishingHometown:Wichita,KSUndergrad:HendrixCollege

LoriBernardinoMedillConcentration:MagazineHometown:Schaumburg,ILUndergrad:LoyolaUniversityChicago

EmilyDresslarMedillConcentration:MediaManagementHometown:TellurideUndergrad:MichiganStateUniversity

GeoffHingMedillConcentration:ReportingHometown:BoilingSprings,PAUndergrad:OhioStateUniver-sity

FrankKalmanMedillConcentration:FinancialReportingHometown:Glenview,ILUndergrad:IndianaUniversity

StevenMelendezMedillConcentration:PublicAffairsReportingHometown:St.James,NYUndergrad:HarvardCollege

APPENDIX: MEET THE TEAM

69community media innovation project

APPENDIX: MEET THE TEAM

AndrewisaWebdesigner/developer,awriterandapoliticaljunkieinvested in developing newplatforms to bring context, relevanceand clarity to the ever-growing glut of information available on-line.DuringhistimeatMedill,hewasawardedaCarnegie-KnightNews21FellowshiptoexploreculturalevolutionandgenerationalshiftsinAmericaPost-graduation,Andrewplanstocontinuework-ingasadesigner/developerwhileheformsastartupcompanywithpartnersinNewYork.

Before coming toMedill, Spencer majored in English-LanguageLiteraturesatUCSantaCruz. In theyearbetweenundergradandattendingNorthwestern, heworked for theObama campaign andtouredthecountrymanagingarockband–he’sgotsomeinterestingstories.

Eddy,aChicago-basedwriter,istheauthorandfounderofMagicBasketball, a blog which covers the OrlandoMagic for ESPN’sTrueHoopNetwork.Healsowrotefortheaward-winningOrlandoPinstripedPost, ablogwhichcovers theMagicand isoneof thefewindependentsourcescredentialedbyaprofessionalsportsteam.

KevinmostrecentlyworkedasastaffwriteratProvidenceBusinessNews,wherehewroteaboutarchitectureandrealestate.He’salsoafoundingmemberandeditorofFloodMagazine.InJanuary2011,he’llbeworkingasamultimediaandgeneralassignmentreporterforTheTimesandTheSundayTimesinJohannesburg.

Aftergraduatingwithadegreeincomputerscience,Shanetookuppostwritingsoftwareforafinancialinstitution.Thereheworkedoneverythingfromphonesystemstowebsitestoreal-timecommuni-cationsoftwareforcontactcenters.Butthisdidn’tprovetobehistruecalling.In2009hestumbledacrossanadlookingforprogram-merswillingtotryjournalism.Inpursuitofmorefulfillingwork,hethrewhimselfattheopportunitytoreportthenewsoftheday.

JasonmovedtoChicagotoexplorebigcityculture,seewhatnewideaswereoutthere,andstrengthenhiswriting.WhileatMedill,hereportedonChicagoeconomicsandbecameinterestedinaudiencesaswellasreaderengagementinthecommunitynewsspace.

AndrewPaleyMedillConcentration:PublicAffairsReporting/InteractiveProductionHometown:Burlington,VT/NewYork,NYUndergrad:St.Michael’sCollege

SpencerRinkusMedillConcentration:Interac-tivePublishingHometown:Turlock,CAUndergrad:UniversityofCalifornia,SantaCruz

EddyRiveraMedillConcentration:Interac-tivePublishingHometown:Orlando,FLUndergrad:DePaulUniversity

KevinShalveyMedillConcentration:Interac-tivePublishingHometown:Warwick,RIUndergrad:UniversityofRhodeIsland

ShaneShifflettMedillConcentration:Interac-tivePublishingHometown:KansasCity,KSUndergrad:UniversityofMis-souri-KansasCity

JasonSloughMedillConcentration:Busi-nessReportingHometown:Columbus,OhioUndergrad:OhioStateUni-versity

70 Local Fourth

APPENDIX: MEET THE TEAM

Thoughwritingisherprimarypassion,Jordandecidedtopur-sue Medill’s interactive publishing track to become a morewell-rounded journalist (and to learnhowtomakecoolweb-sites).After taking a class on audience insights, Jordan alsobecamevery interested inpersonadevelopmentandaudienceresearch–thispropelledhertobecomeoneoftheinnovationproject’saudienceresearchco-leaders.AfterMedill,JordanisheadedtotheBigAppleforthenextbigadventure.

JohncametoMedillpursuehisinterestsinfinancialjournalismandemergingtrendsinmediatechnology.Johniscurrentlypar-ticipatingintheMedillCommunityMediaInnovationProjectandhebelievesthatthisisanopportunitytocombinehispas-sionforjournalismandquantitativeanalysis.

JesserelocatedfromSanFranciscotoChicagoinordertopur-suehisinterestsinnewmediajournalism.HisconcentrationatMedillwas/ismagazinewritingandediting.Aftergraduation,he hopes to pursue a career that enables him to combinehisengineeringandjournalismbackground.

JordanTurgeonMedillConcentration:InteractivePublishingHometown:Plymouth,MNUndergrad:UniversityofWisconsin-Madison

JohnYooMedillConcentration:BusinessReport-ingHometown:Chicago,ILUndergrad:NorthwesternUniveresity

JesseYoungMedillConcentration:MagazineHometown:SanDiego,CAUndergrad:UniversityofCalifornia-Berkeley

71community media innovation project

Rich GordonisprofessoranddirectorofdigitalinnovationatMedill,wherehelaunchedandhasoverseentheschool’sgraduateprogramininteractivepublishing.HewasthefirstonlinedirectorfortheMiamiHeraldPublishingCo.,overseeingeditorialandbusinessoperations.Beforethatheworkedasreporter,bureauchiefandeditorfornewspapersinVirginiaandFlorida,wherehewasoneoftheearlyleadersincomputer-assistedreporting.

Owen YoungmanwasappointedtotheKnightChairinDigitalMediaStrategyatMedillinJanuary,2009,aftera37-yearcareerattheChicagoTribunefocusedonnewproductde-velopment,innovation,andinteractivemedia.HeistheassociatedirectoroftheCenterforInnovationinTechnology,MediaandJournalism,acollaborationbetweenMedillandtheMcCormickSchoolofComputerScienceandElectricalEngineering.AttheTribune,hecre-atedsuchwebsitesaschicagotribune.comandmetromix.com,directedthedevelopmentandlaunchofRedEye,anddirectedhyperlocalnewseffortsbothofflineandonlinefornearly30years.Heblogsatowenyoungman.com,thepersonalwebsitehelaunchedin1994,andtweetsas@YoungOwen.

Rachel Davis Mersey joinedtheMedillfacultyin2008asanassistantprofessorofjournal-ismwithaspecializationinaudienceunderstanding.Researchshepresentedatthe2007AssociationforEducationinJournalismandMassCommunicationconferencewasawarded“toppaper”bytheInternationalNewsmediaMarketingAssociation(INMA).Inaddition,shehasdoneworkfortheNewspaperAssociationofAmericaonyoungadultsandnewspapers,andtheChicagoCommunityTrustonlocalinformationneeds.Herfirstbook,Can Journal-ism Be Saved? Rediscovering America’s Appetite for News,waspublishedbyPraegerinAugust2010.

Jeremy Gilbertisanassistantprofessorteachinginteractivestorytelling,Webandprintde-signtoolsandtechniques.BeforecomingtoMedillinthefallof2008,heledThePoynterIn-stituteinrethinkingandredesigningitsindustryleadingwebsite,PoynterOnline.HehelpedtheInstituterethinkandsegmentitsWebproperties,addingnewtoolsanduser-friendlynavi-gation.HealsoservedasthePoynterInstitute’sdesigneditorforonline/marketing.JeremyalsoworkedassportsdesigndirectorfortheSt.PetersburgTimes(‘04-’06)andartdirectorofTheNews-PressinFortMyers,Florida(‘01-’04)redesigningbothnewspapers.PreviouslyheworkedasauserinteractiondesignerforBrassRing,onlinehumanresourcesprovider,andasagraphicdesignerforViant,anInternetconsultancy.

Tanveer Ali workedasanewspaperreporterinDetroitandHartford,Conn.,wherehecoveredhisshareofcrime,localpoliticsandgenerallybignews.HecametoMedilltolearneverythingelsethatcomeswithjournalismfrombusinesstocoding.AftergraduatinginAugustininterac-tivepublishingandmediamanagement,TanveerwasselectedastheMedillInnovationFellow.HisjobsincludeaidingRichGordonandtheinnovationteammemberswiththeclassaswellasworkingwithseveralprofessorstohelplayaframeworkthatwillbeusedforinnovationprojectsgoingforward.

APPENDIX: FACULTY