A host of MGP2006/JTM alumni are coming together to host "New Pamphleteers/New Reporters: Convening entrepreneurs who combine journalism, democracy, place and blogs," on June 4-5, 2008 in the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. DETAILS: https://www.123signup.com/event?id=tzfmb... Bill Densmore

MGP2006/JTM alumna Jan Schaffer sends along email about the McCormick Tribune New Media Women Entreneurs (NMWE) initiative -- competitive grants to spur new ideas in the world of news and information. Winners will be given $10,000 in funding to launch... Bill Densmore

As an ongoing resource, this blog spotlights the work of Media Giraffe Project/Journalism That Matters alumni that fosters participatory democracy and community -- starting with "MGP2006" -- the event "Democracy and Independence: Sharing News & Politics in a Connected World"... Bill Densmore

rs When Richard Anderson came to mid-coast Maine in the mid-1990s, he became the interloper . . . the disruptor. Now that he's mainstream, will he continue to innovate? Proving that local online news can be a valuable business weapon... Bill Densmore

rs When Richard Anderson came to mid-coast Maine in the mid-1990s, he became the interloper . . . the disruptor. Now that he's mainstream, will he continue to innovate?

Proving that local online news can be a valuable business weapon against legacy media, the owner of Maine's VillageSoup.com is acquiring six weekly newspapers he has been battling competitively for more than 10 years.

Anderson's Village NetMedia Inc. -- two award-winning local community news websites and two weekly tabloid papers -- are acquiring the six other weeklies, four of them direct competitors, from Crescent Publishing Co. LLC, of Greenville, S.C., headed by William deB. (Bern) Mebane, a former Gannett Co. Inc. executive.

AUDIO STREAM: >

(or: DOWNLOAD PODCAST)

In Media Giraffe Project interview, Richard Anderson predicts his business victory is a harbinger of things to come -- an indication that once-dominant local media interests must cease thinking of themselves as primarily print businesses or face effective, even overpowering, competition.

Even the seller agrees. "We have adopted the VillageSoup model for our remaining newspapers in Alabama," says Mebane. "We competed with Richard up here . . . and he realized that he was the real deal . . . this is a marriage between the traditional titles and trademarks and franchises of print with the recognition that it isn't just print any longer. It's the three-legged stool of learn, share and shop. News doesn't come down on high."

Anderson said about 26 positions will be lost in the merger and consolidation, in which three flags will be shuttered, leaving a total of five publications in five Maine locations, two existing VillageSoup web communities, and 92 employees. Anderson said the company will launch two new websites to lead and support the print publications it is acquiring.

"With the declining revenue of traditional newspapers -- both in circulation and advertising, the 10-year VillageSoup experiment is finally being recognized in the industry," Anderson said in a statement. "Our approach helps transition traditional community newsppaer companies into community host companies, and that's the future of the industry."

Liste to a 17-minute interview with Anderson by clicking on the left carat of the bar below, or downloading an audio podcast (4MB) for offline listening. A four-page news release about the transaction may be downloaded as a PDF (source: Village NetMedia Inc.)

Kennesaw State University Prof. Len Witt (MGP2006/JTM2007) is going public with his "representative journalism" idea. To learn about it, watch this short flash video (click on carat to left of bar underneath the picture) or go to Len's web-page primer... Bill Densmore

The Knight Foundation funds multimedia reporting workshops for "professional journalists" conducted at the University of California at Berkeley. MGP2006 alum Paul Grabowicz ) who runs the weeklong workshops, sends along this posting notice with a Feb. 8 application deadline: ----... Bill Densmore

MGP2006 alum Jon Garfunkel has completed an eight-part, 21,000-word study about charging for content on the web. Garfunkel, a Boston-based software engineer and Princeton University grad, studied available public audience-traffic data for the New York Times website during the period... Bill Densmore

Wally Bowen (MGP2006) at the Mountain Area Information Network in Asheville, N.C., sends along a link to an essay by the founder of New York City's non-profit The New Press, Andre Schiffrin. Schiffrin argues that newspapers can be owned by... Bill Densmore

MGP2006 alum George White ??? assistant director and editor at the UCLA-based Center for Communications and Community www.C3.ucla.edu ??? spent three weeks in Ghana and Benin exploring ways to help support journalism institutions and community media in West Africa. Among... Bill Densmore

Conor Kenny, (MGP2006) managing editor of the "Congresspedia Project" says they've launched "Wiki the Vote," a citizen-driven effort to cover the 2008 congressional electoins. Using wikis, citizens will post detailed information about the pre-primary record of each candidate. Washington, D.C.-based... Bill Densmore

MGP2006 advisor Jan Shaffer is editor and MGP2006 alum Steve Fox is a collaborator on a new 132-page all-you-need-to-know guide to multimedia reporting. (READ COMPLETE REVIEW) "Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive -- A digital literacy guide for the... Bill Densmore

JTM2007 and MGP2006 participant Geneva Overholser notes a new collection by the faculty at the University of Missouri School of Journalism which, as Overholser writes in an Aug. 28 email: "celebrate(s) what's going well with stories about thriving newspapers, hard-working... Bill Densmore

Dan Mitchell, writing Aug. 27, 2007 in The New York Times, has revived the conversation about so-called "micropayments," noting that iTunes is working and suggesting larger small-payment aggregation networks which facilitate advertising and user exchange might be feasible. The piece... Bill Densmore

Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:26:43 -0500 From: Steve Perry Subject: first announcement of new website hi everybody-- sorry for the group email. most of you know something about this already. for those who don't, i'm launching a news/community website... Bill Densmore

Over at USC's Online Journalism Review site, follow the discussion underneat Tom Grubisich's post about the potential for a network of hyperlocal sites. Tom is now web editor for The World Bank, and has a deep journalism background. Here's the... Bill Densmore

Andrew Nachison writes on the site of iFOCUS, the new non-profit future-of-media-and-society consultancy he started with Dale Peskin (MGP2006), that NewsTrust.net has formed an alliance with the Sunlight Foundation to create a platform for rating the quality of U.S. congressional... Bill Densmore

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Want to play a role in developing and launching a prototype "next newsroom"? More than 100 people have already signed up for a two-day event in Washington, part of the "Journalism That Matters" series. Pre-registration rates end... Bill Densmore

MGP2006 alum Lisa Williams, who is getting started on a $200,000+ project (funded by a Knight Brothers 21st Century News Challenge grant) is looking for help. She is planning to build tools that will graft onto her Placeblogger.com site and... Bill Densmore

Jeff Jarvis (MGP2006 alum) has posted a wrapup on the layoffs announced last week at the Greensboro News & Record. He juxtaposes his comments with those of the paper's blogging editor. There's also a link to a terrific slide show... Bill Densmore