The concept behind MadisonCommons.org is so intriguing, and it is a medium that is only possible with today’s technologies. Due to limited resources, staff, time, and a budget traditional media cannot possibly report every story, especially as location specific as this Web site gets. Though citizen journalism is not new, it is a phenomenon perpetuated by the Internet’s ability to allow anyone to report anything at anytime. As a past student of Prof. Friedland, one of the founders of MadisonCommons.org, I have learned quite a bit about contemporary citizen journalism and its implications. In his class he encouraged any student who intended to be a journalist to either start their own blog, or start reporting citizen journalism for a local micro-site.
One of the directions for this assignment was to “observe the site for a week.” If what was written on the Internet disappeared right after it was written, like fleeting images on a television, or the never ending talking voices on the radio, this task would have been impossible. The most recent story was from January 24, 2010. Before that, on the front page there are sparse amounts of entries from November and March 2009. Under the blog tab, all the entries are from the spring of 2008. In the MadStubs section, (I do not know what MadStubs is; the link describing it was dead when I tried it), the most recent entry is from three weeks ago, and before that thirteen weeks ago. Also, though it is so convenient to have the stories split up by not just areas of Madison, but specific sections of neighborhoods and issues, the most recent entries in most of the sections are from the fall of 2007 if not earlier.
As someone who has contributed to music blogs in the past, I know you only see activity when you are constantly updating your material. In order to act as a blog or citizen journalism Web site, you need to keep your platform fresh, maintained, and interesting in order to build traffic. People will stop coming to your site because they do not want to read news that is now irrelevant. Except for the site’s very bland interface, the issue of a lack of new entries, though a serious one, is my only qualm about MadisonCommons.org.
Had MadisonCommons.org constantly updated with new features and stories from all over Madison about things that I would not be able to find anywhere else, I would have no overwhelming doubts. The site is easy to navigate. The neighborhood subsections are great for searching and for finding stories from where you live without having to dig through stories you may not be interested in. I also like the slide show on the top right corner. It’s great to have a spot to check out citizen’s photos from around town. As seen through traditional media’s adoption of citizen journalism, the people in the “biz” cannot be everywhere all the time. I also really like the forum section. This extends the torch of citizen journalism towards those who are not necessarily contributors of the site. For any site like this, it is smart to offer the readers a place to comment and even bring up stories of their own. However, the topics, like the rest of the content are sparse.
I think it is pretty obvious which parts about this site I would change. I truly hope that MadisonCommons.org will pick up again with more consistent activity, because a site like this is truly a gem. I feel like people, when they actually seek news, for the most part are more concerned with national news. I know that in my own home, we used to receive our local paper until I was in high school when we switched to the New York Times. However, hyper local sites like this allow the important stories that happen in our own backyard to be discovered by those who need to hear them.
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