The YouMake.news network: community journalism which defines the agenda

The YouMake.news network

The locally-owned news network with

national impact


Own your voice – be the local network with

national impact

Define the agenda – get your message

upfront, and in the news and

physical spaces you choose

Make your news – don't

let them make it up for you


Own your voice

You can make the news by owning the

means of news-making – instead of

standing by and allowing them to

make it up for you


Own your voice – be the local network with national

impact

Mutual ownership =

people-powered

journalism

People-powered

journalism = people

telling truth to power

Telling truth to power = change you need, not

change they want


Be part of a local media community

with powerful reach:


1) Own and influence

editorial policy


2) Create impactful local stories which

grab national headlines


3) Support and promote solutions-based journalism and story-telling


4) Learn and put into practice the skills of modern

citizen journalism


Example of mutual media ownership, in the city of Bristol:

https://thebristolcable.org/about/

https://thebristolcable.org/about/


How it could work for Chester:

http://chester.one/home/the-bristol-cable-a-new-business-

model-for-doing-media/

http://chester.one/home/the-bristol-cable-a-new-business-model-for-doing-media/





















national impact








upfront, and in the news and physical spaces you choose

1) Be the best of local, developing your community's economy, identity

and voice




2) Develop a better understanding of what you are, and where you need to

go




3) Encourage the world to see you as you see yourself – the real challenges, needs and futures

you want to be



national impact







Here’s how it might happen …

The YouMake.news network Stage 1 = story discovery in a

secure environment +

usage of sousveillance & wearable

tech

Stage 2 = construction

where narrators & cultural actors work together to

design the installation / launch event

Stage 3 = launch event in

a physical significant town

space, with associated

digital tools

Stage 4 = follow-up

actions some months on including

interviews, analysis, etc.


The narrative process would arc over three

months, plus a follow-up element at a later date


It would involve journalists, both professional and citizen; cultural/artistic

actors with enabling and co-creative approaches; and most importantly, the people at the centre of the stories &

issues being uncovered.


Example Month 1: story discovery

In a secure environment, using sousveillance tools such as Google Glass, group interviews would take place with

streaming point-of-view footage being obtained from each participant – whether story narrator, interviewer / journalist

or counsellor (the latter would be additionally needed in particularly sensitive cases).



The interviewees – we would prefer to call them the “experts”, as they, not the “interviewers”, would drive the process – would reveal their

experiences of a subject previously identified by the core editorial team as an example of

resonating news for the community in question.



The streaming footage would be gathered in a secure, closed environment and would not see the light of day without the permission and ultimately

informed (ie upskilled) editorial control of the participants. Other upskilling needs, where

requested, would be offered for all participants, in relevant digital and other communications skills.



Out of the experts’ narratives / “witness” statements, further investigation by core members

of the editorial team would take place where necessary, so supplementing citizen actions with

more traditional journalistic activities. This would include data and graphical journalism, as well as

interviews in more straightforward communications contexts with public figures.


Example Month 2: construction Once the footage, data and other content was collected, cultural actors of diverse disciplines, familiar with co-creative processes,

would enable and facilitate a participative and creative environment where the “experts” (ie the interviewees from Month 1) would work to develop and implement a relevant

installation to be built, on the basis of the information collated. Sharing of skills would be a foundation & keyword for the

construction month.


Example Month 2: construction

Throughout Month 2, selected footage, documentary evidence and pre-launch communications activities & content would be taking place alongside the creative

process itself. This content would come from Month 1, and Month 2 as the latter progressed. One of the goals

would be to familiarise the broader public with journalistic and co-creative processes, in particular where relevant to

the community in question.


Example Month 2: construction

Existing institutions such as colleges, universities and schools would be strongly encouraged to both witness and

participate in the process.


Example Month 3: launch event

The launch event, and the implementation of the installation itself, would interrupt – in a very public way – a central town space of considerable footfall.



The installation / launch event would be proactively designed to cause the greatest impact possible, so

that engagement of the public witnessing the event would be maximised via social networks, a dedicated web infrastructure, a 3D / virtual reality point-of-view tool accessible online and in the physical space, etc.



The launch event and its impact would be maximised via a coordinated echo through other hyperlocal sites

which formed part of the YouMake.news network. Participation and reporting by mainstream media

would be welcomed, once Month 3 went live.


Example Month 3: launch event The overarching ambitions would be threefold:

1. make it impossible for any citizen in a community who witnessed the installation to ignore the issue being focussed on

2. make it clear who were the parties involved on either / multiple sides

3. encourage solutions-based approaches from either / multiple sides to the issue, in a facilitative and enabling way


Example Follow-up: assessment and feedback

The main goals of the YouMake.news network would be to uncover resonating stories which society & democracy needed to

be reported; encourage and actively facilitate solutions-based approaches for all citizens affected, both privileged and without

privilege, by such issues; and use art as a way of taking – and going beyond – the headline and impermanent truths of

journalism towards something more profound, universal and – hopefully – lasting.


Example Follow-up: assessment and feedback

If a narrative arc in particular was successfully executed, then a Follow-up would demonstrate this via statistics and other data journalism, more traditional interviewing techniques, further

sousveillance footage, etc.


Example of art & journalism working together, from Hungary 2014:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2014/jun/15/hunger-king-hungary-artwork-plight-

homeless-jani-leinonen

http://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2014/jun/15/hunger-king-hungary-artwork-plight-homeless-jani-leinonen

















Example of 3D / virtual reality point-of-view tool – Google’s Inside Abbey Road project (music, video, text, 3D

experiences, etc.):

https://insideabbeyroad.withgoogle.com/en




The locally-owned news network with national

impact


“Nothing about us without us”


Contact details:

Twitter @OleOKcom / @zebrared / @chestertweet

Email Mil Williams on

[email protected] / [email protected]

The YouMake.news network: community journalism which defines the agenda

News & Politics

Transcript of The YouMake.news network: community journalism which defines the agenda