Outside-the-Box Community Engagement

Engaging readers is why your online news community exists. You can't use the wisdom of the crowds if the crowd isn't talking. Without fast and substantive engagement, you might as well publish a newspaper. So when you build it and they don't come, what do you do, short of waiting?

By David Poulson, editor of Great Lakes Echo. He is also the associate director of Michigan State University's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism. Great Lakes Echo is the successor to Great Lakes Wiki, launched in 2006 with a New Voices grant from J-Lab.

New Media Makers Toolkit

See case studies, videos and resources that capture lessons from new media makers and their funders. Search the database of 180 foundations that have contributed nearly $128 million to U.S. news initiatives since 2005.

"Philanthropic foundations are increasingly embracing the idea that journalism projects can be a funding fit."

     --Jan Schaffer
       J-Lab Executive Director

Making the Most of Metrics

How to Measure your Web Traffic and Understand Who's Visiting your Site

Whether you're running a small hyperlocal community Web site or a large regional citizen media site, you can use free or inexpensive tools to measure how many people are visiting your site and where they like to go most.

Interviewing: A practical guide
for citizen journalists

Interviews are integral to good journalism. They provide more than just additional voices; they provide facts, expertise, balance, depth and credibility. Learn how to incorporate interviews into your reporting.