Looking for judges

COMJIG is up for renewal next year and we'd really like to make a strong showing on research at the AEJMC Denver conference in 2010. To that end, please consider submitting a research paper proposal for presentation at the annual convention.

Along those same lines, if we can generate strong interest in research papers, we need interested judges. Anyone who can spare a few moments to help nurture a paper through the process is asked to please contact research chair Joe Marren at marrenjj@buffalostate.edu

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Durham Voice begins

COMJIG founder Jock Lauterer sends word from North Carolina that Durham Voice has launched in that city as a cooperative venture between UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina Central Univeristy.

The site can be found at durhamvoice.org.

It serves the Northeast Central Durham community. The area is known as the "bull's eye" to police because of the crime rate.

Content for Durham Voice is being provided by UNC and UNCC journalism students and from teenagers in the community who are being mentored by those students.

The Voice will be published bi-weekly online through November and will add a monthly 24-page tabloid print edition in February 2010. The Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student newspaper, is covering the costs of printing 2,000 copies monthly for the first year of publication. The Voice will be distributed at neighborhood schools, churches and businesses.

Google provides search engine optimization tips

Google has a whole raft of videos and other resources for publishers who need to understand search engine optimization.

Rather than re-embed everything here, see this post on my blog:

http://commonsensej.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-explains-news-seo.html

Doug

Do Televised Meetings Help The Community?

Franklin (Virginia) has started carrying its city council meetings on cable television C-SPAN style. It's televised without any commentary. But will it lead to better government? Local journalist Steve Stewart talks about the advantages and disadvantages of the coverage in his column in the Tidewater News. The upside? A better informed citizenry. The downside: Possible outbreaks of pontification. But I really like his closing comment:

"There’s a misnomer that government should be pretty and smooth. Effective government rarely is. Lawmaking often has been compared to sausage-making, and the metaphor is apt.

More important than appearance is authenticity — and the ability of citizens to see for themselves their government at work, warts and all."

What happened to my COMJIG blog?

Yes, you might have noticed it has a new look - a logo, new stuff on the sidebar, etc.

We have switched from Blogger's old, HTML-based template to its new XML-based templates that have "gadgets" (another name for widgets) that mean we don't have to go in and hard code everything whenever we want to make a change.

We've kept all the old features and added some others, such as the ability to mark a post recommended or not recommended.

The logo was adopted at this year's business meeting. It's nothing fancy, but it incorporates what we are all about -- community AND communication.

Please, let Doug know if you have any suggestions or comments.

Convergent Community Journalism in North Dallas

Community journalism may be as important in the suburbs as it is in rural communities. Though suburbs may have major television stations in the area, individual 'burbs are not likely to be getting a lot of attention from them. That's why the Star Community Papers, publisher of 13 community papers in the North Dallas, Texas, area are now producing daily webcasts through to accompany their weekly publication schedule. Check out the example from the Carrollton Leader.

Call for AEJMC panel proposals

The Community Journalism Interest Group (COMJIG) is accepting panel proposals for the 2010 AEJMC Conference, which is scheduled Aug. 4-7 in Denver.

Proposals should consider that COMJIG defines community as more than just geographically centered. Community may also refer to social characteristics such as interest, ethnicity, culture, religion and occupation. Keep in mind, too, that community journalism is practiced across media forms (print, broadcast, online, etc.).

Proposals are due Friday, Oct. 23.

In your panel proposal, please indicate the following:

• The type of panel (research, PF&R or teaching).
• Possible co-sponsor divisions or interest groups.
• A summary of the session.
• Possible panelists.
• Estimated costs for speakers.
• Contact information for yourself.

Send panel proposals by Oct. 23 to Andris Straumanis, COMJIG program chair, at andris.straumanis@uwrf.edu.

PF&R panel proposals may also be sent to Ralph Hanson, PF&R chair, at hansonre@unk.edu.

Teaching panel proposals may also be sent to Eileen Gilligan, Teaching Standards chair, at egilliga@oswego.edu.

If you have questions, contact Andris Straumanis at andris.straumanis@uwrf.edu or +1 (651) 235-2915.