Thanks, and congrats to the new officers

Still coming off that Chicago conference high while dealing with the normal workload at Hometown U.? Yeah, I know, me too. So that's why this missive is a few days late (got home Sunday night and it's now Wednesday).

Supposedly Newton once said that if he saw far it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. I know what he meant. If there was any success at all during our Chicago conference workshops it was due to the effort and hard work put in by the other COMJIG officers because it seemed to me that I spent my time chasing down mundane details. The big pic -- and the application of the small stuff that they sweated -- was handled by everyone else.

I also want to thank the other officers for all their help this past year when I was head of the interest group. We had an interesting discussion about the future of COMJIG during our members' meeting in Chi-town, but I'll let the new head of the group, John Hatcher, fill everyong in about that. It is said that the devil is in the details, but this time the excitement will be in the details. John will tell everyone more about it.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great start to the semester and a fulfilling academic year. See you in D.C. in August.

Thanks,
Joe

The best, worst and in-between of 2011-12

Here is the link to our annual report. Any questions or comments please feel free to e-mail any of the officers.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comjig/files/

More conference details

Here are some details on our refereed paper session and our scholar-to-scholar session at the August conference in Chicago:


Refereed Paper Research Session: From Shoe Leather to Cyberspace: Evolving Community Journalism



Moderating/Presiding: Eileen Gilligan, SUNY Oswego

"Undocumented Workers and Immigration Reform: Thematic vs. Episodic Coverage in a Rural Kansas Community Daily," Michael Fuhlhage, Auburn

"Conversation Starters: A Study of Interactivity on Community Press-Supported Facebook Pages," Michael Clay Carey, Ohio

"Student Experiences in Community Journalism: A Case Study of Two Universities," Lisa Paulin-Cid, North Carolina Central

"If You Build It, Will They Come? An Exploratory Study of Community Reactions to an Open Source Media Project in Greensburg, Kansas," Samuel Mwangi, Steve Smethers and Bonnie Bressers, Kansas State

Discussant: Eileen Gilligan, SUNY Oswego


Scholar to Scholar session:
Topic — From the Past to the Future: Evolving Community Journalism

"Making Hyperlocal News: An Exploration of the News Values and Perceived Roles of Journalists Working in Local, Independently Owned Online News," Michael Horning, Bowling Green State

"Youth Connection: Promoting Community Ties and Positive Values in Scholastic and Non-scholastic Online Youth-generated News," Jeffrey Neely, North Carolina Wilmington

"Fighting Spirit: Competing Hyperlocal Sites Outmatch Legacy Newspaper’s Efforts," Barbara Selvin, Stony Brook

“ 'Letters From Home,' ” Intimacy in the Norwegian Community Press," John Hatcher, Minnesota-Duluth

Discussant: Bill Reader, Ohio

Reminder: Deadline for panel proposals Oct. 21

Dear COMJIG members,
A reminder that the deadline to submit panel proposals is on Friday, Oct. 21. Please take a moment and reflect back on what we've presented in the past and on the direction you'd like to see this interest group go when we meet in Chicago in August of 2012.
If you've read the report from AEJMC on our self assessment, you know that they would like to see our interest group give greater emphasis to research and to diversity. I'm sure those are things many COMJIG members also want for our group.
Panel presentations offer a great vehicle for exploring these areas. We can have panels that focus on areas of research and theories we think are important to the understanding of the community-journalism relationship. We can explore these ideas in collaborative discussions with other AEJMC interest groups and panels.
Please consider submitting an idea -- either as a more formal panel proposal, or a simple email with your thoughts on a panel you'd like to see happen.
You can read the details of the call here.
Question? Contact program chair John Hatcher.

Nominating Committee slot filled

According to our bylaws, the head of COMJIG appoints a member of the two-person Nominating Committee, whose job is it to offer a slate of candidates for IG office.

Earlier this month in St. Louis we elected Hans Meyer of Ohio to chair the committee. Former COMJIG head Andris Straumanis, at University of Wisconsin at River Falls, has agreed to also serve with Hans on the committee. (I backed into the lede there; thank God I'm not a student anymore.)

Thanks to both.

The bulk of their work will be done as we approach the 2012 national conference next August in Chicago. Most of our officers agree to continue to serve, but please give careful consideration if either Hans or Andris approaches you.

Thanks.

Welcome back

As we scurry about getting ready for a new academic year, and as we recover from traveling home from St. Louis (I don't know about anyone else but storms delayed my connecting flight home by several lonnnnnnnnnng hours), the temptation is to put off COMJIG matters until we've relaxed and are ready. But, really, why not now? So, with that in mind, let me propose a few things here and now:

1.) In my remarks when I was voted in as COMJIG head last week, I was remiss in not thanking Andris for the wonderful job he did as head of the interest group last year. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. It was great working with him this past year and I am also looking forward to working with our new officers this upcoming year. A special thanks, also, to Doug Fisher who maintains all things webby.

2.) At our meeting last week we talked about raising our profile. So when I get back from several meetings this afternoon I plan on e-mailing our good friends at TCU and asking them to mention us in their new online journal. I'm also going to ask them if they would be willing to co-sponsor a postcard mailing to get our name out there and try to increase submissions for panels and papers.

3.) And that brings me to this point: We really should be thinking about doing more at the mid-year meeting in Oklahoma and at the Southeast Colloquium (in Richmond next spring). Any ideas? In the past we have talked about shared panels and such. I think this is an opportunity to attract those eager grad students who can swell our ranks and get us thinking in new directions.

4.) We really should be doing more with diversity. I spoke with Heidi Flowers, the head of the PR/advertising division, because they are also looking to do a panel on a diversity issue. So this might be a way to pool talents and save a chip at December's chip auction/planning session. Any thoughts?

5.) I also spoke with Kirsten with CCJIG and we're both confused about our IG members' wishes for next year. Our impression was that since we share some members that we want to at least get together socially. Is that the thought? It may be logistically impossible to sked two rooms close together at the same time so that we can meet together either at the start or end of the biz meetings and then also meet individually with our own group. So please, send me your thoughts on that.

6.) I'm not very tech savvy, but we've been trying to get a syllabus exchange for several years now. During an assessment review with AEJMC last week I asked if they could offer any help on getting such an exchange going and they suggested a web site. I don't think my school would sponsor such a site, but does anyone else have any ideas?

So it seems as if I asked more questions than offered anything. But let's talk.

Thanks for your time and patience.
Joe

Agenda for annual meeting

COMJIG annual meeting 2010
Denver, Colo., Thursday, Aug. 5, 8:30 p.m.

The first part of the meeting will convene jointly with Community and Citizen Journalism IG to discuss mutual concerns and joint projects.

We then will adjourn to a separate COMJIG members' meeting

1.    Welcome and introduction by those present for the record (if the number is large, a record of who attended will instead by kept by passing around a sheet of paper for people to sign in).

2.    Approval of minutes from Boston meeting, 2009 (previously posted on blog)

3.    Report from the IG head – Doug Fisher
a.    Accomplishments and challenges from the past year
b.    Financial status

4.    Any remarks from other members of the executive committee.

5.    Election of officers for 2010-11
a.    Nominations of officers
b.    Any statements from nominees
c.    Vote on nominations
i.    As a slate for those with no opposition, voice vote
ii.    For any office contested, vote by office, show of hands

6.    Remarks from incoming IG head and other incoming members of the IG executive committee (after this point, the incoming head will preside, although the current secretary shall be responsible for continuing to take and file minutes of the meeting on the COMJIG blog).

7.    Old business
a.    Standing Item – setting of dues for 2011
b.    Standing item - Election of member of nominating committee for 2011-2012. (Our bylaws say the membership is to elect one member of this committee and the head (incoming) will appoint the other. The committee, not the head, is charged with coming up with a slate of officers.)
c.    CCJIG merger (because this is an ongoing item, I would recommend it be deferred until after any new business and any advisory items).

8.    New business
a.    If all executive committee positions have not been filled, this is the appropriate place to perhaps offer a motion that the head be given authority by the membership to appoint people to fill those positions without further vote.

9.    Any advisory items/comments from the membership not included in above items

10.    Adjournment

Respectfully submitted,
Doug Fisher, Head 2009-2010

COMJIG business meeting

If you are in Boston, please make time to come to the COMJIG business meeting from 6:45-8:15 this Thursday at the Sheraton as part of the AEJMC convention.

As we have in the past, we will first meet jointly with Civic and Citizen Journalism and then adjourn to our own short meeting.

The following people have agreed to stand for nomination and election, but nominations also will be taken from the floor:

Head - Doug Fisher
Vice Head - Andris Straumanis
Research - Joe Marren
Teaching - Eileen Gilligan
PF&R - Ralph Hanson
Secretary- ????

As you can see, we need a secretary. If you are interested, please let Doug know (dfisher@sc.edu)or come prepared to nominate yourself.

----
Also, here are two versions of a possible logo for the group. It might give us visibility or at least a unified look for the Yahoo Group, the blog and any mailings, etc.





Thanks,
Doug

Two new - and important - links

Take a look on the left rail and you'll see two new, and important links.

The first takes you to a PDF copy of the Community Journalism Interest Group bylaws.

The second is COMJIG's excellent booklet The Community as a Teaching Resource, something that will come in handy for anyone teaching journalism. (This is a 1 Mb PDF).

Enjoy.