The Block by Block Conference (bxb) for hyperlocal news sites begins Thursday in Chicago, and already conference co-host Michele McLellan has an assignment for many of the 125 site-owners and others in attendance:
“In the space of about 40 minutes, she writes, “we want each of you to stand up and say a few words. Very, very few words. Like 15 words.”
She and co-host Jay Rosen will show a slide of each of the approximately 60 (non legacy media supported) local sites’ home pages. When one’s site is up, they want you to stand up and answer two questions:
“What do I want to learn from my peers at Block by Block?”
“What have I learned that I can teach my peers?”
This is how bxb will enable site owners to determine who they most want to connect with.
“That night,” McLellan says, “we will hear from about 60 online publishers – the ones doing start ups that are not supported by legacy media or large networks. It’s not that we don’t like them too, just want to put the emphasis on the small folks who are particularly committed and brave.”
How would you answer these questions? And who will give a different answer to Question one, than “how to make money and draw readers?” Please comment below.
And why bxb at all?
“I am committed to local news. I believe that for all the good we have done in traditional journalism, we often failed at community – we failed to connect people to good dialog and to their own ability to tap into solutions. We discouraged them when we could have empowered them,” McLellan says. And I know her. She means it.
On twitter #bxb2010