The Observation Deck

Betsy Voinovich wrote:Jim,

You were saying in an earlier post in this thread that you hated to edit anything, but the fact is that posting a link that "outs" Lakewood residents who have Section 8 housing by listing their individual names and addresses, is an irresponsible use of forum like this. You posted that you had EDITED it immediately, and why, and still allowed Mr. Fecser to make the statements he insists on making.

He seems to be implying with his signature that you take out anything that strikes your fancy on the Deck, and that couldn't be further from the truth. This Deck belongs to the community to such a degree that even this subject, the way the Deck is run, is open to public debate.

Thank you for trying so hard to take care of it.

Betsy Voinovich

Betsy

It was always hoped that with the use of real names a modicum of sanity and demeanor
would prevail. Alas not always and I suppose I have been as guilty as others of some
harsh tones and innuendos that probably did not need to be said. Still, I am framed by
my words and action on this Deck, it is someone with a name not "admin" that is doing
things and when they happen, we like to make it obvious. One of the very real reasons
this Deck was done this way was to serve the community, but letting them see first hand
what people were thinking. Who would be willing to answer questions, and who would not.
Simple trolling has never been tolerated here, though normally a simple discussion lets
people think it through. Let's hope that trend continues.

It is legal to post all of the things other sites publish. Me personally I think it is morally
wrong and hurts the community. Should we be able to discuss a rise in Section 8, and
the implications if any on the community sure. Do we have to post everyone's addresses
that is just sick. Should we be able to talk about the amount of foreclosures in this
community, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and I welcome the discussion. Do we need to
post every address so that copper thieves can use that information to find empty homes?
No. Has actually happened more than once in Lakewood. Is it legal to post police calls,
yep the Sun has done it for years, and had fun with it. But others post not just the calls
80% of which end in ZERO police actions, but the name and address of the callers. How
does this help anyone but the criminals that can then go back and hassle the law abiding
citizen doing their good deed? I know of at least one person who had that very thing
happen and they are no longer on the Deck, or Facebook or anywhere, and are looking to
get out of Lakewood to stop the problems. How the hell does that serve a city? This city?

Civic Journalism, as defined by the Observer 8 years ago. People that care about a town
they have a vested interest in, report news and information. Discussing topics that can
move a city forward, and help it understand itself better.

FWIW


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Jim wrote:

Years ago we launched this project using the hip-term "open source journalism" and we
thought it was cutting edge. Very early on we learned that was not the way we wanted to
go and we came up with the term "civic journalism." This was for people with a civic stake
in the community, who would be given pretty free reign of discussions and conversation,
but some simple rules needed to be put into place. Those are in the document we all
agreed to when signing in the first time. Even me.

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I brought this over from the other thread because I am curious about how the Deck evolved. What was it like when it was "open source journalism"? You say "we learned that was not the way we wanted to go" What happened between "open source" and "civic"? Was it like the Wild West on here?

You mentioned on the other thread that people had called for "moderators". Why? What was happening? You always used real names right?

Did the changes, rules I guess, "open" to "civic" or should I say, "civil"? make a big difference? I"m not conscious of any rules and I have to admit I'm not sure I read the agreement all the way through when I first signed on...

Thanks.

Betsy Voinovich

Betsy Voinovich wrote:I brought this over from the other thread because I am curious about how the Deck evolved. What was it like when it was "open source journalism"? You say "we learned that was not the way we wanted to go" What happened between "open source" and "civic"? Was it like the Wild West on here?

Betsy

It was not the wild west here, it has never been the Wild West here. No rules were changed
but the way we thought about it have been tweaked.

Every "community" website I know of in town was created out of anger, and to get even,
over, whatever, by one or two individuals. The Lakewood Observer was created by a team
of civic leaders that took over two years to look at everything that was needed, and how
and if we could even pull it off. When we finally decided we could, we also realized we
needed to write our own software to make it work. Remember this was almost 9 years
ago. We brought people in and sat down with council, the school board, and other civic
leaders to design the program and the mission statement.

In the first two months it was someone who had been brought in from outside the city to
"Observe" the Observers. After all we are accused of drinking the koolaid, so we wanted
someone to assess what we were doing and if we could do it. It was ironically this person
that was more than willing on launch to burn the city down and see what would rise up in
its place. We the board sat him down and said, "Chill we are not looking for radical over
throws of government, but slight nudging and discussion. He then attacked us on the Deck
and elsewhere that we were not open source. When we sat down and thought of it we had
to agree and it was then we came up with civic source journalism. In other words, people
with a vested interest in the community take part as stake holders. It is this foundation
that has allowed us to grow, slowly but steadily. Every Observer has a community board,
and is owned by someone in that community. One of the biggest reasons for starting this
was that we saw other media coming in from outside the city reporting things wrong, out
of context, and without understanding what the city is about.

Betsy, as the past publisher of the Collinwood paper you have seen starts up and have
been through many community meetings in every city. You have also seen first hand what
makes this project unique, and just how dedicated everyone is. This did not happen by
accident, this was not a throw together. This was a programs designed to help
communities, non-profits, businesses, and the residents. Recently we saw the business
plan for another project and it underlined, "Only cover what you can monetize" When you
compare that with "Reach out and make sure that cannot afford have a voice" The
differences become rather startling.

Thanks for asking.

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