In web and multimedia
If you live in Brattleboro, Vt., and have an Internet connection, you are qualified to be a reporter for the 24-hour, on-line community news website, iBrattleboro. It's open to anyone and everyone in Brattleboro. Two years ago, two web designers who had migrated from Boston, Christopher Grotke and Lise LePage, donated a space from their server, creating the citizen journalism website called “iBrattleboro.com".
Christ and Lise moved to Brattleboro in 2001 after a job lay-off from the Boston Computer Museum. They started their web design company, MuseArts Inc., right away. Soon, they found there was not enough on-line information for citizens.
“We looked around and at the Chamber of Commerce site ... there was hardly any information . . . so we just thought, let's just build a site about Brattleboro and have some links about some things you can do here,” recalls LePage. Initially, it was an idle thought.
But then in 2002 and 2003 the Federal Communications Commission began talking about relaxing cross-ownership rules. Media consolidation as an issue took off. And they were inspired by Radio Free Brattleboro, a low-power, "community-licensed" FM station that had been battled the FCC over whether it had the right to broadcast. Chris and Lise thought if anyone can be a deejay, there is no reason stopping them being a writer. iBrattleboro went live in February 2003 and hasn't stopped working since.
The couple's goal is to create an on-line public square where residents are allowed to talk "over the back fence" and hear different viewpoints. "What we want to do is concentrate on having a good site that's accessible to the town that has a level of quality that people can count on,” says Grotke.
One surprise for the Grotke and LePage is how frequently the local daily, The Brattleboro Reformer, owned by MediaNews Group Inc., of Denver, Colo., picks up their stories. "You'll first see them on our site, then reporters read the site. And they see it and track it down and do the full story with the journalistic approach," says Grotke.
What motivates the couple to stock with it?
“It's fascinating. It's fun. It's scary," says LePage. "You don't know what is going to happen next. It might be a story, or a poem about the weather or it might be the fact that the radio station's been raided by the FCC.”
iBrattleboro's registered users has grown from 20 just after start two years ago to over 800.
“We want to get people interested and active in their politics. In a small town, you actually have some control over what happens if you get involved. It doesn't take a tremendous effort. In a small town, you all have to get along, because we're all in it together…. everyone is out to make their lives and the town better …,” said LePage.
While newspapers struggle for advertising dollars, LePage and Grotke have not yet focused on that. They view building a reputation for the site as their first priority. And because they have invested almost nothing in the project other than their own part-time labor, they can afford to take a long view toward revenue generation.
“We build readership," says Grotke. "Once the traffic is there and everyone is reading the site, the ads will come and we won't have to do anything. And that's already starting.”
Adds LePage: "First year, no ads. Now, we get calls. Not a lot, but more. And then in 10 years I expect it will just be a natural part of everyone in town. I don't think we have to do the hard sell. We're not really hard sell salespeople. That's not our passion,”
Grotke doesn't think charging for access or membership to iBrattleboro is a viable business approach. But he does think an approach similar to public radio -- soliciting donations -- could it into the revenue mix.
“Whether you pay or not the site is there," says Grotke. "It has to be open to all otherwise or else stops being iBrattleboro. If you have people pay to post it’s a self-selecting audience of people who have enough money to pay. And we don't want to limit ourselves like that.”
LePage's and Grotke's efforts have drawn some publicity from the main stream media. They have been covered by The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and several trade magazines. Former San Jose Mercury News tech writer Dan Gillmor covered iBrattleboro in his book, "We The People" about grassroots journalism.
To export the idea of citizen journalism, Grotke and LePage provide these steps to those want to set up a site:
Find a Server Space
Find a local web developer who knows how to install open source software.
Install open source software, also called Content Management Systems. (They recommend Geeklog.com There are also other packages at this URL: http://www.blogherald.com/2005/06/01/cms-packages-that-do-blogging/
Set up the site. ($30 for a domain name.)
Promote the website.
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