A while back, someone in the Twittersphere (I think it was @danielbachhuber) pointed me in the direction of an interesting essay by Jamais Cascio. Jamais discusses the concept of resilience economics as an alternative to the monolithic corporate model most businesses, including newspapers, follow today. Futurist John Robb writes a concise takeaway on his blog:
Resilient flexibility means avoiding situations where components of a system are “too big to fail”–that is, where the failure of a single part can bring the whole thing crashing down. The alternative comes from the combination of diversity (lots of different parts), collaboration (able to work together), and decentralization (organized from the bottom-up). The result is a system that can more effectively respond to rapid changes in conditions, and including the unexpected loss of components.
I think we can apply this concept to new journalism enterprises: the daily metro newsroom of the future will be decentralized, with self-sustaining branches located in each neighborhood of a larger geographic community.
The growing popularity of hyperlocal journalism supports this theory — people want stories and information that affect them most directly, and local news down to the block ranks high on the list. Funding for the operations of each branch can come from a variety of sources, including highly targeted advertising from local businesses, hosting of community events, and crowdfunded investigative reporting. Link journalism and a portal page for the region as a whole would then pull all the elements together.
A budding example of this model in action can be found in California’s Bay Area, though their portal page functions more as a directory than a news site in its own right at the moment.
I also plan on starting up a similar effort upon my return to the Boston area this summer, with the help of Amherst Wire veterans and local reporters. So if you’re a journalist in the area and want to get involved, be sure to hit me up.
More resilience because more people are doing it, and the internet as a communications platform enables them to collaborate organically on a scale that simply wouldn’t be possible with the top-down, hierarchical model. Keep us updated on your progress. Also, any chance your capstone presentation will be available online?
I’ve discovered that getting this model rolling is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question. Do you focus on developing a strong outlet in a single town/neighborhood first, or cast the net wide and initiate efforts in several places at once? After some testing of the waters in Boston, I think what I’ll be doing is the former in my hometown and let things spread organically from there.
And yes, my capstone will be online soon!
Hi Jackie,
I missed your talk yesterday–because I was in the hospital. But I am very interested in your work, and would like to me with you after Saturday, I walk with you Sat.
I am on Facebook, moonlight Davis, Tweeter, alone with other sites that I subscribe to. Please contact me afte so we could get together next week.
Thank you so much, Moon
Hi, Moon. Congratulations on graduating! I followed you on Twitter — feel free to get in touch if you want to talk. I should be in the Amherst area near the end of the summer.
I think this concept is a great idea.
Newspaper companies have become so entrenched in status quo that it is very hard to change them. I like the idea, especially, of more collaboration from the bottom up.
The thing is: It’s hard to teach a old dog new tricks as they say. Newspapers have their structure, and many are having a hard time changing. Starting from scratch with this new model you speak of would be easier in a sense than retooling. (Much the same way that some house renovations are easier if you just gut the place.) The thing is people, livelihoods, structure, etc. are involved.
I’d be interested in hearing more about converting existing news organization to this resilient model. Is it even possible to do that? I wonder.
It’s a really good question, and one that’s worth exploring. I’d like to say yes, it’s possible, but ultimately it depends on the particular newsroom culture. Newspapers have to WANT to change before anything can happen.
A lot of people say change comes from the top down. I think it really goes both ways, and small steps taken by individuals can add up after a while to trigger a larger shift. The tutorials you write are a good example of seeding change agents within existing organizations.