I have some exciting news:
I have been chosen as one of five blogs and online news sites in Western North Carolina to participate with the Asheville Citizen-Times in a project called WNC LINC.
Five print newspapers across the country have been chosen by American University’s Institute for Interactive Journalism to take part in a grant-funded, year-long pilot project to explore how online sites and traditional print media can learn from and help each other. And each print paper has partnered with five local blogs and online news sites for the year. Apparently the Citizen-Times looked at over 250 local sites before selecting the ones they wanted to partner with for WNC LINC. I'm flattered to be chosen out of so many other good sites in the area!
I'm also excited about this project and look forward to being involved in something bigger like this. Something that may serve as a test for future collaborations between online and print media and may also possibly influence the trajectory of journalism (lofty thinking!).
So what does my involvement entail, you ask?
As this is a pilot project, we are still working this out. However for now it means regular communication with the other partners as we figure out ways we can learn from each other and help each other reach our respective goals. We will also be linking to each other using a special sidebar widget with tabs for each participating site (which is still being finalized but should be available for my blog soon).
Note: The other participating sites are mostly news sites, including the Southern Highland Reader and AskAsheville, so if you are in Western North Carolina you can keep up with the local news from my site (or, more specifically, from the widget links), and if you are from another part of the world, well you can ignore it or you can experience our beautiful area vicariously!
I will continue to post about exactly what I love posting about – children’s art and creativity. I'll post what I want, when I want, as always. But over the course of the year, I will learn from the other partners and from the newspaper about ways to navigate this new world of online journalism. And while I've never considered myself a journalist, I hopefully have something to learn from the others, and, likewise, they from me. I am excited about this project and look forward to seeing what I have to offer to the conversation.
