by Denise
A couple of weeks ago, a student working with Chicago Now to implement outposts in the Gold Coast and Old Town contacted us. She wanted to conduct an interview via email. Her questions were heavy ones, and it took me two days to answer all eight. The last one, however, is a lesson I’ve been learning since we launched. It’s been hammered in with all the unforeseen hurdles that have come up in The Rapidian’s short life.
8. Any advice for those just starting a community news site?
Make sure to match your capacity with your execution. Most groups starting community news sites are limited in resources and have small staffs. It’s breathtaking to see excitement and ideas bubbling up around the concept of citizen reporting, and while you’ll get tons of feedback from every corner of your community, it’s important to be more than an inch deep. We all want to show people we’re being responsive to their feedback, but freeing capacity to pursue fresh ideas requires streamlining processes and hammering out patterns. Be patient, and you’ll create a deep foundation to go miles wide. After all, branches only grow as far as their roots.
I know: The answer was a bit flowery. But I stand by my point.
At last week’s staff meetings, we outlined our goals for summer and fall and then took a critical look at our inefficiencies as a staff. What took up most of our time? Was there any streamlining solution or way to distribute the work so we could free up more capacity?
By the end of summer, we hope to have accomplished the following:
