Conclusions: Future Research
There is much more to consider and research about the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. This case study, for example, does not include an analysis of the multimedia – images, videos, audio, data visualization, etc. – that is a prominent aspect of NNS’ storytelling, or its overall website design, which is being reconstructed. A review of how the news service writes headlines for its reports would be interesting as well, given the importance of search engine optimization toward increasing audience.
Much has been made in this study of how NNS aims to offset what it considers mainstream media’s limited coverage of quality-of-life efforts in the neighborhoods it serves. It would be interesting to compare its work against the Journal Sentinel’s reporting on the same communities. Others might look at how the news service compares to community journalism initiatives aligned with college and universities elsewhere, as well as online journalism websites set up by traditional community newspapers.
It shall also be left to others to interact with the residents and organizations that the news service has contacted and reported on, to learn what they all think of its work. Finally, NNS’ audience itself remains to be studied, to better understand the role the news service has come to have – or not have – in their imagination of their community.
This research has considered amid the scholarly echoes from decades past that the quest for community is an important part of how NNS defines its purpose. It wants the neighborhoods it covers to enjoy renewed vitality and respect as they learn from one another’s successes and failures. It also strives to enable them to tell their own stories and to give voice to the voiceless, all via a different brand of journalism, in no small part by not accentuating the negative or focusing solely on conflict or intrigue.
What does it mean, however, to build community using a hyperlocal, multicultural, online-only news platform in a changing business climate for mainstream media – and in relation to them being unable or unwilling to provide the kind of coverage people in these neighborhoods want and deserve? Certainly, NNS should do more to use available technology to build the relationships and energy needed to further a sense of community among those living and working in its targeted neighborhoods. It must also find ways to make its quest for community sustainable. The news service is borne and supported by foundations, neighborhood organizations and a university – and yet it is unclear if this experiment in which journalism is used to socially construct community can continue long term. Let us hope that milwaukeenns.org is not merely a phenomenon.
Much has been made in this study of how NNS aims to offset what it considers mainstream media’s limited coverage of quality-of-life efforts in the neighborhoods it serves. It would be interesting to compare its work against the Journal Sentinel’s reporting on the same communities. Others might look at how the news service compares to community journalism initiatives aligned with college and universities elsewhere, as well as online journalism websites set up by traditional community newspapers.
It shall also be left to others to interact with the residents and organizations that the news service has contacted and reported on, to learn what they all think of its work. Finally, NNS’ audience itself remains to be studied, to better understand the role the news service has come to have – or not have – in their imagination of their community.
This research has considered amid the scholarly echoes from decades past that the quest for community is an important part of how NNS defines its purpose. It wants the neighborhoods it covers to enjoy renewed vitality and respect as they learn from one another’s successes and failures. It also strives to enable them to tell their own stories and to give voice to the voiceless, all via a different brand of journalism, in no small part by not accentuating the negative or focusing solely on conflict or intrigue.
What does it mean, however, to build community using a hyperlocal, multicultural, online-only news platform in a changing business climate for mainstream media – and in relation to them being unable or unwilling to provide the kind of coverage people in these neighborhoods want and deserve? Certainly, NNS should do more to use available technology to build the relationships and energy needed to further a sense of community among those living and working in its targeted neighborhoods. It must also find ways to make its quest for community sustainable. The news service is borne and supported by foundations, neighborhood organizations and a university – and yet it is unclear if this experiment in which journalism is used to socially construct community can continue long term. Let us hope that milwaukeenns.org is not merely a phenomenon.
