Locally Grown Northfield is changing. Want to know more? Want to help?

Griff Wigley, Locally Grown NorthfieldI’m in the mood to change things here at LoGro.

I’m making it up as I go.

If you’d like to participate, chime in.

I most likely will appreciate it, though I can’t promise that.

13 Comments

  1. kiffi summa said:

    well … since it is your ‘sandbox’ 🙂 why don’t you say what you’re thinking about; what new or refined goals you would have, how you see the discussion being of benefit to the community, etc.

    Do you want it to be a ‘substitute’ for a more in-depth news source?
    Do you want it to be an information site, without opinion?
    Do you want it to be discussion of issues that have no other public discussion venue?

    What do you see as useful?

    November 23, 2012
  2. Griff Wigley said:

    Thanks for the great questions, Kiffi. I’m currently thinking:

    * Less news/information
    * More opinion
    * More moderated discussions
    * More special events
    * More photos

    I’m also messing with some design elements, so as of today:

    * All blog posts showing on the home page are excerpted, not just the most recent 10. That will help me understand better which types of blog posts are of the most interest to visitors.

    * There’s a new photo/image viewer

    More to come.

    November 23, 2012
  3. bonnie pangburn said:

    Hi Griff. Not sure what you may be pondering in the news/info category but please continue to be the source of expanded knowledge and opinion on important city/citizen matters. There is so much that isn’t said or explained via the “pay per view” Nfld News, that I know many come to your site seeking more. We may not all feel confident in responding but I’m guessing many feel as I do…that your insight and that of your regular contingency is an asset for those wanting to be more involved and seeking to be better informed to do so.

    LoGroNo was the “go-to” sight for election/candidate info. I hope the coming council folk will use it more. And, thanks for all that you coordinated and posted in that process.

    Good luck in your remodel, something tells me you’ll hear if we don’t care for your taste in style. 🙂

    November 23, 2012
  4. I am always for more photos. I like to see those photos where people are not hamming it up but the ones that capture the moment are worth seeing. That plus the nature shots are newsworthy to me.

    Good luck, as it is good to see you keeping it fresh!

    November 23, 2012
  5. Griff Wigley said:

    Thanks for that encouraging feedback, Bonnie.

    I do realize that LoGro has at times been a “source of expanded knowledge and opinion on important city/citizen matters” as you say. I’d like to figure out how to do more of that.

    November 24, 2012
  6. kiffi summa said:

    Griff: Bonnie is very clear on the value of the informed 🙂 citizen opinion and discussion, and especially on the value during the election period when there is so little to actually hear from the candidates own mouths… But I don’t know how you can do a really good job of setting the base for that citizen discussion without keeping a certain level of news/info that is not always present in the NFNews.

    So if you are considering less news/info, as you say above, doesn’t that diminish the level of discussion?

    November 24, 2012
  7. rob hardy said:

    Griff: Especially since the arrival of Northfield Patch, Northfield.org has also been doing some collective soul-searching about its place in Northfield’s digital media landscape. In terms of user-submitted content (events, blogs, etc.), we have a lot of overlap with Patch. One thing I would like to do more of on Northfield.org is create pages that gather documents and other resources on local issues, such as this one on the skatepark and this one on the issue of iPads in the schools. I like the idea of Northfield.org being a kind of community archive and a resource for citizen engagement in important current issues.

    And I like LoGroNo as a place where those issues can be discussed in an informed and civil manner. With real names, not aliases that seem to give people license to be unpleasant.

    I’ve talked to Corey Butler about how Northfield.org and Patch might collaborate to avoid simply replicating content. I kind of like the idea of Northfield.org as the reference library, Patch as the news source, and LoGroNo as the digital town hall where the news and issues can be discussed. I would love to sit down with you and Corey and talk about ways to complement each other, for the good of the community, instead of trying to compete with each other for pageviews.

    Take the issue of iPads in the schools. I’ll be collecting information on Northfield.org, and I’m planning to blog on Patch (as a school board member, but speaking for myself, of course, and not for the board), and I am happy to participate in moderated discussions here. It would be exciting to create some kind of symbiosis between LoGroNo, Patch, and Northfield.org that would strengthen connections in the community, promote more informed discussions of issues, and help people to work things out in a civil and constructive manner.

    November 24, 2012
  8. Griff Wigley said:

    Kiffi, you’re right, there is considerable digging required on some of the big issues and that IS often required to have a more informed discussion.

    That can take as much time as moderating and participating in the discussion and it’s often piecemeal, ie, dig a little, talk a little, dig a little, talk a little, dig dig dig, talk a lot, dig a little more. 😉

    November 25, 2012
  9. Griff Wigley said:

    I’d like to sit down and discuss your ideas, Rob. How about Monday morn?

    When I was with Northfield.org, I moderated a series of Community Issue Forums from 1996-2004. We collaborated in varying degrees with the Northfield News, KYMN Radio, the City of Northfield, the League of Women Voters, NTV, and other local organizations to host these events so citizens could become more informed about an issue through simultaneous channels: the Internet, newspaper, radio, TV, and F2F (face-to-face).

    Maybe the time is right to do something similar.

    November 25, 2012
  10. Griff Wigley said:

    Glad you mentioned it here, Rob. I’ll add that the feed is placed in the inner right sidebar, just below the feeds for the League of Women Voters and Councilor Betsey Buckheit.

    I’ll willing to consider adding the feeds of other Northfield-area community leader bloggers who A) update their blog several times/month; and B) focus their blogging on local public policy issues.

    December 2, 2012
  11. Griff Wigley said:

    I’m doing a little technical testing tonight so some features of the site are going to be turned off for short periods.

    So move along, nothing to see here. 😉

    December 5, 2012
  12. I like the music poll and wish to be able to discuss such things futher, as more than just the vote.

    December 12, 2012

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