2009 New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit

We were delighted to see more than 80 women convene on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, at J-Lab's 2009 New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit, funded by the McCormick Foundation, to exchange ideas, best practices and tips on creating successful community news sites. Thirteen of the past grant award winners had a chance to show off their sites, talk about challenges and opportunities, and field questions from the audience--journalists, creative writers, producers, media specialists and social media mavens. Topics covered included: Covering communities with startup hyperlocal sites, training citizen journalists, launching niche sites, building partnerships and sustaining operations.

A few highlights:

• 5 Tips on Training Citizen Journalists from Twin Cities Daily Planet editor Mary Turck: 1) Start with the basics: 5 W's: who, what, where, when and why; 2) Show, not tell; 3) Understand the power of positive feedback; 4) Dole out rewards and swag (ideally with your logo) 5) Stay constantly connected with writers via e-mail.

• Lisa Williams, keynote and NMWE of the year, talked about the importance of putting personality into your site. Williams, the founder of placeblogger.com, gave some inspiring advice and talked about how she got her start. See her presentation here (really funny). William's advice to the crowd: "Don't do anything for free that you wouldn't do for free indefinitely." 

• Courtney Lowery, editor at NewWest.net shared advice about what it takes to keep a non-profit news site running, and how passion and sweat equity helped her get where she is today. NewWest.net's business model is unique in that it generates revenue conferences and offers CE credits to attendees, which really boosts attendance. 
•  J-Lab announced the findings of its latest McCormick-funded research on New Entrepreneurs: New Perspectives on News. Read more about the new forms of journalism, characterized by a shift in objectivity and a drive for community conversation.
  

Thanks to all the savvy bloggers who have compiled live twitter feeds and summarized great tips and takeaways from the event . Here's what we've seen so far (and please let us know if you have more to add to the list): 

• Knight Digital Media Center's Michelle McLellan's compendium of Good Ideas from the summit in her Leadership 3.0 blog. 
• Greg Linch's live blog coverage.
  

Have a great new media business idea, or know somebody who does? We encourage you to apply or nominate somebody for the award. Read more about the initiative at http://www.newmediawomen.org/. The deadline is April 12, 2010.

Read the full story

New Media Women Entrepreneurs Winners Announced

Last week, J-Lab ( The Institute for Interactive Journalism) announced the three winners of The McCormick Foundation New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative. Each winner received a $10,000 start-up grant to launch a new media project. This initiative, a collaborative effort between J-Lab and the McCormick Foundation, seeks to spotlight the creative assets of women and help address issues of opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism.

Officials selected the winners from a pool of 435 applicants. The three winners of the 2009 McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs were:

ChickRx - Harvard MBA student Stacey Borden and partner Meghan Muntean will lead a team of women in launching an “edgy, approachable, engaging” online health resource uniquely targeted to women, ages 18 to 27. It will have content and Q&As, updated daily, from medical, family and nutrition experts. Borden is the former campus relations director of 85 Broads, a national professional women’s group

Women’s Community News Franchise - Former MytopiaCafe.com editor Michelle Ferrier will develop a complete infrastructure, to be franchised, for those who want to launch hyperlocal news sites. A demo site will launch later this year in West Volusia County, Fla., piloting services that will include a Web platform, software development, market analysis, some content, and legal and marketing assistance.

The Good Food Fight - Three media-savvy Seattle women will connect consumers interested in food with larger public policy issues that affect food choices, security, safety, health and sustainability. Partners Kristin Hyde, Jen Lamson and Amy Pennington will use their deep experience in policy, marketing, journalism and digital campaigns “to leverage the growing concern and interest in food with a call to arms."

-compiled by Jenn Bollenbacher, citizenship intern

Read the full story

NWME: Looking for Women Media Innovators

The MF-funded J-LAB initiative New Media Women Entrepreneurs has once again put out the call for creative new Web sites, mobile news services or other ‘entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community of a community of interest.’

What do the three winning women-led projects get? They each receive one-time funding of $10,000 to help them launch their new venture. Last year’s contest attracted nearly 200 innovative proposals. The three winners were:

Echo, a system of public storytelling installations in Atlanta. Led by Lila King and Karyn Lu, movers behind CNN’s user-generated site iReport.com.

Latina Voices, a news site for and by Latinas. Led by Teresa Puente, a journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board.

Northwest Navy News, a networking site for Puget Sound’s military community. Led by Elaine Helm Norton, new media editor at The Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., and a former military beat reporter.

The deadline is March 31, 2009. For more information on guidelines, FAQs, etc:
http://www.newmediawomen.org/index.php/site/proposal_guidelines

Read the full story

Funding Newspapers Directly

Veteran journalist David Westphal, blogging for the Online Journalism Review site at the MF-funded Knight Digital Media Center, raises the interesting question of whether foundations should fund newspapers directly in order to improve the quality of local and investigative reporting. He brought the issue up in light of the Knight Foundation's recent grants to community foundations to confront information needs in communities.

Some interviewees raise concerns about the ethics of foundations funding for-profits ventures directly. But as Jan Schaffer of J-Lab points out, foundations have been supporting journalism projects at newspapers for more than 15 years.

Check out Westphal's full exploration here: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/davidwestphal/200901/1627/.

Read the full story

Dollars for Ideas

Here at MF we get dozens of ideas for digital media news start-ups annually. Unfortunately, there's not enough support to seed all these ideas or projects, and our work is generally focused in other strategic journalism areas.

But we're happy to point out MF grantee J-Lab's New Voices grants program, that funds the launch of participatory community news ventures. The guidelines are pretty broad and innovation is encouraged.

If you want to start a new Web site or online community, check out their guidelines - they're accepting proposals through Feb. 12, 2009 - for more details at: www.j-newvoices.org/apply/V09.

Read the full story

A Few Great Ideas

When J-Lab put out the call for innovative digital news and information projects from women entrepreneurs, they didn't know the onslaught of quality projects they'd receive. Nearly 200 women submitted ideas for microgrants to launch or expand new digital projects as part of the inaugural McCormick-funded New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative. A few months later, J-Lab has selected three proposals to receive $10,000 grants to launch their projects:

• Echo, a system of public storytelling installations in Atlanta. Led by Lila King and Karyn Lu, movers behind CNN’s user-generated site iReport.com.
• Latina Voices, a news site for and by Latinas. Led by Teresa Puente, a journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board.
• Northwest Navy News, a networking site for Puget Sound’s military community. Led by Elaine Helm Norton, new media editor at The Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., and a former military beat reporter.

The NMWE project is addressing opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism by spotlighting their ingenuity and entrepreneurial abilities. Pilot projects will show what can be done. Research will tell what more to do. A summit in 2009 will showcase women’s creative ideas.

Learn more at www.newmediawomen.org.

Read the full story

We Need Great Ideas, You Need Funding

The McCormick Tribune Foundation is looking for some creative women digital media entrepreneurs for a new project - and you, or your associates, may be just the one with the golden idea that gets funded.

In the words of our grantee J-Lab, "Calling all creative new media women. J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism is seeking to fund three women-led start-ups that will generate new ideas in the world of news and information and model a spirit of journalistic entrepreneurship." So what's the deal? J-Lab is seeking three great new digital media projects founded by women to receive $10,000 seed grants to launch their ideas and blog about it for the next year. These grants are part of a new initiative that will "address issues of opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism."

The deadline to apply is May 1. For application materials, and to learn more about the McCormick Tribune New Media Entrepreneurs initiative, visit the project's Web site at http://www.newmediawomen.org/.

Read the full story

Lose 10 Pounds...and Blog

Hoping to start wrapping your arms around the digital revolution sweeping journalism in 2008, but have no idea how to do it? Online journalism guru and blogger Howard Owens offers a practical list with his recent blog post on "2008 objectives for today's non-wired journalist." His second most popular post this past year, Owens breaks down the daunting task for going digital in nearly a dozen steps. These include mandates like, "Become a blogger," "Start using RSS," and "Learn to Twitter." You can view the full list here, and perhaps make it a checklist for yourself: http://www.howardowens.com/2007/2008-objectives-for-todays-non-wired-journalist/

Along the way, you might find MTF grantee J-Lab's "Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive in the Digital Age" a helpful resource. This online primer breaks down all the new technology into manageable chunks and chapters. http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20/. Happy 2008 from the MTF Journalism Program.

Read the full story

Funds for New Voices

Got the next big great idea for a community news start-up? Then The New Voices grant program of J-Lab wants to hear it, and potentially fund it. J-Lab, the Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland and an MTF grantee, is currently accepting applications for new community news iniatives. The rules - in brief - are that the venture has to be new, must be news or information-oriented (no advocacy), must be online and open to the public. Grants are one-time only and for a maximum of $17,000.

Few programs or organizations provide specific start-up funding, so it's a rare opportunity worth exploring if you have the next big idea for covering your community. For more info and application information, visit: http://www.j-newvoices.org/

The deadline is Feb. 20.

Read the full story