The role of community foundations in fueling localized, media innovations that serve residents of their communities using The Media Deserts Project to visualize and engage communities in creating strategies for fresh, local news and information.

2. The Media Deserts Project:
Identifying Community News and Information
Needs and Expanding the Role of Foundations
Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Principal Investigator, The Media Deserts Project, Ohio University
Peggy Holman, Executive Director, Journalism That Matters

3. Workshop Facilitators
Dr. Michelle Ferrier
Associate Dean for Innovation | Associate
Professor , Scripps College of Communication,
Ohio University Vice President, Journalism
That MattersFounder, Create or Die Startup
Gatherings
Peggy Holman
Peggy Holman has
helped explore a
nascent field of
social technologies
that engage “whole
systems” of people
from organizations
and communities in
creating their own
future.
Executive Director, Journalism That Matters
Author, Engaging Emergence
Author/Editor, The Change Handbook
Michelle Ferrier.
Ph.D. is a scholar,
digital content
architect and
communications
consultant around
community-based
participatory
research and media
entrepreneurship.

4. Workshop Agenda
• Overview of The Media Deserts
Project and media ecosystem
• Case studies of communication
audits and strategies
• Small Group Conversation:
Communication strategies
• Synthesis of ideas from
participants
• Next steps: From here to
where?
Our goal is to bring
awareness to the
changing local media
environment and to
help community
foundations discover
ways to support
robust, community
news and information.

5. Takeaways from Today
• Understanding of
changing media
ecosystem.
• Ideas for doing your
own communication
differently.
• Help assess and fund
projects that help fill
the gaps in community
news and information
needs.

7. Newspaper Layoffs and
Buyouts
Year
2007
2008
2009
2010
Layoffs and Buyouts
2,256+ (partial data)
15,992+
14,783+
2,828+ 120+
newspapers
More than 120 newspapers have ceased operation in the United States
since 2008.

8. The Media Deserts Project
• Using GIS tools,
we map “media
deserts” -- places
where fresh news
and information is
lacking.
• Modeled after the
USDA Food Access
Locator Map

9. The Media Deserts Project
The Media Deserts Project
After users see the pinpoint data, they can click on a state and see the circulation change
rendered by zip code. Users can also compare the circulation on demographic factors.

10. The Media Deserts Project
Awareness
• Audit of Community Information
Sources
• Visualization of Current
Information Sources
• Content Analysis of Existing
Sources
• Assessing Community
Characteristics for Sustainable
Media Enterprises
Action
• Community Engagement
through Focused Gatherings
• Engaging Key Stakeholders in
Developing Sustainable
Media Enterprises
• Developing Face-to-Face and
Virtual Public Spaces for
Engagement/Community
Conversations

11. “Create or Die” Startup Events
“Create or Die” Startup Events
• Developed JTM “Create or Die” series
of media startup weekends in Detroit
and Greenboro,NC.
• Provided seed funding and mentors to
teams that successfully pitched their
project.
• Partnered with NC entrepreneurship
centers to provide support for
projects.

12. NC: Piedmont TogetherRFP?

13. The Engagement Hub
The Engagement Hub is an interactive
platform to support peer-to-peer
learning among people in news
organizations who want to more
authentically connect with their
communities.
We believe that when the public and
journalists engage, journalists start
drawing from a more diverse mix of
sources, they ask questions that
uncover strengths and possible
solutions, and they tell stories that
inspire the public to get involved.

14. What Does Community
Engagement Look Like?

15. About Community Engagement

16. Small Group Discussions
What did you hear
that struck you?
What implications do you see for
your organization?

17. Text Your Closing Thoughts
What’s your take away from
this session?

19. For more information on
The Media Deserts Project:
Contact:
Dr. Michelle Ferrier
Associate Dean for Innovation, Research/Creative Activity
and Graduate Studies
Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University
ferrierm@ohio.edu
@mediaghosts