The document provides guidelines for building the newsroom for DCVoice.com, which will cover Ward 5 in Washington D.C. It recommends starting small by focusing on a few neighborhoods and key issues, and being timely by publishing within 24 hours of events. It also stresses being consistent, committing necessary resources, adding staff incrementally, and focusing on topics of interest to draw readers and participation from the local community.

1. Building the DCVoice.com Newsroom Ted Freeman JOURNAL 397W - Intro to Online Journalism - Keith Paul

2. Overview Start small Be Timely Be Consistent and Committed Staff Incrementally Be of Interest

3. Start Small There are 17 neighborhoods in Ward 5 so initially it will be difficult to cover items of interest in all 17 neighborhoods so: Establish a strategy of which neighborhoods to cover Focus on key issues to that neighborhood Wear as many hats as possible Leave room to adjust based on current events

4. Be Timely Establish a publishing schedule that covers events based on timeliness to the event Daily publishing should post within 24 hours of the event Weekly publishing should cover events of that week Anticipate upcoming topics and areas of interest based on socio-economical climate of the ward

5. Consistent and Committed At all cost, be consistent !! Readers should expect information to be updated when promised i.e. daily, weekly, etc. Commit the effort (time, resources, etc.) the site needs to survive the initial deployment

6. Staff Incrementally Wear as many hats as it takes to get started Continue to grow staff, as needed, based on success of site Establish a virtual newsroom of talent Web page contributors Technical (programming, design, etc.) Citizen Journalist (content contributors) Regular contributors (possibly small fee for every contribution) Identify 2-3 Ward 5 residents, businesses, or organizations with an interest in producing content on a regular basis and ensure they are committed Identify and staff other resources (virtually) as needed Encourage participation from students at the 5 Universities and 2 Senior High Schools in the Ward

7. Be of Interest Draw on comments, feedback, and local news to identify areas of interest and concern Incorporate a variety of tools such as: Blogs Links to other Ward 5 blogs Photo and video related to Ward 5 Social networking interfaces to: Facebook Twitter RSS Encourage comments in all main/feature topics

8. Weekly Operations Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Identify potential event of the week, establish a possible theme or subject. Sun Do background research on the topics that were selected for the week. Continue research as needed and do preliminary draft. Complete first draft of website Publish website Review material, collect specific event material, upcoming events for the following week, and other items of potential interest. Final review of all content in draft including, main topic, photos, etc.

9. Web Page Mock Up Comments PODCASTS AD SPACE FOR WARD 5 BUSINESSES HOME EVENTS STYLE HEALTH PODCASTS SEARCH AD SPACE FOR WARD 5 BUSINESSES Event snippet ……. …………………… . …………… .. more Style snippet ……. …………………… . …………… .. more Health Tips Snippet ……. …………………… . …………… .. more Captured Main Topic Side Navigation Preview Bar Logo / Main Banner