Bob Reid contributed to this column
It has been five short months since we launched BenitoLink. In that time a small, mostly volunteer, Advisory Committee has been meeting weekly to figure out this new media. I say “new media” because the site does not follow traditional rules. Unlike the daily newspaper, thrown from a teenager’s speeding bike and landing with a THUD on our driveways, BenitoLink.com is free, published online, and available to anyone with an internet connection. Its content is also created by you – the readers – as opposed to the old newsroom where editors determined what we read. Over the past twelve months, our committee has worked hard to design and launch a site that will hopefully transform how San Benito County residents get their local news and information. We launched the live site on December 7, 2012 and have been busy ever since ironing out the wrinkles. We’ve had successes, our 200th subscriber this week, and failures, running a copyrighted picture without realizing it. Overall, we are optimistic the site is meeting a stated need of the community and look forward to continued growth.
To date, we have more than 200 registered users and – according to our latest Google Analytics Report – more than 7,000 people have checked out the site and clicked through more than 30,000 page views. Following are five lessons we’ve learned since our launch last year. We hope you will keep reading, contributing and commenting. BenitoLink will be what the community makes it.
I would like to thank the talented and committed members of our Advisory Committee: Leslie David, Jan Janes, Paul Levy, Lois Locci, Mark Paxton, Bob Reid, and Kathy Bisbee. For the past year, they have each put in countless, unpaid hours to help create BenitoLink in order to improve the lives of their fellow San Benito County residents.
And now, here are our top five takeaways since December:
5. People are reluctant to create their own news. We’ve had a hard time convincing people to post stories, photos and/ or videos. We’re working to make it easy and will continue to offer trainings to groups and/ or individuals on how to use the site. Even those who are tech savvy seem reluctant to post articles using their names: “I’m shy.” “I wouldn’t want to attract attention to myself.” We say: “Do it! Get Engaged!” If it matters to you, it most likely matters to others in the community. Several times a week, people e-mail us stories and photos asking us to post it for them on BenitoLink. Our response is a polite, “Let me walk you through how to post it yourself, then you don’t have to wait for someone else to do it!” Although there is a short waiting period for content to be published (our committee likes to scan everything to make sure there’s nothing inappropriate or offensive), we will try to publish contributions within 24 hours.
4. Civility is our hallmark. How do we encourage participation by our entire population, as varied as it is? We have former and present hippies, hunters, soccer moms, farmworkers, Silicon Valley commuters, environmentalists, generations of cattle ranchers, vintners, motorcyclists, horse people, Republicans, Democrats, Radicals, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, the apolitical, the religious, the non-religious,, pilots, runners, teachers, mechanics, dancers, the old and young and in between, Spanish speaking/English speaking they are all part of what makes San Benito County so unique and diverse. BenitoLink encourages everyone to share their perspectives and to take the time to read the views of other residents. There may be articles, or comments that others have made that may make you uncomfortable or present values that you do not share. You are encouraged to respond to articles you read and to respond to what is written. It is not assumed that everyone agrees. People of differing opinions still deserve respect. You are encouraged to respond to the substance of what is said and not to engage in personal attacks. This is our opportunity to use BenitoLink to demonstrate the kind of civility that we would all like to experience. Let us all know what you are thinking and what you believe is important. Civil discussion and open minds are the expectation. For an example of how a situation like this has played out on the site, see Leslie David’s article on local hunter Kurt Lanning, and her response to a reader’s comment to the right of the article.
3. We are interactive, inclusive, and transparent. BenitoLink is an attempt to create a place where the residents of San Benito County can go to share their information, thoughts and experiences. The intent is to reflect our entire community. San Benito County is full of people of varying values and beliefs. Rather than validating any particular point of view, it is hoped that everyone will feel that their opinion and perspective is valued here. In this spirit, we have made it a policy that contributors use their real names in an effort to promote transparent and honest discussion. Our Terms of Use state this clearly and are agreed upon by all registered users.
2. Copyright matters. Words and images are intellectual property and may not be used without the creators’ permission. This week we heard from an annoyed blogger who notified us that we had used a copyrighted image from her site without permission. We took the picture down immediately, but not before she pointed out, rightly so, that it was clearly watermarked as copyrighted and that we were in the wrong. BenitoLink contributors agree to make their content available to others via the Creative Commons license, which enables others to use and share the material as defined by the owner, but we do not have the right to use others’ copyrighted material without their permission.
… and the Number One lesson learned in our first five months online:
1. Fail Early and Fail Often. One of our major funders, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, hosts an annual Media Learning Seminar. The event is held in Miami each February and several BenitoLink Advisory Committee members have attended for the past three years. It is encouraging to know that communities all across the country face similar information challenges as San Benito County and are all experimenting with the post-daily newspaper world. “Hyperlocal” sites like BenitoLink are filling a need for residents who want local news and information that is utilitarian, entertaining and celebratory of the place they live. Our funders have encouraged us to keep at it and continue to learn as we launch BenitoLink and grow out of the BETA phase. We hope you’re on board and will stay engaged, maybe even consider submitting that prize-worthy photo on your digital camera or that column you’ve been writing in your head for the past few weeks. Remember, BenitoLink will be what San Benito County makes it.