Elevate Engagement

On May 18-21, 2017, UO-SOJC’s Agora Journalism Center and Journalism That Matters will co-host “Elevate Engagement: Communities and journalism taking listening, connection and trust to the next level.”

We are in a moment of opportunity to consider the role of storytelling and journalism in civic life.

From a generous grant from the Knight Foundation, we invite you to join practitioners on the leading edge of engaging with communities to learn from one another and to develop more practical, actionable ideas that can be shared and used beyond the gathering.

We’re building on the October 2015 “Experience Engagement: How communities and journalism can thrive together,” that Agora Journalism Center and Journalism That Matters co-hosted. The three-day convening generated abreakthrough vision for a civic communications ecosystem. It also:

• Produced illuminating reports
• Created a network of practitioners
• Initiated a platform to enhance collaboration
• Attracted funding for a new wave of activity

This open-space gathering is for journalists, community storytellers, active citizens, students, educators, researchers, funders, social entrepreneurs, librarians, information technologists, urban designers, sustainability experts and other pioneers in engagement.

The emphasis: How can the public engage, not as an audience, consumers or marketplace, but as participants, with journalists, in creating and sharing local news and information?

This challenge combines the original public service purpose of journalism with emerging opportunities made possible by interactive communication technologies. Our goal is to help people have, create and share the news, information and connection they need to make the best possible decisions for their lives and their communities.

Some questions we will explore together:

• How do we develop a new sense of values and ethics that makes engagement viable and productive for communities and journalists?
• How do we build trust, credibility and relationships in the age of engagement?
• How can communities and journalists not just trust, but rely on each other?
• How can temporary relationships built around a project or story be prolonged into lasting relationships built around connecting and storytelling?
• How can communities have more complete storytelling about civic life?
• How can people who are not journalists serve as connectors within communities and with media?
• How can news and information gaps be filled within communities, as well as by media?
• How can journalists engage more fully in in civic life, while maintaining credibility and trust?
• What are the best tools and techniques for community connection?
• Who are the exemplars and what can others learn from them?
• What is journalism in an interdependent, interactive world?

These questions seem particularly relevant in the aftermath of the presidential election, including concerns that media haven’t been listening thoughtfully to all communities. We welcome your suggestions for other questions to address.

Our goal: Together, we’ll generate actionable tools, illuminate promising practices and develop strategies for helping communities have the news, information and connection they need to create thriving, healthy, inclusive communities.

Join us in a lively and productive exchange around challenging questions with a diverse group of peers who care about storytelling with civic impact — the capacity to address shared public challenges.