Fall 2007 Workshop

Madison Commons Community Journalism Workshop:

Fall 2007

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Madison Commons Offers Fall Journalism Workshops

Madison Commons will offer a number of workshops to introduce residents to reporting and basic journalism principles. If you're curious, like to uncover answers to interesting questions, enjoy talking with people, or love to write, then you're a great candidate for the Madison Commons workshops! Past participants have come to our workshops with a variety of backgrounds, interests and goals.

Madison Commons is a citizen journalism website designed to provide news and information about all of Madison's neighborhoods, and a crossroads for the discussion of community issues. The site includes stories written by people who have been trained through the Madison Commons workshops. We encourage workshop participants to continue writing for the Commons after their training. Visit the Commons online at http://www.madisoncommons.org [1].

Our introductory workshops will focus on basic journalism principles, such as accuracy, fairness, and transparency. We'll also touch on how to construct a story and share tips for fitting citizen journalism into your lives. The content will be the same for each workshop. Participants for the introductory workshops will be asked to complete at least one story for Madison Commons during the three-month period following completion of the workshop.

Our three-part series, Writing Profile Stories, will highlight journalism principles and delve into constructing stories, including developing good interviewing and note-taking skills, finding story sources, and learning journalism-style guidelines. Participants will complete a profile story of their choice during the series and will be asked to write an additional article during the three-month period following completion of the series.

Workshops are free and open to the public. Space is limited and pre-registration is required.

To register for one of the introductory workshops or for the Writing Profile Stories series, please contact Cathy DeShano, Madison Commons managing editor, by e-mail, cldeshano@yahoo.com [2], or by phone at 237-1435.

Introductory Workshops

Dates and locations for the workshops are as follows:

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Alicia Ashman Public Library, 733 North High Point

Road, Madison

Monday, Nov. 19, 6:45-8:45 p.m.

Sequoya Public Library, 513 S. Midvale Boulevard,

Madison

Writing Profile Stories Series

The Writing Profile Stories series will be held at the Packers Community Learning Center, 1927 Northport Drive, Madison. Each workshop runs from 7 to 9 p.m. during the following dates:

Wednesdays, Oct. 24 and 31; and Nov. 7.