The Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers organization interviewed The Swellesley Report earlier this month about our Wellesley news hub. Damn, I’m an absolute sound bite machine…
And another thing about us: Swellesley Report interviewed
Apply now for free Wellesley summer youth programs
The Wellesley Youth Commission is excited to announce the 2018 lineup of summer programs. Get an insider view of the Town of Wellesley by experiencing one of our amazing programs.
All summer programs offered through the Wellesley Youth Commission are free and for Wellesley youth (residents) entering grades 6, 7, and 8 Fall of 2018. The programs are held at various locations throughout Wellesley with lunch provided daily.
Applicants can apply online now, and may choose to apply to any of the summer exploration programs, but applicants can attend only one program per summer. Participants will be chosen by lottery (lottery closes January 31) the first week in February, so please identify 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices appropriately. You will receive a confirmation email once the lottery has been completed.
Film crew in Wellesley today, location manager claims it’s “nothing exciting”
A video location manager has blown into town today, bringing with him a film crew and some bustle to the Rice St. area. I spoke to location manager Jeff MacLean of Bark Productions who seemed flattered by The Swellesley Report attention and told me, “I can’t say what it’s about, but it isn’t really anything very exciting.”
Not very exciting. Hah. He obviously lives a life of travel and glamour, over at the Zakim Bridge one day and off to Suffolk University the next, or so a peek at his client list suggests. Not that I don’t love Wellesley and our brand of living life to its fullest. It’s grand in its way. Still, when outsiders come in and actual cameras start rolling, my interest is piqued. All he would cop to was that he was filming an interview of a doctor. M.D.? PhD? He wouldn’t say. He did reveal that he was looking forward to lunch at Cafe Mangal. He’ll probably be the one looking all big-time Hollywood, wearing shades, and taking calls. I highly recommend the kebabs, Mr. MacLean.
Thanks to neighborhood tipsters for the heads-up on this.
MORE:
“Daddy’s Home 2” filmed in Wellesley
Thoroughbred filmed in Wellesley
The Connecticut State Lottery has filmed in Wellesley — twice
Wellesley Public Media seeks video content producer
Wellesley Public Media is seeking a creative individual to produce video content related to significant public issues and events in Wellesley.
The successful candidate will be a journalist who can tell good stories using video as the medium, with a strong understanding of editorial standards and a nose for Wellesley news. This individual will need to be comfortable in front of the camera (in the studio and in the field) and be able to work with our video editors to develop succinct, interesting and dynamic stories. This is a part time or contractor position. If you are interested, please send a resume and links to videos demonstrating your relevant experience to [email protected].
MORE: Wellesley’s Affordable Housing Challenge (video)
Swellesley in good company at Chicago conference for local news sites
The Swellesley Report is far from being alone on the independent local news front in the United States, with some publishers addressing communities a fraction of Wellesley’s size, others reimagining local news coverage for major cities like Philly and Denver, and still others covering everything in between. I traveled to Chicago this past week to attend the LION Summit, a confab for local independent online news outfits. While doing Swellesley for the past dozen years has been a serious education, we know we have a ton more to learn, and the dozens of other attendees were great teachers.
I funded my trip in part through a grant in exchange for posting about some sessions (See: Journalists warned: ‘We cannot be ignorant of our privilege’ and Richland Source finds way to millennials’ hearts with free music & beer). Yeah, that’s kind of how people in this field get things done.
Though as I learned at the summit, new sources of serious funding are starting to emerge to back publishers in so-called “news deserts” that have either been abandoned by a shrinking mainstream press or that have always been overlooked by the press. Publishers are getting creative in many ways, collaborating with each other as well as entities such as colleges, going the nonprofit route, and doing whatever it takes to fuel their endeavors.
They’re also being creative on the content side of things. I spoke with one publisher from Tennessee that has enlisted a bunch of football moms to crowdsource game coverage (he even supplies them with new phones). A small site in east Texas crowdfunded a tour of taco joints in an effort to get people from the city to visit parts they’d never ventured into before. A Chicago-area publisher trains citizen journalists at its newsroom.
Attendees were in a big-time sharing mood. One session promised 40 ideas in 40 minutes, and delivered. Chatter over lunch was peppered with numbers on website visitors and how much people were charging for ads.
I even had the chance to volunteer Swellesley for a public critique by a couple of design experts, as you can see in the video below (which I’m sharing since the review was mainly positive).
I returned to Wellesley with dozens of brilliant new ideas, some of which we might even implement. So stay tuned…
