From The Rapidian Staff
Each week, a Rapidian staffer will publish a piece related to goings-on at The Rapidian, developments in the world of citizen journalism and tips for making the most of the site.
Screening and discussion planned to "Stop hate. Together."
Submitted 11/22
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other." (Mother Teresa) When “other people” are victims of hate crimes and hostile discrimination, it’s expected for well-meaning people to shake...
The Rapidian adds photo of the day archive and expands media map
Submitted 11/09
It’s been a little while since we rolled out the newest incarnation of The Rapidian, but we are still working on things behind the scenes. Here is a brief overview of a few of the new features our wonderful Drupal developer, Ron Woldyk, has...
See you again
Submitted 10/25
Dusk was setting in, and as I lifted my arms over my head in yoga class, I thought about all the ways to say goodbye. I didn't have a clear idea of how, so mostly, I nestled into the sound of it. To say that I worked with The Rapidian for...
Looking back: capturing the art and kitsch of fall
Submitted 10/20
Well, there's no denying it now: ArtPrize is over. And with it, the closing of our fall edition of Picturesque: "Art or Kitsch?" We asked you to share your images in which you either captured some artwork around you, or made your...
Beyond the poll: join the "shop local" conversation
Submitted 10/11
Normally the weekly Rapidian poll is designed to stand on its own: created for fun, to offer an idea for quiet consideration, or to encourage brief exchanges between fellow Rapidians. This time though, I want to personally encourage everyone to use...
Why we do what we do: categorization on The Rapidian
Submitted 10/06
It’s been over two weeks since The Rapidian relaunched, high time we start talking about what we did and why we did it. This is the first part in a brief series of recaps detailing recent technical changes on The Rapidian, both behind the...
ArtPrize A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3
Submitted 09/20
As I write this, it's the eve of ArtPrize Eve. My life-and many of yours- will be all ArtPrize, all the time for the next few weeks. I'm going to admit it: I was pretty happy at the prospect of living and breathing art for 19 straight days....
Welcoming new partnerships on The Rapidian's second birthday
Submitted 09/12
This week, on the occasion of The Rapidian’s 2nd birthday (Thursday, September 15th), we are excited to unveil new site updates and welcome new supporters to the project. Thanks to the seed funding generously provided by the Grand Rapids...
Hunger Aware
Submitted 09/04
Next week is Hunger Action Week, and to help us start being aware of what that means for us here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I spent some time finding out the statistics on hunger and food insecurity in our area. I was surprised to find out: 1 in 6...
Beat Reporting comes to The Rapidian
Submitted 08/31
The Beat Reporting Backstory When interviewing for an internship at The Rapidian, Rapidian staff explained that one of the interns would be tasked with organizing a group of reporters around a specific section of news happening within the city...
Your input really matters!
Submitted 08/18
Oh my, how time flies. It is hard to believe that in less than a month, The Rapidian will be turning two years old! It has been terrific getting to know our community through the eyes of so many engaged Rapidians and we are excited for the continued...
Where do you live?
Submitted 08/09
A couple weeks ago I EJSF7QUMMMY2 previewed one of The Rapidian’s newest features - the neighborhood drill down. That article showed one of the ways that The Rapidian is collecting geographical information about each of the stories on the site...
Anonymity in media - the conversation continues
Submitted 08/03
Last week I had the opportunity to attend and speak at a conference on community media. An entire track was devoted to the care and feeding of young community journalism projects. As is nearly always the case, anonymous posting became a topic of...
Why it matters: The power of words and the importance of our stories
Submitted 07/14
I've had several jobs now where, when asked what I do, you might catch me responding like this: “I help people tell their stories well.” I love that about my job. It is an honor to be able to help people tell their stories. Our...
Rodrick Dantzler—Processing what happened as a community
Submitted 07/08
From The Rapidian staff*: The day after, it's natural to melt into ourselves. Yesterday's events were surreal, and I'd wager that no one's thinking of going out tonight, pushing through crushes of revelers for a typical Friday evening. But how many...
New feature: neighborhood drill down!
Submitted 06/30
This is a quick update on one of The Rapidian's newest feature: neighborhood drilldowns. This one is a little bit behind the scenes, but is an important step for the future of connecting with local content on The Rapidian at the neighborhood...
Communication as Infrustructure
Submitted 06/23
When discussing and writing about the Rapidian, we often use the words hyper-local, news and information, and citizen reporter. A few words I think we don’t reference often enough, are “Democracy” and “civic engagement”. But truth is, lots of...
Virginia is for lovers, tire swings are for dreamers, reporting is for the curious
Submitted 06/14
Reporting. It's for the curious. "I think that it's very easy to go about everyday life, to go from place to place, having the same conversations, getting very comfortable in what you think you know," said Lisa Fairman, a RadioLab...
The Rapidian now accepting intern applicants
Submitted 06/08
As we continue to grow, The Rapidian is ready to have some mentorship happening on a new level. You might even get college credit for it, if you’re into college and all that (or should I say, more simply, “if you’re in college...
Where do you want to put the social in social media?
Submitted 06/01
As many of you hopefully know, we are hosting a lil’ summer picnic in the tiny park across the street from Wealthy Theatre at noon on Friday, June 10. We periodically put these little meet and greets together so that those of us in the...
Spreading the News
Submitted 05/24
It's no surprise to you that we make a big deal about the importance of our community of volunteer Rapidian reporters. The entire model of The Rapidian depends on local people stepping up to report the news, not merely consume it. We continue to...
[MAP] Picturesquing about town
Submitted 05/18
Two weeks ago, we launched the spring edition of Picturesque, a community photo collaboration that collects images around the theme, "in plain sight." "What do we Grand Rapidians notice that we think others miss?" we asked. Forty-nine images later...
The full story: Writing about our community includes more than cultural events
Submitted 05/09
Denise Cheng, our Citizen Journalism Coordinator here at The Rapidian, wrote an excellent article recently about the importance of news coverage of our cultural events, what old-school journalists would perhaps deem “fluff.” The fact is...
Picturesque: In plain sight
Submitted 05/02
On a drab day, I walked down the path from my house to the sidewalk. At the foot of the path, crocus blooms poked barely above the mottled grass. The dabs of violet were hardly noticeable. A smile was coming on. Who else today had spotted this shy...
Entrepreneurs are Rapidians, too.
Submitted 04/27
Since the early months of the Rapidian, the question has been asked: "How can the local business community can be involved with the Rapidian?" Now that traffic has increased and participants multiplied, the near whisper has turned into...
Rethinking how we describe news categories
Submitted 04/20
The Rapidian is chock full of arts and entertainment content. Is it fluff or does it signal a new way of thinking about news, community and dialogue? In the last six years, I've had numerous conversations with journalists, bloggers, web developers...
Building our skills and building community: public hours get special
Submitted 04/12
What are public hours? Every week, The Rapidian staff is available to you in person in our offices for specific hours. We call them "public hours," and they're a great chance to stop by to visit, brainstorm article ideas, ask general...
Share the credit: Collaborators and Translators get some Rapidian love too
Submitted 04/06
Like our mothership, Grand Rapids Community Media Center, The Rapidian has always been about building community through media. With this project, that manifests is in a variety of ways, but today I’d like to focus on story collaborations and...
Has the divide gone mobile?
Submitted 03/29
From the Rapidian staff Quite recently, I was reading through the Predictions for Journalism 2011 series on the Nieman Journalism Lab website. Once again, many are claiming this is to be the “year of mobile.” Hardly earth-shattering as this...
Where should The Rapidian see and be seen this summer?
Submitted 03/22
It's a little gray right now, but March is going out like a lamb. It is spring, and the season for festivals and street fairs is nigh. Rapidian readers, we'd like to see and be seen. Yes, we're having our social this Thursday (plug - 5:...
Sum It Up: The Meaning of Things
Submitted 03/15
Though we haven't been calling much attention to it, there have been scads of very minor website upgrades happening behind the scenes here at The Rapidian HQ. But recently we launched something so we big we just need to make mention of it. Summary...
Introducing essays to The Rapidian content
Submitted 03/01
Since starting at The Rapidian in January, I’ve been doing a lot of listening, observing and analyzing. I’ve been looking for what’s missing: what content our readers and reporters are wanting but not getting. The two things I’ve noticed trending is...
Rapidian socials: In a boat, with a goat? In the rain, on a train?
Submitted 02/22
Perhaps you remember them: ice cream socials, Rapidian reporter gatherings, happy hours... we took a break from monthly socials during the holiday season, and now that we've been gifted with a full staff, let's rock and roll! All you creative...
Becoming a Rapidian Reporter
Submitted 02/15
In light of the first Rapidian Reporter Orientation of the year, to be held this Thursday at 5:30pm right here at The Rapidian office (1110 Wealthy St SE), I thought it might be wise to give a quick reminder about how one actually becomes a...
New Reporters: What have we gotten ourselves into?
Submitted 02/07
"What have I gotten myself into?" How many times have you said that to yourself after making a leap that you thought was a good idea? I know I sometimes jump in, feet first and thrilled as can be, only to realize later that I didn't really know all...
The end of Picturesque doesn't mean the end of winter fun!
Submitted 02/01
That was a hard title to type, especially in light of a blizzard on the horizon, descending upon us at dusk today. "Snowpocalypse" and "snowmageddon" have been bandied around, so this reminder of what we love about West Michigan winters couldn't be...
Let me introduce myself: Holly Bechiri joins The Rapidian team
Submitted 01/25
This week in 1984, Apple Computers Inc unveiled its first MacIntosh personal computer. And, as I remember, immediately started pouring those Mac PCs into schools for free (smart company, that Apple). In fact, I remember using those PCs to...
Looking Ahead: Rapidian staff discuss priorities for 2011
Submitted 01/20
On New Year’s eve Roberta King, superstar citizen journalist and our champion at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, published an inspirational call to action encouraging us all to "be The Rapidian” in 2011. As part of the team that puts The...
Being The Rapidian in 2011
Submitted 12/31
There is something about the end of a year and the start of a new one that energizes me. I don't make resolutions; but write goals for things I want to accomplish. I also find the end of the year a time where I reflect (usually fondly) on what I've...
Winter photos: Someone must know which street this is
Submitted 12/30
A couple of weeks ago, The Rapidian and The Grand Rapids Press launched their respective winter photo projects. On our part, we asked Rapidians to share what there is to love about West Michigan winters. The Press opted for a caption...
Season's greetings and what Picturesque shows us about Rapidians so far
Submitted 12/21
It's been half a week since Picturesque went up, and we've gotten over 30 submissions in the meantime. A few things that are coming across in the photos: Even in the winter, Grand Rapidians feel a strong connection to the lake. When I tell folks I...
A picturesque show-and-tell: What do you like about West Michigan winters?
Submitted 12/14
From The Rapidian staff: Snow banks. Rust. Black ice and endless gray. The grumbling has commenced, so let's mix it up. Fellow Rapidians, what do you love about West Michigan winters? This Thursday, Dec. 16, is the start of The Rapidian's first...
Got a question for Mayor Heartwell? City Connection to stream live on The Rapidian
Submitted 12/06
*** UPDATE *** The above video is a recording of tonight's City Connection. From The Rapidian Staff: Ever wonder how cities prioritize street construction after the winter? Or about the city’s commitment to sustainable practices? What’s...
Apparently, Rapidians are Sticky
Submitted 11/30
From The Rapidian staff: The Rapidian is an open platform where the community self-selects the news and information to be shared and reported. The original intent was to increase community engagement and encourage connections in the community. The...
New Feature Tuesday: Suggestions Slider
Submitted 11/23
From The Rapidian staff: A new feature announcement on a Tuesday can really only mean one thing. That’s right, it’s New Feature Tuesday! This time we only have one new feature that we are ready to talk about, the suggestions slider, and actually...
A DIY prototype kit for Rapidian reporters - Crafters wanted!
Submitted 11/16
From The Rapidian staff: Last week, we were invited to set up shop at AimWest's social media confabulation, an annual conference in its second iteration that's spilling out of the gills with GR's social media savviest (read: marketers)....
Just the facts: clarifying our content
Submitted 11/03
It’s the aim of The Rapidian, as seen in the Statement of Values, to encourage and stand by ethical reporting. Reporters are charged with seeking truth, being honest and fair, minimizing harm, avoiding misrepresentation, seeking alternate sources...
Here's some food for thought, Grand Rapids
Submitted 11/02
No matter where you're from, food is a popular topic. Whether it's finding the best po-boy sandwich in New Orleans, picking out the largest lobster at a shore diner in Maine, finding out what you can (although maybe you shouldn't) fry at a state...
Bylines, RSS feeds, mapping and Facebook stuff: The Rapidian has some new features!
Submitted 10/26
Now that the craziness of ArtPrize is behind us, we can breathe and finally tell you about the new features we have quietly launched on (and off) the site over the last couple of weeks. That's right, people, it's "New Feature Tuesday" again! ...
First content facilitator's contribution at the heart of The Rapidian
Submitted 10/19
From The Rapidian staff: One year ago yesterday, we got the news that Drew Storey had unexpectedly passed away. It was instant - an undiagnosed heart condition - no pain. Drew Storey was The Rapidian's first content facilitator and, before that,...
What #ArtPrize2010 has taught us
Submitted 10/12
From Rapidian staff: It's been a busy few weeks for Grand Rapids and that means it's been busy at The Rapidian, too. ArtPrize season brought us a lot of content from both new and existing reporters, a multitude of arts-entertainment and...
Funding hyperlocal news - your input invited
Submitted 10/04
There is no question that things are really hopping at the Rapidian. Monthly visitor numbers are up a whopping 78% compared to 3 months ago. Now nearly 15,000 visits are being made each month to check out what's happening. Hundreds are signed...
Observations from Block by Block, a community news summit
Submitted 09/28
From Rapidian staff: Last Thursday, I pinwheeled through the freeways separating our city from that tall bold slugger known as Chicago. It was the first Block by Block summit (BxB), a conference organized by Michele McClellan of the Reynolds...
ArtPrize 2010: Essays and Critique
Submitted 09/21
From The Rapidian staff: Yesterday afternoon, The Rapidian soft-launched our ArtPrize 2010 page. Here, you will be able to find all of The Rapidian coverage that relates to this year's ArtPrize competition. While regular readers of The Rapidian...
The Rapidian turns ONE and is still growing
Submitted 09/15
Has it been a year already? The Rapidian’s one-year birthday is today, Sept. 15. Looking back on these past 12 months, we’ve all learned a lot from the community, our contributors, our partners and our readers. Today, The Rapidian officially ends...
Hyperlocal: Trendy tag or fundamental value?
Submitted 09/08
Dictionary.com has no definition for the word “hyperlocal”. Microsoft Word consistently provides a red underline alert, unapologetically pointing out that I have either mistyped, or that I’m just making stuff up. Over two years ago, when we were...
Creative Commons and The Rapidian: Choose Your Own Adventure
Submitted 08/31
From The Rapidian Staff: One of the core foundational values of The Rapidian is cooperative distribution. We launched this project not with the intention of replacing or competing with existing local news outlets but to augment the overall...
Invisibility cloak donned: What would you want to observe?
Submitted 08/24
From The Rapidian staff: Say you're a fly on the wall. Or, no—let's do this up Harry Potter-style—say you have an invisibility cloak. You can go anywhere you want, hear anything you want, completely unnoticed. What's your first pick? ...
Interaction with The Rapidian helps generate coverage ideas
Submitted 08/18
From The Rapidian staff*: A major element of The Rapidian, if not the most important, is community involvement. Without interaction between readers and reporters, the Rapidian wouldn't be able to offer much, which is why we try to encourage...
Four or five new features we may just develop next
Submitted 08/10
Features, features, features. It’s nearly all we can think about in The Rapidian’s IT HQ. While we may have unveiled our newest, most solid suite of updates a mere two weeks ago, we are quick to look at what’s coming next. After some deep...
Media literacy: Distinguishing political coverage
Submitted 08/03
From The Rapidian staff: Right around fall time every year, the city is caught in a maelstrom of election coverage. There is so much news coverage pouring out of papers, screens and in 1s and 0s that it can be difficult to wade through the type...
The Rapidian celebrates volunteers with SUPER-latives!
Submitted 08/02
From The Rapidian staff: On July 22, we threw our first volunteer bash. Named SUPER-latives!, we wanted to celebrate everyone who had contributed to The Rapidian, from readers to Flickr groupies to contributors to staff. The event took...
NEW FEATURE TUESDAY – New article pages: Better images, sharing, sidebars and author information
Submitted 07/27
From The Rapidian Staff: Bake a cupcake and light a candle, because it’s New Feature Tuesday here at The Rapidian. NFT is a semi-regular holiday I have just made up to mark the release of new features that make The Rapidian look and work better...
Communicating with police to get the details
Submitted 07/20
From The Rapidian staff: You probably wouldn’t imagine being a contributor to the Rapidian would put you on the police department’s radar but sometimes that’s exactly where you want to be. Reporters often find situations where the information...
Rapidian seeking NPO partners for news bureaus
Submitted 07/13
As the Rapidian nears its first birthday, we are looking to extend The Rapidian to new audiences and engage new voices. The cornerstone of this initiative is the plan to seed and help launch unique new bureaus. The Rapidian will provide tools...
Online tools: Resources to create cool multimedia for The Rapidian
Submitted 07/06
From The Rapidian staff: It's astonishing how easy it is to create interactive media with free tools right at your fingertips (literally)—that is, if you know where to look. We covered a couple tools in a previous editorial, but here are a few more...
Using neighborhood news bureaus to strengthen links
Submitted 06/29
From The Rapidian staff*: Currently, The Rapidian is primarily an online news platform, facilitating and distributing text, video and audio reports generated by people in our community. But as designed, it is also intended to have a real,...
Making the most of weekly story pitches
Submitted 06/22
From The Rapidian staff*: One of the ways we at The Rapidian try to help our citizen reporters is by providing them with story ideas. The storybank is a great resource for those searching for something to write about, but there is also a...
Location, Location, Location: Why We Map Stories
Submitted 06/18
From The Rapidian staff*: From the beginning, story mapping has been a key component of The Rapidian. With that in mind we built the site so that it would be easy for reporters to enter geographical information into their stories and events...
Holding down the fort while Rapidian staffer recovers
Submitted 06/07
From The Rapidian staff: I visited Matt Russell at the hospital this morning. You may have already heard about his moped accident because even though The Rapidian's content facilitator is confined to a hospital bed, he's been tweeting...
GRTV offers live stream of Festival of the Arts
Submitted 06/03
From The Rapidian staff*: Grand Rapids' 41st Festival of the Arts will be streamed live from Calder Plaza by GRTV this weekend. If you can't make it downtown for the arts, activities, food, music and more, just open this link or click the Festival...
What to look out for before publishing
Submitted 05/25
From The Rapidian staff*: You've done your research, meticulously assembled your words, edited and redited, and are finally ready to hit the publish button. But wait! Are you sure your piece is ready to go live? Before presenting your work...
Find story ideas by getting involved
Submitted 05/18
From The Rapidian staff*: Of the reasons we often get at The Rapidian for contributors experiencing writer's block, a common one is difficulty finding story leads. Luckily, this problem can be tackled not only with resources found on therapidian....
New features on The Rapidian
Submitted 05/07
Welcome to the newest version of the Rapidian! Both longtime and new readers alike are bound to notice some big changes to The Rapidian after today’s relaunch. Over the past several weeks Ron Woldyk (three cheers for Ron!), our long-suffering web...
Catalyst Radio and The Rapidian partner for on-air media analysis and local happenings
Submitted 05/04
From The Rapidian staff: Two programs of Community Media Center—Catalyst Radio and The Rapidian—have joined forces in bringing media, media news, and highlights on local nonprofits to the Grand Rapids community. Some of you may have noticed...
You, with your ear to the ground!
Submitted 04/27
From The Rapidian staff: During our press pit last week about breaking news, Grand Rapids Press' Web Producer Kate Nagengast made some very good points. It was the day after a cancelled Grand Rapids Public Schools board meeting. Emotions were...
Keeping The Rapidian Flickr pool effective
Submitted 04/21
From Rapidian staff*: As you’ve no doubt noticed while perusing therapidian.org, our front page features a photo of the day. This feature is pulled from The Rapidian Flickr pool, http://www.flickr.com/groups/therapidian. We also take photos...
Citizen reporting: Many voices/many styles
Submitted 04/13
From Rapidian staff:* When The Rapidian was designed (with a good dose of community volunteer input), it was recognized from the start that while we could build it, it would only survive and thrive if residents stepped up to provide the content. We...
New Feature: Story Bank - Help Us Out!
Submitted 04/08
From Rapidian staff*: After more than a year of solid development, Ron – our main developer – is off on a much-need vacation with his family. That leaves the rest of us Rapidian staffers with a tiny bit of downtime to do some of the planning...
TMI: Leave it on the cutting room floor
Submitted 03/30
From Rapidian staff: When presenting information to your audience, don't pile it up. Deconstruct it. It happens all the time in classes, at conferences, at public events. With so many questions fizzing from the audience, participants feel...
Localizing a larger story for The Rapidian audience
Submitted 03/24
From Rapidian staff*: As a hyperlocal news source, a main thrust behind The Rapidian is to cover the news and events that affect lives within the City of Grand Rapids, but there’s no denying that news happens outside these boundaries. Health care...
@verylocal: Another way of connecting with Rapidian content
Submitted 03/15
From Rapidian staff*: Many of you responded to the recent Rapidian poll, “How do you primarily get your Rapidian Updates?” I would be lying were I to suggest that this question was posed without somewhat of an ulterior motive. We have been...
Multimedia production: Freeware, royalty-free and Creative Commons media tools
Submitted 03/09
From Rapidian staff: You've just written a story about some virus originating from Grand Rapids affecting giraffes in Africa. You need a picture to go with your piece but don't exactly have an image of a giraffe on hand. A quick search on Google...
Keep your headlines concise, avoid funny business
Submitted 03/04
From Rapidian staff*: The headline of your story is the first thing readers see on The Rapidian, Facebook, Twitter and many other places online. It’s a marquis sign, aimed at attracting the eye and piquing interest in the story it adorns. Some...
New Feature: Better User Bar!
Submitted 02/22
From Rapidian staff*: If you are a logged-in user of The Rapidian, you may have noticed the slightly retooled user bar in the top right-hand corner of the site. This little bar should help address some of The Rapidian's biggest usability problems—...
Show, don't tell
Submitted 02/09
From Rapidian staff*: "Show don't tell" plays like a broken record for every creative writer. Says Wikipedia, "Show, don't tell is an admonition to fiction writers to write in a manner that allows the reader to experience the story through a...
Defining your article by newsworthiness and content
Submitted 02/02
From Rapidian staff*: When submitting stories for the Rapidian, they must be categorized into one of three groups--News, Local Life and Opinion. The differences between these three groups may seem minimal but there are actually defining traits to...
FTC regulations mirror The Rapidian's emphasis on disclosure
Submitted 01/19
From Rapidian staff: In a blog entry by Whitney Hoffman, she frames blogging in a media-saturated world as a Mom & Pop operation. In October 2009, the Federal Trade Commission put a law in place that just went into effect last month: Full...
Welcome to BETA II
Submitted 12/15
Since the launch of The Rapidian, exactly three months ago to the day, The Rapidian has been operating in what we’ve been calling “Beta I.” It has been a time to throw everything out there and see what works and what doesn’t. Things, for the most...
