@ModelD: Fans of #Detroit

On Monday, I wrote:

[Optimism] seems to be the theme for nearly all the articles from Model D Media's Buzz page. Of course, one should expect that from a publication whose Twitter profile states:

We love Detroit. We write about Detroit. We photograph Detroit. We film Detroit. We want you to love Detroit, too.

...And whose attitude I characterized as "Optimism but not business as usual." They're certainly living up to both my billing and their own.

Yesterday, I saw that the latest edition of Model D had been posted, with enough sustainablity stories to make up for the magazine skipping last week for the Memorial Day weekend. This prompted me to look for videos on YouTube about Model D Media. I found the following, which is a talk by one of the founders of Model D about the philosophy behind their online magazine.

As you can see, the co-founder had several driving ideas for the publication. First, instead of reporting what the co-founder called "stories about loss," the publication's emphasis is reporting the good news and reward worthwhile behavior. Second, the magazine wants to protray the reality on the ground instead of sticking to the set narrative, hence the kind of stories from Model D, either their original reporting or what they've found reported elsewhere, which shows the grassroots revitalization of the city, not the "Detroit is a disaster zone" reporting typical for the place. Finally, they wanted to show the people in the front rows of change, not the same ten people who always get the press. No wonder I see their tone as "optimism, but not business as usual." That's what they had in mind!

Model D Media, fans of Detroit.



Above originally posted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

A video posted to the Facebook page about barriers to participation #coffeeparty

Local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care.

This is the YouTube version of a video that has been posted to the main page and by Annabel Park to hers. Watch to see how intentional exclusion keeps participation in local government down. Then think about how to improve participation in local govenment.

Crossposted to coffeepartyusa  on both Dreamwidth and LiveJournal.