In

sixdays, we’ll be gathering at the Chicago O’Hare Hilton for what the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) hopes will be an unique, stimulating, participatory and action-inspiring meeting.   We are deeply grateful for taking a day or more to be with us and appreciate any optional pre-meeting thought you can undertake.

 This email is one of three you will receive between now and when we arrive either Wednesday evening, May 6 or Thurs., May 7, before our 9:30 a.m. start in Board Room 2051 of the hotel.

In this email

we cover:

 

• Who we are, why we are gathering, and what we hope results
• Preparing for opening questions
• Thursday’s concept agenda (this can change!)
• The “wiki” web page – newsecosystem.org
• Links to important, or optional, readings of references
• Explanation of a pre-convening outreach effort
• Lodging, facility, food and technical details / Chatham House
• What
  we're asking you
  to do now -- please answer three questions by reply email 

Mass-market advertising is not sustaining journalism any longer.  Public engagement with the news is more and more happening on digital platforms that support sharing and comment on the news but do not do enough to underwrite its creation.  News organizations are losing touch with their readers (thank-you, Jeff Jarvis). RJI believes it can help with a solution. We want to help the industry, technologists, foundations and citizens to create a new, public-benefit platform for trustworthy sharing of valuable news and information, while helping the public manage privacy and identity.  RJI has convened this small, roundtable gathering for your guidance on whether it should proceed with an initiative with the working title – the Information Trust Exchange. 

PLAN FOR OPENING QUESTIONS

 

You saw a brief problem statement and convening questions in the invitation you accepted:  http://newshare.com/call-to-action.pdf    At the start of our day on Thursday, we are going to ask each of you to give us your answers to t

questions (in about two minutes or less).

·         What moves you to help, and how?

·         What is the outcome you seek from Thursday?

·         Do you recommend RJI move the InfoTrust idea forward?

 

 OUR CONCEPT AGENDA FOR THURSDAY

 

A link to our concept agenda is below.   The agenda is not set in stone; your comments NOW are welcomed.  We’ll distribute a “final proposed agenda” next Tuesday by email.   We are requesting many of you to bring your perspective and expertise to the table by helping conduct aspects of our discussion on Thursday. We don’t want slides or handouts; please don’t feel obligated to prepare anything special. We’re look simply for you to provide your thoughts, modulated by what you’ve read, heard and seek.  We’ve specific a time (all 15 minutes or less, and generally shared) and a broad topic.

THE WIKI WEB PAGE – http://newsecosystem.org 

We’ve taken the domain name newsecosystem.org and linked it to a Wikimedia page which we can quickly update with fresh information, links or guidance. Please keep an eye on that page in the last couple of days before we convene. 

LINKS TO IMPORTANT (OR OPTIONAL)  READINGS 

Here’s the homework request . . . Most of you were among 85 people interviewed by Bill Densmore for the draft report, “From Persona to Payment: A Status Report on the News Ecosystem and a Challenge to Create the Next One.”  The full, 116-page report is among links below.  You can refresh your memory on the highlights of the report by just reading the 10-page report executive summary, also linked below.  Please also try to get to the five-page summary of the Information Trust Exchange idea. If you arrive with those 15 pages digested, you’ll be OK. After all, we invited you because we want to learn about your expertise and insights, not to get a book report back on our writing!  

 

There are other optional readings we can recommend and which are linked below, including:   (1) A one-page bullet-point summary of the ITE’s value to publishers and users (2) A reprint of a consumer-use case from Editor & Publisher (3) A candid and insightful discussion among Peter Winter, Buzz Wurzer and Bill Densmore about the news-industry  business crisis and five critical ways to help (4) Guardian VP Dave Gehring’s April 6 talk at RJI making the case for news-industry alignment in talks with Facebook, Google and other tech platform companies (5) A four-page, “case for the ITE” narrative. 

 

Please watch your email on Thursday afternoon for a note assigning to you a Pre-convening Conversation Partner.  Through many years organizing participatory gatherings, we have learned that our time together can be more productive if we become familiar with each other and begin discussions beforehand.  We’re going to assign you one other participant with whom we would like you to connect, at least by email and ideally by phone.  Event participants are not always able to connect, but the ones who do invariably find the experience helpful. 

Index of http://newshare.com/ohare

	Name	Last modified	Size
	bullet-points.pdf	28-Apr-2015 18:02	55K
	call-to-action.pdf	28-Apr-2015 17:33	174K
	consumer-use-case.pdf	27-Apr-2015 22:31	101K
	dire-straits-winter-wurzer.pdf	28-Apr-2015 16:32	62K
	gehring-voices-alignment.pdf	28-Apr-2015 15:57	42K
	ite-summary-description.pdf	28-Apr-2015 18:03	123K
	ohare-agenda.pdf	28-Apr-2015 16:54	41K
	ohare-case-for-ite.pdf	28-Apr-2015 17:12	60K
	report-FULL.pdf	27-Apr-2015 22:31	1.3M
	report-exec-summary.pdf	28-Apr-2015 17:19	209K
	report-ite-overview.pdf	27-Apr-2015 22:32	296K

 

Please email Bill Densmore at wpdensmore@gmail.com when you arrive at O’Hare, and feel free to call my mobile 617-448-6600 if you have any logistical needs.  Randy Picht’s mobile is 573-397-2986. 

 

At least 12

of us will be arriving at O’Hare on Wednesday evening. See “what you need to do now” for information about dinner ideas and networking.

 On Thursday in Room 2051,  RJI is providing providing coffee and tea in morning, a modest buffet lunch and afternoon cookies and beverages.  You are on your own if you need a really full breakfast. 

 

Out meeting room at the O’Hare Hilton will include one AC power strip.  We will have an LCD projector and screen for Skype video and to access the web.  We will also initiate a conference-call for our off-site participants. While we are not planning any presentations, we’ll be happy to facilitate showing anything you have that helps the discussion. We are purchasing a small number of wireless Internet access passes.  If you are a Hilton Honors Gold member you can use that for free access.  We will provide a low-bandwidth access point for email checking, etc.

 

You are reminded that we are all agreeing to

 the Chatham House Rule for this gathering.  The substance of our discussion is on the record, but each person in the room agree they will not quote participants by name without their explicit permission. We think this will ensure a higher level of candidness in our discussions. 

 

1)      Please email Bill Densmore (wpdensmore@gmail.com) to let us know your planned arrival time at the hotel (flight / time / airline if  you please). 

2)     If you’re arriving on Wednesday, would you like to join and share the cost of dinner in

 hotel restaurant –   We'll reserve the earliest time that works for most everyone's schedule.

3)     Do you have any links or resources you’d like us to share to the newsecosystem.org wiki page?  If so, just email to wpdensmore@gmail.com 

The next note you’ll receive will arrive in two days (Friday morning) assigning you a pre-convening conversation partner. 

Thanks, and see you next week at O’Hare,

Bill Densmore, Fellow 

The Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Univ. of Missouri