Dear OffTheBus members,

Back in July 2007 I showed up at HuffPost’s Manhattan office with a suitcase packed with enough clothes to get me through the month while I looked for an apartment and started OffTheBus. Even before our official launch many of you were peppering my inbox with emails, wanting to know what you could do to help. Among that initial circle of my newfound friends and acquaintances were Mayhill Fowler — who later rocked the campaigns and campaign journalism with what we now know as “Bittergate”; Beverly Davis — a veteran reporter who provided invaluable insight into the role that citizen journalists could play on the trail; Richard Riehl — the editor of the much loved Roadkill, that tasty, daily collection of candidate gaffes; and Ethan Hova — a Shakespearean actor from Los Angeles who co-wrote our first big story, “Romney Buys Conservatives.”

Sixteen months later and our network has grown by the thousands. The staff also grew, as I was joined by Marc Cooper, Neil Nagraj, John Tomasic, and Hanna Ingber Win and intern Gabriel Beltrone. Mayhill, Beverly, Richard, and Ethan have been joined by a remarkable cast of home-makers, retired journalists, aspiring journalists, lawyers and doctors, actors and actresses, some curmudgeons and, yes, a few professional journalists. New friends are now old friends, and old friends are friends forever.

Together we have been credited with creating the genre of citizen journalism (New York Magazine). You have broken some of the election cycle’s biggest scoops. You have also been described - by none other than the New York Times - as a “force in journalism.”

We — Marc, John, Hanna, Neil, Gabriel, Amanda — couldn’t be more proud of what we have all achieved together.

For just this once we are not going to ask you to write or report anything. Celebrate! Break out that champagne, beer, or wine (or for those young enough or so inclined, a coffee or chocolate cake) and make a toast! Or two. Or three.

Journalism isn’t and never has been a monolithic craft. The profession has a rich and varied history that often gets lost in defensive justifications of the status quo. In this election cycle journalism as we know it evolved tremendously, and you played no small role in it. A unique breed of citizen journalists — at OffTheBus and elsewhere — opened up public access to information that conventional reporters attached to the Washington echo chamber cannot.

Yay!

If that toast turns you tipsy and you’re inclined to express yourself in print, make your way to this comment thread instead of submitting a piece (we want to celebrate, too! ;)).

Here’s to you!

OffTheBus — Amanda, Marc, John, Hanna, Neil, and Gabriel

Denise Lockwood is like thousands of U.S. daily newspaper reporters — she fell victim to staff reductions. But she’s not giving up reporting — she’s pursuing her passion onlline.

Lockwood, an award-winning education and general-assignment reporter, is looking for advice on how to start a non-profit online news and community site for southeastern Wisconsin. She wants to focus on providing the context and background that dailies are being forced by economics to abandon.

One idea Lockwood is pursuing — what do we mean by “participatory democracy?” She worries that it isn’t enough to just vote anymore, that citizens “need to show up” at public meetings.

To learn more about her plans, listen to a 16-minute interview with Bill Densmore of the Media Giraffe Project and Matt Thompson, a 2008-2009 Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow.

In a four-part series, Digital Journal is profiling innovative journalists, editors and institutions that are redrawing the map of citizen media. Find out how these bold men and women are impacting their corner of the media landscape.

This interview is with Dan Gillmor from the Center for Citizen Media.

Via Online Journalism Blog

There’s a great interview with NPR’s Andy Carvin over at Poynter where he talks about their coverage of Hurricane Gustav. It’s a classic example of what I’ve previously called ‘Distributed Journalism,’ and a lesson for any news organization in how news production has changed:

“For Hurricane Gustav, he has led 500 volunteers putting together the Gustav Information Center, which includes a Wiki and a site called “Voices of Gustav.” The Voices site is set up to accept calls from people who have been displaced, with the idea that volunteers would transcribe the calls and post them online in a searchable format. That effort tapped into the Utterz Web site. The effort includes three Twitter feeds including GustavAlerts, which is a breaking weather feed. GustavNews follows news stories and GustavBlogs focuses on how blogs are reporting the storm. Another another team of 50 or so volunteers is working on transcribing reports from ham radio operators and other radio scans.

It’s been a LONG time since Assignment Zero. It’s often referred to as a successful failure. I still disagree for various reasons. We had all kinds of obstacles - but the end product I think speaks for itself.

Still - when the radio host at A World of Possibilities asked questions about it, old memories began to resurface. One day I would love to do a more thorough brain-dump about Assignment Zero because it was such a huge lesson for me (and I hope the larger journalism industry).

Listen to it here.

From Eat Sleep Publish:

Jay Rosen, who I follow on Twitter, got me thinking about newsroom curmudgeons with his tweets last week. It got me to suggest that we compile a giant, handy-dandy guide to these curmudgeonly views and their counterpoints.

This is that guide.

And so, without further ado, here the is the ultimate guide to newspaper curmudgeon talking points:

READ MORE

Via The Orlando Sentinel.

“I’m going to try a little citizen journalism experiment for the launch of the iPhone 3G. Since a lot of the early adopters who will be buying iPhones use Twitter, I’m soliciting reports from them while they’re at Apple and AT&T stores getting an iPhone or stopping by to see what the scene is like.

Basically, I’m interested in hearing from as many people as possible what it’s like at Apple and AT&T stores around the world. So make sure you include your location in your Tweet so we know where you are.

These reports will automatically be displayed in a widget.”

The widget can be found at the bottom of the article.

Via Steve Yelvington…”Mayhill Fowler, the non-journalist who has broken at least two major campaign stories this season by simply not playing the usual game by the usual rules, reflects on an interview with an Al-Jazeera reporter”

She writes: For the first time I realized what is most obvious about the work other OffTheBus correspondents and I do. We are citizens, first. As Americans, moreover, we have the right any time any day any year to step out of our homes to inquire and to investigate. The inclination to do so, which Meena found fascinating, is certainly not exclusively American; but it is quintessentially American. Sitting in the Reuters studio on Times Square, I was proud, most proud, to be a citizen journalist.

Read more: Mayhill Fowler: On The Road Again, With Begging Bowl And Stick - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post

Via OffTheBus.Net: It’s the electoral race of the century. Political maps are being redrawn, and rules are getting rewritten across the board. Fundraising record have been broken. The candidates are even comparing the size of their email lists.

The mainstream media is tripping over itself to report on every last press release and campaign announcement. But do any of us REALLY know what’s going on?

With your help from the frontlines, HuffPost’s OffTheBus can change campaign coverage.

CAN YOU HELP US? Join OffTheBus’ Special Ops team, and report back to us on what’s happening in your town and state.

Via J.D. Lasica and Steve Outing.

Boss Rosen on the Mayhill events. J.D. has a thoughtful writeup on his blog.

How citizen journalism is changing campaign coverage from JD Lasica on Vimeo.