Practical Approaches to Mapping Rural Media Deserts

THE MEDIA SEEDS PROJECT (OF SE OHIO):
PRACTICAL, QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
TO POLICY (AND INTERVENTION) DESIGN
Dr. Michelle Ferrier
Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University
AEJMC, Toronto
August 8, 2019

ABOUT ME | DR. MICHELLE FERRIER
 Dean, School of Journalism & Graphic
Communication, FAMU
Twitter: @mediaghosts
 Ph.D. Texts & Technology
 Founder, TrollBusters.com
 Project Director: Media Seeds Project
 Chief Investigator:
The Media Deserts Project
 Mother of Google Maps

MAKING THE
INVISIBLE
VISIBLE: WAYS OF
SEEING
How do you know what you
know about your
community? How are you
ensuring that you are
mapping the community
assets?
DR. MICHELLE FERRIER AEJMC, TORONTO AUGUST 8, 2019

MAPPING THE PUBLIC SQUARE
• Scholars such as de Tocqueville (1997) and Habermas
(Bohman 2004, 139) have argued that newspapers fill
critical information needs for communities and that the
media have supplanted the “public sphere” of
community information exchange and dialogue around
important local issues.
• “News Deserts” as a term doesn’t account for all
conditions, such as the influences of code, conduits and
content AND geography.

WHAT IS A “MEDIA DESERT”?
• A media desert is a geographic
area that is lacking access to
fresh, local news and
information.
• This condition may be as a result
of a lack of content, access,
language barriers and other
issues.
• We define geospatial media
analytics as the use of GIS and
other ethnography tools to map
the communication flows within a
geographic area.

DR. MICHELLE FERRIER INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION, MAY 26, 2019

BUILDING ON MEDIA DESERTS PROJECT
• Since August 2017, students in some advanced
journalism courses have monitored more than 20
“media desert” counties in Southeastern Ohio using a
variety of tools, from social-media monitoring apps like
Hootsuite, Krzana, and NUVI, to personal observations
of community behaviors through old-fashioned
ethnography.

METHODOLOGIES
Digital Ethnography
Social Media Monitoring
Geomapping Tools
Asset Mapping

CHESTERHILL, OHIO (MORGAN COUNTY)

TOOL: GOOGLE EARTH WALKAROUND
• Many of the rural roads and
communities that we sought
to review remotely were
unavailable in Google Earth.
• Swaths of the countryside
were blank and unaccounted
for.

SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
• WE USED GOOGLE ALERTS,
HOOTSUITE, BANJO, KRZANA AND
OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
MONITORING TOOLS.
• WE MONITORED COUNTY
ACTIVITY FOR 10 WEEKS
• WE GENERATED WEEKLY REPORTS
OF ACTIVITY.
• USE OF MULTIPLE TOOLS
SHOWED LIMITATIONS OF THE
SOCIAL DATA AND ALGORITHMIC
BIASES.

COMMUNITY SOCIAL DASHBOARD

DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY REPORT:
ADAMS COUNTY
• www.ZipIt.News (Search by County)
• Taking Stock: Community Information Toolkit:
https://www.knightfoundation.org/media/upload
s/publication_pdfs/2011_KF_Community_Inform
ation_Toolkit.pdf

USER PERSONAS
• A way of making visible different
user groups discovered through
digital ethnography work.
• We looked across 20+ counties in
SE Ohio and examined the types
of people that we saw online. We
dove into their profiles to come
up with user personas of their
hopes, media literacy, challenges
and other needs.

USER PERSONAS
• We designed targeted
news/information and
health communication
strategies to reach each
user persona.

TARGETED
CONTENT
MAILING/REPLY
CARD
Thank you for participating!
1. Name a few of your favorite
LOCAL NEWS or INFORMA-
TION sources?
_____________ _____________
_____________ _____________
2. Which range includes your
AGE?
[ ] 0-17 [ ] 30-39
[ ] 18-20 [ ] 40-49
[ ] 21-29 [ ] 50 or older
3. Of ALL the local news and
information sources you use,
how well do those sources give
you what you need?
[ ] ALL of the information matters
to you
[ ] SOME of the information
matters to you
[ ] NOT MUCH of the informa-
tion matters to you
[ ] NONE of the information
matters to you
4. List a few LOCAL SOURCES of
information or NEWS that you
might refer to DAILY.
_____________ _____________
_____________ _____________
5. What is your GENDER?
[ ] Female [ ] Male
[ ] Other (specify) ______________
6. Check LOCAL TOPICS you
might want to learn more about.
[ ] Local politics and elections
[ ] Other local government activity,
council meetings, or hearings
[ ] Local weather
[ ] Local arts and cultural events
[ ] Local breaking news
[ ] Local job openings
[ ] Local zoning and development
[ ] Local social services (housing,
food, health and/or child care).
[ ] Health care
[ ] Education/Job training
[ ] Environmental/Agriculture
[ ] Local people/neighbors
[ ] Other ___________________
Do you AGREE or DISAGREE
with the following statements.
Please use the scale below.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Neutral Agree
1 2 3 4 5
7. When I make life decisions,
nformation is readily available,
within my communIty.
1 2 3 4 5
8. I have attended community
events in the past 6 months.
1 2 3 4 5
9. I am actively involved in local
organizations and/or clubs.
1 2 3 4 5
10. Most people can be trusted.
1 2 3 4 5
11. In my community people are
willing to help others in need.
1 2 3 4 5
12. I feel part of the community.
1 2 3 4 5
13. My community has a reputa-
tion for being safe.
1 2 3 4 5
What’s the 411? Whose got
what? Hello! We’re your friends,
business owners and people
in your neighborhood. And we
want to get to know you. How
can we connect better with
each other? How do we get
news and information? How do
we learn what’s new that’s hap-
pening right around us?
LOCALSURVEY
Howdoyoulearnabout what’shappeninginyour town?
Please help us by answering
a few questions about what
media sources you currently
use. The Media Seeds Project
is working with residents to
build inclusive information re-
sources in rural communities in
Southeast Ohio. Rural Action is
working to build entrepreneurial
communities through their Big
Bend Entrepreneur Support
Team (BBEST). BBEST works
with local businesses owners to
connect them with resources
that they need to grow and
thrive.
For more information on the
Media Seeds project:
www.mediaseeds.wikispaces.com
Please return by June 30, 2018
Thank you for helping usgrowour community connections!

EVERY
DOOR
DIRECT
(EDDM)
SURVEY

POMEROY NEWS
POSTCARDS

REPORTS FROM
THE MEDIA
SEEDS PROJECT
• https://medium.com/journalismthatmatt
ers/media-seeds-fresh-news-in-an-
appalachian-media-desert-5720aa417503
• http://journalismthatmatters.org/wp-
content/uploads/2019/07/Media-Seeds-
Developmental-Evaluation-Report-Stage-
2.pdf
• When “Junk Mail” is Used for Good by Dr.
Michelle Ferrier
• Bursting the Bubble of Rural Media
Deserts by Dr. Michelle Ferrier
• New Project Allows Users to Select Media
by ZIP Code by Dr. Michelle Ferrier

WHAT WE LEARNED WITH/FROM THE COMMUNITY
• 1. Design for the Realities of the Region:
Assess the constraints and assets of local
infrastructure, geography, and culture.
Innovations should be designed to fit these
realities.
• 2. Attend to Journalists’ Emotions and
Inner Life: Working alone in a media desert
can be isolating and emotionally difficult.
Journalists need preparation and tools to
manage emotional dynamics.
• 3. Recognize Limits and Public Perceptions
of Existing Local Media:Local media are
embedded in cultural and political
institutions. Just because some local media
exist, does not mean they necessarily serve
the public.
• 4. Anticipate that Innovations May
Disrupt Existing Power Structures:Change
is difficult and can be threatening to local
leaders, who may resist or challenge your
work.
• 5. Enlist a Local Champion, Even if the
Journalist is From the
Community: Supportive local partners play
an important role that is different from
what journalists can do alone.

IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY
• Holistic view of community assets
must include the code, content
and conduit layers.
• Presence does not equal
”coverage”. Asset mapping makes
visible other potential platforms
and distribution avenues.
• The digital divide and broadband
access must be addressed.
• Multi-modal distribution of
information and news through
social media such as Facebook
Groups, libraries, radio and
newspapers.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
DR. MICHELLE FERRIER
• Michelle.ferrier@famu.edu
• @mediaghosts
• www.mediadeserts.com

Practical Approaches to Mapping Rural Media Deserts

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

Similaire à Practical Approaches to Mapping Rural Media Deserts

Similaire à Practical Approaches to Mapping Rural Media Deserts (20)

Plus de Michelle Ferrier

Plus de Michelle Ferrier (20)

Dernier

Dernier (13)

Practical Approaches to Mapping Rural Media Deserts