Can I tell you about my first publishing family? It’s a network of independent publishers loosely known as Block by Block: These are your hyperlocals, some are citizen journalism based or use crowdsourcing tactics of different measure, and all are civically focused. There are many different definitions for “hyperlocal,” but the similarity is that they want to get information to geographic communities that are underserved by news outlets.

In a few hours, I’ll be hopping the plane to Chicago to attend the annual summit (Sept. 13-15). I used to attend as The Rapidian‘s citizen journalism coordinator and also sat on the advisory committee. This year, I’ll be blogging on some of the topics for Block by Block. I’m planning to take down notes/live blogging on etherpad before posting a final draft on the Block by Block blog.

If you’re interested, Block by Block tends to cover the nitty gritty, especially around sustainability, and some of it aligns with Civic. If you want to follow along on the Media Lab etherpad, I’ll be covering these topics (full agenda here):

Friday, Sept. 14

Closing the Deal – and Keeping it Closed (10:30- 11:45 a.m. ) – Eleanor Cippel (E.W. Scripps) has mad sales skills. She’ll share her knowledge on the care and feeding of advertisers: How to close a sale, and then keep that advertiser happy.
Follow along on Etherpad
S ummary and photos on BxB blog
Local journalism and search engines (2:30-3:45 p.m.) -Journalists can take advantage of the basic search engine techniques that marketers have been using for years. This session will cover on keyphrases, how to choose them and how to use them. Taking 15 minutes to research phrases and using those phrases in certain ways can make the difference between an article that is read that week and an article that is discovered in search engines and read thousands of times over years. Led by Andy Crestodina, Orbit Media.
Follow along on Etherpad
S ummary and images on BxB blog

Saturday, Sept. 15

Knight News Innovation Lab – What we’re working on (9:30 – 10:45 a.m.) – Representatives of the lab will discuss and show demos of projects they have been developing for journalists and online publishers and they will solicit feedback and ideas for additional projects from session participants. Rich Gordon, Larry Birnbaum.
Follow along on Etherpad
S ummary and images on BxB blog

This isn’t a conference in want of inspiration; these publishers have done some pretty amazing things already. So if you want to get a sense of how community publishers tick, the concerns they have, the opportunities and collaborations they’re seeking to better serve the public—or if you just want to be inspired—tune in!