The Green Line and Concordia University are bringing Documenters to Canada
Details on my exciting collaboration with Prof. Magda Konieczna.
Hey y’all! I just got back from a frutiful and fun (as per usual) Independent News Sustainability Summit and LION Sustainability Awards in Chicago. But I won’t be grounded in Toronto for long, as I’ll be flying to Bonn, Germany, early next month to speak at the b° future festival and to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in early November to speak at Splice Beta. As always, hit me up if you’ll be at either conference, so we can talk collaborations. 🇩🇪🇹🇭
I’m excited to announce that thanks to the hard work of Concordia university professor Magda Konieczna and her fantastic students Clément Lechat and Sara Mizannojehdehi, The Green Line is the first news outlet to bring the Documenters project to Canada! The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) awarded us a grant to launch a pilot program in Toronto, specifically Alexandra Park, which enables us to continue our community-driven journalism work there (as mentioned in an earlier newsletter, our team opened an engagement outpost in the neighbourhood, where we also trained youth journalists on how to cover their community).
For the uninitiated, Documenters originally launched in Chicago in 2015, when a group of journalists founded City Bureau to produce news that was designed for and with communities. In 2014, a Chicago police officer murdered 17-year-old Laquan Macdonald and protests erupted. Smart Chicago Collaborative, which had been experimenting with citizen storytelling, teamed up with City Bureau to document meetings of a new police accountability task force the city formed in response. The team at City Bureau discovered that having many people providing coverage of meetings could speed up the information collection process. They also found that it was easy to teach members of the public how to document meetings and do research, and that community members brought unique perspectives to their work. The documenting process displayed how local residents could learn from each other, and create a network of shared information, enabling collective power. A few years later, City Bureau launched Documenters to bring these learnings to communities across the United States. The goal was to equip members of the public to understand how to access and produce relevant information. Currently, there are 19 Documenters branches across the U.S,
Here in Toronto, we’re about to kick off a series of three free workshops to train a roster of Documenters from the Alexandra Park, Kensington Market and Chinatown neighbourhoods. To begin with, we’ll hire and pay three to document public meetings starting later this month.
Documenters will attend public meetings of interest to local residents, and document what happens at those meetings by making recordings and taking notes. These aren’t just a summary of what happened — they’re also an opportunity for the residents to offer context and focus on the issues that are most important to them. For too long, journalists have been outsiders looking into communities that they’re not part of. The goal of Documenters is to fix that problem.
I’m also thrilled that Sebastian Tansil, one of the Alexandra Park youth journalists, is formally joining The Green Line team as our Documenters community engagement lead. Not only was Sebastian incredibly enthusiastic throughout the program, he also is deeply involved in Alexandra Park as a volunteer.
Even though Documenters Canada in Toronto is only officially starting this month (I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going in future editions of The Other Wave). Magda and I are already laying the groundwork for expansion to Quebec, Atlantic Canada and Western Canada. So, stay tuned as there are plenty of exciting updates to come…
Do you want to get involved in Documenters Canada as a Documenter, partner or funder? I’d love to chat — just shoot me a note by replying to this email.
Shout-out
This thank-you note from our Social Ventures Zone intern Alanna Garagliano made my heart swell. 😭😍
“I have seriously LOVED every bit of this work experience with you guys, and you have shown me what a healthy workplace can be, so thank you so much.…Thank you so much for being so amazing!”
The Green Line opportunities: text/video pitches, full-time managing editor, part-time video editor, part-time social coordinator
The Green Line is looking for freelancers interested in short-form and long-form pitches for text-based articles, as well as videos, from experienced reporters based in Toronto that tackle systemic issues in the city through a solutions lens. We offer highly competitive freelance rates.
The Green Line is also growing! I’m ready to hire a full-time managing editor who’s experienced and passionate about hyperlocal Toronto news, and who’ll serve as my right-hand. I’m also looking for a freelance social coordinator and video editor. If you’re interested or know someone who would be, please inquire with me for more details.
If you’re interested in pitching or applying, please email your resume, cover letter and links to three clips to hello@thegreenline.to.
Quick and Clean
Resolve Philly is hosting a Community Engagement Webinar Series, featuring its community engagement director Derrick Cain and program manager Jingyao Yu. Sign up here to register for the three workshops from Sept. 24 to 26.
Check out the latest issue of Noema (which I’ve mentioned multiple times before is one of my favourite magazines), titled “Threshold,” which unpacks its dystopian-aware techno-optimistic view of humanity’s future and the Third Great Decentering, which supplants “the figure of the human as the measure and master of all things”
I highly recommend reading a recent pick for one of my book clubs, Emma Cline’s The Guest, which has strikingly unique prose and is haunting in the best possible way.
How you can support The Other Wave
My professional mission has always been to support the global movement towards more thoughtful, impactful news coverage, and all the ways that manifests. If The Other Wave gets you to think even a little differently about journalism, especially in Canada, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do. And if TOW gets you to take action and support Canadian media outlets — especially ones that strive to be innovative and inclusive — I will have exceeded my expectations.
If my values and goals resonate with you, please consider supporting fiercely independent media analysis that fills in gaps in coverage of the Canadian journalism landscape. How? Feel free to provide feedback, pass along resources, donate money or simply share this newsletter with your friends.