Diversity at Work

By Ellyn Angelotti
Interactivity Editor and Adjunct Faculty

Last week at the pre-Unity Diversity in the Digital Age workshop at the Chicago Tribune, about 40 journalists, educators and new media folks explored how to find and promote diverse voices online.

This is especially important for news organizations that are trying to transform their passive publications into interactive applications that engage users. Those news organizations are not alone -- Poynter is preparing to add new online tools to increase user engagement when we redesign our site.

In the session I led about "Engaging Community Voices," we looked at examples of projects that engaged users through diversity, especially through the technology they use. You can see these examples in slide two of the Google Docs presentation I've embedded below. (Click on the button in the lower left corner to advance the slide.)



In the second part of the conversation, we shared ideas about how to encourage conversations online. Below are suggestions from the group and examples that demonstrate them.

Identify themes in user contributions

When Chicago Tribune columnist Dawn Turner Trice asked readers to share questions they would ask a person of a different race in her "Exploring Race" blog, she noticed five recurring themes. She now categorizes her blog's questions and stories in the context of these five themes, such as race etiquette and eyewitness accounts, to make her content easier to find and add context.

Understand your users' perspectives

Reading user comments and submissions has helped Trice understand what content meets the needs of her users. Their feedback clues her in to how much her users know about a topic or how much background she needs to provide on an issue. Knowing your audience helps you frame conversations better online.

Jump into the conversation if you are the content creator

When the conversation wanders off topic, Trice also mentions that she -- as the author -- helps get things back on track. Poynter's Roy Peter Clark did this well in his responses to comments on his article, "Your Duty to Read a Newspaper."

Share expectations with users

As Carmen Van Kerckhove, founder and publisher of racialicious.com, finds problematic posts while moderating user comments, she revises the blog's comment moderation policy to note what is and isn't allowed.

Engage "accidental traffic" (from Google and other referrals)

While some of your loyal users may be well-versed on the subject of your blog or site, others may just be casual visitors checking it out for the first time. You must catch the attention of casual users that stumble upon your site in order to build your audience.

One way that Van Kerckhove has helped her audience grow is by making it easy for those who find her blog via Google or another referral to keep coming back. Near the top of the page, users see how they can subscribe to the blog via RSS or e-mail. She lets users take the site's content and post it on their own site with a widget. And she encourages them to use the "for:racialicious" tag in del.icio.us (and provides complete instructions on how to use del.icio.us).

Break down technological and economic barriers

Wendy Turner, vice president and general manager of Vocalo.org, is making it easy for users to contribute to her user-generated audio site by providing equipment and training. Users can record audio by calling a phone number, upload an audio clip they've recorded or click a button to record audio directly to the site. Vocalo.org staff members pose questions on Facebook and in their "Shout Box" on the Vocalo.org. homepage to invite participation in the online conversation. Turner said the "Shout Box" helps create a diversity of voices.

Build authentic collaborative relationships, both virtually and in person

Through the Vocalo.org experience, Turner and her team have found that hosting free in-person training sessions helps her users overcome technical barriers and enables them to contribute. In these sessions, users learn everything they need to be able to contribute content -- the basics of audio recording, editing, licensing and uploading.

Michelle Ferrier, managing editor of MyTopiaCafe.com and an E-Media Tidbits contributor, hosted a block party fundraiser in May so users could connect virtual names with actual faces.

How have you seen Web sites use online tools to encourage a diversity of voices online?