Join the conversation—our participatory media discussion group is launching soon!

Training

Take me to the templates and checklists!

Hosting workshops

Our understanding of participatory media is predicated on long-term, ongoing training and support for participants. When it comes to finding potential participants, all outreach methods are not equal. Communities may be clustered around specific social media channels, trusted organizations, physical locations or specific technologies (i.e. landlines). Make sure your outreach plan reflects the media and information habits of the people you want to meet!

Once you have a small group of engaged participants, a routine cadence for trainings can help them get into a rhythm and know what to expect and how your project fits in with the rest of their life. That being said, it’s important to choose a cadence for trainings and other events that fits your goals and capacity so you don’t find yourself overwhelmed, overworked and unable to be fully present for your growing community of practice.

We recommend starting slow and increasing the pace of events (trainings, workshops, etc) as interest and capacity grows. Instead of worrying about quantity, focus on quality. Is your target audience aware of your training event, and are they able to attend? Is the event tailored to how they'd like to receive information? Do you have a way of tracking feedback and impact? (see "Data + Impact" for more on this).

Already working on the questions above? Here are a few ideas for trainings and events, based on what we see in the Documenters Network. We recommend holding at least one or two events each month — it keeps Documenters engaged and provides an easy on-ramp for people interested in joining the work.

Office Hours: A drop-in Zoom call or physical space where active and potential participants can ask questions.

How often? Weekly for when starting out, can be updated to biweekly.

Community of Practice: A gathering focused on community building between Documenters

How often? Monthly when starting out, can be updated to bimonthly.

Orientation: A mandatory training that covers the mission and values of the host organization, open meetings laws and an introduction to the Documenters workflow.

How often? At least quarterly, can be updated to every two months if there’s a need.

Special training: A skill-building workshop such as Twitter 101, FOIA 101, Understanding City Council.

How often? Recommended quarterly between orientations.

Isabel Dieppa,
Chicago Documenter

“I learned a lot of skills that helped me to not just be a better citizen but also inform the type of work that I want to do. And it's a training that you get for free. You're lucky because you get paid to attend these meetings, and you build a community, and in building a community it kind of feeds itself.”

Template: Orientation Agenda

The first time we meet potential Documenters is at an orientation event. These workshops serve both an information session and a training. The gathering covers the mission and values of the host organization, open meetings laws and an introduction to the Documenters workflow. Attending an orientation is mandatory before Documenters can start taking assignments and getting paid.

For new sites, we recommend holding an orientation session at least once a quarter. For more developed sites, a monthly orientation session may better meet the flow of new Documenters. We’ve found that even experienced participants appreciate taking it multiple times.

Here's an orientation agenda from the Chicago Documenters team—notice how it's designed to welcome new Documenters, walk them through group norms, build new relationships and connect existing interests to local civic processes.

Orientation Agenda

Developed by City Bureau

TK...caption...

Ongoing trainings

Orientation meetings offer Documenters just enough information to start taking on assignments. However, we know from surveys that one of the main reasons people join Documenters is to learn and apply new skills, so network members typically organize additional trainings that dive deeper on specific reporting or civic skills. The topics depend on participant interest and the needs in the local program, and might include:

Covering Your Local Government
Live-tweeting
FOIA
Interviewing
Photography

These workshops are designed to get Documenters excited to try something new — most of the skill development happens through doing the work itself, through the editing process and through relationships with other Documenters. The cadence of training is also important: sessions should be well publicized and, ideally, hosted at predictable times, such as once a quarter. These events are also open to the public — not just Documenters — so plan for them to be accessible to any community members you're looking to build relationships with.

Natalie Frazier,
City Bureau

“We don't want to catch those easy Documenters: journalists already in the industry or people who have time and resources to show up. We’re trying to capture communities. I’ll start with certain neighborhoods, I’ll go to community meetings, reach out to the leaders and put a bug in people’s ear. That outreach work is difficult — I could spend months focused on a certain area.”

Checklist: Organizing Events

Documenters Network sites generally hold three kinds of meetings: orientation, skill-based workshops and community of practice gatherings. Regardless of the meeting type, here are some tips for making it a successful event:

Create your outreach materials: Specify a clear call to action. Include a date, time, contact information and a website that explains what people can expect from the program.

Talk up the opportunity: Get in touch with community connectors and leaders — especially those who operate physical spaces such as libraries, schools, supermarkets and churches — to ask for names and contact information for people they think would be interested in this paid opportunity, or ask them to share links and printed materials with their community. Post your flyers and links in relevant Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups or email lists. Ask if local radio stations can mention the training on air.

Gather participant data during the training: Consider measuring how effective your outreach was at getting the right people in the room. An optional RSVP link and check-in station might gather names, email addresses and phone numbers, while a survey of the training while people are still in the room could capture zip codes and demographic data.
Know what comes after the meeting: Be ready to follow up with attendees right away. Send a thank you note and an invitation to sign up for the program. Be realistic about the response at an early stage in your program — 10 to 15 Documenters is a great starting cohort while you’re creating a proof of concept.

Resource: Connected Learning Guide

—Connected learning provides a foundation for much of Chicago Learning Exchange‘s (CLX) work and is based on more than a decade of research into the factors that lead to deeper engagement in youth, regardless of their socio-economic background. CLX has created a Connected Learning Guide that translates that research into an easy-to-use reference for educators, mentors, and other youth-serving professionals.

Want more?

Here’s a calendar of events for the Detroit Documenters program in the first six months of 2021—around two years after the program launched. Note that there’s an orientation event nearly every month, as well as either an additional training or community of practice event.

January:

Special event: The City of Detroit's Budget Process and Structure
Community of Practice: 'Future of Detroit' Collage Share and Mingle
Orientation: Detroit Documenters Orientation
Training: Detroit Documenters Live-Tweeting Training

February:

Training: Covering your Local Government
Orientation: Detroit Documenters Orientation

March:

Orientation: D11 Documenters Orientation
Training: Detroit Note-Taking Training
Orientation: Detroit Documenters Orientation
Community of Practice: Detroit Share + Mingle: Transition Edition

April:

Orientation: Detroit Documenters Orientation
Community of Practice: Detroit Share + Mingle: Vaccinated edition

May:

Training: Detroit Documenters Live-Tweeting Training

June:

Orientation: Detroit Documenters Orientation
Training: Understanding + Accessing Detroit City Council Meetings

Page updated

Report abuse