Site will feature stories ‘as they come in’ and will cover topics like science, management, people and community voices.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is embarking on its newest adventure: The 56-year-old organization will begin publishing online weekly news stories of interest to its 6,000 active members along the state’s coastline.
Landings: Celebrating Fishing Heritage, Informing on Fishing Changes will build on the success of the organization’s robust monthly print newsletter. Section pages will be dedicated to science, management, people and community voices, according to MLA’s plans. “Content includes personal stories, feature articles, profiles, oral histories and video,” said Melissa Waterman, MLA’s communication coordinator.
In addition, all past content from previous newsletters will be tagged on the new website to make it searchable by place and topic, and users will be able to share stories on Facebook and Twitter.
This move represents a mid-course correction for the organization. The original grant proposal called for an ambitious site that would have hired student reporters in many of the coastal communities.
But with a change in the nonprofit’s staff in the summer of 2010 — and difficulty recruiting reliable reporters, MLA leaders decided to recalibrate.
In a series of conversations with J-Lab, MLA staff members realized they could approach the challenge differently: Instead of publishing a print newsletter monthly, the editor could stagger deadlines and post some of those stories weekly. That way, the newsletter could become a compendium of stories from the website.
In addition to individual lobstermen and women, a number of public and private organizations have agreed to submit stories and images, too.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association also opened a search for a half-time staff person who will help get Landings off the ground by generating new content and working with businesses to establish a base of advertising revenue.
A design firm from Camden, Maine, has designed a draft of the site, and the organization anticipates launching the full site by February 2011.
