By mid-December, just four months after the Aug. 19 launch of its website, The Forum was selling its first, limited-run print edition for Deerfield, N.H., residents who do not have computers or Internet access – just $2 an issue and an “ideal stocking stuffer,” pronounced an online item.
“It was clear from early feedback that we would have to deal with making articles available to those without computer access,” said editor Maureen Mann. “…Some people need to have something in their hands and they have made their criticism of an online-only newspaper clear.”
It was another sign of considerable momentum in this volunteer effort.
To date, Forum volunteers have:
- Generated extraordinary coverage of Deerfield’s famous four-day fair — 31 stories, 67 photos and 16 contest results. The event, which ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 this year, draws many from around New England.
- Launched a major series on the locally charged issues of growth, open space, the tax rate, school overcrowding, community services and the area’s rural character.
- Created a “What’s New” page to help people navigate more quickly to the latest postings.
- Hired an advertising manager who works on commission and has developed a sales plan, literature and a rate chart, resulting in new advertising on the site.
- Tracked a doubling of the number of individuals logging on every month.
- Developed editorial policies for posting headlines, stories and photos.
- Received their nonprofit status so they can now accept tax-deductible donations.
The Philbrick James Forum is a group of about 15 core volunteers that have set themselves up as sort of a cooperative, paying $25 to join and agreeing to volunteer 100 hours of work a year.
The site, forumhome.org, marketed its launch at the Aug. 20 Deerfield Old Home Days with flyers, a float in the parade, and an ad in the school’s Communicator. Coverage in the Union Leader, the Concord Monitor and on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer have helped to spread the word.
By mid-September, “ideas for content, which we had thought would be hard to find, were appearing faster than we could handle them,” Mann said. But a major problem continues to be finding enough volunteers to deal with the information.
Plans to formally expand coverage to nearby Candia, Northwood and Nottingham (population, 16,200 including Deerfield) are being paced until the group can recruit additional staffers. Meanwhile, articles about those areas are being posted as they become available.
Coverage of the Deerfield Fair — everything from logrolling to axe throws, to sheep dog demonstrations — was so plentiful that the group is hoping the Fair will become a sponsor of the site.
Forum volunteers are still tweaking editorial policies, troubleshooting software, cross-training volunteers in production skills, and trying to figure out how to communicate faster with one another,
One headache: Their Bulletlink content management system lets people post an opinion without an accompanying name or e-mail address in violation of The Forum’s policies.
Plans are afoot to recruit other contributors, including a high school reporter, and to work on fund raising to help sustain their efforts.
Still, says Mann, “We have grown from a group of individuals into a capable and cooperative staff.”
