Great Lakes Wiki Award

From Great Lakes Wiki

[edit] Great Lakes Wiki earns national recognition

A Michigan State University experiment in environmental reporting is among the projects recognized Aug. 8, 2007 in a national competition of cutting-edge journalism. Of 133 entries, only 10 were honored.

Judges of the Knight-Batten Awards recognized MSU’s GreatLakesWiki.org “for collecting information as broad and deep as the Great Lakes it covers.”

The contest spotlights the creative use of new information ideas and technologies that involve citizens in public issues.

The Great Lakes Wiki is among four projects judges cited in a new honorable mention category. They said the project “has the categories, content and organization that made this wiki the best of those entered.”

Creators of each project will present them Sept. 17 at a symposium, “Creativity Unleashed,” at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The Great Lakes Wiki will be featured with Reuters' Second Life Virtual News Bureau and New York University's NewAssignment.net in a session called "Unleashing the Unconventional."

The Great Lakes Wiki is a collaboration within MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences. It was created by students in a citizen journalism course taught by David Poulson, associate director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, and Cliff Lampe, an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies and Media. The site helps citizens, students, policymakers, scientists, artists, business operators and others collaboratively publish news and information about a region with nearly 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water.

“Its strength is that it allows readers to come at environmental information from diverse points of view,” Poulson said.

Those who appreciate art may learn something of the science of climate change by approaching the subject through video interviews of artists involved in Chicago’s Cool_Globes public art project.

Music lovers may learn about invasive species after listening to, “I’ve got the round goby blues,” written and sung by the scientist who first discovered this voracious fish’s presence and influence in the Great Lakes.

The site is also a great place for students to experiment with new forms of journalism, Poulson said. One group reported on an MSU environmental conference using an online feature where video clips of the speakers appeared to answer questions selected by viewers.

The site was launched with the help of a grant from J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism. It was among the projects that recently received second-year funding from J-Lab.

Other Knight-Batten winners are listed here