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Description
Local media face an increasing challenge of effectively reaching readers. Our observations show that as a result of the dynamic development of large retail chains, the number of small shops in which local newspapers are distributed is decreasing. Local magazines are threatened with complete liquidation, which will bring negative effects, because they play an important role, among others in building democratic values and in controlling local government authorities. The only way to maintain the extremely important role of local media in local communities is the development and digital transformation of local information Internet portals. They need support in every dimension: substantive, technological, economic and assistance in the development of competences. We will create an application that will be made available to all project participants, i.e. representatives of at least 20 local information portals. The application is to facilitate and encourage residents to use portals on a daily basis. At the same time, it is to be a tool for building a community around a given portal. The implementation of the application will support two-way communication, i.e. from the user to the editorial office, and will encourage them to visit the local portal more often, which will translate into increasing its role in the public debate. Thanks to the technological tools, we will collect and organize data that will help us better reach our readers and meet their expectations. We will also build communities of users around 25 local portals around the values guiding the editorial offices. In each editorial office, a person responsible for creating and taking care of the portal''s community will be selected, and we will train them for this. We will also create a "Common Content Magazine", i.e. a space for sharing content between participating portals, which will enable contact between readers of different sources.
Summary of project results
Local media are facing an increasing challenge to effectively reach their readers/readers. Our observations have shown that, as a result of the dynamic growth of large retail chains, the number of small shops in which local newspapers are distributed is decreasing. Local magazines are in danger of being closed down altogether, which could have negative consequences, as they play an important role in, among other things, building democratic values and controlling local government. The only way to maintain the extremely important role of local media in local communities is through the development and digital transformation of online information portals. They need support in every dimension: substantive, technological, and economic, as well as assistance in competence development.
As part of the project, we have developed an app that allows link-building between readers and journalists. Link-building increases reader engagement and, thus, the standing of smaller news portals. As part of the project, 25 local portals increased their competencies through a series of training courses and workshops.
We have also created a ''Shared Content Warehouse'' a space where content can be shared between participating portals. It also enables contact between recipients of different information. Topics common to many editors, such as environmental protection, homelessness, or mental health crises, are addressed here. ''Shared Content Warehouse'' provided local editors with access to 300 valuable articles on socially relevant topics. Importantly, they were able to benefit not only journalists but also readers.
We have also succeeded in creating an advertising covenant, which strengthens local news portals by receiving advertising from large advertising agencies. Sixty-nine local news portals have joined the agreement.
We also produced a community-building manual, which we called a ''roadmap,'' and a publication called ''Locals Win Lovers.''
Certainly, an important, lasting result of our project is the ''Shared Content Warehouse,'' where, as we mentioned, around 300 valuable texts can be found. Institutions that have used this portal to give us feedback thanked us for it and said that it was quite a help in reaching a larger audience.
We know from interviewing the participants of the meetings we organized that they very much appreciated the opportunity to integrate and exchange experiences during the project.
The effect of our activities is also the advertising revenue obtained under the advertising agreement. This gives hope for greater financial independence for local news portals and better budgeting.
As an additional activity, we created a film in which we summarised and discussed the earlier project. We also organised a training course for 17 people on formatting and strategy building for local portals, which was attended by a dozen people. We also worked on improving the Lokalsi 4.0 app, which we created as part of an earlier project. We also continued working on the Lokalsi 4.0 application that we created as part of a previous project - the app needs to be updated and improved.