Navigating hiring freezes. Drawing lessons from previous crisis responses. Sharing strategies for journalism educators and managing learning outcomes from a distance.
These are just three of the challenges we are aiming to tackle with the newest initiative from the Online News Association. Today we are launching ONA Community Circles, a collection of virtual groups to connect and mobilize the digital journalism community during a time of physical distancing.
If you are tired of being an audience to webinars or reacting to issues in a neverending social media feed, this is for you. Each Community Circle will have 10-20 members, matched by a conversation theme. Participants can join multiple circles and choose to participate with a social aim or to collaborate on a resource for the community.
The themes emerged from a community check-in we conducted in March 2020 as more countries went on lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak. Above all, people shared a desire to connect with peers. They also voiced a range of challenges — from navigating revenue to job uncertainty and burnout — that are pressing to address at a time when we need journalism more than ever.
Community Circles are open to anyone in digital journalism. To join, simply tell us what topic(s) you would like to explore.
We will match you with peers interested in the same topic(s), assign a trained volunteer host and provide prompts and additional resources to get started. The group can decide how to connect and keep in touch: email threads, Slack channels, periodic video calls and/or open documents are all good options.
Sign up to host or join a Community Circle
Community Circles represent our effort to tackle the challenges that are top of mind for the digital journalism community as we are navigating a global crisis. Subscribe to the ONA Weekly newsletter for more updates about opportunities to connect and contribute to ONA.