Minnesota Public Radio collaborated more extensively with citizens than any other MSM organization in reporting on the 35W bridge collapse.

MPR solicited first-person accounts, photos, commentary and opinions in addition to hosting open discussion threads and inviting participants to contribute their knowledge, expertise and story ideas related to the disaster. The content contributed by listerners and readers eventually became part of special site dedicated exclusively to the bridge collapse, “Minneapolis Bridge Collapse.” (Link here).

At the time of the bridge collapse, MPR 2 collaborative projects in operation,"Your Voice" and "Public Insight Journalism," and utilized both to generate news with non-professionals immediately after the collapse occurred.

Your Voice

"Your Voice" offers discussion groups moderated by professional journalists on the social networking service, Gather.com. The discussions about the 35W Bridge collapse and related topics were faciliated by MPR's interactive producer, Julie Schrenkler. Immediately following the bridge collapse, Schrenkler reported the event and solicited information and images from participants. In subsequent discussions, she framed discussions with a set of questions and faciliated the following thread of conversation.

Public Insight Journalism

Public Insight Journalism

 The site includes a section for “personal stories.” Readers were asked to submit responses to question about the bridge collapse such as, what are the short and long term repercussions or what are your experiences with aging local or state infrastructure: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/your_voice/projects/2007/08/minneapolis_bridge_collapse.shtml,  http://minnesota.publicradio.org/your_voice/commentaries/2008/01/080122.sht

• MPR also solicited the knowledge and expertise of audience members to inform reports by professional journalists. Through the social networking company, gather.com, MPR hosted public discussions on the event in its group space “Minnesota Life.”
• Examples of the subsequent discussions included forums facilitated by Julia Schrenkler, the Interactive Producer for MPR and American Public Radio:

  1. “Minneapolis Bridge Collapse: What is political fallout?” Solited opinions on topic that are posted on forum’s site: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977078428

  2. “Minneapolis Bridge Collapse: How should the investigation proceed?” http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977074859