Minnesota Public Radio collaborated more extensively with citizens than any other MSM organization in reporting on the 35W bridge collapse. MPR immediately deployed existing collaborative projects to gather 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 listeners and readers was organized by MPR's professionals into categories including personal stories, commentaries and personal perspectives, photos, first person accounts and discussions that became a significant part of a special site dedicated exclusively to the bridge collapse, “Minneapolis Bridge Collapse.” (Link here).

General analysis of collaborative projects here

MPR's Collaborative Projects

At the time of the bridge collapse, MPR had two collaborative projects in operation,"Your Voice" and "Public Insight Journalism." Both projects were immediately deployed to generate news with non-professionals about the bridge collapse.

1. Your Voice

MPR's "Your Voice" project is an example of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX as defined by "We Media (X).""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.

List of discussions, images, tags (links here)

2. Public Insight Journalism

Public Insight Journalism is the older of the MPR's two collaborative projects. (more background here). It is an example of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX as defined by "We Media (X)." The site invites readers to become a source for MPR in the belief that "your knowledge and your experience ... make our news coverage an even stronger public service (X)."

The FAQ http://minnesota.publicradio.org/publicinsightjournalism/faq.shtml promotes the value of crowd-sourcing, describing the program as "a new way for Minnesota Public Radio journalists to find the best soruces and the best information. The centerpiece of Public Insight Journalism is the Public Insight Network--a group of thousands of Minnesotans who have agreed to help us cover the news (X)."

MPR uses the knowledge, observations and expertise people provide to inform its news coverage. Professional journalists analyze the information, connect it with other relevant intelligence and pass it on to the appropriate reporters and editors. MPR promises to keep sources of information rpivate and will quote contributors only with their express permision.

 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