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Blogs and their dedicated authors are shaping the n ew w aveof
media and h ow w e get our news in Windsor.
Blogs, or web logs, are websites composed of regularly
updatedentries. These entries are usually commentaries on the
world,descriptions of events, or the presentation of graphics or
video, and
are an alternative source for news and information. Unlike
main-stream media who report on issues, bloggers are able to do
morethan reporttheyre able to analyze.
Ed Arditti started his blog, Wind sorCityBlog (http:/ / wind
sorci-tyon.blogspot.com), three years ago w hen th e Wind sor Star
refusedto pu blish his guest colum n. His dau ghter suggested he p
ublish itonline, and now Arditti posts anything Windsor-related
that inter-est him.
While the blog is not a fulltime venture for Ard itti, he d oes
adm itthat it turned out to be more than he anticipated. It takes
him aboutan hou r to an hour and a half to write an article after
several hours
of research.In addition to posting on his
blog, Arditti sends out a mail-ing list which is
distributedthrough different public rela-
tions departments at variousorganizations. A public rela-tions
person will scan throughthe media and send to theirexecutives all
the stories thatare relevant to them, Ardittiexplained.
Arditti has big plans for his blog, with th e goal of one da y
turn ingit into an online newspaper featuring additional
contributors.
Discussions are encouraged through comments section after
eachblog post, something traditional media cannot offer. Readers,
whocome across Windsor blogs through word-of-mouth or
searchengines, play an integral p art of a blogs success. Many
times read-ers comment to raise an issue with Arditti, but its not
somethingthey necessarily wan t pub lished . They will point out
something orsay something is right or say something is wrong and
ask me toinvestigate it, said Ard itti.
Chris Holt started ScaleDown (http:/ / ww w.scaledown .ca) inJun
e 2007 as an avenu e for self-expression.
As an auto worker, I didnt have a lot of opportunity to
expressmy d ifferent opinions on the city and the inn er-workings
in the cityand the way w e build our commu nities. I started it out
as an outletfor sharing these ideas w ith what I thought at the
time was tw o or
three readers. It steadily grew from there, saidHolt.
ScaleDown prom otes cultura l identity, social fab-ric, and the
economic prosperity of Windsor viaopen discussions and grassroots
advocacy.Including Holt, the blog has four regular contribu-tors
who post about Windsors economy, independ-ent retailers and
manufacturers, as well as improv-ing the liveability and
walkability of the communi-ty. We tend to get people to care and
understand alittle more about the municipal decisions beingmade
that affect them and really raise the dialogueand educate people, H
olt said.
In addition to the blog aspect of the website,
ScaleDown offers audio and video content. Holtwould like to
expand on the mu ltimedia, and sayshed like to see a ScaleDown TV
in the fu ture. N ota lot of people want to sit down and read.
Thatswhy we started ScaleDown radio, said Holt.ScaleDown Radio is
archived on the site, a featureHolt w ants to implemen t for
ScaleDown TV.
Holt and his fellow ScaleDown writers strive toadvance the
dialogue on urban issues in Windsor.Blogs in Windsor are ver y
impor tant because theretends to be a monopoly on different news
organiza-
Local Blogs and theChanging Media
By Lindsey Rivait
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While it is common for blogs to feature advertising to
generaterevenue for the blogger and the blogs operating costs, it
is notalways the case. Many times, blogs are a work of passion as
they arefor Ed Arditti, Chris Holt, and And rew Foot. Arditti and
Holt do n otaccept ad vertising on their sites, while Foot does
gener ate some rev-enue from ads, but not much.
The revenue it generates for me, between the sponsored links
and the sale of my guidebook, Windsor ModernModernArchitecture
in Windsor1940-1970, it doesnt even begin to coverthe money
invested into the site to keep it running or to pay thetime Ive
invested into it, Foot said.
Some Windsor bloggers have the reputation of being a naysay-er,
and receive criticism because of it.
Everywhere outside of Windsor, blogs are a legitimate form of
new s and entertainm ent. Its only in the city of Wind sor that w
evebeen labelled w ith the term naysayers because we qu estion a
lot of wh ats going on. Everywh ere else, its taken as a legitimate
form of communications, said Holt.
Likewise, Arditti asserts his objective is to d emon strate
Windsor spotential. Were not naysayers. Were p ointing out the th
ings thatare wrong here and suggesting w ays that they could be
made bet-ter, said Arditti.
Im trying to show people that this area has terrific
potential,were just n ot capitalizing on it. We ough t to be d oing
more. That tome is the really sad part about what this city has. We
have every-thing, were just not ta king ad vantage of it, Arditti
continued .
Its not just locally that Windsor blogs are being noticed. The
2007Canadian Blog Awards, an annual competition where
Canadianbloggers and blog readers vote on the best blogs, was full
of Windsor content. ScaleDown won third place in the Best NewBlog
category, and International Metropolis was runner-up forBest Local
Blog, the first place winner of which was anotherWindsor blog,
WindsorEats.com.
Blogs are definitely changing the media by forcing
mainstreammedia to pay better attention to the community. As an
example of this, Foot points to the illegal demolition of the
Seagrave Buildingon Walker Road this past sp ring.
I was in a meeting of the Wind sor Heritage Comm ittee wh ere
wediscussed the demolition that had started that morning on
aWednesday. The media was at our meeting but didnt do anythingwith
the story, explained Foot.
The following d ay, Foot and oth er local bloggers ran stories
aboutthe demolition, but there was still nothing in the newspaper.
Themainstream media waited until Friday, after they learned of a
vigilbeing held outsid e the Seagrave building, to report on
it.
Holt believes the mainstream med ia will be struggling to keep
upwith blogs. I know the CBC, TVO, and the Windsor Star read
it.Guar anteed its not just for entertainm ent, its to expand their
new sdepartment or to get story ideas, explained Holt.
Overall, these Wind sor blogs strive to chan ge the city for the
bet-ter, and to get its citizens educated and aware of what is
going onand w hat they can do.
IN
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