The Carrier started in November 2012 and after the 6th Issue in April this year, we took a pause. We wanted to reflect on what was working and what wasn’t. An online survey was completed by 30 of the original 42 contribu-tors and this document details the feedback from that.

For more information about why The Carrier was formed, what its purpose is, and to see the list of current contributors, please visit: www.thecarrierofnews.tumblr.com

We asked people to recommend some new authors. Two of the original group don’t want to take part any longer and about 10 of the original group are pretty inactive. For The Carrier to work both financially and in terms of content, we really need about 35 people to subscribe for the 6 months and we need about 25 people to write each month.

People can subscribe and not write but it’s more tricky the other way around. If we need additional writing then we will contact people but we would like to have a pool of at least 50 contributors so that we can account for 50% of people each month not being able to contribute. If we have more than 35 people make a subscription then any excess funds will be rolled over to the next prototype. A full detail of costs will be published on the Tumblr site. If you want to send The Carrier to more than one person then you can buy more than one subscription.

Important Dates For Your Diary

We will be launching phase 2 of The Carrier in August 2013, with dead-lines for submission Monday 22nd July.

Submission dates for the further 5 issues are:

Monday 19th August for the September Issue

Monday 23rd September for the October issue

Monday 21st October for the November issue

Monday 25th November for the December issue

Monday 16th December for January 2014 issue

A 6 month subscription for a printed paper being sent to someone of your choice every month (including P&P) is: £36.00.

If you are sending Internationally then please contact Cassie for a revised fee.

Where it’s been carried Internationally

Where it’s been carried in the UK

Feedback From The Readers.

“ My parents who live very far away from me love the content, from everyone.”

“ Always enjoy it, so they say. But they have blood loyalty.”

“ They like that it’s a newspaper. They like to hear about the inspiring things people are doing.”

“ My parents very much enjoy reading the Carrier and really look forward to receiving it!”

“ My parents and my grandparents love it. My mum and dad always call me after they receive it and say they love hearing about what me and my peers are doing beyond the day to day. My grandma told me that we should check the grammar! but she would... She really enjoys getting it in the post every month. I think we should do one for grandmas! “

“ Well, I know it’s led to my mum being in contact with one of the other con-tributors about a project she wrote about! More generally, she’s definitely been enjoying it and looking forward to each issue. She did say that sometimes we can all sound like we have a bit of an insider language or set of ideas that it feels like you’re looking in on from outside as a reader. That makes me wonder how the community of readers of The Carrier could help us as contributors to learn about how our work comes across to the wider world. Particularly if it continues as a publication for a deliberately limited audience, I’d be interested in how you might build a network connecting contributors and readers.”

“They just think that it is beautifully put together.”

“ They laughed at my profile bio! But they loved the paper format - it just makes a huge difference to receiving something digitally. They liked the layout of the Carrier too - and the diversity of stories and articles.”

“ Feedback is positive. The only audience is my parents who I think read my contributions religiously and only browse/scan other peoples.”

“ I enjoy receiving a copy myself - both because I enjoy it as a publication - and so I can share it with others. One friend who’s a Chief Exec showed it his Comms team - and they may do something similar in-house. Another friend enjoyed reading it on holiday and planned to make contact with one of the contributors about a common interest.”

“ The really like it. It comes across as professional. Although they are not so in-terested in social innovation, and many of the articles can be focussed on that - which is interesting, although perhaps the articles with an explicit social inno-vation focus should be clustered together?”

“ They just love hearing from interested and engaged young people with good ideas - I think they find it inspiring.”

“ Everyone thinks its a lovely idea - I don’t think they actually take time out to read it properly though.”

“ They all really love it. It gives me a sense of achievement that we are tak-ing time to better share the innovation bubble with people outside. Especially friends and familiies.”

Feedback From The Contributors.

“ I like reading about what people are up to, it has given me more of a sense of community. It also keeps me writing, which I used to do more in past careers and secretly want to do at some point in the future.”

“Hearing about what everyone’s up to and having a framework to try and write within is really helpful and rewarding.”

“ Reflection is always lovely, and it is nice to be nudged for that.”

“ It is enabling me to be more open about my own thoughts, without the worry of being ‘off-message’; developing personal writing skills; finding my own voice; being linked in a loose way to really interesting talented people across the UK.”

“ I have enjoyed writing pieces that subtly (without mentioning names) include the person who I know will be reading The Carrier. I hope that they feel special when they know I am writing about them! I also very much enjoy reading the pieces from the contributors that I know.”

“ I love being part of a collective story - reading what other people I respect and value are involved with and thinking about helps me make sense of my own work and thoughts.”

“ It is an opportunity to flex my rather out of shape writing muscle. I have to write dull reports for work, so an opportunity to be more pithy is welcome. Also an opportunity for my older, provincial parents to get an insight into my rather different world...”

“ It’s been great to have a deadline for writing an article every month. Sending out the Carrier to members of my family and my godmother abroad has trig-gered conversations and helped them to understand a bit more about what I do and my world. However, for me one of the best things that have come out of con-tributing to the Carrier is finding out what other people in my wider network are talking about/working on/concerned about. It’s useful to see and hear about the wider trends - what’s hot and what’s not. A couple of articles in the Carrier

have also resulted in meetings with people about projects...”

“ Its been a nice way to share what I’m doing with family. Equally, it has been really nice to see what other people are thinking about and doing.”

“ I like the fact it has me collect my thoughts regularly. I’m inspired by the other articles. It also helps me connect with others, as I find points of intersection.”

“ A physical product in a world of digital. And a nice gift for my parents which has sparked several interesting conversations so far.”

“ My mum is always crazy for news. That has been helpful. I like the challenge of being forced to write something. I struggle to decide whether I want to write something personal, based on work, or that is a commentary on the world at large. I started to force myself to write personal things, but I think my work might be more interesting to other people.”

“ Sitting down and having to reflect on where I am and what I am doing, and how to best convey that to other people has been really helpful. It’s also been really inspiring to read what others are working on and thinking about.”

“ Writing for an audience is not something that comes naturally to me. In the hope of getting better at it, I set myself the challenge of contributing to every is-sue - and I have done so, which I am really pleased about. I also enjoy reflecting each month on what to write about and why.”

“ It really helps me to sit down and reflect on learning, and see progress, and be honest with myself. It gives my family an idea of what im up to.”

New Contributors - Do You Want To Be Part Of The Carrier?

A checklist for you:(Number 1 is essential, the others are just some of the reasons The Carrier works for others)

1) Do you have someone in mind that you want tosend The Carrier to? (this is vital)

2) Do you know someone who is not online very much, who might enjoy hearing news of what’s going on?

3) Do you find it hard to explain to your friends/family what it is that you actually do?

4) Do you wish more people knew about some ofthe projects you are involved in or hear about?

5) Do you find it hard to make the space to reflect?

6) Are you quite lame at staying in touch with your nearest and dearest?

72%22%

6%

52%

8%

40%

Public or Intimate? How Often?

72% want to keep The Carrier intimate (mainly offline but with a view to growing it through person to person networks).

22% would be happy for The Carrier to be available to more people through online.

6% of people didn’t mind either way.

52% of contributors want to keep The Carrier as a monthly newspa-per

40% of contributors would prefer it to be once every two months.

6% of contributors would like it to be a quarterly publication.

Content and sections

Based on feedback from the contributors we are going to trial a new combination of content for The Carrier. There will be 3 sections (detailed below and on the opposite page) each designed as a different section of the newspaper.

Critical thought and response to current issues

Personal reflections, news and learning on current projects

Fiction and other content (visuals/illustrations)

Critical thought and response to current issues.This section will have a lead editor who will set a topic each month based on current affairs/politics/ what is happening in the wolrd etc and will ask people to respond. In the feedback some people spoke of wanting to take on an iden-tity that they would cultivate over time, a bit like having their own column. This will also cater for those that wanted to be more challenged, less inward looking and potentialy create content that is more provoking to read too.

Personal reflections, news and learning from curret projects.This section will be for people who want to write about their work projects or questions they are exploring, things they are learning etc. It is likely to have a more reflective and personal tone. This will not be guided by a lead editor but will rely on the contributors to really think about who they are writing for. This may also include interviews between Carrier contributors etc.

Fiction and other contentA few contributors want to use The Carrier as a place to write fiction, poetry or to share photos, drawings etc rather than just writing.

“ The themes could be more challenging perhaps - asking for more personal or considered responses from people. So for example asking people to talk about someone they admire, or asking people to comment on what’s happening in the world - energy, public services, values. Sometimes I think we ought to be more outward looking.”

Other Features/ Changes

Each month we will have a guest writer featured.

Each month we will ask a reader to contribute a piece for The Carrier.

The word count will be 300 - 500 words. Each month someone can have the option of doing a feature length piece of 1,000 words.

We will have an in person meet-up for for contributors once every two months in the pub.

Twice a year we will have in person meet ups with all Carrier contributors and readers.

We will grow the contributor base to around 50 people, assuming that each month 50% of people write for the issue.

After phase 2 we will explore how other The Carrier groups can form so that the founding network doesn’t grow too large but can break off in to smaller networks.

“ I think the strength of The Carrier is the relationships between the people creating the content with each other and the people they have chosen to share it with, i.e. more like Path / Pair than FB. I think it should expand in a way that builds on that strength, and opening up public doesn’t feel right in that context.”

“ There is something special about being in a small community of people who are contributing to a small-circulation paper to send to people who are not digitally connected or in our network. I think it would gain more momentum the more people involved, however, I think that this should be capped at 100 people or so.”

A Persona?

In the feedback some contributors mentioned that they wanted to take on more of a character or persona, a bit like a columnist. This is particularly relevant if contributing to the news/current affairs section of the newspaper.

If this is something that you want to explore then we came up with some questions that you might want to reflect on.

What impression do you want to leave the reader with?What is the persona you want to embody?What is the lens you see the world through?What would be the personality of your column?What would be the top three topics you would want to write about?What do you have a strong opinion/feeling about?What columnist do you like to read? How do you identify their style?

This may be something that you practice and refine over time and it may be that you find several different ‘characters’. Just being yourself is fine too of course!

Some other tips we have picked up from the feedback:

Be clear about who you are writing for.Be thoughtful of your tone.Do edit before final submission (we rely on good quality self-editing for The Carrier) - spell check, length, grammar etc.

Our Principles

Write well, and not rushed. (if you can’t make the deadline then let us know 48 hours in advance, but please don’t rush to get something in)

The intimacy can be a quality paradox. (in reference to the quotes below, keeping the paper intimate and not available to a wider audience is not a reason to be less considered about quality)“I think if it was more widely seen it would challenge people to think more about what they write.”“ I think it’s pretty nice how intimate it is, there’s not too much pressure about what you’re writ-ing.”

Contributing each month is not essential, what is essential is letting us know. We know people can’t commit to writing each month. People are busy, work gets in the way and it is really okay to just say you are too busy. We do need to know if you aren’t contributing though, as we get the formatting ready 48 hrs in advance of going to print.

Gather feedback. We would like to get feedback from the readers as much as possible and will send out stamped postcards at intervals to try and get feedback that way too. Ask, write, post, let us know what the person(s) receiving your copy thinks.

Pass on. If the person you are having The Carrier sent to has a neighbour or friend they can pass it on to each month then lets encourage that!