Your newspaper? Now, it's your multi-platform news source

As the news business changes and evolves from print to web to mobile publishing, we are changing, too.
One of the changes in recent years has been opening our doors to the public and sharing with readers the insights and analysis of our own work.
That's a two-way street. We also now solicit feedback on issues of interest on Facebook and in other ways to bring the voices of the audience into our reporting.
We've come a long way from "call 323-3000 with your news tips" to "like us on Facebook."
As we continue on that path, we want to share more of the work that goes on behind the scenes in reporting and editing the stories of your community.
Beginning Monday, we're going to make available our reporters to answer questions about the story behind a photo, or the background of a story or the thinking behind an editorial opinion.
You can ask the SoundOff editor why a comment wasn't used or the Opinion page editor how to get a letter printed.
You can ask a reporter how they learned that a car was in the creek or a photographer how he got that amazing sports action photo.
Although we accept criticism, we want this to be more than a gripe session. We hope to let you, as our loyal readers, see what goes on behind the scenes in our reporting. We want to turn back the curtain, so to speak, particularly on the evolution in our industry that is pushing us daily toward new frontiers.  
We'll take questions via Facebook, Twitter, email, Google+, or our website, and we'll answer via  video posted on our website and Facebook.
Our plan is to expand the answer sessions into conversations through Google hangouts or Skype.

We also are making some changes in our Community Media Lab, which is currently open to the public during certain hours every day.
The Community Media Lab is a resource we make available to the public for small group meetings, free Wifi, use of three computer labs for blogging or research and a newspaper archives to view past issues of The Mercury going back to 1931.
Instead of limited hours, we are now making the lab available to the public when you need it. To use our lab for research or for a small group meeting, call and schedule a time, or stop in at our front desk.
In addition, we will be open for anyone to walk in one day a week, every Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Just stop by, and our computers and our resources will be available for your use.


Diane Hoffman, community engagement editor, will be happy to assist you in using our archives or arranging a time for a meeting. You can also meet with Diane about how to start a blog or what you can do to get news of your group's events published on any of the platforms we offer, including the newspaper.
We have a library of books you can borrow, for free, and coffee for $1. It's a good space to come in out of the cold.
We want the Community Media Lab to be a resource for Pottstown and the surrounding area to use as a way to interact with us.
Your newspaper is now your website, your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, and your source of breaking news on your phone or tablet.
Times are changing, but what hasn't changed is our commitment to you, our audience.
Keep in touch.



 

Children's story hour (with cookies!)

I was just sitting down to write a blog about our story hour at The Mercury Community Media Lab Friday night, but I see Business Editor Michelle Karas at Balancing the Books has beat me to it.

Below is her blog post; as a note from me, please join us for homemade cookies and story hour with our Mercury and TownSquare readers.

The Mercury is hosting a free story time for kids this Friday as part of the holiday events happening throughout the month of December in downtown Pottstown.

The Mercury's holiday story hour will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Community Media Lab, located adjacent to our main entrance at 24 N. Hanover St. in Pottstown.

Special guest readers Mercury Editor Nancy March, who writes The Editor's Desk blog; Reporter Evan Brandt, who pens the Digital Notebook blog; TownSquare blogger Mandy March from So Much To Do, So Little Time; and Community Engagement Editor Diane Hoffman, author of the Lessons in Triathlon blog, will read selected holiday-themed books to children and their families during the hour.

The book selections include "The Polar Express," by Chris Van Allsburg, which will be read by the beguiling Mandy March.

Fresh, home-made cookies and hot chocolate will be available for all children in attendance. (I'm hoping there will be some free cookies and hot chocolate for random adult book bloggers who also plan to visit the story hour.) There will also be a holiday coloring activity for children.

If you can't make it to story hour, be sure to stop back and visit The Mercury's Community Media Lab during its regular hours. The lab is free and open to the public Monday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is located inside The Mercury at 24 N. Hanover St. With three computers, a microfilm machine in which to look up archives of The Mercury that go back to 1933 and free WIFI for those with their own lab top, the lab is a great place to sit and relax. There's also a free lending library that includes all kinds of books, from "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer to a vast collection of Anita Shreve novels, available for borrowing. Coffee and water are also available for $1. The Media Lab is also available to community groups looking for a free space to use.

For more information about the holiday story hour or The Mercury's Community Media Lab, call Diane Hoffman at 610-323-3000, ext. 156, or email dhoffman@pottsmerc.com

Join us for literacy project

Our Community Media Lab went to the dogs last week.
The Pottstown Bark for Life planning committee became the first community group to take us up on the offer to use our space in The Mercury for a meeting. The meeting involved about 20 people, but the talk was all about the dogs -- and the plans for next spring's Bark for Life event that raises money for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
The group took advantage of our central location in town, our welcoming space, and free Wi-Fi for an organized committee meeting.
Their meeting was the first example of uses we hope to see in our newly created space at 24 N. Hanover St. in Pottstown.
Other news from our lab is that we're changing our hours to promote after-school use by students as a quiet study spot.  Currently, the lab has been attracting area residents who use the computers to look for jobs or learn about blogging from community engagement editor Diane Hoffman.

A recent field trip visit from Pottstown High School students reminded us that the mid-day hours are not as practical now that school has started. The local students told us our room looks like a good study spot if open after school.
As a result, we'll be changing in the next two weeks to open the room from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays and keep our mid-day hours on Mondays and Tuesdays.
There's more ...

This Tuesday, Oct. 9, The Mercury is hosting a Community Media Lab meeting for our Town Square bloggers and anyone else who wants to come out and learn about blogging, the media or just view our exhibit of Mercury news photos.
The goal of the meeting is to embark on a literacy project.
What form will that project take?
Well, that's up to you and those attending the meeting.
Our goal is to help people embrace reading and help those struggling with illiteracy learn how to read.
We might sponsor tutoring sessions in our lab, or conduct a book drive for children's books, or build a lending shelf of books for adult new readers.
We've invited the literacy volunteers from the Pottstown YWCA Adult Literacy Center as guests Tuesday night and are hoping to brainstorm ideas and come up with a project and plan to get Pottstown reading.
Promoting literacy promotes education, helps people find jobs, helps employers fulfill workforce needs, and thus, combats homelessness, poverty and hunger.
Promoting literacy helps people and helps our towns.
Come out Tuesday night to visit our Community Media Lab, learn what our community engagement outreach is all about, learn about blogging and join the conversation to build literacy.
We're meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Media Lab entrance of The Mercury on Hanover Street.  See you there.

Free hot dogs!

The Mercury Community Media Lab is up and running and open for business, with regular hours four days a week and an open invitation to reserve it for community events.
Diane Hoffman, community engagement editor, has been assisting residents in using the computers for job searches, and some folks have stopped by to say hi and check out the newly remodeled space at 24 N. Hanover St.
But that's just the beginning.
Our current hours, 11 to 2, Monday through Thursday, are "summer hours," recognizing there is not as much demand for a cup of coffee and a lesson in blogging during a heat wave. We'll be expanding and offering more open hours going forward.
Next Tuesday evening, Aug. 7, 6 to 8 p.m., we will be hosting a meeting of our Town Square bloggers' network to introduce them to the potential uses of our Media Lab, and the public is invited.
Anyone with an interest in blogging or in learning what our Community Media Lab offers is welcome.
And since Tuesday happens to be the observance of National Night Out, we're also partnering with two of our Hanover Street neighbors to offer food, music, and exercise.
We will be grilling in the drive-through area of The Mercury with free hot dogs for anyone who visits, as long as supplies last.
Manning the grill will be Mercury staffer and Town Square blogger Evan Brandt, @PottstownNews.
Across the street, CrossFit Pottstown and owner Rob Matthews will offer free CrossFit classes during the hours of 6 to 8 p.m.
A DJ will be playing music on the sidewalk in front of the Community Media Lab, courtesy of Matthews and CrossFit Pottstown.
Also across the street, the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority will have the Visitor's Center open with information about their new website, "Proudly Pottstown," and a display of old Pottstown photos.
In the Media Lab, bloggers will be sharing ideas on how to use the features of the lab for community outreach. Anyone who visits will be able to learn about the lab and about Town Square and how to start or network a blog.
Among the uses of the Media Lab are:
--readily available information about Pottstown, including maps of recreation areas and historic places to visit in the region,
--a Community Share bulletin board to post events, jobs, items for sale,
--gallery display of newspaper photos and front pages showcasing historic moments in Pottstown,
--lending library of books (we have some great summer reads!) with Mercury staff "picks",
--microfilm to research 85 years of issues of The Mercury,
--free Wi-Fi for your laptops or the use of three computers,
--Internet TV for small-group training purposes,
--coffee bar, and
--access to Mercury staff for assistance with computer searches.

The lab is available for use by community groups for forums or small meetings. We hope to see groups like SCORE use the space for a small-business workshop on social media, for example, or a neighborhood group invite school board candidates in for a Q&A.
We would like to see students from the Gallery on High or the Pottstown School District use our computers -- and start blogs to share with the community.
We're open for business and we want to show off what we have to offer.
Come by and visit: Tuesday night, Aug. 7, 6 to 8 p.m., 24 N. Hanover St., Pottstown.

Hands across Hanover Street

Next Friday, July 20, we are opening our remodeled Community Media Lab, one of a dozen or so open newsroom projects of Digital First Media, parent company of The Mercury.
The lab, once offices of The PennyPincher, has been remodeled and refurnished into a coffeehouse atmosphere. We're not quite finished but when we are, it will be equipped with computers, microfilm, Internet TV and free Wi-Fi.
The grand opening next Friday is being held simultaneously with the opening of a new Pottstown Visitor's Center across Hanover Street from our entrance.
Pottstown Borough Council approved our request to close the block of Hanover Street for part of the day so we can stretch a ribbon across the street between the two sites for a joint ribbon-cutting ceremony.
We'll have food donated by local restaurants at the visitor's center, which is home to the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority and the Main Street manager, and more food (DESSERTS!) in our media lab.
The joint ribbon cutting will include speeches by Pottstown Mayor Bonnie Heath and Digital First Media Director of Community Engagement Steve Buttry, among others.

***

We learned in early spring that we were named as one of the sites for a DFM-sponsored community outreach project. The impetus for our selection was the success of our community food drive that collected more than 16,000 food items and nearly 700 bottles of laundry detergent in just five weeks. The food drive showcased the partnership of The Mercury and community bloggers with the greater Pottstown area community to accomplish a goal.

As we began working on our remodeling plans, we also learned that PDIDA and Main Street Manager Sheila Dugan were planning a similar remodeling across the street in the building that was the first home of this newspaper when it was founded in 1932 and was later site of Longacre's Jewelers and then a podiatrist's office. We decided to cross the street, bridge the divide and join forces with the downtown business group to reach out to our community.

"Someone had a vision of people working, collaborating and succeeding together in a place that promoted our community."



The theme of our joint ceremony is to reinforce old partnerships and introduce a new initiative in both community engagement and improvement.
Part of the emphasis in our grand opening is the "Buy Local" campaign growing in popularity in U.S. towns like this one.
The opening of our Community Media Lab is part of a two-day downtown Pottstown promotion focused on a Sidewalk Sale on Saturday, July 21. Our new site will be open to the public, and anyone who brings a receipt from shopping local that day will get a chance to win prizes in the downtown raffles being conducted throughout the sale event.

***

The Community Media Lab was designed to celebrate this newspaper's relationship with the town and surrounding area. We are opening our archives to visitors and making available microfilm of 80 years of publishing. On the walls is a photo display of some of our favorite newspaper photos over the years, reflecting life in the towns we cover. We will have free Wi-Fi, Internet TV, coffee and cold drinks available, a lending library of books (with recommendations for reading from our editors and bloggers) and computers for public use.
The space can be used to blog, work on a resume, research. You can ask us for help starting a blog, you can schedule a meeting of your writers group, you can knit, you can read, or you can just stop in to say hi, pick up a map of the Schuylkill River Trail or post a help-wanted notice on the Community Share bulletin board.
The Mercury has been a resource used in the lives of our readers for 80 years; this opening marks the start of a new era of engagement and working together.

"Hands were joined, ideas were shared and what started as an idea has become a partnership dedicated to a commonly held faith in new growth and new vitality for Pottstown."

Please join us. 

'Fill the Media Lab:' A local effort to fight hunger

Last Thursday night a group of bloggers for Town Square, the network we feature as part of The Mercury website, joined us in a Community Media Lab event here. We had about 15 people, about half of them interested in learning about blogging and the others current bloggers with us.
The meeting turned to discussion of a community service project, suggested to me by our police reporter Brandie Kessler, to involve bloggers in collecting food for struggling food pantries in the area.
The inspiration for this idea was a news story and editorial two weeks ago highlighting shortages in food pantries as a result of high food prices driving up demand and pulling down donations.
Since our bloggers represent the individual communities we cover -- Royersford, Boyertown, North Coventry, Birdsboro, Phoenixville -- and since they have networks and followers throughout the region, we thought "Why not leverage those connections and pool resources into public service?"
Why not "fill the media lab" with enough food to feed area families? According to some food pantry managers we consulted, 20,000 items would provide food for about 200 families for a month, or 100 families over two months.
The goal is to collect for the 40 days of Lent and reach 20,000 by April 7-8, the weekend of Passover and Easter. We don't want to hold on to the food we collect and give it all at once -- that would hurt the pantries between now and then -- but rather "count" items and "pin" pictures of them to a board on Pinterest.
We want to fill the digital media lab while stocking the pantries of our towns.
The bloggers at the meeting were enthusiastic and anxious to get going so we launched the plan today in the print and online versions of The Mercury. Already, Joe Zlomek, our friend at The Sanatoga Post, has come on board.
We're getting suggestions by email for collection sites, including fitness centers and college dining halls. With this post, we're pinning the first food donations to the board. And the count is on ... eight items in, 19,942 to go!
As a sidebar, we are collecting laundry detergent for the pantries as well. Our goal is 1,000 containers of laundry detergent.
Please join us in this effort. You can bring non-perishable food items to The Mercury at Hanover and King streets in Pottstown, or you can send us a photo and a count and take the items directly to an area food pantry. Check out the blogs on Town Square and find the one that serves your community to participate at a collection site named on the blog.
Keep following us from now until Passover and Easter as we work together to fight hunger in our towns.