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<h3>About Denise</h3>
<img src="http://www.journalismaccelerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Denise_100.jpg" alt="" align="right" /><a href="http://www.journalismaccelerator.com/members/dennetmint/">Denise Cheng</a> joins the JA from Michigan, where she's been practicing deep hyperlocal journalism. As the citizen journalism coordinator for the <a href="http://www.grcmc.org/" target="_blank">Grand Rapids Community Media Center</a>, she also reported and edited copy for <a href="http://therapidian.org/" target="_blank">The Rapidian</a>, a local news site. She has taught social media and digital story telling at <a href="http://www.pcmtv.org/" target="_blank">Portland Community Media</a> in Oregon, and served as a Peace Corps small business advisor in Lesotho. Denise graduated from Miami University with an interdisciplinary degree in Global and Cultural Journalism, Italian, and political science.

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Two and a half years ago, I uprooted from Portland, Oregon, to embark on an adventure launching a hyperlocal, citizen-authored news source called <a href="http://therapidian.org/" target="_blank">The Rapidian</a>. Beginning in college and over my career, I’ve been drawn to <a href="http://blog.dennetmint.com/2011/11/senior-project/" target="_blank">wise owls who steer participatory media outfits</a>. <strong>I have come to believe that media creation has the power to fuse people and their networks to information, and to increase the likelihood they will act in their communities.</strong>

This is important. <a href="http://dennetmint2lesotho.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">As a Peace Corps volunteer</a>, I saw emerging communities <a href="http://blog.dennetmint.com/2008/10/digital-storytelling/#npr-marketplace" target="_blank">misunderstood and misrepresented by media</a> inside and outside the country. That intensified tension between groups and nipped compassion from outside of the country. As the daughter of immigrants, I saw the link that native language news networks can provide to those who never feel exactly at home. <strong>When communities form, the participants are no longer detached individuals swallowed up in the crowd; they can determine what is meaningful </strong>within their own communities.

I saw this at The Rapidian. <a href="http://therapidian.org/see-you-again" target="_blank">In my goodbye editorial</a>, I remember a few transformations I was privileged to witness, including “a woman who practiced in front of a mirror to find her voice in front of a camera, people who have never been invited to create media realizing that their perspectives meant something to people they had never met.” I also explained why I’m comfortable moving on. “It's tempting to stay where you are when you're content, but that's the best time to push onward and open up."

I didn't explain where I was going, but I'll let you in on the secret: I'm coming right here to this very URL. <strong>In mid-November, I'll be starting as the JA's research and outreach editor.</strong> My primary focus at the JA will combine many of my faves: <strong>building community among journalism practitioners for a stronger media ecosystem.</strong> I fully believe that by doing so, we can better serve other communities and help them emerge. <strong>We can help people connect to one another through information.</strong><!--more-->

[caption id="attachment_5767" align="alignleft" width="250" caption="Denise Cheng and JA&#39;s Lisa Skube at Block by Block, September 2011. Photo by Dave Cohn"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-5767 " title="Denise Cheng and Lisa Skube at Block by Block" src="http://www.journalismaccelerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/bxb11_DeniseLisa-250x236.jpg" alt="Denise Cheng and Lisa Skube at Block by Block" width="250" height="236" />[/caption]

There are times when I worry.<strong> Is "community" in danger of being one of those buzz words that becomes meaningless (is it already)?</strong> Yet how many times have I proof-read a paragraph spangled with "community" and searched for a synonym? Fellowship, camaraderie, rapport… Nothing quite captures the sentiment. One phrase that has caught my fancy lately really seems to describe community to a T:  <strong>Communities are "everywhere—like God, or salt."</strong>

But communities aren’t only about banding together to create a space in the world. They’re also about enriching experiences among peers. As a journalism practitioner, I absorbed a lot over the last few years, whether by site visits, at conferences or through Internet stalking. <strong>What appeals to me most about the JA: I will be learning directly, with my peers, and connecting news outlets to one another as a full-time pursuit.</strong> By moving forward together, <strong>we’ll learn from one another and discover more effective approaches for our audiences to connect with information</strong>. It will help every one of us move closer to this call: To equip a citizenry with the information it needs to become invested in self-governing.

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