A neglected McCarren Park Pool, the new track at McCarren Park with the new development that borders it, and a recently renovated Sternberg Park–over the past two weeks, my Williamsburg beat has transformed into coverage of that neighborhood’s parks. A community in transition, the development is not just concentrated on building lavish condominiums, but also on maintaining and upgrading the neighorhood’s green spaces. In the face of continued construction creating a brand-new Williamsburg, clean places to gather and play have become even more important to residents. And city officials have been listening, so far. Last Tuesday, New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape even promised the audience at the Sternberg Park opening that a renovated McCarren Park Pool was next on his list.

At its best, journalism helps maintain communities, both large and small. Through the dissemination of information of import and interest to the public, journalism helps people preserve connections and helps inform decisions they may make during their day, whether it be what train to take on the morning commute or what candidate should receive their vote come election day. Through the news, people are able to remain well informed about their local community while far-away stories are illuminated. So, as journalists, we should be committed to meticulous reporting, insightful analysis, vociferous questioning, and transparency in order to provide the public with information that enables them to better interpret and understand events and issues. In all its changing forms, journalism provides a dialogue about the modern human experience, and with ever-increasing opportunities for people to respond to the media and publish work themselves, it has become a much more active conversation.

The internet has revolutionized the way we all conduct our lives, images and information come at us quickly in a multitude of forms, providing an exceeding array of choices for people in how we listen to music, how we shop, how we consume the news, among other things. The internet has altered the way people receive, interpret, and now, publish information, including news, opinions, and personal reactions. Choice reigns supreme and journalists and the media are now faced with the challenge of how to adapt the ways in which news is delivered and utilize the transformative power of the internet to the public’s benefit. Journalism should be a reflection of the times in which we live. I believe that the intersection of this burgeoning technology that allows for a myriad of voices to be heard and stories to be told in new ways with a society forced to face new fears, has provided the impetus for the changes that are occurring in journalism. People needed an arena in which to react, voice opinions, make connections, and pose questions. In this new arena, if the public wants transparency from their government, whether it is in national or local affairs, they no longer have to leave that job to the traditional gatekeepers, they can begin the conversation themselves. Citizens (and that includes trained journalists) can debate, question, and share ideas and people have more choices than ever in information content and format. And, as trained practitioners, we should listen and filter. Invite these new storytellers into the discussion, whether they are posting well-reported investigative pieces or personal musings, or, as it may be, invite ourselves into their discussion. Perhaps they will help lead us to discover different stories to tell and more innovative ways to tell them.

Questions that currently confound me through all of this are: how will standards change and translate to online media? How will a trained journalist’s role change as the industry transforms? How can we think of new ways to filter and navigate the ever-increasing amount of information available to the public? How will the “agenda” be set? (See Time’s new idea as newsweeklies rapidly decrease in influence). Are Time’s efforts completely futile in a world where many people pick and choose the way to receive their news from a menu of niche publications, blogs, and user determined email blasts? What else can publications do to stay relevant? As more and more of our lives are navigated through a high-tech world, how do citizens without access to the technology remain a part of the dialogue?