Digital Oklahoma City
The web site www.okctalk.com is one of the most popular local chat boards on the Internet. And while the site registers new members on a daily basis, it’s interesting to note that one of its newest members is Cynthia Reid – a spokeswoman for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.
In the past month, Reid has talked about the upcoming vote for the penny sales tax to improve Ford Center, the bond issue passed in December, and has solicited ideas for an upcoming marketing piece promoting Oklahoma City.
It’s an interesting turn of events for the site, which in past years has seen participation by Mayor Mick Cornett.
Like other chat boards, it resembles the community as a whole. Some folks are conservative, some are liberal, some are religious, some are secular, some are deep thinkers, some are idealists, some are conspiracy theorists.
All of this comes to mind as I begin my latest endeavor in my 18 years at The Oklahoman – www.okccentral. Once upon a time, there were very rigid rules on how information was deceminated. When I graduated from college, the news flowed from the daily newspaper, a weekly alternative newspaper, a daily business newspaper, four television news shows, and one radio station.
Add a couple more television news shows and one more radio station, and that mix hasn’t changed much. But the Internet has changed everything – if the old media delays in getting a story out, it could just as easily make it on www.okctalk.com or several other great local websites.
The advent of new media also brought down traditional walls between information providers and consumers. Now it’s a two-way street, and I’ll be the first to acknowledge I’ve chased after story ideas and tips published on web sites.
A news item from Minneapolis posted on www.dustbury.com by Charles Hill inspired me to make a few phone calls of my own and write a story about Sonic building a drive-in in a town slightly colder than Oklahoma City. ”Metro” and ”Patrick,” posters at www.okctalk.com, have been consistent sources of story ideas and frequent reminders that I’m far from running out of stories to write about on this beat.
The first poster on this blog – “Shane” – is wonderful reminder that the under-40 crowd hasn’t lost interest in local news. “Shane” is one of the hosts at www.okmet.org – a great local web site and forum devoted to discussion of urban development across the state. Shane is one of the few folks I’ve met in person, and his enthusiasm for the city is contagious.
And that brings me to one more blogger – Doug Loudenback, whose shared interest in city history has resulted in us becoming good friends. Sitting in my son’s kindergarten class in October, I was amused to see the teacher play a video Doug created to go along with the Centennial song “Oklahoma Rising” (still available at Doug’s blog, www.dougdawg.blogspot.com). Like Shane, Doug’s enthusiasm is inspiring – and evidence that this new media offers more good than bad in this new media age.
Hopefully www.okccentral.com will add to this mix as well, providing additional angles on what’s happening downtown and stories you might have missed.
- Steve Lackmeyer
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Comments
Hi Steve,
It’s hard to say enough good things about the blogs and forums mentioned above (I found this following a link from Charles). I appreciate your work and affection for our city as well. Looking forward to more great reading!
Jason
Thanks Jason! I’m still learning my way through the blogosphere, so this ought to be quite an adventure.
-Steve
Sent forth from the Black Tower…
Information isn’t top-down anymore: we don’t have to settle for artificial dissemination. So I’m pleased to see that the Oklahoman is paying out Steve Lackmeyer’s leash a bit, giving him his very own WordPress blog. (And if you’re coming here……