Journalism and Mass Communication – �鶹��Ƶ

Engaged Journalism: Assessing the Information Needs of Oakridge

Ada Inman — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:41:49 +0000

In early 2025, University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication students conducted an information needs assessment to better understand the local news and civic information flow of Oakridge. In partnership with the Sustainable City Year Program, Agora Journalism Center, and the City of Oakridge, students sought to understand how Oakridge’s needs align with the broader scope of small-town news accessibility. The class co-created a survey based on the Listening Post Collective Playbook, which focuses on community led, civic media projects. In addition, students spent significant time outside of the classroom within the Oakridge community through listening sessions, engagement with Oakridge High School classes, and in-person survey distribution. This project aimed to surface both the barriers to being informed and new ideas for building stronger connections
throughout the area.

Based on the survey results, the Engaged Journalism class compiled the following observations about residents’ passion for their community yet frustration with their fragmented local news environment:
• Residents rely heavily on Facebook and word of mouth to stay informed, while expressing deep displeasure with the bias, misinformation, and drama that often characterize those spaces.
• The Highway 58 Herald—one of the few dedicated local outlets—is seen by many as inconsistent in its coverage, too narrow in its perspectives, or lacking in trust.
• There is no single, go-to platform or publication that residents consistently trust for reliable, up-to-date civic information.
• Survey participants cited urgent needs for more frequent reporting, better coverage of community events, and a desire for professional, unbiased local journalism rooted in the lived realities of Oakridge residents.
• Physical third spaces like cafés, grocery stores, the library, and bulletin boards remain important sources for shared information—but access is uneven, and not all residents benefit equally.
• Civic hub collaboration to foster local partnerships

Oakridge residents desire a more inclusive and accessible civic infrastructure. When reliable information is limited
to those who are digitally connected, socially networked, or already engaged, it deepens community divides. Not only does Oakridge need stronger coverage, but it would greatly benefit from a shared system of communication that is representative, trustworthy, and available to all.

Recommending promotion and marketing strategies for the Village of Taylor

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:08:43 +0000

To boost awareness of the Village of Taylor as a great place to visit and live, journalism students developed proposals for merchandise, events, and social media. The campaign’s goal is to draw tourists and recruit new permanent residents to “live and travel the true Wisconsin way.” Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu [...]

Fostering community identity in the Village of Melrose

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:04:48 +0000

Through a promotional campaign centered around the phrase “it takes a village,” journalism students created a brand proposal, materials like merchandise, postcards, pamphlets; events, and collaborations with small businesses to create a strong sense of community identity in Melrose. Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu [...]

Information Needs Assessment for the City of Hermiston

Ada Inman — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 21:57:16 +0000

The goal of this report is to understand the existing information ecosystem in Hermiston and Hermiston residents’ information needs. Recommendations emphasize how the City of Hermiston and other local entities can improve information flow. The Engaged Journalism class conducted a survey, led four facilitated conversations, and visited the site to better understand and meet the needs of Hermiston residents. Overall, residents report feeling well informed about their community, with an average rating of seven on a scale of one to 10. The local Facebook group “What’s Happening in Hermiston” is the first place many residents look to find information on the community, and some residents mentioned that the Facebook group posts important events faster than the local news outlets do. In regards to local news outlets, the Hermiston Herald is the most popular. More than half of all survey respondents said the newspaper is where they find local news. Finally, the Hermiston Public Library was not as popular among respondents. Less than 20% of respondents indicated that they found out about local events from the library, and less than 10% considered it a physical gathering space for community members. Based on these findings, students compiled seven categories of suggestions that could help Hermiston better meet its residents’ information needs: enhancing the Hermiston Library with physical upgrades and more events, translating more text and media into Spanish, taking advantage of online information sharing platforms, fostering physical gathering spaces such as at the Food Pods in Hermiston, creating a community advisory board, and sharing communication platforms.

Volunteerism & Civic Engagement – The Next Wave

Ada Inman — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 21:24:46 +0000

The Strategic Planning and Cases course (J 453) at the University of Oregon worked with the City of Salem to develop outreach campaigns to address the City’s volunteerism and community engagement needs. Although each student team developed a campaign plan that focused on a distinct target audience, all teams had two common goals: 1) Improve and generate a stronger volunteer base through social media and 2) Increase outreach accessibility for all ages and backgrounds, which could then lead to increased volunteer rates and community engagement.

Improving outreach communication to grow community engagement in the Village of Shorewood

Ada Inman — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:59:48 +0000

Journalism students proposed a suite of new communications materials to provide tools to Shorewood that can help the village build community pride, distinguish it from surrounding localities, and communicate with current residents. UniverCity Contact Info: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu [...]

Newberry Country Trail Strategic Public Relations

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:47 +0000

The Newberry Country Trail is a newly established tourist attraction in Central Oregon.
The trail begins and ends in La Pine, Oregon, and is 153 miles long. Because the trail
has not officially been introduced to the public, potential visitors are unaware of all it has
to offer. The City of La Pine hopes to make new audiences such as Oregon college
students and young families aware of this source of year-round adventure. The trail
highlights Central Oregon’s natural beauty and offers a wide variety of outdoor activities.
Its most popular attractions are biking, hiking, swimming, snowmobiling and skiing.
While it has been marketed as a family-friendly location, La Pine would like the see the
Newberry Country Trail visited by more college-aged adventurers as well. Along the trail
are popular Oregon landmarks such as Crescent Lake, Christmas Valley, Paulina Lake
and Fort Rock.
The Newberry Country Trail project has received grant money from Travel Oregon to
help increase tourism. The project is a part of the Travel Oregon Rural Tourism Studio.
With the help of Travel Oregon, La Pine will be able to interact with its new target
audiences in strategic ways. Since the trail offers outdoor activities for all skill levels,
people from all backgrounds can enjoy what the trail has to offer.
Some of the sites on the Newberry Country Trail, and even La Pine itself, can still be
considered hidden gems, unknown even to native Oregonians. Establishing a social
media presence, updating visual aesthetics for the trail, connecting with travel
influencers and collaborating with breweries and brands are viable opportunities
available to La Pine to create awareness for the Newberry Country Trail.
The beauty surrounding La Pine creates a natural opportunity for promotional
photography. High-quality, professional photos can be used on all channels, including
social media and the Newberry Country Trail website.
This strategic plan will allow La Pine and the Newberry Country Trail to promote the
hidden gems that are waiting to be explored to a more targeted audience than before.
Implementing the following strategies and tactics will lead La Pine to an established
online presence and, with time, an increase in tourism to the Newberry Country Trail.
This plan also sets a timeline for La Pine to establish the strategies and provided tactics
for success.
Some examples of success that we’ve found to be useful through our best practices
research are the Boise Trails website, social media practices utilized by Hydro Flask
and the Bend Ale Trail map.