The San Francisco Chronicle's "Two Cents Project" is a pool of readers who agree to be accessible to the Chronicle via email to provide commentary on the news of the day and share their expertise and experiences with readers. Several papers and TV stations that have participated in the CCJ Traveling Curriculum Development Program have begun similar efforts. The Chronicle's model is one of the best we've seen.Here's how the Chronicle describes the project: What is Two Cents? The Two Cents Project is a pool of people who agree to be accessible to The Chronicle via e-mail to provide commentary on the news of the day and share their expertise and experiences with our readers. Who can join? The project is open to residents of Northern California (with the exception of Chronicle employees and members of other Bay Area news organizations). Priority is given to those who live in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma and Solano counties. How does it work? In general, we turn to our Two Cents correspondents:
- When news breaks and we need to gather input from people but are constrained by tight deadlines.
- When traditional means of finding sources for stories fail.
- When either of these circumstances occur, we e-mail requests for information or commentary to our correspondents and ask them to respond or to forward our e-mails to people they know who are able to respond. Sometimes we contact people who respond to our e-mails and interview them for stories. Sometimes we run a column of correspondents' comments, along with their name, photo and name of the town they live in.