As a founding board member of ONA and the Internet Business Alliance, and as one of the four knuckleheads that conspired to launch the Poynter.org site, I've seen my share of web projects try to get off the ground. I found today's gathering refreshingly open and spontaneous and forward-thinking. Congratulations to Karl and Will and Wendy and Susie and all that put this together. Special thanks to Michael for hosting and participating. I don't give up my Saturdays willingly, but this was a day well spent.

Clearly, the concepts discussed go well beyond what happens in Philadelphia. But Michael was right that The Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com can be a fabulous test market for the ideas we discussed. Early next week, we are likely to see some significant changes in how all these norgs are owned and managed. I hope the outcome helps the cause outlined today. And I wish everyone the best moving forward. It's important work. And today was a nice first step.

Fred

Daniel Rubin, Blinq

lots of blue sky on a gray day.

mr. jarvis has something up already at buzzmachine that gives fast flavor. i'm typing as we speak. several are meeting for food and drink right now

Carl Lavin, Philadelphia Inquirer

1. Agreeing on some basic values of a Norg architecture (interactive, platform agnostic, resilient, ethical, positive cash flow for future investment).

2. Planning to move ahead with a blog, wiki, and discussion board.

3. Making great connections, and swapping offers to continue sharing technical learning and specific concepts.

4. Refuting some misconceptions.

5. Emphasizing a strong desire to expand the conversation.

All in all, a great day. Many thanks for all the work to organize it and to all who attended.

Amy Webb, Dragonfire

I just wanted to say thanks again to Will, Karl, Wendy, Susie and the

folks at Annenberg for organizing and hosting us on Saturday. I had

to rush down to Baltimore after we wrapped and wasn't able to stay

for dinner -- but I wish I could have. I can't tell you how very

exciting it was to be able to speak in terms of interactivity and the

advancement of journalism as a viable, profitable online product and

not have a room full of naysayers.

What I'd like to see continue, to the extent that it can, is a think

tank-like organization that works towards empowering the journalists

in this area regardless of the PNI outcome. I realize that much of

the talk since our meeting has been about the blogger/ journalist

tension issue (or not), however my personal interest in a news

organization of the future really involves closing what I perceive to

be the gaping digital divide that exists between editors and

reporters, editors and advertisers, and newsrooms and their audiences.

I know that there are plenty of reporters and editors out there who

could make their interactive content more robust if only they knew

how to envision what I call "digital journalism." I've always found

that a big part of the problem isn't getting the work done or finding

the money to do it, but knowing what's possible and having the right

lexicon to describe how to do a project. This also means

fundamentally changing the structure of a modern newsroom, print or

broadcast, but I realize that's a discussion for another day...

I was wondering what everyone thought about continuing with the

virtual end of our discussions (thanks for the wiki and norgs.org

organization and all of the blog postings!) -- and occasionally

meeting to share practical knowledge?

It was great to meet everyone -- and I'm looking forward to see where

we go from here.

Cheers,

Amy

Norgs Uncoference In Action