The responsibility is ingrained in us as children, taking our first steps on the shores of the Great Lakes: each of us, we are told, can preserve the health and beauty of our freshwater seas. We pick up empty bottles and plastic refuge left in the sand; we avoid walking on sensitive dunes that could erode; we protect inland lakes and rivers that flow into the Great Lakes.
And now we can each play the role of citizen journalist by posting our own stories on the Great Lakes Wiki, a new website that seeks to tell the Great Lakes story by explaining the region’s environment, exploring its culture, celebrating its recreational opportunities and discussing the challenges facing it. The Great Lakes Wiki is a joint project of Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and the Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media Department, and was developed last fall by a dozen students in East Lansing.
The beauty of this project, says Dave Poulsen, assistant director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, is that it’s an “opportunity to give folks a platform” and tap into a “large community with diverse interests." As a former environmental reporter, Poulsen knows that one journalist can’t possibly cover everything for simple lack of time. Yet there are empowered citizen groups working to solve each of the 43 Areas of Concern listed in the 1987 U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Great Lakes Wiki could become their common portal to disseminate information. Poulsen cites as an example a citizen who took the time to read the federal registry and learned that the U.S. Coast Guard was training with live fire on the Great Lakes. That citizen emailed an acquaintance at the Sierra Club, and soon the issue hit the mainstream journalism world.
Anybody can post, or edit erroneous statements. Poulsen says Great Lakes Wiki will not have a moderator, at least not in the beginning. So if you love our freshwater seas, go to Great Lakes Wiki and share your stories of ice fishing or first kisses on the dunes, or tell the world your environmental concerns.
