As I’ve said many times - beat blogging doesn’t belong to these 13 reporters. Anyone can practice it.

The following are statements from more brave reporters who have decided to engage in beat blogging for themselves.

They are all answering these three questions.

   1. What is your understanding of "beat blogging."
   2. An elevator pitch for what you hope to attempt
   3. Any concerns you have moving forward.

Lex Alexander: News & Record, Health/Medical.

1. Using a blog (or other online means) to develop, maintain and work with a network of sources who will suggest or help refine story ideas, offer resources and perhaps even critique the reporter’s work.
2. I’d like to set up a network of local (meaning Guilford County, N.C., primarily) health-care professionals — MDs, nurses and nurse-practitioners, PAs, psychologists and others in the field who are sympathetic to my organization’s mission and willing to offer help and constructive criticism.
3. I’m not sure I’m using the right tools (currently a health-care blog, and a Twitter feed I don’t use as often as I probably should, and that’s it). — I’m not a natural salesman and am not sure how to go about recruiting people willing to take part in the network.

Jeremy Fugleberg:  Watertown Public Opinion, Local Government

1. My (evolving) view of beat blogging is that it serves as a formally informal linkage with the sources I already have. By networking the sources, I’m hoping they can catapult off of each other on the issues we discuss. If they do, that will inform my writing, and allow me to build a stronger informal relationship with the sources that connect up.
2. I want to create a safe place for trusted advisors to tell me how it is and set me and each other straight. I want to connect the middle and lower echelon people in my beat, whose voices and opinions are often squelched by the PR of the chain of command. These would include urban planners, police sergeants and county clerks.
3. I live in a town populated primarily by gossipy, technophobic seniors. I think they’ll question the need for such a network, and be too afraid of the technology to use it. My other concerns lie with convincing the "top dogs" in city departments to allow their subordinates to take part in such a network. My beat, this town, is made of informal trust relationships built over years. And I’m the new kid.

Bethany Or: Radio Canada International covering immigration/cultural diversity

1. My understanding of "beat blogging" is to use the web to meet and stay in touch with a large network of sources. I see it as an alternative to traditional story-gathering, which relies heavily on press releases and news feeds. I also see it as a potential virtual gathering place for these contacts to meet and discuss with one another - as fruitful for the journalist as for the participants.
2. I’d like to set up an online discussion group where I could invite people to discuss different topics related to immigration and cultural diversity. This would be used to test out new story ideas, find potential guests, and to discover new subjects. I see myself throwing out a topic to the network (i.e. what’s it like to be an immigrant parent, what’s the biggest challenge to getting a job as an immigrant, etc.), and seeing what kind of conversation comes out of it. I’ve already done this a couple of times on through Facebook messaging, and it’s been moderately successful, but I’d like to start exploring other means. It would be important that people be able to talk to one another, and be able to easily find the group - Facebook seems like the most natural place to do this, but I’m open to new possibilities, such as setting up a blog or participating in one that already exists.
3. Some of the concerns I have are: fear that no one will participate (i.e. creating an online community in which I am the most active participant), recruitment, how to reach people who are not already "wired", and how to reach people with low levels of English / French.

Naseem Sowti Miller - Star-Banner/Ocala.com - health

1. 1. I’m more of a hands-on person, and I still don’t have a clear understanding of what Beat Blogging is. But from reading some of the answers, it’s an online network of sources.
2. Again, I’m not all too familiar with terms like "elevator pitch". But looking at Bethany’s answer, I’d like to have a group of medical professionals on a network, so when I’m working on a story - say about flu - I can find out how one season compares to another.
3. How would you get your sources to join you on a network? Not everyone likes technology. Anyone has experimented with this yet? And how are the results? How do you recruit your sources to join you on a network? I agree with Bethany that Facebook has been an interesting place to find professionals you already know. But again, only a few of them are on there.

Mary Louise Schumacher: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Art and Architecture

1. 1. Beat blogging means a shift in my role, at least on a limited basis. In addition to gathering news, I would become the leader of dialogue via a social networking tool. And that dialogue, in general, could cast the net much wider for story/column ideas. BB also has the potential to make what I do more transparent and to make me personally more accountable. This seems wonderfully suited to our traditions and values as journalists.
2. To create a network of sources and experts that by the nature of its open dynamic could significantly expand the dialogue around art and architecture. To create a network that is engaging and entertaining and empowers participants, who would play a greater role in setting the agenda for coverage.
3. I’m concerned about ensuring that such a thing would be worth people’s time, that the experience will be as worthwhile to those that are part of the network as it is for me. Agenda setting doesn’t seem like enough of an incentive. People need to be engaged, challenged and — yes — entertained to remain active in social networks. Accomplishing that requires some finesse and a regular investment of time. I also have questions about who to invite. Do I have one network for art and another for architecture? Is there enough commonality to combine the two? While not a concern, one of my interests in venturing into this match up of journalism and social networking is to explore the how people consume media generally. With our industry in crisis, these sorts of experiments can lead to new thinking and new business models.

Matt King: Warwick, New York, covering the town of Warwick

1. I see beatblogging as one more extension of traditional networking, virtual shoe leather. I think it holds the most potential on focused beats, like education or technology, but can be harnessed with geographic beats, like the one I’m dealing with in the Hudson Valley. I set up a ning network that hasn’t blossomed and I’ve stopped tending it. I’m having a lot of success with a weekly e-newletter I send out every Friday to people in my beat area. It’s a compendium of some breaking news. links to stories and blog posts, maps and documents, other blogs and Web sites and other stories of interest from my paper, The Times Herald-Record. People really like it and its led to some decent tips. My paper covers and enormous region with no center of gravity (largest city is 40k and 95 percent of our readers don’t care about any particular story in the paper because it’s often about something happening 25,50 even 100 miles away. The newsletter really drives home the idea that my paper is their local paper because they see at once how much pertinent and useful content is in it in a given week.
2. I want to tie the various threads of my beat into a thriving social network but I have no idea ho to make it work.
3. See above. I don’t know how to show people the value of the social network, what’s in it for them. More philosophically, I worry about completely abdicating the idea of a professional reporter. The conversation with and among citizens and sources is hugely valuable, but I think it’s often still up to a dedicated and trained reporter to make use of it so it’s not just talk. So i want to keep learning more how to do that.