All 15 YourHub sections now in print

Published August 13, 2005 at midnight

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Something big happened this week.

OK, maybe not as big as the hammering of the last spike for the transcontinental railroad or the transmission of the first telegraph from Washington to Baltimore.

Not nearly as big. But in the life of this metro area, I hope the printing of the final two of our 15 YourHub.com sections will be remembered as a moment when the connection between us all became that much closer.

On Thursday, more than 400,000 households in the seven-county metro area received a YourHub.com section atop their Rocky Mountain News or Denver Post.

All of the "news" in those sections came from stories and photos posted by residents - and a few of our journalists - on 40 YourHub.com Web sites.

The process is revolutionary. I know that sounds like an overstatement. And maybe it is, a tad. But, until now, Denver's dailies decided which stories they would tell. Call either newsroom with an idea, and you'd most likely hear, "We'll see if we can get to it." Or, because we try to be polite, just "thank you." And then nothing happened. We didn't have enough newsprint (space) or reporters (people) to tell all the stories that were out there.

But go to YourHub.com, and the answer will always be yes (unless you've got something bad in mind). In fact, you won't even have to ask. This is a place where Nike's motto "Just do it" really does hold true.

Our role at YourHub.com is to build a platform, a place where you can easily share your stories, what you think is important, what matters to you. In this new world, journalists are more facilitators than creators. Our job is to make a virtual town square and then to highlight in print sections some of the most interesting things that are being said there. Space on the Internet is unlimited. As for people with stories to tell, it seems like there are a lot of you, too.

YourHub.com puts us in a new role. And it means you can have a new role, too.

I didn't quite realize how radical this change was when we launched the Web sites May 5. It got even more complicated May 26, when we rolled out our first three print sections, serving Douglas County. And through the summer it's been awkward because some communities had sections and others still didn't.

But now that the whole network is visible, I hope it's starting to make sense to you.

While the project is huge - the one-day circulation of the print sections would fill the seats at Invesco Field at Mile High more than five times over - it is also small, because it's designed to let a single individual share anything she considers important.

The number of people who have visited one of the online hubs also would more than fill the stadium. And 4,000 of those have opted to register because they wanted to post a story or sell something.

Frankly, I don't know what to think of these numbers. I don't have anything to compare YourHub.com with. There's nothing quite like it around the country, certainly nothing of its scale.

That's why while we've been immersed in launching it, many other newspapers have been calling to ask about it and find out whether they could do something similar, too.

It's complicated to explain. We tell them we broke the metro area down into 10 advertising zones. This means that businesses can reach customers in their community in print and online without having to pay for the full run of the Rocky and the Post.

We tell them that, no, we don't edit anything before a person posts it to one of the Web sites. (We do have a filter that bars people from using inappropriate language.) We want the stories to be in people's own words.

If a Hubber (that's what we call the journalists who work on YourHub.com) decides to move your story or photo to the home page of a hub, a little editing might take place, as much to protect you from embarrassment (not all of us were the best spellers in school) as to protect us.

A higher level of scrutiny occurs when a Hubber decides to publish your story in print. But even there, we don't try to change the tone or make what you write sound like "journalism." We edit for length, clarity, accuracy, fairness and, of course, spelling and grammar, too.

The rules are looser on YourHub.com, especially online. The gate is open. It's your place.

In the minds of many journalists, that raises a picture of dread. Imagine the bad things people might do.

Well, I know only what's happened so far. And that is that people have respected the spirit of the venture.

While the structure may now be complete, I think of it a bit like a school awaiting its students.

It takes people to bring a building to life. If I have one wish heading into this fall, it would be to hear the voices and see the faces of our schools on YourHub.com.

In so many ways, our schools are the heart of our community. I hope YourHub.com is the place you'll go to feel its beat.

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