Digital Journal Toronto Chapter Celebrates Citizen Journalists and Online Community

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For four hours on a Monday afternoon in Toronto, Citizen Journalists mingled with DJ staffers and fans of the site for a get-together not to be forgotten. The food was secondary, as discussions on articles and comment threads took centre stage.

Digital Journal — It was a meeting of minds, a party celebrating citizen media. On the Monday Aug. 12, Digital Journal enjoyed its first face-to-face get-together in downtown Toronto. The air was electric with excitement as a group of Citizen Journalists finally met each other after months of commenting, debating and covering news together. On Monday, we did more than just a “user contact.”

Enjoying lunch at Town & Country Buffet Restaurant, Citizen Journalists from DJ's Toronto Chapter and friends and family of those DJ members discussed what has driven them to visit the site. Well represented were the DJ staffers, including Chris Hogg, David Silverberg and Alex Chumak. On the members side, it was an all-star cast: Sheba (who organized the event), momentsintime, gohomelaker, Posthappy, Brandigal, Ringwraith, saran81kid91, franklin and killik19 and many friends and family.

It was a surreal experience to chat with people you only see as avatars, at least physically. But gradually, we all warmed up to each other’s personalities and bonded over DigitalJournal.com, a site we’ve devoted ourselves to since its user-powered media idea exploded.


Members from Digital Journal's Toronto Citizen Journalist Chapter stand outside Town & Country in downtown Toronto.

Inside this railcar of a restaurant there were intense discussions on comment threads, the “report abuse” button, the weekly TopFinds article, and the joy of accumulating hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of views on a single story.

After four hours of chatting, eating and diving into a celebratory chocolate cake, the DJ Summer Get-Together called it quits…for now.

Already, there is a plan to meet in the U.S. on Sept. 20, 2008, so our American members can join in the fun (location to be determined, but we're looking for a border state for easy access for everyone). Now that’s an idea I can upvote!


Members from Digital Journal's Toronto Citizen Journalist Chapter stand outside Town & Country in downtown Toronto.

Huge thanks to Sheba for coordinating the lunch, and a tip o’ the hat to all the members who joined us. It was an enjoyable day for everyone and it once again reinforced the notion of DigitalJournal.com as a tight-knit community of like-minded people.

Undoubtedly, this meeting of media minds won’t be the last.


Members from Digital Journal's Toronto Citizen Journalist Chapter stand outside Town & Country in downtown Toronto.