Let’s Find Out, the award-winning podcast that explores Edmonton’s history through listener questions, is joining Taproot Edmonton!
Let’s Find Out is hosted by Chris Chang-Yen Phillips, who served as Edmonton’s fourth historian laureate, and is co-produced by his longtime collaborator Trevor Chow-Fraser. Since it launched in 2016, the show has tackled a wide range of topics across its 63 (and counting!) episodes. For example, Episode 21 looked at green onion cakes, Episode 42 explored the icons of Ritchie, and Episode 60 — which featured a question from Taproot co-founder Karen Unland — looked at how garbage dumps in the river valley were transformed into parks.
The April episode of the monthly show answers a question about how to make parks more fun in the winter, which creates an opportunity to consider the decade-old Winter City Edmonton initiative.
Let’s Find Out and Taproot Edmonton collaborated on a live event in 2019. (Mack Male/Flickr)
We at Taproot have been fans of Let’s Find Out for a long time. We sponsored the show’s 2019 season, which explored how nature shapes us, and we collaborated on a live event — complete with a story garden! — to kick it off.
The end of the Alberta Podcast Network presented an opportunity for us to explore a deeper collaboration. The curiosity-driven approach of Let’s Find Out is a perfect fit for Taproot, and we’re thrilled to be able to support Chris and Trevor as they continue to explore Edmonton’s history.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll integrate Let’s Find Out more closely into our operations. Fans of the show can expect more great episodes, and we are excited to bring the stories of Let’s Find Out to a wider audience via our website and The Pulse.
We’re thrilled to introduce you to Colin Gallant, the latest addition to Taproot Edmonton’s growing editorial team.
Colin joins Taproot as a reporter to help us publish original stories about what’s going on in our city. He was previously an editor at Avenue magazine in Calgary, served as co-editor-in-chief at The Calgary Journal, and worked at BeatRoute magazine. Colin studied journalism at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
"My favourite thing about being a journalist is that it gives you permission — nay, encouragement! — to be as nosy as you like," Colin says. "I’m half-kidding, but I am glad that being a Taproot reporter gives me a licence to become an expert on all things Edmonton."
Colin Gallant is Taproot Edmonton’s newest reporter. (Mack Male)
Originally from Nova Scotia, Colin has called both Calgary and Edmonton home. He enjoys the off-leash areas of Mill Creek Ravine with his two dogs, cycles as his preferred mode of transportation (he describes himself as a certified NUMTOT), and is a big fan of the chicken from Seoul Fried Chicken.
"I love that Edmonton has several pyramids," he adds.
We’re declaring the experiment we started last month a success. Now when you open a roundup, you’ll find a message from a member of our team pulling some threads together in the Taproot way — with curiosity and desire to understand our community better.
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. Here’s a sample of the things we heard:
"I love the new roundup format."
"I really like the new opening perspective from the editor."
"I’m writing to tell you I’m enjoying the new format of the roundup. I think it’s a great addition."
We’re grateful for the evidence that this approach is working!
Our previous format was to include a story at the top of the roundup, which meant there was duplication between the roundups and The Pulse. We want to encourage you to subscribe to The Pulse for a daily look at what’s happening in Edmonton, and to the roundups for deeper dives into what’s happening in tech, food, health innovation, the region, the arts, and business. The new format makes that more likely.
“I like to start my notes to you as if we’re in the middle of a conversation,” Meg Ryan’s character says in You’ve Got Mail.
We think the new format makes the roundups themselves more engaging. Instead of dropping you right into a story, we greet you in a more conversational way without any unnecessary preamble (as we always strive to save you time). I’m reminded of Meg Ryan’s character in You’ve Got Mail, who writes to Tom Hanks’s character, "I like to start my notes to you as if we’re in the middle of a conversation."
One of the things we’ve learned through the experiment is that this format is a useful way for us to connect the dots. While each edition of a roundup is informative on its own, paying attention to a topic over time yields greater benefits. We notice patterns, connections, and trends that we can share, and the new format is a good way to do that.
What’s next?
We’ll still write stories about our roundup topics even with the new format in place, and you’ll still find them curated into items for the roundups they fit best. Those stories will also make it into The Pulse. But the new format provides us with some operational flexibility that we’re excited to take full advantage of.
We’re working on additional improvements to the roundups, The Pulse, and our website, and we’ll have more to share on that soon. If you have any feedback on what would make the reader experience even better, please let us know!
And as always, if you’d like to help us go further faster, become a Taproot member or sponsor. You’ll be helping us build what comes next in local journalism.
We’re trying something new at the top of some of our roundups, as part of our continuing quest to build a sustainable, tech-enabled media business that helps our community understand itself better.
Taproot is experimenting again, as we are wont to do. (Alex Kondratiev/Unsplash)
Instead of a story at the top of the Jan. 17 Food Roundup and the Jan. 18 Health Innovation Roundup, you’ll see a message from the editor pulling together some threads in a meaningful way. We pay a lot of attention to these topics, and sometimes we notice things that aren’t really stories and aren’t really items, but are still worth attention and context. That’s what we’d like to provide at the top of the roundups, in a way that’s more conversational than our usual editorial voice.
We’ll try this again with a couple of other roundups next week to see if we’ve hit on a format that will stick. We’d love to know what you think — send your thoughts to hello@taprootedmonton.ca.
Why are we doing this?
Change is the Taproot way. We started with long-form features inspired by readers’ questions, and we published them as soon as we had the time and money to put them out, which in the early days was at a pretty slow cadence. Then we introduced roundups, our weekly newsletters gathering items on specific topics, serving readers’ curiosity in a different and more frequent way and opening up a new revenue stream via sponsorship. Their format has evolved over time.
Two years ago, we launched The Pulse, a weekday newsletter that distributes our stories and curates news and items from other sources to help Edmontonians get on with their day in an informed way. That product has become the centre of our editorial work, and its readership is much higher than that of any roundup.
When we started The Pulse, it made sense to distribute the stories that we wrote for the various roundup beats in that newsletter, along with elements that are only distributed in The Pulse, such as some of our city council coverage, our weekly moment in history, and our event listings.
Now we’d like to differentiate the content of The Pulse from that of the roundups, partly for some operational flexibility but also because we think it will be a better experience for readers. We want to encourage you to subscribe to The Pulse for a daily look at what’s happening in Edmonton, and to the roundups for deeper dives into what’s happening in tech, food, health innovation, the region, the arts, and business. You may have a greater incentive to do that with less duplication.
Will we still have stories on our roundup beats?
Many of our story ideas emerge from the topics our readers want us to pay attention to, so we will naturally continue to cover stories that fit our roundup beats, whether this new format sticks around or not. Those stories will continue to be curated into items for the roundups they fit into, as is our practice now.
This gives us the flexibility to publish daily stories that aren’t necessarily related to or timed with a particular roundup. We think this could improve the quality of our work.
What’s next?
We’ll experiment with this for a couple of weeks, then make a call on whether to keep doing it. If we do, that will likely lead to some other changes we’re considering to improve the experience for readers and paying members.
As always, if you’d like to help us go further faster, become a Taproot member or sponsor. You’ll be helping us build what comes next in local journalism.
Happy holidays from the crew at Taproot Edmonton! We’re taking a break until Jan. 3, when we’ll return with The Pulse and our regular collection of weekly roundups and podcasts.
We’re heading out for the rest of 2022, but we’ll be back in the New Year to keep you informed about Edmonton. (Mack Male/Flickr)
We have put together a few things to keep you informed in the meantime:
Debbi Serafinchon has upsized her regular weekend listings to a giant holiday agenda of festive things to do between now and Jan. 2. She has also compiled Coming up this month and beyond to look ahead to some other events for your calendar.
Speaking Municipally’s annual Jeopardy episode will be coming to your podcatcher just in time for Christmas. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss councillors Anne Stevenson, Ashley Salvador, and Michael Janz squaring off on Edmonton trivia.
Bloom, our podcast about innovation, finished off the year with a rollicking interview with Shawn Kanungo. It will be back on Jan. 5 with a retrospective on 2022 and a look-ahead to 2023.
If you have any news to share with us, be sure to send it to hello@taprootedmonton.ca. Just remember we won’t be able to publish anything about it until we return.
We hope you have a fun and restful break, and we look forward to seeing you in the new year!
For the past eight weeks or so we have learned about many aspects of building and managing a team. Planning for growth, hiring, onboarding, employment policies, management, and addressing and avoiding burnout were all among the topics covered. While much of the information was familiar to us given the stage we’re at, we also took away several new ideas and insights that we have already been applying. For example, we have adopted the use of user manuals, a helpful articulation of how someone likes to work and collaborate with other people. Participating in the program also caused us to follow-through on some work already underway, such as improving our employee handbook and onboarding process.
We enjoyed meeting with and learning from the other publishers that participated in the program. Most of all, we are grateful for the chance to work with our coach, Bene Cipolla. As the former editor-in-chief and publisher of Chalkbeat, we knew she’d have a wealth of experience and knowledge to share. Every week we looked forward to hearing her advice and guidance on the issues we were tackling. Bene’s engagement, enthusiasm, and expertise made the program an impactful and enjoyable experience for us.
During our summer break we identified growing our team as a key priority, so the timing of the program was great. We hear regularly from the communities we serve that our work is having a positive impact, whether you start your day with The Pulse, listen to one of our podcasts while doing the laundry, or you receive one of our briefings through your employer. With a thriving team, we can continue to grow and improve our ability to help communities understand themselves better.
At Taproot, we’re curious, courageous, and we care. If you’re interested in working with us, we’d love to hear from you! Please fill out our simple intake form or reach out to me directly via LinkedIn.
As was the case last summer, Taproot Edmonton is taking a publishing break. This time, we’ll be off for two weeks, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 5.
We’ll resume publication on Tuesday, Sept. 6, after the Labour Day long weekend, feeling refreshed and energized for the rest of the year. The Pulse will return to inboxes on that day, and our weekly roundups will resume their usual schedule that week.
We have been busy bees this year, and it’s time to take a pause, so we’re ready to inform you in the fall. (Karen Unland)
We have put together a few things to keep you informed in the meantime:
Debbi Serafinchon has gathered a passel of upcoming events to keep you occupied through the next couple of weeks.
Faaiza Ramji and I are taking a break at Bloom, our podcast about innovation in Edmonton, but in the meantime, check out our latest episodes with Jason Suriano of TIQ Software and Jade Chiles of Ordr.
And don’t forget the fine work that Brett McKay and Dustin Cook have published this summer.
If you have any news to share with us, be sure to send it to hello@taprootedmonton.ca. Just know that we won’t be able to publish anything about it until we return.
Mack Male and Troy Pavlek have been paying close attention to city council on Edmontonians’ behalf since August 2018. It’s wonderful to see all of their hours of watching meetings and combing through agendas rewarded with this recognition, as it was when the show was nominated last year.
The Canadian Podcast Awards are voted on by other Canadian podcasters. If you happen to be one of those, you could cast your vote for Speaking Municipally in this category: “Outstanding News & Current Affairs Series.” Voting closes on Aug. 10, 2022.
Without amendments, Bill C-18 risks disproportionately benefitting large news organizations and shutting out digital startups and independent media.
When the Liberal government announced its intention to support Canada’s news industry, the reasons given were to sustain local journalism, support innovation in news, and ensure diversity in the news industry. Bill C-18, the Online News Act currently before Parliament, guarantees none of these things.
Four key changes are needed if Canada is to have the vibrant journalism citizens need for a healthy democracy.
We are a coalition of independent Canadian news publishers, pushing for amendments to C-18 to ensure the bill lives up to its promise to strengthen Canadian journalism. We represent over 100 outlets serving communities coast to coast to coast and employing over one thousand journalists. Taken together, our readers and listeners number in the many millions. Many of us have risked personal capital, fundraised from our communities, and built newsrooms from scratch to reach underserved audiences, many at the local level.
Collectively, we represent Canada’s most innovative digital news media, local news outlets, both French and English language media, and BIPOC-led news media — we are the innovative news organizations that are rebuilding the local news ecosystem. The Online News Act represents an opportunity to accelerate this innovation and progress.
We have come together to ask for basic fairness in Bill C-18.
The centrepiece of Bill C-18 is a funding model aimed at mandating large web platforms like Facebook and Google to compensate Canadian news organizations for posting content on their platforms. Unfortunately, as it is currently structured, Bill C-18 does not specifically direct funding towards supporting the critical work of journalists. The bill also lacks robust transparency mechanisms and, most importantly, it risks leaving out small, medium size and independent publishers.
Even before it was tabled, Bill C-18 has resulted in winners and losers in the news industry. There have been a series of secret, backroom deals between Big Tech and the largest newspapers in Canada, along with a handful of small- to medium-sized publishers. An unintended but likely consequence of Bill C-18 as currently structured may be to cement these inequities and this secrecy, which threatens the public’s already-frayed trust in journalism.
To be clear, we support the goal of creating a sustainable news industry. It is not too late for the current legislation to address the needs of the Canadian news media ecosystem. We want it to be amended to ensure the following:
A transparent, fair funding formula
A universal funding formula should be applied consistently to all qualifying news organizations. This funding formula should be disclosed, and the public must know which news organizations are receiving money from tech companies.
Support for journalists
Compensation from tech platforms should be based on a percentage of editorial expenditures or the number of journalists that work for an organization, inclusive of freelancers.
Inclusion
Bill C-18 may exclude dozens of important news innovators by demanding employee thresholds that news startups often don’t reach until their 3rd or 4th year of operation.
No loopholes
Bill C-18 currently includes vague and poorly-defined criteria allowing for “Exemption Orders” that could let Big Tech off the hook, benefitting a few large news organizations and shutting out hundreds of legitimate small to medium size newsrooms.
While we recognize the reality of the wider news crisis, our organizations represent rays of hope, and are proving that there is a future for a dynamic, inclusive news ecosystem in Canada.
Bill C-18 is modeled after Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. It must not repeat the mistakes of that legislation. In Australia, an estimated 90 per cent of negotiated revenues flowed to the three largest media companies.
We encourage the government to revisit and improve Bill C-18.
As small, medium size, and independent news publishers, this new legislation is too big, and too important, to fumble. Bill C-18 will have a massive impact on the future of journalism and news in Canada.
Let’s make sure we get it right.
UNDERSIGNED
Arsenal Media
Canadaland
Canada’s National Observer
Constellation Media Society
Discourse Community Publishing
Indiegraf
Metro Media
Narcity Media
Neomedia
Overstory Media Group
Politics Today
Village Media
Alberta Today
BarrieToday
BayToday
BC Today
BradfordToday
Burnaby Beacon
Calgary Citizen
CambridgeToday
Canada’s National Observer
Capital Daily
ChrisD.ca
CollingwoodToday
ElliotLakeToday
EloraFergusToday
Enbeauce.com
EnergeticCity.ca
francoischarron.com
Fraser Valley Current
Guelph Politico
GuelphToday
Harbinger Media
IndigiNews
InnisfilToday
insideWaterloo
Journal Metro
La Converse
Mabeauce.com
Macotenord.com
Magaspesie.ca
Metro Ahuntsic-Cartierville
Metro Beauport
Metro Charlesbourg
Metro Cote des Neiges & NDG
Metro Hochelaga Maisonneuve
Metro IDS-Verdun
Metro L’Actuel
Metro L’Appel
Metro L’Autre Voix
Metro Lachine & Dorval
Metro Lasalle
Metro Le Jacques Cartier
Metro Le Plateau Mont-Royal
Metro Mercier & Anjou
Metro Montreal-Nord
Metro Ouest-de-L’ile
Metro Outremont & Mont-Royal
Metro Pointe-aux-Trembles et Montreal-est
Metro Quebec
Metro Riviere-des-Prairies
Metro Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie
Metro Saint-Laurent
Metro Saint-Leonard
Metro Sud-Ouest
Metro Ville Marie
Metro Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension
MidlandToday
Monjoliette.com
Monlatuque.com
Monmatane.com
Montemiscouata.com
Monthetford.com
Monvicto.com
MTL Blog
MuslimLink.ca
Narcity
Neomedia Chambly
Neomedia Joliette
Neomedia Laval
Neo
media Rimouski
Neomedia Rive-Nord
Neomedia Saguenay
Neomedia Sorel-Tracy
Neomedia Trois-Rivières
Neomedia Vallée du Richelieu
Neomedia Valleyfield
Neomedia Vaudreuil
New West Anchor
NewmarketToday
Northern Ontario Business
Nouvelles d’Ici
Oak Bay Local
OakvilleNews.org
OrilliaMatters
Ottawa Sports Pages
Parliament Today
Peterborough Currents
PressProgress
Queen’s Park Today
rabble.ca
Ricochet Media
SooToday
StratfordToday
Sun Peaks Independent News
Taproot Edmonton
The Breach
The Coast
The Discourse Cowichan
The Discourse Nanaimo
The Flatlander
The Green Line
The Home Pitch
The Hoser
The Independent
The Line
The Local
The Peak
The Resolve
The Ridge
The Rover
The Sprawl
The Tyee
The Westshore
The Wren
Tri-Cities Dispatch
Tribe Magazine
Vancouver Tech Journal
Vocal Fry Studios
Women’s eNews
Want to add your outlet to this letter? Fill out this form to express your interest.
This is an annual award that recognizes news organizations that "power journalism’s future through digital journalism." It was our coverage of the 2021 municipal election that caught the eye of the jury.
We are shortlisted with the CBC for its Black On the Prairies interactive series, and New Canadian Media for its collective membership model, a capacity-building project with the Canadian Association of Journalists and National NewsMedia Council.
I had the pleasure of leading the tremendous team that pulled this project off, with development by Mack Male and Meenakshi Chaudhary; data analysis by Madeleine Stout; editorial work by Emily Rendell-Watson, Jackson Spring, and Troy Pavlek; session facilitation by Chris Chang-Yen Phillips; and advice from Elise Stolte and Rob Houle.
Many thanks to everyone who participated in this project. The real reward was, of course, the knowledge that we sent thousands of Edmontonians into this election with a better understanding of what the issues were and which candidates aligned best with their values. But it’s nice to get some external validation.
Taproot Publishing 