The Documenters Network trains and pays local residents to attend and take notes on government meetings, turning the knowledge, relationships, and capacity of local residents into a powerful community information resource.

Currently in 19 different cities, the local organizations in the network create communities of Documenters that help fill these information gaps and power the reporting of experienced journalists.  If you live in a community that has a Documenters program (see the here for all the cities they’re in), make an account on Documenters.org and attend a local orientation. Each program has its own restrictions or age limitations.

Public meetings are workshops for democracy, where residents of a community can witness, learn about, and act on the systems that impact their lives. But many local government meetings happen with no oversight or input from the public—a systemic failure of our civic information system, and a critical missed opportunity for genuine democracy.

The Documenters Network has trained more than 2,500 people across the U.S. to attend and annotate government meetings, harnessing their collective knowledge, relationships, and capacity to create a powerful new information resource.

Interested in learning how to build a more participatory, civic media hub in your area?  Click here to learn how to become part of the network in your area.