A very bare Community Media Lab at The Reporter headquarters in Lansdale. Photo by Andy Stettler

By Andy Stettler

Asst. online editor

Many have asked “What is a Community Media Lab?”

The answer: Whatever you need it to be.

Okay, maybe that’s being a little too broad but the fact is that The Reporter’s Community Media Lab is being developed to suit the needs of a growing physical and digital community.

In many cases, that may mean the lab will be a place to learn about blogging and using social media to increase your presence, your business’ or organization’s web presence.

In today’s digital world, very few organizations can thrive or survive if they are not consistently working to improve — or build from scratch — a presence on the Internet.

We believe, in the beginning, that this is what the lab’s primary use will be, to teach the community about how to build and improve a web presence. But we want the lab to do more.

So you tell us. What can this lab do for you? What do you want to learn? What could a coffee-house-style space be? How would you use it? Please, fill out the form below and help us build this Community Media Lab into something Lansdale, North Penn, the Indian Valley, whomever, will be proud of.

Because even though we use the term, “The Reporter’s Community Media Lab,” we know full well that in order for the lab to really be built for the community, it must be built by the community.

A new and improved Community Media Lab is coming to The Reporter's headquarters in Lansdale. Look for more updates in the coming weeks.

Geoff Patton, online editor at The Reporter, speaks to local high school athletes about blogging in the Community Media Lab. Photo by Andy Stettler

The Reporter would like to invite all of our community bloggers and would-be bloggers to join us for a casual meet-and-greet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23 in our Community Media Lab in The Reporter newsroom at 307 Derstine Ave., Lansdale.

Over the past few months, we've met many of you on Twitter, Facebook, email and on the phone. We've had great conversation about how to make our blogs better with stronger content. Now we would like to meet you in person to talk about your blogs, what you're working on and how we or other local bloggers can help.