When I went into sportswriting, I had an interesting revelation. I'd sit on the bench to cover a game and ask the coach, "Why'd you do this? What's your strategy here?"

Then I went just to watch. I'd sit in the stands and people would start talking to me -- about what the game meant to them, how they felt watching it. I found out it was a major part of people's lives. I found they needed a different kind of coverage than I was providing. So I started writing columns from their perspective. It's just amazing the things you can come up with just by listening.

I wound up winning an Associated Press award and the guy who gave it to me said, "You really have a different view on things, don't you?"

Civic journalism, to me, is a way to see things from that different view. It lets us get to know the people of our community and -- perhaps better than any other method we use -- it lets us deal with people's ambiguity over issues and processes.

I can apply those principles even better online. Now I have the ability to do more than listen. I can put a soapbox out there and let people respond, supplement and give their opinion on stories. I can give more people a voice.