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Inconspicuously located on the first floor at number 6, Cinema Place, news is being gathered and published.

Perhaps not such a big thing, given the number of news channels available online, on television and in the

newsagent; until, however, you notice that the items run by the Our World Today team have a clear, and possi-

bly surprising, goal in mind: positivity, wherever possible. And, dare we say it, a knock-on implied optimism

for the way in which the news media can contribute to our appreciation of the world around us.

Case in point: a recent OWT Twitter post ran with the lead ‘the only disability in life is a bad attitude’.

We decided to find out more.

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world, and what it was like to be sur-

rounded by a negative view of society.

Soon after, in the pub over a beer, where

all good ideas are born, we made the deci-

sion to start our own organisation, focus-

ing on inspiring and empowering readers

into taking positive action.

o you’d say the news media has a

responsibility to its audience to prompt

reflection as well as discussion of issues?

I think the news media has a huge social

responsibility, and this is more often than

not forgotten or simply absent.

The media has one of the biggest roles

in influencing how people see the world,

and how people perceive cultures, plac-

es and issues. I think this is not thought

about enough and, unfortunately, people

only get to see a small percentage of what

is really going on.

ow does being a not-for profit affect

how OWT approaches the news you re-

port? And is part of OWT’s success directly

a result of being a not-for-profit?

As a not for profit we have no corporate

issues. We can’t be owned by anyone and

can’t be ‘bought out’. We simply have a

he obvious first question: how did Our

World Today come about?

I started my media career working in

production at Channel 9 here in Adelaide.

I left to spend 7 months backpacking

through Africa, part of which was spent

setting up a radio station for East African

youth to have a voice on radio.

On returning home I wasn’t too keen to

enter the world of media again, so I start-

ed a project with the Australian Refugee

Association, and worked in the Darwin

immigration centre.

Those experiences, alongside travelling,

really opened my eyes, and I realised the

number of amazing, and simply good,

people in the world. I felt there were so

many inspiring stories, but they were just

not being shared.

I went back to uni and studied postgrad

journalism, and whilst there met up with

an old friend, Mike Worsman.

Mike had worked as a journo in the

Riverland, and was now in PR at the Roy-

al Adelaide hospital. We began chatting

about news, the media, and why conflict

has possibly the highest news value.

We researched the effect this had on

people, and on their perception of the

“If you’re an Adelaide-based social change venture, we’d love to chat about you using the Our World Today space.”

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ing and passionate young people, and we

would not be where we are without them.

Since our launch in August 2011, we’ve

found we almost have two separate prod-

ucts: news, and community.

What we’re trying to do now is really link

the two - ‘telling’ the news, if you will.

We’re here more to share stories, engage

people with people, and people with sto-

ries. Community is crucial in that.

We thought, since we have such an

amazing office space (Chris laughs - ‘I

invite anyone to come and check it out’),

and we aim to build on our community,

let’s engage a number of like-minded,

young, entrepreneurial people who are

interested in what we do and are them-

selves working towards social change.

Coworking is something that is starting

to take off in Adelaide, so if we can engage

board of directors, and they have no say

on the news content.

As a not-for-profit, we also don’t look to

shock to sell papers.

Yes, I think it has certainly added to

our success. We have had a lot of in-kind

support, in terms of website, office space,

computers, equipment etc and NFP is in-

tegral to our volunteer approach.

WT is run with the contribution of a

number of volunteers. Could you tell us a

bit about why, and maybe introduce us to

one of them?

A few reasons. As I said, we’re NFP, and

lack the finances to pay a large staff, and

so we rely on volunteers instead.

We have a great relationship with the

Universities here in South Australia, and

around the country, and people are keen

to get involved and work with us.

It’s a ‘win, win, win’ really. We win, as we

get content produced; the volunteer wins

as they get unprecedented experience

and published work; and the uni’s win as

students get ‘tuition’ and opportunities.

The volunteer community has been

great for growing our wider community

too. They are an amazing bunch of inspir-

And it turns out that, whilst plenty of organisations talk grandly about concepts like collaboration, inspiration, and working together, OWT are walking the talk in this area as well, with the introduction of coworking spaces to the OWT office, under the working title Our Office Today.

For information about coworking in

Our Office Today, contact Chris:

chris@ourworldtoday.com.au

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people with the idea early, that’s good

for Adelaide. Oh, and as you mentioned,

we’ve called it “Our Office Today’!

ou’ve also made the OWT space avail-

able to a number of local collaborative

groups. What’s the thinking behind that?

Again, this is really linking that idea of

creating community, and engaging them

with our ideals. But also just allowing an

area for people to get together and col-

laborate. There are plenty of places for

people to get together and complain, so

we wanted to make a place where people

can get together and talk about creating

progressive and positive social change.

inding down, what would you say

have been the highlights for Our World

Today in 2012? And how about 2013?

For me, knowing that the extended com-

munity have just visited our site once, and

engaged with the idea and brand.

We’ve had 70,000 individual visits to the

site, and engaged over 200 volunteers.

Then there are all our partners and mem-

bers, and on and on. It’s quite amazing .

We also produced a series called Fringe

TV last March/April to cover the Adelaide

Fringe festival. The end product really

was great and the feedback was awesome.

Looking forward to that again this year.

But you know what? The best thing by

far is the thanks we’ve received. Just those

little comments or emails where people

say thanks, or write to say we’ve inspired

them, or changed their outlook.

o close, what would you wish for in the

New Year, wearing your OWT hat?

We’re keen to launch our new ‘club’ /

community campaign, as well as expand

the coworking and networking events.

We hope to reach up to 10,000 unique

website views a day. Certainly we’re still

trying to find our exact niche in the online

media world, but we’re getting there, and

that’s proved by over 70,000 individuals

visiting the Our World Today website in

the last year and half.

I decided to take part

because I was looking for

experience in Journalism.

After my first interview with

one of the directors at OWT,

I had never been so sure

about something - I wanted

absolutely to be a part of it.

Since joining the team in

mid-January I’ve loved ev-

ery second of it. From writ-

ing articles to researching

and assigning stories for the

journalists, it has given me

valuable experience, and

direction in my own life.

When I first started, I wasn’t

expecting to write imme-

diately, but the first day I

was assigned a story and so

I went with it. OWT chal-

lenged me and not only

helped me grow in my cho-

sen profession, but as a per-

son. I learnt how to contact

people, write articles, inter-

view and, now, research and

pitch story ideas.

Each moment spent with

OWT I learn something new,

and I’m proud and lucky to

have been a part of it.

When I first heard about

OWT, their vision and ap-

proach is what lured me in.

The way the directors at

OWT spoke about it, I could

see their passion and knew

that if any team was likely to

create a new form of online

news, it would be the team

at Our World Today.

I have 100% faith in them,

their outlook, and where

they are heading. I can see

OWT creating a workplace

unlike any other. I can see

OWT in the future, and I be-

lieve the world needs an on-

line news organisation like

OWT. It fits perfectly.

I have met amazing, posi-

tive, happy people who love

volunteering their time for

OWT - and so do I.

To be inspired, and to surround yourself with a positive mental environment, visit www.ourworldtoday.com.au.