Not a day goes by where Register Entertainment Editor Jordan Fenster and I don't fiendishly concoct outlandish ideas to explore and experiment with. But this is the one that I've wanted to explore the most for a very, very long time.

Tomorrow, The New Haven Register will play host to a live, intimate set by local indie rock vets M.T. Bearington at 6 p.m. Some fans will be in attendance to see the event for themselves (details on how to get a free invite here) while others can watch the set live and for free online (or afterwards too -- the whole set will be recorded).

Please note however, the credit of this project is not mine. I just thought it would be cool. Jordan and our Community Media Lab partner CT Indie are the ones responsible for bringing this to life. We're planning for the set to go for about 45 minutes, starting at 6 p.m.

Of course, our pride in this concept does not mean it's worth doing over and over again. No bands want to perform in the middle of a forest where no one will hear them. (Except maybe that falling tree that nobody hears?) If we're going to bring bands in to play music and capture it as video content -- we need to do it because readers out there want it. So I'll report here on my blog next week the successes (and non-successes) we find from our first session.

If this is the kind of thing you want to see more of from the New Haven Register, there are three things you need to do.

1. Watch it live Wednesday evening at 6 pm right here
2. Tell a friend.
3. Tell another friend, and tell them to tell a friend.

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It's been one year since Journal Register Company (New Haven Register's parent company) launched a partnership with SeeClickFix. Since then, there has been one itty bitty thing that's really nagged me about it. It's an excellent community tool that is under-utilized by most communities. At least in terms of what it is capable of.

But maybe that's our fault -- the local news organizations. It sits on many websites now (like the Register) as a widget, but that's not enough. News organizations have the same responsibility to it that residents do -- it's only useful to the community if we actually use it. Knowing it exists does nothing.
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What is it, exactly? Per Wikipedia:

SeeClickFix is a web tool that allows citizens to report non-emergency neighborhood issues, which are communicated to local government, as a form of community activism.

It creates a hard line between real people who want to get things done and the people who are responsible for getting those things done. It's an accountability machine. And when that hardline can't be established, a news organization can step in to help forge that hard line (with a headline).

And so, that's what the Journal Register Company ideaLab project I've been working on is: Experimenting with ways to Increase SeeClickFix user engagement, and users, by integrating SeeClickFix into the news flow. And by demonstrating it in a way that any newsroom in the world can replicate.

Granted, the Register newsroom is already ahead of the ball in terms of using SeeClickFix to generate stories, with or without me. What I'm doing is measuring what that work is worth, and helping steer the reporters and editors to better (and best) practices and helping them incorporate it into their workflow, so that it's not 'another thing they have to worry about or make time for'.

How do I mean to do that? Well like I said - it's not a website. It's a tool, and a social media platform. I'm going to demonstrate how reporters can use it, how editors can use it.. but most importantly, how the community can use their local newspaper to get even more effective use out of SeeClickFix.

That's not to say The Register doesn't already use it, or that other community news organizations across Journal Register Company and around the world haven't used it beyond it's widget. So let's start with that.

Send me your links to the best uses you've seen of SeeClickFix from news organizations. Leave 'em in the comments or email to me at cmarch@newhavenregister.com. My next post on Monday will be a list to some of the best ways it's already been used.

The New Haven Register has written about many events that required people to find parking if they wanted to go. What news or media organization hasn't?

But with this story on New Haven's St. Patrick's Day Parade, we're showing readers where they can park on a Google map that can generate them directions as well as parking cost, if they want to get that detailed. And folks are going to need it, because the Parade is considered the biggest annual spectator draw in the state of Connecticut.

Entertainment Editor Jordan Fenster made this map simply by :

1. going to http://en.parkopedia.com
2. Typing "New Haven, CT" in the search bar.
3. Clicking the paperclip icon for an embed code.
4. Changing the width in the embed generator from '700' to '635'
5. Copying and pasting that code into his online version of the story.
6. yeah, it was that easy.

Of course, Parkopedia's database is not as up to par in some locations as it can be, but it's one of those informational tools that has great potential and can be a great resource for your online readers.

All credit on use of Parkopedia goes to Jordan Fenster, so if you have any questions about how we used it here, email him at jfenster@newhavenregister.com

SIDE NOTE: Not to be confused with Parkipedia, a South Park info wiki.

In writing, 'showing' always trumps 'telling.'

Whether we're talking factless works of fiction or Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, a writer needs to illustrate the story. And in this digital age of multi-channel storytelling, it's important for every online news organization to show their stories in as many ways as possible. This is at the heart of my love affair with Google Maps. Especially when we're talking about local journalism. People like to see where the news around them is happening. It's also great for filling out space on breaking news stories that may not have much more information than a location yet available.

In about a minute (seriously, it's not that difficult), you can add an interactive map to any online story and show your "where." Google an address, grab the embed code, paste it into your web-publisher, voila.

We've been taking advantage of this at NewHavenRegister.com quite a bit recently. Every time I catch a story that has a location I can pinpoint on a map, I add it to the story. That is of course, if it makes sense to show the location. For example, if you are working on a story about a man who was arrested for stealing a vanilla ice cream cone from a kid - you want to show where this crime occurred on a map. But if the only "where" info you have is the man's address -- as some blotter stories do -- there is often little reason to map that. Don't map just to map. Map information that has context in the story you're telling.

Here are some examples of how I've used it:

• Bridgeport man charged in deodorant heist
• Two people shot at New Haven Dunkin Donuts
• Clerk injured in Hamden armed robbery
• Hamden cops describe cops suspect in Walmart robbery 

And here is more advanced use with multiple locations and areas:

• New Haven cops seek public's help in finding alleged child beating suspect
• Serial rapist sought in New Haven 
• FBI launches digital billboard campaign to capture 'East Coast' rapist

How do you make and embed your own Google Map? Let's walk through it step by step:

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