Andrew Huff on Gapers Block and Freelance Blogging
April 4, 2010
From a “labor of love” to a well-established website, Gapers Block points viewers to the happenings in Chicago.
Gaper’s Block is a website dedicated to hyper-local Chicago news. Gapers Block’s co-founder, Andrew Huff, said he likes the term “gapers block” because it’s “an inside thing for Chicagoans,” a Chicago term meaning rubbernecking. When something interesting happens, people tend to slow down to stare, open-mouthed. This creates a traffic clog, and hence, a gapers block.
Huff spoke to Chicago journalism students at DePaul University on Wednesday, telling them about his personal journey and the life of a blogger.
Huff started Gapers Block in 2003, when he and his Gapers Block partner identified a need for a single place to find out about neat things around the city. He said there were a lot of great projects on the web, but to find them, viewers had to jump from blog to blog.
Huff described Gapers Block’s humble beginnings as a “labor of love,” as volunteer bloggers helped create the three-column page. Gapers Block has since grown up, and now benefits from the words of about 80 staff members.
Huff received his B.A. in journalism from Ohio University, and after graduation ended up in public relations work. Soon after, he started his “pro-blogging” career, and was eventually able to quit public relations and write full time.
“I try to write at least once a day,” said Huff.
Huff tells students about freelance blogging. Photo by Mike Reilley.
Besides Gapers Block, Huff has a page-a-day blog, 1954, which received attention from the Tribune in February. Huff also has a blog that he has kept since 2001, called Me3dia.
Huff borrowed some blogging advice from blogger and journalism professor Jeff Jarvis (buzzmachine), who said, “write what you know, link to the rest.” Huff said that through Gapers Block, “we can help you find the things we think you ought to read.”
In November 2009, Gapers Block was given a $35,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust to fund original local reporting. Gapers Block was one of 12 organizations to receive this grant, in addition to Windy Citizen.
