BLOGS KEEP COMMUNITY BUZZ GOING NEWS, GOSSIP ON THE WEB.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS 

Staff writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Even in this community, featured repeatedly in films and television shows for its quaint suburban attributes, the days of chatting over neighbors' white picket fences are nearly extinct.

But several residents have decided to bring back some of that neighborly conversation -- this time over the digital highway.

Using blogs or online journals as their medium, a growing number of residents are discussing everything from the best local restaurants to the nitty-gritty details of local legislation.

The tech trend has resonated in Santa Clarita and other suburban communities across the Southland, where the Internet sites have become viable sources of news links and information for neighborhoods.

And they are multiplying quickly, adding more voices to the media landscape that already covers the news in Santa Clarita. Some blogs -- covering everything from community guides and rants to space and pets -- are even catching the attention of community residents, local political figures and their media teams.

"We are evolving into a more technology-based society," said local blogger Barbara Boser, who started www.scvlife.net last year. "Blogging just gives you another way to stay in touch."

Boser, a Canyon Country resident, got interested in blogging while moonlighting at her husband's Internet business. For this mother of 15- and 13-year-olds, the pastime quickly became a full-time hobby.

Boser said she aspires to keep her site "friendly" and "light." "I don't want anyone leaving mean comments on my site," she said.

The only requirement for Boser's contributors is that they be Santa Clarita residents who write with a local focus.

"We have a lot of people who are passionate about what's going on in Santa Clarita. I want them to have a place to write about the community."

It's tough to define a blog, said Robert Niles, editor of the University of Southern California's Annenberg Online Journalism Review.

"If you ask 100 people you'll get 98 different answers," Niles said. "The only true defining characteristic of a blog is that it comes from the contraction of Web log, a linear and chronological written journal done on the Web."

But in a not-so-neighborly fashion, feuds also have emerged between competitive blogs hoping to claim this territory as their own.

The Foothill Cities blog, which covers local government in the Inland and San Gabriel valleys, found itself in a battle against the city of Pomona a few months ago.

The city challenged the site for a series of stories it published about the resignation of a local official and issued cease-and-desist orders to the site.

The feud fueled debate over the role of blogs in the news and information community. Niles said he believes news is not defined by its medium, but by its purpose.

"If it is done truthfully, accurately and it's reasonably complete, then it can be news," he said.

What will set some bloggers apart, Niles said, is their dedication -- work they do without pay.

Usually that drive comes from a desire to simply get more local news.

Kevin Roderick is the editor and creator of LAObserved.com, a popular urban media news blog that gets about 3,500 hits a day.

Roderick, who follows blog-related news closely, said people in suburban communities have an insatiable hunger for what he calls "hyper-community news.

"These sites will break things apart to a level of granularity that you don't see from local media anymore," Roderick said.

Roderick, who has had his blog for four years, says it took him a long time to convince officials at City Hall and the state Capitol that his blog was a source of news.

In Santa Clarita, local city officials have begun to catch on to the area's own blogging trend.

Gail Ortiz, Santa Clarita's spokeswoman, said she reads about six local blogs every day.

"From where I sit it is a good way to gauge the pulse of the issues in the community," Ortiz said.

Ortiz said she regularly feeds local blogs the same press releases she doles out to more mainstream media organizations such as newspapers and television stations.

But she admits that she doesn't view the online sites as news sites.

"I see blogs mostly as opinion," she said. "It's like the new water cooler conversation."

Political figures seem to share that perspective. Santa Clarita Mayor Marsha McLean said she'll only check a blog if someone tells her a certain item is worth checking.

"I read three newspapers, but (blogs) are not something I check every day," McLean admitted.

Local bloggers, however, say they are determined to be viewed as legitimate news sources.

Jeff Wilson started his site, www.scvtalk.com, about 18 months ago. Wilson posts a "daily brief" -- a handpicked selection of local newspaper and other published stories -- every day and he'll occasionally do his own reporting.

It takes Wilson at least 20 hours a week -- all unpaid -- but he says he doesn't mind.

"If I could become a full-time blogger in a year or two I would consider myself successful. But for now I am just feeding off the people who find the forum useful," Wilson said.

"To have people discussing things on my site drives me."

Wilson said his site gets about 300 hits a day -- 10 times more than when it was launched -- but the popularity has come at a price.

Recently, Wilson found himself feuding with another local site on Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that can be edited by site visitors.

The battle was over how each of the local blogs defined itself as a source of information in Santa Clarita. Last month, another regional blog took a competing site to court after the blog owner said the new site stole his blog brand by using a nearly identical-looking page.

"As more blogs come onto the scene, it is getting more difficult," Wilson said.

Still for Boser, who gets up every morning to read at least three newspapers and a few blogs before starting her day, the local blog scene in Santa Clarita is about creating a community.

She has recently added several sections to the site including a list of local support groups and a column written by a youth sports coach.

Local real estate agent Amy Atkins is the newest contributor to Boser's site. Atkins said she enjoys blogging about topics including local financial buzz and pet news.

But she said her biggest pleasure comes from knowing others in the virtual world will learn more about her community.

"This is the biggest little town anywhere," Atkins said. "I just want to keep the closeness of our community and let people know what's going on."

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