Sparty Secrets is a project devised by Wes Holing, Jonathan Oosting and Pat Murray, three journalism graduate students from Michigan State University. The mission of the site is to serve the university and the East Lansing community by providing users the ability to steer the content of the site. To a greater extent, the site puts a crack in the wall of the “gatekeeper” role that the media plays, deciding what people want to hear, see and read. Sparty Secrets puts the keys in the hands of its readers and viewers, allowing them to not only vote and comment on site content, but directly influence the future of its news by providing questions about their community and deciding on which stories they want to influence.

Plus it looks good on our resumes.

Want to know more? Read the frequently asked questions.

Former staffers:

Wes Holing is a second-year graduate student in Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. A Seattle native with an undergraduate degree in political science, he wants to apply his knowledge of politics and current affairs to a career in radio news. To that end, he’s currently serving as news director and DJ at The Impact, MSU’s student-run radio station. Wes serves as Sparty Secrets’ site creator and administrator, as well as one of its three reporters. Also, he is better than you at kickball. He can be reached by e-mail at holingwe@msu.edu.

Jonathan Oosting is also a masters student at MSU and employee of mlive.com. He worked as a new media intern at etruth.com and at the Lansing State Journal and is part of a Knight Grant project to develop online tools to assist interaction with and participation in community news. His workaholism leaves him little time to pursue his secondary passions: mopeds, minivans and karaoke. E-mail him at oostingj@msu.edu, call him at (616) 490-0900 or find him on Facebook.

Pat Murray is a masters student too. He’s worked several jobs on the production side of TV news - including a recent stint at Fox Chicago - but hopes to get time on camera in the near future. He’s a non-athletic fan of athletics and can probably pwn you in every video game you’ve never played. E-mail him at patlmurray@gmail.com.