While working on a book about Liberia, one journalist discovered a way to connect Liberian communities online–turning her print project into a full-time multimedia vocation.

Today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu was Ruthie Ackerman, founder of the hyperlocal website, Ceasefire Liberia. Through a variety of multimedia projects, Ackerman’s site connects Liberian immigrants with Liberian communities in Africa–using social media to share news, poems, essays, and pictures between separated communities. The writer shared advice about building hyperlocal sites with other communities.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview: “I started writing a book about Liberia…I had gone there to see what was going on with youth there, especially the ones that had went through the war there. I had heard they were slipping through the cracks … Then I realized that one of the biggest Liberian communities was right here in New York City–which is where I live–on Staten Island.”