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."