Posted: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:35 AM - 9,793 Readers

By: Christopher Calnan

An Austin technology company is testing the waters of local journalism in the digital age.

On June 22, Trilogy Enterprises Inc. is planning to launch an alpha version of the Austin Post, a news Web site that will initially feature content from local bloggers. But if the Web site becomes popular enough to generate revenue, it could eventually hire conventional reporters and begin breaking news in the style of traditional newspapers, Trilogy President Scott Brighton said.

The Austin Post will be part of the Trilogy Employee Foundation, the company’s non-profit arm, he said.

In September, the company plans to complete its testing period and launch its beta version of the Web site that will enlist nearly 100 local bloggers to provide the content while Trilogy figures out a revenue model — something the entire newspaper industry has been trying to do, Brighton said.

“We have no illusions,” he said. “It’s not a great business. Our focus right now is not to get advertisers but to get the Web site right.”

The Austin Post currently employs a staff of 10, Brighton said.

The Web site will be Austin centric and cover local topics such as city politics, technology, Lake Travis and cycling. The Austin Post has enlisted 20 local bloggers and is contacting 80 more, Editor in Chief Lyssa Myska Allen said.

“We have a young, smart population,” she said. “People really identify with Austin as a city, which in turn makes them want to talk about it, which leads to blogging.”

Matt Glazer, editor in chief of the BurntOrangeReport.com, a 6-year-old blog that focuses on Texas politics, has signed on to contribute to the Web site. The future of Trilogy’s new venture will depend on how interested local readers will be replacing of dwindling number of traditional newspaper reporters, he said.

“There’s a gap and it needs to be filled,” Glazer said.

Trilogy, which started as an enterprise software company in 1989, develops software and provides Internet services.

Trilogy first considered the idea when the Austin American-Statesman went up for sale last year. Although a deal for the newspaper never gathered any steam, the online news concept caught hold with company officials who consider the venture an experiment worth trying, regardless of the monetary payoff, Brighton said.

“We’re doing it because we’re passionate, not because we’ve figured out a way to make money at it,” he said. “We think the non-profit (status) reflects the reality of it.”