It’s two weeks and counting until the official publication date for Beyond The Echo Chamber. As we count down the days, we’re releasing a series of blog posts and visualizations to be used as tools and conversation-generators for those invested in the future of journalism.

In 2005, we began to released a series of visualizations of the progressive and conservative media systems, first published in In These Times. The first pair mapped out the infrastructure, impact, and funding of the right wing media vs. (the lack thereof) on the progressive media side.

In 2006, we created an update of the progressive media map. During that 12-month period, the progressive media sector had already shifted significantly, reflecting an important phase in its ongoing dynamic evolution from top-down to networked communication.

The maps proved popular because they provided a single reference point for discussing and analyzing the growth of the progressive media sector, and efforts to build an “echo chamber” to rival that of the right. But, as we document in our forthcoming book, Beyond The Echo Chamber, the rising popularity of networked communication began to overtake and complicate the concept of constructing competing, top-down media structures.

Four years later, we are excited to release another series of visualizations, based on the “Four Layers of Networks” that we identify in the book. (Our shorthand for these is “awesome visuals” because that’s what people say when they see them—”Awesome!”) In Beyond The Echo Chamber, we describe how media outlets must strategically integrate these four layers into their planning to shape and distribute coverage for maximum impact. The layers are:

• Networked users
• Self-organized networks
• Institutional Networks
• Networks of Institutions

Over the next week we’ll be releasing a visual representation of each network layer [UPDATE: these are now all available on our Awesome Visuals page]
, along with its definition, characteristics, and related strategic questions. We hope that makers, outlets, and advocates will use these as helpful planning tools as you create and distribute content in this networked media environment. (And at the end, we’ll have a special bonus visual!)

So stay tuned, keep checking out beyondtheecho.net and follow us on Twitter at @tracyvs and @samizdata.