Yahoo's 'Down But Not Out' unemployment project

File this under pretty compelling reading.

I had not heard of this till a pointer from Cyberjournalist today, but I'm really intrigued by Yahoo's "Down But Not Out" project to crowdsource the long-term unemployment morass many Americans have found themselves in.

The tricked-out Tumblr blog contains emails from those without jobs. It's pretty compelling -- and at times scary -- reading. The idea could - and probably should - be adapted by local newsrooms. You could build a pretty interesting picture of what is happening around you. (And did we mention the engagement - Yahoo says the average time on site was eight minutes.)

The Yahoo folks explained to the Online News Association what they did to put this together.