The Madison Commons was founded in 2006 to provide news and information from all of Madison's neighborhoods. The name comes from the idea of a village commons, a place for news, talk, debate, and some entertainment, too, that's open to everyone. It was a collaboration between Madison citizens from every part of the city, as well as faculty and graduate students at the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication led by Professor Lew Friedland. We are focused on areas that people have told us are important to our community but not covered in enough depth, including education, local food, and transportation, Some of our stories come from graduate and undergraduate student reporters and editors. Others come from citizen reporters or local bloggers.