The Detroit Documenters network trains and pays residents to attend public meetings and monitor elected officials, in collaboration with journalists. Hundreds of Documenters are active in the network, bringing more transparency to government through their meeting notes, live coverage and civic participation.
A J Johnson heard about Detroit Documenters when she was working as an administrative assistant in the office of City Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero. Outlier Media reporter Malak Silmi had called to schedule an interview with the councilmember and mentioned Documenters. A J thought it was interesting that a small group of folks were covering meetings she already attended, so she became a Documenter in September 2022.
Born and raised in Detroit, A J said she’s a longtime public advocate who started doing community work when she moved to the Hubbard Richard neighborhood in the late 1990s. The first summer she lived there, a canvasser knocked on her door. Although she’s since forgotten what they were trying to find out, she volunteered to help right away. By fall 2000, A J was sitting on various neighborhood councils and committees, spending the year “just listening, trying to understand the dynamics between the city and the community.”
She started taking on leadership roles in community organizations, teaching grassroots and community organizing skills she and her colleagues learned on the job. A J is “all about the policy . ” Over the years, she has taken on various analyst positions within both local and federal government, as she worked in public policy in Washington, D.C., from 2009-2017.
Working as a Documenter complemented A J’s previous training and talent for research, combing through obscure documents for information. She’s covered more than 30 assignments as a Detroit Documenter, including juvenile court hearings , which may be her favorite type of assignment due to that system’s lack of transparency.
“It just seems like we need to be there,” she said.
A J was surprised to find that being a Documenter rekindled a previous interest in journalism, which she studied briefly in college. She’s taken advantage of opportunities to develop her writing through relationships with media partners who offer feedback on notes. Earlier this year, A J was accepted into Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab , allowing her to report on a woman at her local recreation center who crochets blankets out of plastic bags .
A J has marveled as the entire Documenters Network grew exponentially in the past year. She hopes that “major news organizations tap in to the folks who are there on the ground, going to these meetings and gathering the facts and figures.”
However, she also believes Documenters can move beyond what some might say is clerical work to encourage the public — even more — to participate civic processes and talk to their policymakers.
“I want the information that we gather to be used to bring about positive change.”
Scroll down to learn more about A J. Then register for the next Detroit Documenters Orientation on Aug. 1. Get trained and paid to take notes at local public meetings — and more! Register now .
Name: A J Johnson
Location: Detroit
What I do: All things information: access, collection, dissemination, laws, metadata, research, privacy, regulations, security, technologies and transparency
What I love about it: Working with diverse people to solve problems
One thing I want to get from the Documenters community: Learning how to challenge authority can be rewarding and informative knowing what kind of (or how many) reliable and valid sources of information exist that can help us all arrive at informed decision-making
One thing I can give to the Documenters community: Curiosity and application are my key knowledge traits. I have been involved in information technologies for many years, but I am learning something new every day.
What TV show would you choose to live in? The “Star Trek” universe. (Yes, I’m one of them.) Who wouldn’t want to go explore space, the final frontier? While I have never been to a convention, that is most definitely next in the lineup. It’s a place where (supposedly) policy, language, race, gender and culture mesh to form lasting connections that span galaxies.
Meet A J Johnson, this month’s featured Documenter · Outlier Media
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