Pottstown will be host of what could be a big part of the future of journalism: a Community Media Lab.

The Mercury will hold a grand opening Friday for the Community Media Lab, a first for Pennsylvania and one of the first-of-its-kind facilities in the entire nation.

The Community Media Lab is a state-of-the-art open newsroom project of Digital First Media, a pioneering communications company. 

The public is invited to attend the grand opening between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at The Mercury, which is located at the intersection of Hanover and King streets in Pottstown. 

From a Mercury article announcing the event:

The new lab is one of 10 “open door” community projects announced earlier this year by Digital First Media, which manages Journal Register Co., The Mercury’s parent company.

It will offer public access to newspaper archives, free Wi-Fi and use of computers in a coffeehouse atmosphere.

In the future, wall space in the lab will be available for student art displays, community group forums, political debates and workshops on blogging, writing resumés, job searches and producing videos, said Mercury editor Nancy March.

“The Community Media Lab is an extension of an initiative we started two years ago with our Town Square blogging network, and with this joint opening, it now involves downtown business,” she said.

The Mercury’s Community Media Lab opens on Friday