Back when we were working on our blogging criticism issue, I noted that the online world of Chicago was still a wide-open field. Not only were there only a few sites in each discipline that were writing what is traditionally known as criticism, but there was still plenty of room for someone to come in and cover the stories everyone else was missing.

Since then, Windy Citizen has launched and started filling in some of the gaps of local coverage, Urban Daddy and Thrillist have started swinging their man-about-town weight around, the boys of the Curbed network have been trying to get a foothold here, and even the Chicago Tribune has started storming the gates of every social networking site with an RSS feed, in part to get a better sense of what its online audience is thinking.

This week, the Chicago branch of The Huffington Post (which I’m calling ChuffPo until someone comes up with a better nickname) and The Onion’s Decider site launched. Like its parent site, ChuffPo is a collection of notable links and stories on other sites, and blog posts from some familiar Chicago voices, like Esther Cepeda, Ina Pinkney and Tom Dart and a handful of bold names that are likely meant to be recognizable to people on the coasts. Decider’s a mainly event-driven site (not that there’s anything wrong with that. Ahem…) that’s still largely in beta, but its calendaring feature is already making me drool a bit.

No one can deny that there’s so much going on in Chicago at any given time that it takes many people to cover it all, with a multitude of voices for a number of sensibilities. If you want high-end or low-end, Broadway or storefront, club beats or baby bands, there’s a site or publication for you out there. But the challenge for all of us who do this is: How do you help people who live in Chicago uncover more about Chicago? To paraphrase this magazine’s tagline, with all the sites and magazines at your disposal, if you’re bored, it really is your fault. But if you’re underinformed, well, that’s ours.

Earlier this week, I was speaking with Jim DeRogatis, the Sun-Times’ pop music critic, and we were lamenting the news hole that forms around music and entertainment events. So many resources are needed to cover the bands, or the food, or the personalities, that the stories behind them – or God forbid anything that qualifies as actual news – often fall through the cracks.

For a while now, Chicago’s entertainment press has been at risk of becoming a kind of echo chamber, wherein we all end up repeating the same names and ital information. (Seriously, how many more times do I need to read about Kanye West opening a Fatburger here?) But we don’t all need to be reporting or commenting on the five best things to do that day (Again: ahem). Better we report on the sixth best thing or the thing that didn’t happen at all. This goes double for the harder forms of news.

It’s fairly easy to get a big picture view of Chicago, but the farther away you get from it, the more you’re going to miss. And it takes more than a well-fed RSS feed and some old friends looking for a little exposure. It takes well-worn walking shoes, a desire to be at an event that equals a desire to write about it, and a willingness to ask the follow-up questions, even as you’re not getting much of a follow-up answer. Don’t worry: I know I’m pointing a finger, but I’m staring in a mirror as I do it.   

Anyway, that field still appears to be wide open. I’m looking forward to seeing how it gets filled up.