One of the most important “aha!” moments for many of the participants was that interesting unexpected tools exist both inside and outside the newspaper industry. The editors’ realization that they need to move faster was balanced by the realization that there are untapped resources available to them.
- Agile software development process: Used for creating new products in rapid cycles of iterations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development)
- Web shells: A page that stores data, resources, backgrounders and archives around an issue, story or area that the news organization is likely to cover for a while. (http://www.ojr.org/ojr/business/1030665107.php)
- Ajax: Programming that makes web pages more interactive while maintaining searchability. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX)
- Widgets: These have been used for a while on the web, but newspapers could start using them to place news content on community webpages and inviting bloggers and other to share data on the paper’s website. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_widget)
- TVJersey.com: YouTube video tagging for a virtual local content station (http://www.tvjersey.com/)
- Search engine optimization: Increase searchability of current and archived content using a variety of simple web standards.
- “Well-lit places” theory of site building: Add resources and information where people are already visiting and showing interest instead of areas the newsroom think might be interesting.
- The “five economic Ws” of news: A theory by economist James Hamilton that leads to the conclusions that newspapers cannot charge for news, and that public affairs journalism probably needs to be subsidized. (http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7604.html)
- Gannett’s Information Center: A way to gather and disseminate news and information across all platforms. (http://www.poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=11984)
- After Action Review (AAR): Originally developed by the U.S. Army, this process of evaluating projects and their outcomes could be useful for newspapers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Action_Review)
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