March 05, 2008
Group #6’s presentation from David Mastio, Lois Kazakoff, Tyson Wheatley and Gina Acosta.
Their strategies included:
1. Require registration for user comments to serve reader interests and the agenda of the newspaper. One paper currently doing this is USA Today’s website. On USA Today they actually take pull quotes from user comments and put them up at the banner of the page. I think this means the paper wants to show their readers they care about their user comments, and they even have user profiles. This is borderline “MySpace-y,” but if it is managed well, I think it could work. The biggest idea behind user comments is to create discussions and then nourish them along. This will require a lot of staff time at first, and I think this is something the editors need to be aware of.
2.Utilize Widgets on website. These tiny windows of information are portable and can be taken from the newspaper and placed on people’s own blogs or websites and passed around.
3. Geo-tagging. This concept was discussed on Monday, and although the concept seems very complicated, it can be very useful. You really just need to have stories tagged to specific places and geographical coordinates. A good way to see where you should have geo-tags is to see where the majority of your users are from and then have stories tagged to that location. This is another good way to utilize user comments and incorporate their content and voice onto your page. The real point behind this is to let people use the computer to virtually visit a location and then join a discussion.
I am happy to see some mid-size dailies taking a part in the discussion of improved online content. What I think they need to remember is that just because their papers may have a local focus, that does not mean they need to have sub-par interactive capabilities. Local focus news is very conducive to these types of tools because communities really care about “their” paper and its content.
By Susan Grant, 03/05/08 at 9:11 am
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March 05, 2008
Michael Williams starts out the last day of the conference with an overview of what makes a successful news website.
As the world of newspapers continue to change and evolve into a paperless era, the role of advertising in online content will also need to change. In online advertising, keeping a person on a page for a certain amount of time equals success, but this is difficult in the ADD-personality of online web surfing. So this means it is up to the editors and reporters to come up with user-friendly and interactive websites that make readers want to stick around, not just click and leave. Learning more about this process is what this conference is about, and now each of the editor teams will present their projects and I am interested to see what new ideas will come forward. I am a future employer (hopefully!) of the people in this room, and there ability to think outside of the box will help ensure my future in the business. I don’t want to see newspapers fold, I don’t think anyone does, but it is time to let go of the notion that things can stay the way they have been for the last 100 years.
By Susan Grant, 03/05/08 at 9:05 am
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March 04, 2008
Divulging plans for change and how to get support
Facilitated by Michael Williams and Vikki Porter
We need to give ourselves time to be flexible, said Michael Williams. “Change is an interesting game in that there are so many dynamics at play when you talk about change,” he said. “Sometimes you forget to consider what is really going on,” he said. “You get so motivated by the end result.”
Dynamics of change:
1. Disrupts people’s habits. People feel awkward and self-conscious.
2. People almost always focus initially on what they have to give up to accomplish change.
3. People feel alone even if everyone else is going through the same thing.
4. People can only handle so much change. But remember, said Williams, this business has been changing rapidly, unpredictably and uncomfortably for decades.
5. People are at different levels of readiness for change.
6. People will be concerned that they don’t have enough resources.
7. People perceive that change takes time and effort, even if it has the long-term effect of reducing workload.
10 Reasons There’s a Bright Future for Journalism by Mark Glaser
1. More access to more journalism worldwide
a. The Internet gives us access to content from newspapers, TV channels, blogs and podcasts from around the world. No longer are we limited to our local media for news of the world. Now we can go directly to that corner of the world to get a local angle from far away.
2. Personalization satisfies readers.
a. Whether through Google News or personalizing My Yahoo or an RSS newsfeed reader, we can get quick access to the media outlets and journalism we want on one web page.
3. Digital delivery offers more ways to reach people.
4. There are more fact-checkers than ever in the history of journalism.
5. Collaboration between pro and amateur journalists.
6. More voices are part of the news conversation.
7. Greater transparency and a more personal tone.
a. Thanks to blogs and the web
8. Growing advertising revenues online.
a. Some complain that online ads aren’t bringing in enough revenues. Almost every forecast for online advertising shows double-digit percentage increases in revenues over the next five years.
9. An online shift from print could improve our environmental impact.
10. Stories never end.
a. Online, stories can live on for much longer in flexible formats, allowing people to update them in comments or add more facts as they happen.
THE ACID TEST: Before you use that chart, map, graphic, blog or link, ask yourself the following questions.
Does it ADD information or does it simply repeat information? We have a finite amount of time and space to produce things. If it doesn’t add to the information, question whether it is worth the effort.
Does it CLARIFY points you are trying to make? Does it help reader understand what your points are?
Is it INTERACTIVE?
Does it add to the overall package DESIGN? Don’t clutter your presentation with charts, maps, images, etc. It DIMINISHES the impact if your presentation is too busy.
Which TECHNIQUE or TECHNOLOGY is most appropriate for the kind of information you have (chart, clog, twitter link, link period)?
How ELABORATE or fancy does it need to be? Sometimes we get too fancy when we don’t need to. Simple is always better.
Is this story so SIGNIFICANT that it needs extra stuff added to it?
How much TIME is needed to produce it?
Potential resources:
The Webby Awards
The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The Academy, a 550-member body, includes leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities. The 11th Annual Webby Awards received over 8,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states.
J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism
J-Lab is about citizen journalism—the notion that just about anybody can be a journalist. J-Lab helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies as a way to connect and interact.
Check out the following links on J-Lab:
-Cool Stuff
-Knight Batten Awards: Awards for innovations in journalism
A list of things that people will take away from this conference:
Twitter
Geo coding (tag)
Linking
RSS
Keywords
Chunks (recognizing that readers read in small chunks)
Tags
Subject Tags
Text messaging
Voice/tone
Reverse publishing (putting things online first & then printing on paper)
“Oops” Widget in every story that allows people to report inaccuracies
Games
Ways to hand out expensive devices
Access
Better marketing
Transparency
Training
Scenario Planning
Rewards/perks
Word of mouth (giving users toolbar that would allow them to dig your story)
Moderating Comments (rethinking how to do it)
Image
Approachable
Reach to rebate
Content (blogs)
KMZ/file
The Wall
Mobile video commentary
Instant editorial
Multiple media
Editorial/blog
Video café connection
Issue of one to many versus many to many
Search engine optimization:
The value of headline writing is absolutely true, but what’s even more critical are key words - and more specifically - the key word phrases that you use in significant places in your copy.
Headlines are an important place to make sure key word phrases are in place.
By Danielle Coviello, 03/04/08 at 3:08 pm
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March 03, 2008
The Future of Newspapers, Scenario Planning
-Understanding the options to be considered when implementing change
Lawrence Wilkinson, Chairman of Heminge & Condell
Scenario Planning: a way of thinking about the future
Look back into the past…
Map of North America where California looks like an island.
- Spanish missionaries used this map as a tool
Journalists make connections that aren’t actually founded in evidence and experience all the time. “We wouldn’t be sitting where we are,” said Wilkinson, “if these connections - little leaps - weren’t right.”
Once you have a map and it’s coherent, even if it’s wrong and leads you in the wrong direction, the human capacity - the institutional capacity—that we’ve got “to deny error” is extraordinary.
If journalists have a map and it’s wrong, we are liable to make some mistakes that would be much better not to make.
Business plans start going wrong the second they are executed. The second we pull the trigger what happens is the “real unfolding of real forces in real time.” Instead of fulfilling our intended strategy, organizations find themselves following the emergent strategy.
Scenario planning: is a way of trying to narrow the gap between intended strategy and emergent strategy
Three elements of strategy:
1. Who we are: competences - strengthens and weaknesses
2. Who we want to be: strategic intent
3. Where we have to work scenarios: the business environment
**Scenario Planning is entirely about the environment.
Scenario Planning is all about the business environment. It starts with a contemplation of all the hard environmental factors that can have an important impact on the questions your organization is facing.
Environmental forces (little or no influence): social, technological, economic, environmental, political
Key feature (some influences): market size, growth, volatility, customers, competition, suppliers, owners, communities and partners
Forecasting aims to allow for the unexpected
Scenario thinking: anticipates multiple futures
Forecast Planning: planning for one future versus scenario planning: planning for any future
Scenarios are:
-Stories built around a methodically constructed plot
-A tool for identifying strategic options
A good set of scenarios are:
-Plausible stories
-Relevant to the question at hand
-Divergent from one another
-Challenging to our assumptions about how the future will play out
Questions:
-Investments in capacity
-Investments in innovation, technology
-Alliances, acquisitions, mergers
-Diversification into other activities
-Marketing focus
All Media are Local: We might see…
-Local - and hyper-local—alternatives rule
-Consumers use tools to create customized services
-Erosion of traditional network TV audiences; local TV, not so much…
A3: We might see:
-Standardization of technology platforms: ease of use and widespread adoption
-Media brands are difficult to maintain—a multitude of unfiltered choices face every consumer
-Consumers self-segregate according to affinity
-Geographic sensibilities more important than actual geographic location (e.g. The New Yorker way of life, Asian Values)
Walled Garden: We might see…
-Media industry consolidation
-Widespread technology and media fatigue
-Preference for narrow brands of information and entertainment
-“Walled-Garden”: big brands dominate the media with tight IP and right management
-Local needs “satisfied”
Déjà vu Again: We might see…
-Technological innovation slowed by operating issues and access to capital
-Local defining, but extreme consolidation - fewer local media owners - more conglomerates
-Local news more tabloid style (in multimedia)
-Trust in sources important - but hard to achieve
Implications:
No-Brainers
No-Regrets
No-Gainers
By Danielle Coviello, 03/03/08 at 5:58 pm
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