In praise of Digital Editors

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Sitting on a goldmine? (picture from Flickr)

I’m in sunny London tomorrow to sit on a panel talking digital with digital editors from Trinity mirror newspapers. So I’ve been giving some thought to the lot of a digital editor.

You could see the digital editor as the interface between the newsroom and your digital audience. You’d be right. But do that wrong and there is a danger that they are your only interface – the rest of the newsroom ‘hide’ behind them.

There is also a danger that a digital editor becomes a digital production sub. They are the ones that make the content that’s produced in the newsroom ‘web friendly’. They are the ones that find the links, pictures and (more often than not) add the tags to journalists content that not only make stuff SEO friendly (along with those headlines they re-write) but also ensure that all the related stuff hidden in the archives is magically made visible.

There is also an expectation that your digital editor would be the one trying out all the new stuff – video, data and all of that kind of thing. Making it happen.

On top of that they’ll be ‘managing community’; keeping the readers comments under control and posting to Facebook.

Whatever their lot, there’s a lot of it!

The nice thing is that (most) newsroooms are more enlightened places. They don’t sideline the digital editor to simply be the web monkey who sits in the corner (right?). The input of journalists, who can see the value to their own journalistic identity, is the norm rather than the exception (right?). Which got me thinking a little.

The outward facing nature of a digital in newsrooms is vital. No doubt about that. Reaching out to community and offering ways in to the newsroom and news process is really important. All those things like crowdsourcing etc (the stuff that relies on that shifting relationship) is empowered and powered by them. Digital editors are frontline staff. But what about the other direction?

In this ‘digital first’ world, especially in organisations where end-to-end production systems are making all content digital, the digital editor may be sitting on the most complete map of expertise and interests in your newsroom outside your editors head. Archived, tagged ready to go.

When we crowdsource, we make an effort to find the interested and informed parties in our audience and get them to work with the newsroom. But what about the interested and informed in the newsroom? Aren’t they a crowd worth pulling together as well?

A newsrooms, especially newspaper newsrooms, have a (long) collected history and knowledge built on the individuals who work there. Maybe in the rush to push things out and engage on multiple platforms, we miss what’s right in front of us.

Maybe this thinking harks back to the days of librarians – the human databases that could connect your story to an article 20 years ago. I’m not suggesting that digital editors are librarians but maybe, in a world where digital is the thing that ties newsrooms together, they are sitting on all the data that gives places the material you put out there in context.

So perhaps it isn’t just about finding out about what your audience is clicking. Maybe your digital ed could also be telling you what your journalists are writing about? When and how often?

Ivory tower dispatch: A tale of two websites

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Across a number of classes this week, two websites have stood out.

To start the week I had this from China Daily.com

Worst headline of the week!

Shoddy! Which thesaurus did they drag that one up from!

This was paydirt for me as I talked to the class (a group of chinese students) about writing headlines, seo. Something that “Shoddy railway project closed down” fails at in every measure.

Worse still the story is really good:

The 74.1-kilometer railway project [Jingyu-Songjianghe Railway project in Changchun], with a total investment of 2.3 billion yuan ($360 million), was recently found to have illegally contracted a fake company and a couple of laymen who barely know anything of building bridges.

Two blokes stroll up and blag $360 million! Come on!

The week ended with a lot of talk about video and a chance for me to roll out my favourite example of the use of online video

Visceral video at its best

It’s an old story but for me it perfectly illustrates the way that video can enhance a story.  This is clip video at its finest – the text tells the story and the video shows you the visceral experience. It enhances the story and works with the text in a combination of media that’s unique to the web.

When I play this in a class I know that one minute in I will get a reaction, a big ooooh that underlines what video is great at. Watch and see what I mean.

Don’t charge for the magazine charge for the ink!

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“Our work with Condé Nast creates a new channel for customers to access the content they want from some of their favorite publications,” said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Inkjet and Web Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “And, when coupled with our scheduled delivery service, allows customers to get the content they want, whenever they want it.”

Cool. What’s the story then HP? Digital paper? A new flexible tablet? A competitor to Newstand? No, that would be silly woudnt it? No. They have something a litle dafter to offer.

The big idea is not to charge people for the magazine content but charge them for the ink!

Meranda Watling over at 10,000 words highlighted HP’s plans for  a new subscription service that will deliver in cartridges to you every month, bundled in with that will be a reason to use the ink  – a subscription to magazines you can print out.

“This project is one of the many ways Condé Nast is using emerging technology to engage consumers,” said Julie Michalowski, senior vice president, Consumer Business Development, Condé Nast. “With this new HP pilot program, consumers will be able to have their favorite Condé Nast content at their fingertips.”

Yes, their ink-stained fingertips.

You could interprit this as a media organisation trying new things (and kudos to that) but, to me,  this is more like a technology company buying in to the worst of media models. This is HP turning in to one of those companies that sells you stuff on the back pages of magazines or those multi-part ‘build a model of the titanic’ things;  ‘Just 200 easy payments and you could have this beutiful copy of last Decembers vougue !’

In some ways this is no skin of Conde Nasts nose. If they already have digital editions, bundling them with, well, anything, is just an easy option. But for HP this sounds depsperate.

Ivory tower dispatch: RSS is like twitter.

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Like others in J-school I’m getting to know new classes, spending a bit of time talking about the ‘gathering’ part of journalism and how digital tools can help. So yesterday I bullied my class of postgrads through, among other things, RSS and Google reader.

When I raised the topic, one of the class commented that “it’s just like twitter”

I initially disagreed, talking about the differences of simply gathering, organising and filtering content and actually interacting with people.  But I’ve had a little time to reflect and, do you know, I don’t think that’s a bad way to think about RSS at all.

Twitter is about building a network of people who you can engage with and (positively) use. A network that is big enough not only to give what you want but also what you thought you didn’t need. The serendipity of twitter is one of its charms.

RSS is a lot like that but with websites and not people. The bigger your ‘network’ of websites, the more chance you’ll find something of interest.

For journalists a lot of the motivations for using the tool are the same: network building; time managment etc.

Points of reference

When I introduced Reader, a few people in the room had heard of it (and used it); Most had not. That’s always a surprise to me, but not a criticism of the students. The early days of new classes are always an interesting reality check for me. My world (geeky and riven through with online as it is) is not always the real world! So it’s nice when something gives you pause to reflect.

It made me think a little more about points of reference. I’ve worked through a chronology of this stuff. Started using Reader before twitter and felt the transition in passive to active engagement as the web has developed. That makes sense to me. But a lot of people in the room have come the other way. Facebook and twitter are their point of entry and reference.

Maybe that shows that digital/online journalism is really maturing now (or maybe just my view). Like many other things it’s now as important to look back at how this stuff has developed as it is simply to use it. Even if that ‘history’ is only five or six years young!

Update Kate, the one who suggested RSS is like twitter, reminded me that I should quote my sources.

@ Aren't you supposed to attribute quotations? ;) *cough* itwasme *cough*
September 30, 2011 11:54 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@Kate_S_Mercer
Katie Siobhán Mercer

Do we need a journalism merit badge?

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So Ivan Lewis has suggested that journalists who ‘break the rules’ should be struck off. A move which, as FleetStreetBlues blogs:

..by implication, that there should be some kind of register or licence for all journalists

A license might be a bit strong. What else could we consider…

Journalism Merit badge

What about a boy scout style merit badge system? They have one for Journalism. They also have them for law. I couldn’t find one for PA or shorthand.

Or maybe we could go the McDonalds star route. You could lose a star for each ‘transgression’ of regulations. Gain one for an exclusive.

But seriously, do we really need to be thinking about this at all?

Fleet street fox rounds off a good response to Ivan Lewis with this:

No-one’s needed a licence to be a journalist in the 300 years since the first paper was printed in Fleet Street. You just have to be nosy and a little bit mad, the kind of person no-one else wants in their club.

A good headline? A storm in a teacup? All of that and more.

License or badge?

O'Reilly's code of conduct badge

In 2007, Tim O’reilly suggested that we needed a blogging code of conduct. A suggestion that was roundly turned on in some quarters . His reasoning was there needed to be some way of controlling the increasing amount of poor behaviour on blogs.  Blogs that followed the code and enforced it got to be deputised in to the code and wear a badge – yep, a sheriffs badge.

In the same way that we can argue that Lewis’ suggestions amount to an attempt to license, you could also argue that would legitimise professional journalists. beyond the NUJ card. This would be legally sanctioned journalists.  Yes, state sanctioned but it would give them rights and access above all others.  Especially the simply nosey or mad or worse still, those “Local nosey parkers with mobile phones “

Given the attitude of the industry to regulation, the public and citizen journalism, be forgiven for thinking that many journalists  already consider themselves to be licensed already. I would imagine there are some who would welcome the differentiation.

 

 

Fusion tables and maps: Post office map revisited

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A few years ago I wrote a post about mapping post office closures using google maps and yahoo pipes.  I used that combination because of an issue with google maps and post codes. I needed to convert the posts codes in to a lat, long format – yahoo pipes did that job.

I noted that @patrickolszo mentioned that post on twitter today and I realised it was a bit long in the tooth and, of course, things have moved on considerably.  So here is how I’d do that now using googledocs and google fusion tables. 

I’ll use the data from the original map which came from publicservice.co.uk which is not current but at least it keeps the link across the posts!

Importing the data

In the previous example I noted that I did a fair bit of manipulation on the information splitting the text up to make columns I could use.

If you look at the sheet you can see it is actually a bit of a mess in places but it’s raw data. Truth be told I went through excel to do some column splitting and then combining to get the postcode out of the address.

Now I guess you could explore tools like Google Refine to help with that kind of thing. But I’ve shared a version of the spreadsheet on Google docs which you will need to save in to your own google docs account. Once you have the spreadsheet, you can import it in to a fusion table. In google docs

  • Click Create new and select Table
  • Click Google Spreadsheets from the Import new table options
  • Find your saved version of the post office spreadsheet and click Select

A version of the spreadsheet will be loaded. At this point you can make changes to the column headers – I changed Address three to complete address for example. The last screen prompts you to add contextual information. It’s really worth doing this.

Always add context to your data when given the chance

When its loaded in the data is not that different from the spreadsheet. Fusion tables splits it across a number of pages, 100 rows at a time but that’s all that’s really obvious. I’m not going to go in to the functionality etc. of fusion tables here though. I’ll just do the basics to get us to the map.

Mapping the data

The first thing we need to do is tell fusion tables what data we are going to map each row.

  • Select Edit > Modify columns
  • Select the Post Code column and change the Type to Location
  • Select File > Geocode and select Post Code from the drop down
  • Click Geocode

Changing the post code column type to location

Fusion tables will then generate location data based on the post codes in the table. Much easier than the Yahoo pipes solution! You can also try geocoding more generic information. You could, for example, set the Address two column type to location as well and geocode that. But if you have more than one post office in the same town that might cause problems.

Generating the map

No you have the location information

  • Select Visualize > Map

Fusion tables will take the data and put it on the map. You’ll need to zoom in and move around to see the points in detail. Clicking on a point will open a standard speech bubble with more data. But overall it’s looking pretty good. Well, almost. One of our post offices seems to have moved from Sevenoakes to Northern France!

The basic map but with a problem

Checking the data, it seems that the post code is TN13 IHZ when it should be TN13 1HZ. It isn’t the only one but I’ll just correct that postcode for now :

  • Click Visualize > Table to switch back to table view
  • Click the Address two header
  • Select Sort Desc
  • Find Sevenoaks and change the appropriate Post Code Entry
  • Click Visualize > Map to go to the map view
Sorted.

The updated map

Editing the map
Changing the data on the map is simply a case of updating the table. But you can also edit the content of the bubble using the Configure info window link and even the marker by using the Configure styles link.
One nice trick here is to add an extra column to your spreadsheet and add a custom icon to use on your map. In the example below I added a column to my spreadsheet called logo. I added ‘post_office’ to each entry. When I import that in to Fusion tables I can use the Configure styles link to choose the logo column as the icon.

Using a custom icon on the map

Sharing the map.
When you’re happy with the map you can share it with others in a similar way to other google documents.
  • Click on the share button in the top-right of the page
  • Change the settings to suit

The share settings in fusion tables

Once that is done you’re good to go. Here’s an embedded version of the map.

Note: The embed works using an iframe so if you’re using WordPress.com, sorry, you’re out of luck when it comes to adding the map to a post.

Conclusions.

The process of mapping is obviously a lot simpler with something like Fusion tables and I think that underlines just how far we’ve moved. That’s not just in terms of the underlying technology which, when you think about it, is pretty amazing. It also shows just how far and how quickly data, geocoded or otherwise, has become mainstream.

Anyway, it’s a simple little example and there is a tonne more that you can do with fusion tables but I hope it’s a useful insight.

Daily mail student media awards?

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Yeah, wouldn’t happen. But should it?

The always interesting Wannabehacks posted yesterday stating that The industry isn’t doing enough to support student journalists. The post really should have been titled The Guardian isn’t doing enough to support student journalists as it takes a pop at the frankly risible prize the Guardian is offering for its Guardian student media award:

[T]he quality of prizes has diminished year on year: “Seven weeks of placement with expenses paid (offered 2003-2006) is a good way to spend the summer. Two weeks of self-funded work experience is an insult to supposedly the best student journalists in Britain.”

It’s a fair point. Just how good you have to be to actually be paid to work at the Guardian?

Maybe we are being unfair to the Guardian though. Why do they need to carry this stuff? I know plenty of students who don’t want to work for the Guardian. So why don’t more papers step up? If it’s about spotting talent then shouldn’t every media org have a media award?

Truth is there is a bit of black hole out there when it comes to awards. Aspiring journos could be forgiven for thinking that there is very little on offer between that letter writing competition the local paper runs for schoolkids and the Guardian awards. There are actually quite a few – the NUS student awards for example. But none with the direct association of the Guardian awards.

But maybe it’s not about the award. The wannabe hacks post (and the letter it references) suggests that there is more a problem of expectation here.

The Guardian is a very attractive proposition to many aspiring journos. In a lot of respects it plays on that strength; it presents itself as a like the paper where things are happening. But there is a danger that things like competitions exploit that aspiration and begin to suggest a slightly dysfunctional relationship - aspiring journos trying their best to please the indifferent and aloof object of their affection.

Show them the money.

This isn’t just a print problem. The truth is the industry has a bit of problem of putting its money where it’s mouth is when it comes to student journos.

As an academic I see more offers of valuable experience than paid opportunities in my inbox. They tend to coincide with large events where industry doesn’t have the manpower to match their plans for coverage. In that sense there is no secret here, the industry is living beyond its means and it’s increasingly relying on low and no paid input to keep newsrooms running. But student journo’s bear the brunt of that. Yes, they get experience, but not much else.

No return on investment

Of course the flip-side to that argument is that many of those who enter the competitions would happily benefit from the association but don’t put back in. I wonder how many people who enter the Guardian student media awards have regularly bought the paper rather than accessing the (free) website?  You could argue the same when talking about work experience. How many students actually buy the product they aspire to work on?

But the reality is that, regardless of how much is put in, if you court an audience, you have to live up to their expectations – unreasonable or otherwise.

This is happening at a time when those same newsrooms are reporting on the commercial realities of education and how students need to demand value from their investment. As someone trying to respond to those expectations, perhaps I can offer some advice.  Perhaps the industry need to reflect on their advice to prospective students the next time they reach out or connect with student journalists.  Just how much are you expecting them to invest in your newsroom and what’s the return?