How digital transformed the news cycle - and what you can do about it

“How digital transformed the newscycle - and what you can do about it" Martin Belam Hacks / Hackers, August 2011 Lead User Experience & Information Architect, The Guardian @currybet

I am not a hack13th century miniature of the Siege of Jerusalem

I am not a hackerThis is what home computers used to look like

I joined the Guardian in 2009

1. Write newspaper 2. Print newspaper3. Wrap ﬁsh‘nchips in newspaper

1. Write newspaper*****and sub-edit it, check it with legal, write the headlines,clear the rights for the images, make late changes, re-sub it, syndicate the best bits, and get the ﬁles packaged up 2. Print newspaper ***and send the front page to @suttonnick in advance ****and publish it all to the web 3. Wrap ﬁsh‘nchips in newspaper *remember to have sent the British Library a copy **and our own library

Oh. Did I say “web”?

1 Stop the shovels Mobiles are not tablets. Tablets are not desktops. Neither of these types of devices are print.

There are more and more platforms to come

We are in “the animated gif years”

Not all content works for all mediums

Getting it wrong sends the wrong signal

2 Be fast The audience expect news in real-time.

Most people can publish faster than most news orgs

Print seems slower and slower and slower

Live blogging is a native digital format

The BBC’s tools now seem ahead of the pack

Story-telling tools are appearing all the time

It is vital to let journalists experiment

Paul Lewis - was that a riot #Twitrip?

3 Be permanent The web is forever. And it should be right.

Our content now lasts longer than a day

We need better digital corrections

Wikipedia-style “diﬀs” may be a step too far

But we should be avoiding this...

4 Organise & own Find people to “own” the dark corners of your digital presence

You get some metadata and “furniture” in print

but there is so much peripheral digital content

Teams of people agonise over the words on the left

The words on the right? Not so much...

You need a web governance mindset

5 Metadata is a friend Use semantic mark-up. The future will thank you.

Metadata is your friend

And so is semantic mark-up

There are many ﬂavours to choose from

6 Curate Not all news is born equal. Help readers get to the best stuﬀ.

Not all news content is born equal

Context is often lost in digital transformation

Give clear signals to the user

Help them ﬁnd the best of your content

7 Expand and re-use Exploit your archives. News organisations are uniquely placed for this.

News has been recorded for centuries

Many sites charge for archive access

Guardian Shorts extend the life of our content

1. Stop the shovels2. Be fast3. Be permanent4. Organise & own5. Metadata is a friend6. Curate7. Expand and re-use

This made me cross yesterday“The top four most important skillscited by editors were: writing, ﬁndingnews stories, interviewing and legalknowledge - while at the bottom ofthe list came social media, web skillsand interaction with readers.”

This made me cross yesterday

The article didn’t link to the source

And the source has basic usability issues

8 Dont stop learning The digital revolution is perpetual revolution

Thank you. Questions?

http://www.currybet.net	1491
http://storify.com	681
http://josephstashko.com	220
http://1001medios.tumblr.com	47
http://flavors.me	15
http://core.traackr.com	5
http://feeds.feedburner.com	3
http://www.diigo.com	2
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1

How digital transformed the news cycle - and what you can do about it

by Martin Belam on Sep 02, 2011

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How digital transformed the news cycle - and what you can do about it — Presentation Transcript