Carrying the Banner: Reinventing News on Your University Website

Carrying the Banner Reinventing News on Your University Website Georgy Cohen, Tufts University #heweb11 #tnt3 Oct. 24, 2011 @radiofreegeorgy @meetcontent

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Problems

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nayrb7/539876343/ Goal

Goal
Tell good stories
Present and deliver them well

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andybeatty/2715799788/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uber-tuber/2509891233/

Poor design
Not dynamic
Unclear audience
Stuck in 20 th century

The State of Print and Electronic Publications in Higher Ed (December 2010)
94% of survey respondents (vs. 82% in 2009 and 77% in 2007) say that their institutions are relying more on electronic publications (web, blog, email, PDF, RSS, etc)
Yet only 38% say their budget for electronic publications has increased over the past two years (vs. 42% in 2009 and 44% in 2007!)

1999 https://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/nostalgia-11-retro-news-website-homepages_b3518

1996 https://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/nostalgia-11-retro-news-website-homepages_b3518

http://fourchapters.com/2010/03/word-time-potemkin-village/

Our approach

Readers seek up-to-the-minute information in a media-rich environment that includes video, message boards, and opportunities to connect via social networks. ... Online publications must be optimized to help people find you. Claire Napier and Dan Woychick, Feb. 24, 201 0

Key Concepts
News discovery
Stock and flow
Organizational woes
Content types
e.g. the press release

News discovery A New Model for New News Mission for the digital marketplace: (developed in 2008) “ Create content that will satisfy a full range of consumers’ news needs and then build the links that will connect people to the relevant news they seek.” http://www.ap.org/newmodel.pdf

“ Especially when we're talking about newer generations of consumers, people and their social graphs are the last mile . ” Valeria Maltoni Conversation Agent, Nov. 14, 2010 http://www.flickr.com/photos/rightee/2703215957/ News discovery

Stock & Flow “ The master metaphor for media today” - Robin Sloan Snark Market, Nov. 2010 “ Flow is the feed . It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people that you exist… http://www.flickr.com/photos/lululemonathletica/5001738548/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lululemonathletica/5001738548/ “ Stock is the durable stuff . It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.” Stock & Flow

Organizational Woes http://www.flickr.com/photos/davegray/5429335705/ Central News Office

Central News Office Organizational Woes

Organizational Woes Central News Office http://www.flickr.com/photos/anhonorablegerman/5604470991/

Content Types
What is the place of…
Video, audio, photos
Live chats, Instagram, Storify
user generated content
What is the role of…
SEO, tagging, linking
How do we make content…
social, relevant, contextual
-30-

Content Types What is a press release in the age of the social web? -30-

Universities have
an opportunity to
leapfrog the mainstream
media and explain our
research, teaching and wider
contributions to society in forms
beyond the text-based press release. ...
We have websites, and access to the
tools needed to reach the public.
“ Kyle Christie, King’s College (London), Aug. 7, 2011 http://kylelchristie.com/2011/08/07/is-it-possible-to-go-beyond-press-releases/

Solutions

http://bit.ly/atlmo_nypl

Stories http://www.flickr.com/photos/umjanedoan/497411169/

Holistic Approach http://www.flickr.com/photos/grongar/4451489113/

http://onforb.es/newnewsroom

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonker/1436280027/

Be creative http://www.flickr.com/photos/18016623@N00/3666990528/

Design http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/3230231844/

Interactivity http://www.flickr.com/photos/36821100@N04/3896331106/in/photostream/

Social Media Distribution And monitoring

http://www.flickr.com/photos/argenberg/184104386/

Integrate Across channels http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sch%C3%A4renTurku.jpg

Involve your programmers http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolynwill/4407204251/

nimble.razorfish.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattlemunicipalarchives/4112145071 More thoughts: http://www.maxcutler.com/2010/09/13/what-is-a-news-cms

http://bit.ly/poynter_newscms

http://bit.ly/10kWPnews

http://www.maxcutler.com/2010/09/13/what-is-a-news-cms

http://www.maxcutler.com/2010/09/13/what-is-a-news-cms “ Why are we letting the delivery platform hold our content hostage? News organizations should instead be ‘content-first,’ and use tools that promote content above all else.” - Max Butler, Sept. 13, 2010

“ These are weird times for publishing.” – Erin Kissane, Confab, May 9, 2011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/4825345881/

References - Good Examples
Denison denison.edu/theden
UT-Austin utexas.edu/know

References - Good Examples
BU Today www.bu.edu/today
Vanderbilt News news.vanderbilt. edu

References – Sites & Blogs
Mediabistro’s 10,000 Words
Nieman Lab
PBS Media Shift
Adam Westbrook
News University
toolkit.snd.org (Society for News Design)

References - Books
David Meerman Scott, “New Rules of Marketing and PR” and “Real-Time Marketing and PR”
Mark Luckie, “The Digital Journalist’s Handbook”
Ryan Thornburg, “Producing Online News: New Tools, Stronger Stories”

Thank you! @radiofreegeorgy meetcontent.com georgycohen.com Questions?

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Carrying the Banner: Reinventing News on Your University Website

by Georgiana Cohen

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