This is a blog about the Web, the media, and journalism, written by Megan Taylor.
Megan is a journalist whose work focuses on combining traditional and computer-assisted information-gathering with multimedia production to create news packages online.
He wanted to know if I was interested in discussion content management system options for college media. After my time as online managing editor at The Independent Florida Alligator, struggling with a CMS that liked to fight dirty, I’ve daydreamed of building a modular open-source system myself.
The problem:
College Publisher is an inappropriate platform for student newspapers
but most newspapers don’t have the resources to custom roll their own
CMS.
The Alligator uses TownNews, but the idea is the same.
Daniel started a wiki, College News Press, as well as a mailing group to keep track of ideas and coordinate discussion. The wiki includes tasks, benchmarks and platform comparisons.
His vision:
To create an easy to deploy, simple to use (open source?) content management system (CMS) with varying levels of sophistication that is specifically geared towards the student newspaper and local news market.
To provide abundant knowledge resources to student newspapers interested in switching platforms that have minimal IT manpower.
Daniel is even submitting an application for the Knight News Challenge!
I’m really excited to work on this, even though I’m no longer a member of the college media sector. The two biggest problems with newspaper Web sites are site design and CMS limitations. Hacking a CMS should not be among the things we have to do to be innovative.
Mark Luckie at 10,000 Words isn’t “just a blogger,” he’s a print journalist gone online. Luckie has been looking at college journalism this week, and The Independent Florida Alligator got some awesome mentions:
1. The Independent Florida Alligator, University of Florida
The Alligator is hands down the best online student newspaper and rivals the pros in its news coverage and use of multimedia elements. Just listing the stellar components that make up the site warrant its own individual post. The Alligator’s standout features are the Gainesville
Explorer , a look at the surrounding city using video and audio slideshows, the use of Google Maps mashups to illustrate problems like apartment overcrowding and rising gas prices, and its 11 blogsthat cover pretty much every spectrum of news. Admittedly The Alligator works on a larger scale than most student newspapers, but it is nevertheless an exceptional example of the possibility of online student journalism.
7. Twitter, The Independent Florida Alligator, University of Florida
It seems everyone is Twitteringthese days, but The Alligator is one of very few student newspapers doing so. The site uses twitterfeed to broadcast news stories and links, almost 2,500 of which have been sent since The Alligator began using the service.
Personally, I think we should have gotten more mention of our amazing multimedia, but at least my Twitter obsession has been justified.
The Alligator is an incredible example of the potential greatness of an online student newspaper. Its black and white design makes the fine journalism happening on the site look even better. Sections and stories are easily scannable and the site’s headlines are large enough to catch the eye. The Alligator also makes great use of its footer — a contrasting black to
the rest of the page — something that is rare in online student paper design.
I spent Thursday and Friday at the NextNewsroom Conference at Duke University. Thanks to Chris O’Brien for coordinating a great discussion and helping college students attend.
My interest in the conference stemmed from a previous interest in exploring the idea of a “virtual newsroom.” I wrote a little about this before.
Due to some initial crazyness at the Gainesville airport, I was late to the show, so here are some links documenting what I missed:
Greg Linch posted the highlights of Chris O’Brien’s opening words and collected some excellent quotes from Saf Fahim’s keynote speech. I’ve been following Greg on Twitter and his blog for a while now, and it was awesome to finally meet him. We even collaborated on live-streaming and recording sessions on the second day. More about that later.
I did make it in time for Randy Covington’s speech on “New Roles in the New Newsroom.” I posted my notes earlier, but the quick takeaway was that the current structure of the newsroom is an impediment to convergence and integration between mediums. As examples of alternative structures he pointed to London’s Daily Telegraph and the Tampa Bay Tribune.
Next there was a panel discussion with Robertson Barret, Sharon Behl Brooks, Christian Oliver, Rusty Coats and Keith Hanadel as moderator. The discussion was a little disappointing, I felt like they kept drifting into different arguments instead of responding to the questions and comments posed via Twitter.
On Friday, the second day, Greg and I joined forces (and equipment) to live-stream video from the sessions we attended. We had some technical difficulties, but it was really fun!
Session 1: We went to a discussion facilitated by Brett Erikson, Kathy Stofer and Sharon Brooks on operating a converged newsroom in the context of student media. Check out the video.
Session 2: How can the newsroom management structure be reorganized? Led by Bryan Murley. Takeaway: The Web editor needs to be high up on that ladder. I’m gonna point you to Greg again, as his notes are better than mine for this session. And again, video.
Session 3: How to change from old news culture to new - led by John North, Knoxville News Sentinel. If we had come up with any answers to this problem, we could make a looot of money. Watch the video.
Session 4: Balancing work and class, learning and innovation in college media, led by Kathleen Sullivan. Ustream was crashing no matter what I did, so I switched to Yahoo Live. Unfortunately, it doesn’t save video, just broadcasts it. :(
The best thing about this conference was that after breaking out for different sessions we all gathered back together to share what had been discussed in each group. I’ve never done this at a conference and I thought it was a great way to walk out with as much to think about as possible.
So, what is the next newsroom going to be like? We don’t really know. There are so many aspects to consider, from roles and structure to physical space to technology. I’m still trying to remember names, Web sites, and ideas, gathering all my notes off of napkins, stray paper and boarding passes.
So for the first session of the day, I ended up at a discussion on operating a converged student media newsroom. I can’t really relate; The Independent Florida Alligator, being separate from the university, can’t take advantage of all the available tools and skills at UF. But the ideas from the converged model applied to our print and web publications could make things work much more smoothly and allow us to go farther.
Now I’m at a discussion of newsroom structure, facilitated by Bryan Murley. We’ve been talking about who takes responsibility for what and how work is distributed through roles in the newsroom.
Session 1
1. What are the keys to successfully operating a converged newsroom, especially for student media?
Facilitators: Brett Erickson, Kathy Stofer, Sharon Brooks
2. How can design of space promote innovation in the newsroom?
Facilitator: John Keefe
3. What productivity tools can transform the newsroom?
Facilitator: Christian Oliver
4. What is the role of social networking in the newsroom?
Facilitator: Kara Andrade
First, we took files directly from the Copy Desk Chief, formatted and uploaded them.
But in Production, they were still correcting errors and making necessary changes. These changes didn’t make it to the Web.
So, we started documenting the changes. Too unreliable, too much work.
So now we take the InDesign pagefiles from Production (after they have been sent to be printed) and export each story into a text file to be uploaded.
No more errors, about the same amount of work for everyone…but its bass ackwards.
The Alligator is in a unique position because it is an independent, student-run newspaper. The editorial side doesn’t have much (officially) in the way of mentors or advisors. So we just don’t have the man-power to do stuff like maintain two copydesks or some of the other solutions I’ve heard of.
So how do we make the change to a “Web-first strategy”?
With a new Web site, improved multimedia capabilities, and a talented new media staff, we’re missing that one cornerstone of online journalism.
I love lists. They give me direction, options, and when completed, a sense of accomplishment.
Bryan Murley recently reposted his checklist of things college media sites should consider. Of course my first thought was to see how my own college media outlet is doing:
* Have you got your news org. online?
The Alligator has been online for a while, although until recently the site left much to be desired.
* Do you have a content management system?
We just launched the new Alligator site with a content management system and a new design. Yay!
* Have you posted any videos online?
Yes we have. In fact, on Thursday two reporters handed me video - a first!
* Have you included any audio soundbites in a story?
I have the soundbites on my computer…they just haven’t made it to the correct format for the Web site yet.
* Have you done a photo slideshow?
Yes, several.
* Have you put up an audio slideshow (perhaps using Soundslides)?
Yes.
* Have you done a map?
Yes.
* Have you used weblogs on your site?
Like the soundbites, this is in the works.
* Have you uploaded source documents (PDFs, excel spreadsheets, etc.) to accompany a big story?
YES! Even on the old site, documents were often uploaded when provided by the reporters.
* Have you used social media (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) to market your stories?
There is an Alligator Facebook group, and individual articles on the new site now feature sharing tools.
* Have you tracked what others are saying about you via Technorati or Google Blogsearch?
Nope.
* Have you used the web site to post breaking news online FIRST?
Still trying to figure this one out. We have put a couple f breaking sports stories up before they went to print though.
* Have you moved the online editor out of the back office and into a position of authority?
Well, I guess we kind of moved ourselves out of the back office.
* Have you allowed comments on your stories?
Yes. I have been pleasantly surprised with the intelligence of many of the comments posted to the site. We decided not to review comments and to remove them only if a complaint was lodged, or if we saw a “flame war” starting up.
* Have you encouraged writers to write for the Web and include hyperlinks in their stories?
I’m hoping this will go hand-in-hand with blogging. Right now, when we are putting up new stories, if we see an opportunity for a link, it goes in.
* Have you tried something experimental?
We’ve got a few projects in the works, but right now energy is tied up in making the workflow efficient and working the kinks out of the new site.
So far, I think we’re doing pretty good! Of course, in this case, the “checklist” is never really completed. But I’ll be happy if I can get out of the office by 1:30 a.m. every night instead of 3 a.m.
As all students do, I worry about how prepared I will be come graduation, to take a job in my field. Unlike many other majors, however, journalism is changing, and fast. So are the required skills.
Others in the field or education have reinforced basic reporting skills and ethics.
Maybe I’m paranoid, but it seems to me that, even having taken all the right classes and learned all the right things, getting a job will still be a challenge.
I got into journalism halfway through college. Many of my peers have had multiple internships; I haven’t even had one. Not that I don’t want to, or don’t think I can, but my circumstances have been such that I either wasn’t ready or I couldn’t afford to add an internship to a difficult semester.
Now, with (officially) a year left, panic sets in. I’ve several opportunities open to me, and my first thought is to try to take them all at once. A job at school that will expose me to the field. Working at the Independent Florida Alligator. An internship at The Gainesville Sun.
I know that, in addition to classes and my 20-hour work week, taking all three opportunities at once is a recipe for a psychotic break. What I don’t know is how to narrow down my options to what will be most beneficial to my career. Where will I learn more? Where will I get the most experience?
