Journalistic.co.uk - the UK digital journalism blog

The Wikimedia Foundation which offers Wikipedia, the popular collaborative encyclopedia is now branching out to cover news.

According to Wired:

Through a new effort, Wikinews, members of the open-source community who write and edit Wikipedia’s encyclopedia entries are encouraged to test their skills as journalists. The news site follows a similar set of rules as the encyclopedia, which allows anyone to edit and post corrections to entries, so long as each change is recorded.

It’s certainly an interesting idea for writers to collaborate on stories but is there a need for this type of “shared ownership” on stories and how does a reader know the story is not biased?

Looking at some of the initial stories that are appearing, there is no indication of who is writing them and indeed what else the writers have written about.

Readers need and deserve to know who wrote the story and where it came from.

If would-be journalists are looking to break into publishing, they are far better to set up their own blog and develop their own writing style through that rather than sending material to Wikinews.

Not only will they be able to update as and when they want, but there is always the important byline next to an article, something Wikinews seems to have ignored.

Based on what I have seen so far of Wikinews, I don’t think news agencies will have many sleepless nights over it and likewise bloggers can still carry on with what they are doing without too much to worry about from Wikinews.

Will more newspapers follow The Guardian and introduce blogs and blog-style offerings?

Well, according to one industry figure the answer is looking at yes.

In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, Alexandra White of the UK Association of Online Publishers spoke about how publishers will need to adjust their online offerings.

“Revenues from online have all been coming from advertising and that’s sustainable for now. But publishers have been keen to look for other revenue. Now they’re looking at what unique propositions they can offer, like The Guardian’s weblogs.”

Phew! That’s good news for those of us who are adopting the blog format as our choice of delivering content to readers.

With The Guardian’s own blogs proving popular, it is only a matter of time before other national newspaper publishers start to develop their own themed blogs based on the core strengths of the paper and what the readers identify with.

The Independent could have a travel blog themed around Simon Calder and his writing while The Sun’s Bizarre could become Bizarre Blog with daily showbiz updates.

These are interesting times for newspaper owners and an investment in blogging is a way to help keep the readers. As Simon Waldman added in The Independent on Sunday feature:

“People in newspaper offices debating the threat of the net have a Ptolemaic view, where the Earth is at the centre of the universe. Things are evolving so rapidly, they need to work out how to stay relevant.”

Conde Nast is looking to increase the traffic across its Condenet network of sites over the next 12 months by 20%.

To help with the push, it has appointed online agnecy Zed Media to beef up its advertising.

Currently, its Condenet online division generates 32 million impressions from 1.5m unique users a month for sites including Vogue.co.uk and CNTraveller.com.

Expect content to also increase. Vanity Fair is likely to move from being a static site which is currently just a promotional teaser for each issue to an editorial rich site in line with other Condenet offerings.

Charles Arthur, soon to be the ex-technology technology of The Independent has decided he’s had enough of comment spammers and will start banning the locations they are coming from.

Good idea Charles. Like many I too get the comment spammers writing bizarre text (even more bizarre than some of my own rants) in an attempt to promote a URL that will link to a casino or medical site.

The extent of comment spam is widespread and is forcing many bloggers to either remove their comment section or consider removing it.

And it’s really annoying to have to go through all the comments to remove the spam.

Anyway, back to Charles.

He says of the spammers and the action he plans to take:

The vast majority are from LACNIC and APNIC addresses - Latin America and Asia-Pacific. So I’m planning sometime soon-ish to simply block them from accessing this site. Because frankly, I don’t believe I have readers there.

A good starting point and something to monitor.

In the meanwhile, bloggers who are getting annoying spam can also apply a spam filter to their blogs. Whatever service you are using, just visit the blogs support pages and look up spam filtering. While it doesn’t always remove everything, it can filter a high percentage which is better than nothing.

But of course, what is needed is better action on the part of the internet providers who host the spammer sites.

Thanks to MBites for that tip-off.

Looks like Channel 4 has asked the Government for some cash to help it migrate from being a analogue broadcaster to a digital broadcaster when the analogue signal gets switched off in a few years time. Money would be used as part of its public remit as well as “developing content and services across new media platforms”.

According to The Guardian:

Channel 4 has asked the government for money for the first time in its 22-year history to help pay for public service programming as it faces up to an estimated £100m funding gap. Although the broadcaster has indicated in the past that it will need public funding to survive in its current form after the analogue signal is switched off, it is the first time it has proposed spending the money on programmes.

The Guardian then further writes:

For the moment, the broadcaster envisages spending the money on the fringes of its schedule online and on interactive TV. However, the move could pave the way for future funding of flagship public service programming.

So talking of public service programming, methinks it is now time I should apply for a Government handout to develop public service blogs.

Let’s give everyone in the country their own blog and free public access to view those blogs. Maybe rather than giving these sorts of handouts for public service broadcasting, the Government should look towards public service internet access.

Let’s see the Chancellor in his next budget set a target to get a computer into every household and for those who cannot afford it, to be offered the appropriate benefit to get one for free. Then let’s see the broadband connection needed to access online services at home to be offered to people either for free or at very low cost.

That way we can then look at ending the digital divide between rich and poor in this country.

Here’s two questions I always get. How easy is it to set up a blog? How easy is it to set up a site using a content management system?

Well, if you have access to the web and know how to use the basics of a web browser, it’s pretty easy these days to set up your own blog or other content rich site.

First of all you will need to get yourself some web space to host your site and the good news is that if you choose your web hoster carefully you can also get included in your account some software that will manage the process for adding a blog or other content management system.

Most major hosters these days offer web hosting services that include a special package called Fantastico.

Fantastico works with the server management package cPanel and allows you to then easily add blogs, forums, content management systems and other applications to your website without the need to know anything technical.

If you are looking for a good web hosting company, Web Hosting Talk is a useful forum to find a provider and also ask your questions about them before you sign up. A quick search of the forums can also reveal what others think of your provider which helps making a better informed decision.

So what’s stopping you? Go out, find a host that offer Fantastico and get your site up.

Netimperative, the digital media business to business website has appointed industry veteran Mike Butcher as editor as it prepares for expansion in 2005.

Butcher, a former editor of digital media trade magazine New Media Age and experienced freelancer, joined Netimperative in the summer initially on a freelance basis with a brief to look at ways to improve it.

Since launching in 1999, Netimperative has built up one of the largest archives of business information on the digital economy which Butcher says will be better promoted both to subscribers and non-subsribers.

“Following my arrival we changed the business model to be far more open, largely ‘free-to-air’, with some premium aspects such as a membership scheme for members-only events and some reports/research. Everything else has been opened up,” he says.

According to Butcher, Netimperative has experienced growth in advertising which is having a positive impact on what the site can now offer.

“Online advertising is fulfilling the promise it had a few years ago and we plan to take advantage of the improved environment,” he says.

Butcher adds that among the improvements to the site are “greater exposure to the content, better facilities for users to register and manage their experience and extensive use of RSS feeds.”

He also says that photos will be used on the site: “It’s also the case that we want to introduce photography. This is as much a people business as any other aspect of the media and I’m sick of sites which only ever feature text.”

A website that offers short video interviews with authors describing their latest work has gone live.

Meettheauthor currently offers over 300 “Book bites” interviews ranging from 20 seconds to 60 seconds with various authors including Ian Rankin, Linda Grant and Rod Little.

The Meettheauthor format was previously used on inflight programming as well as on CDs.

“These videos are the next best thing to meeting an author face to face,” said founder David Freeman. “The writers we film bring their books to life through their natural enthusiasm for the subject matter, so that it feels like an intimate chat with the viewer. ”

The interviews work best with broadband internet connection as they only take a few seconds to download and have been optimised to work with Windows Media Player, RealPlayer and Quicktime.

As editorial director of Associated New Media, Avril Williams looks after a portfolio of online titles that include This is Money, This Is London and the web versions of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

In an email interview with Journalistic.co.uk, Williams shares her views and experiences of working in digital media.

What do you enjoy about working in the digital media industry?

No two days are ever the same. While one minute we’re working on a story about the latest developments in Fallujah, the next we’re playing host to a live reader chat with our astrologer or mapping out the workflow of a
paid-for area or new mobile service.

Nothing stands still online and we’re continually improving, developing and redesigning our products to keep ahead. You also get to work with fiercely bright, talented and passionate people in this business.

Digital media or new media? What is your take on this, or is it just a discussion of semantics?

Digital media. Absolutely. Twenty two million people regularly access the Internet in the UK, 80% of people have a mobile phone and 59% have access to Digital TV.

The average person online spends more than 12 hours a week online – more than reading newspapers and magazines put together and we’re breathing down the neck of TV and radio.

There’s nothing “new” about this medium. It’s here, it’s a huge part of everybody’s life and it’s here to stay.

What was your first break into journalism? And how did you end up where you are today?

I designed, wrote and laid-out my very first newspaper (in pencil) at the age of 7! Once I was old enough to use a keyboard, I started my career as editorial assistant then cub reporter on a weekly IT newspaper, PC Week.

Looking back, it stood me in good stead for a career in the jargon-riddled “digital media”. After that I worked as news editor, features editor, deputy editor, Editor and Editor in Chief of other monthly magazines. All the while spending every waking minute freelancing for national newspapers, magazines and websites.

What skills do you think are essential for the “digital” journalist?

Digital journalists must have all the skills of a great, traditional print journalist. The ability to spot a story, an insatiable appetite for news, an engaging and utterly readable writing style and a hawk’s eye for detail. But online they must also live and breathe “digital”, be great lateral thinkers in adding polls, videos, discussions, etc to stories and be flexible - no two days are ever the same!

Is the future “multi-skilled” journalists where they work across all media (TV, radio, print, online, emerging) or will there be room for those who specialise in just one area eg: just reporting, just working on radio. What is your take on this?

I’m sure there will be some “multi-skilled” departments – video production for web, TV and phones for example. But specialists will always exist.

What does the role of editorial director involve?

I am responsible for all the words as well as the look and feel on all of our products (www.thisislondon.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk, thisismoney.co.uk, thisistravel.co.uk, homesandproperty.co.uk and londonjobs.co.uk).

It’s about ensuring everything we do is produced to the highest standards and pre-empting what our readers want before they know it themselves.

Fortunately, I have a brilliant and talented team of journalists, designers, picture editors and community staff who make it a great deal easier and more fun than it could be!

How difficult is it to charge for content and what lessons have you learnt about the charging model?

There’s no easy answer to paid-for content. Internet users have become used to free content and if one publisher begins to charge, they’ll often just look elsewhere for similar content. The rules are for paid-for content are the same as charging people for magazines or newspapers. Your content has to be better than the competition (people will pay for quality) and ignore usability, ease of use and great customer service at your peril!

What is your take on blogs?

The way news is delivered in 2004 is completely different to even just a year ago. Blogs can be full of wonderful tip-offs and insights and their speed of publication is mind-blowing. Blogs won’t be the end of journalism as we know it but are a great source for readers, journalists and something we must all learn from.

Which 3 websites do you find most essential to use on a regular basis?

As a journalist I’m addicted to dictionary.com. It’s not a pretty or particularly clever site but I love the word of the day email. A great way to test your vocabulary or expand it.

Google. I must use it 30 times a day and its accuracy still blows my mind.

MediaGuardian. Again, I don’t necessarily like the layout, the design or the fact you now need to log in but the content is unparalleled and a great way to keep up.

What technology could you not do without?

All of it! My mobile phone, my Blackberry, my DVD player, a very fast Internet connection, Sky News.

It may only weigh a few grams and is no wider than a credit card, but the Dane-Elec zMate memory pen has proved itself as an essential device everyone should own.

The zMate is a memory pen or as some call it a pen drive that connects to a PC via USB and I have been using mine constantly over the last six months.

Various memory versions of avaiable from 64MB up to 1GB and prices range from as little as £15 up to £100.

With no moving parts, it is a quick and easy way to transport data between home and office and also between different computers.

When I recently did a upgrade of Windows XP, I made sure all my important files were backed up to the zMate before the upgrade. All it took was a few clicks of highlighting the files I wanted and then copying them over the the zMate.

All forms of data can be stored on the Zmate from word processing through to MP3 files.

zMate is one of the most compact and lightest memory pens around and with its ease of use and constant reliability, it comes highly recommended.

Where to buy:

Currently there are various offers around with Amazon and Morgan Computers charging £25 for the 256MB version.

Abigail Chisman has been named online editor of the year by the British Society of Magazine Editors for her work on CNTraveller.com.

The Conde Nast website beat off competition from a shortlist that included the editors of Decanter.com, FHM.com, NME.com and BBC News Online Magazine.

It was the second time that Chisman has won the award. Last year, she scooped the honour as editor of the online version of Vogue.

Looks like several national as well as regional hacks have been taken in by a website in Cornwall that called for non-local surfers to be booted out of the sea if they turned up for surfing.

Reports appearing from The Independent to local BBC Cornwall gave mention to the “situation” in Portreath and what Locals Only were planning to do to the non-locals.

Here’s one story from The Independent and another from The Times.

But today, the students behind the Locals Only site came clean, it was all a hoax as they explained on their site:

We did not for one second think that anyone with half a brain would take this seriously! This website was researched thoroughly by all press before they went ahead with their stories and they should be ashamed to call themselves journalists after reading the content!

If only the journalists who wrote about the story had gone to Nominet and its site at www.nic.uk they would have been able to get some further background about who is the owner of the domain. A search would have found it was registered to Kirstin Prisk.

Then a quick Google for Kirstin Prisk would have turned up a number of matches for a photographer of the same name in Cornwall who shoots waves.

After that, they could have contacted Kirstin and see what he knew about this.

But all the stories failed to mention a Kirstin Prisk, even though the name was logged as the owner of the domain and there were plenty of links with ways to get in contact with Kirstin.

I wonder if they online versions of the newspapers that fell for the story are going to update themselves?

It’s just a shame that all the great tools the web gives us for checking out facts and avoiding the fiction are not used as widely as they should be. If they were, hopefully situations like the one that happened in Cornwall would not happen.

Thanks to MediaGuardian for the tip on that one.

PS: This morning, I just bought the domain LocalsOnly.co.uk which links to this page and will monitor the amount of people coming here via that domain. The domain should be active within the next 24 hours.

PPS: If you click on Locals Only at the top of the page, it will take you to the original Locals Only page.

The former editor of Computeractive has now become editor of the online version of What Car?

James Harding who spent a decade working the VNU until he left earlier this year will be in charge of developing the Haymarket owned car site as well as other non-print media including DVD.

“Having achieved so much in technology during my 10 years at VNU, I wanted to use my skills in a new field,” Harding said.

Harding will work alongside What Car? Group editor Steve Fowler.

“We’re delighted that James is bringing his specialist knowledge of websites and technology to What Car? along with his proven track record of editing successful consumer titles,” Fowler said.

What Car? currently gets around 500,000 unique visits a month.

Excuse the rather self-indulgent blurb you are about to read for an entry, but it’s not only my family who finds Journalistic useful.

Yippee! The wonderful and very nice folks at The Guardian have made my blog - Journalistic.co.uk Pick of the Day.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/

A few months after The Times and Sunday Times got a new online look, further expansion of the site is happening with the introduction of a women’s section - Times Online Women.

“We have a large number of female visitors and we hope this new section will allow us to build a community of readers who find it a rich source of entertainment and information,” said Peter Bale, online editorial director.

As well as material from the respective newspapers, the site is also offering some original online writing.

The new section will compete existing online sites including Handbag.com, Femail, iVillage and iCircle.

The founder of Popbitch, the weekly gossip email newsletter is advising all would-be writers to start a blog if they want to kick-start their careers.

In a MediaGuardian interview, Neil Stevenson said:

Websites such as Popbitch are the best way to break into journalism, because they’re so easy to set up, costing almost nothing. If I was starting again now, banging my head against the walls at dance magazines, I would definitely start a weblog. At least that way you have examples of your voice, opinions and writing skills out in the public domain and you don’t have to struggle to get clippings.

Wouldn’t it be useful to get your voicemail message arrive on your mobile phone as a text? How many times have you got a message but no pen or paper to write down the number?

Well, Spinvox says its new service will take your voicemail messages and deliver them to your mobile where you can read them as text. If you still want to hear them, it will store your messages to listen to them later.

The service works by setting your voicemails to go to the Spinvox service where it will then be converted into thre text and send out.

The service works across all networks and is available in various tariffs from pay as you go billing to pre-pay. Maximum cost for each text message is 25p.

As standard all messages are stored for 90 days and advanced features include the ability to get messages sent to email addresses as well as choosing what operational hours you want the service to be on for.

There’s still a few days left in order to enter the 2005 Revolution Awards.

Entries should have been in by Friday 19 November, but can now be sent it by the 26th along with the £120 plus VAT fee to be considered.

The Haymarket event happens in March 2005 and one award that may interest publishers is Best Online Property From A Media Owner.

In 2004, this was scooped by Emap for Aloud.com while the runners-up were Rodale’s Runner’s World, Associated New Media’s Thisismoney.co.uk and News International’s The Sun Online.

Want to know a bit more about who owns a domain name and what else they may be up to?

Well, the excellent Whois.sc site is your friend.

For $149 (£100) a year you can have unlimited access to the service which allows you to enter a domain name, find out who owns it and then look up what other domain names and web sites are on the same server.

Then it gets even smarter as Whois.sc will also show you what variants of the domain name you entered are taken or have not been taken.

The site works with international domain names including .com, .net, .org and .info

Now, if they could only do the same with .uk domains.

As editor of The Sun Online, newspaper veteran Pete Picton is responsible for making this online redtop one of the most popular tabloids on the web.

In an email interview with journalistic.co.uk, Picton reveals his views about online journalism, what is in store for The Sun Online and his take on blogs.

What do you think of the quality of online journalism?

Innovative. The web journalists’ biggest advantage is that they can see, very quickly, whether readers’ are interested in what they’re doing. So online is the best place to try out new ideas. Editors can gauge very quickly what is working – and do more of it – and what isn’t – so take that idea out and shoot it.

The result of this is that the web is currently the best laboratory for fresh developments in journalism.

Are newspapers adapting well to the web? Should they do more than just merely replicate their print editions?

It is interesting to see how various businesses have responded to the internet. Record companies, for instance, have found it very difficult while some supermarkets have done very well and some haven’t. Print companies, magazines and newspapers, are facing the same challenge.

However online newspapers are facing stiff competition from websites that don’t have a print parent but want newspapers’ readers.

The web is starting to see sites dominate certain markets with very lucrative results – Google for instance. And I think it is very important for a web site like The Sun to maintain a large share of the online “newspaper” market.

My view is that online newspapers should be an extension of the print product.

Over sixty per cent of The Sun Online is exclusive online content. It is important that our readers feel they are getting more of the things they love about The Sun Online.

They can follow the big news stories online as they develop and keep up to date with match reports as they happen.

If they read about a celebrity’s latest film or music in the paper they should be able to see or hear an extract at Sun Online.

We extend The Sun showbiz coverage by filming interviews with celebrities and taking Sun Online cameras to premieres and launches.

There are also areas the print parent can extend from its website. Some of our exclusive online content has proved so popular with the readers that, as a result, it has transferred to the paper.

And our online readers, from around the world, provide stories for the paper everyday.

Digital media or new media? What is your take on this, or is it just a discussion of semantics?

For an large amount of readers it is no longer new – perhaps “now media” would be better.

For example the Internet Advertising Bureau/Price Waterhouse Cooper have revised their prediction that online advertising spend will surpass radio, from 2007 to this Christmas.

For young readers, online is now one of the most important elements of their media consumption.

How did you start out in journalism and end up as editor of Sun Online?

I came from print. I’d previously been Assistant Editor (features) on The Sun, Deputy Editor of The Sunday People, Assistant Editor at heat before being promoted to Deputy Editor and worked my way through the ranks at Sunday magazine (NoW). I’ve also worked in contract publishing at High Life, reviewed records for Q magazine, been Features Editor at Looks woman’s fashion magazine (one bloke , 21 women – oh, happy days !), been an early pioneer exploring The Lads market on The Hit and covered football for most of the nationals when I worked for Hayters sports agency.

What skills do you think are essential for the “digital” journalist?

The same as any other form of journalism - get a great story and pictures, and the rest of the job becomes a lot easier.

Is the future “multi-skilled” journalists where they work across all media (TV, radio, print, online, emerging) or will there be room for those who specialise in just one area eg: just reporting, just working on radio. What is your take on this?

A good journalist, who wants to progress in the profession, should want to learn about as many of the media disciplines as they can, especially as the number of outlets in the medium – print, radio, TV, online, mobile devices etc – is growing.

Newspaper websites tend to have a smaller staff than their print parent which means journalists have to multi task. In my experience journalists who have come to online from print enjoy the opportunity to learn new skills, be it layout, subbing/writing or HTML.

What is your take on blogs?

I’m not sure what the difference is between bloggers and columnists?

I’m in favour of different voices in the media as long as those voices have something to say.

I’m a big believer in the view that editing is a skill readers value. They choose the publications they read because they like the choices the Editor has made on their behalf, they want the Editors to spend time sorting out the best content for them.

Just because you can easily publish on the web doesn’t always mean you should. How many chat rooms have you given up on because they get hi-jacked by moronic abuse?

Journalists and most writers, are taught that they should always have their copy read by an editor to ensure it is accurate and interesting. This skill is just as vital, if not more so, on the web.

Which 3 websites do you find most essential to use on a regular basis.

Drudge, Fark and the BBC.

What technology could you not do without?

The news wires are something I spend a lot of my waking hours gazing at.

What new developments are we likely to see from The Sun Online?

Page3.com 3zine is the latest project to come out of the garage, devised by Page3.com editor Adrian Higgins and his team. Sun Online is about to launch a travel section in partnership with Teletext holidays and you can expect to see Sun Online cameramen out and about as we expand our multimedia content.