Technology
Need for speed 2: Newspaper data diving, metrics and methodologies
Welcome to the weeds, fellow bit-twisters and data divers. We can chat here without worrying about the numeracy nonbelievers. This post details the methodologies used in “Need for speed 1: Newspaper load times give ‘slow news days’ new meaning.” First, you and I both know “load time” is a fickle metric, completely dependent on the … Continued
Models for preserving news archives that long served the industry leave digital content in peril
Edward McCain, digital curator of journalism at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, spoke about the growing loss of born-digital content at Dodging the Memory Hole: Beyond NDNP, a meeting of concerned archivists, journalists and other stakeholders held on Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C. Below are his remarks. How many of you read George Orwell’s novel … Continued
McCainspeakwrite plusgood, or How I came up with the name ‘Dodging the Memory Hole’
We started digging our current Memory Hole a few decades ago: Technological systems that support the creation and presentation of modern journalism, those digital troves holding “the first rough draft of history,” morphed so quickly and frequently over the years that we no longer know where the treasure is buried. Like drunken buccaneers, journalistic enterprises … Continued
McCainspeakwrite or How I came up with the name ‘Dodging the Memory Hole’
It’s been two years since I rolled out of Tucson, Arizona, and headed east on Interstate 10 toward the University of Missouri, a.k.a. Mizzou, my alma mater in Columbia, Missouri. Along with suitcases and camera gear from 30 years as a photojournalist, I brought audiobooks to pass the hours on cruise control. My first selection … Continued
Tracy Clark’s take on 15 news aggregation apps: Part 3
NewsRepublic NewsRepublic was founded in 2008 by CEO Gilles Raymond. In March 2012 it received a Series A $3 million investment and in October 2013 it received a Series B $6 million VC funding. As explained on an earlier version of their site, “NewsRepublic is a global news app that lets you be your own … Continued
Tracy Clark’s take on 15 news aggregation apps: Part 2
Google Play Newsstand Google has made several attempts at media aggregation, first with Google News in 2002, which was deemed beta for the first three years. It promotes itself as a service that “aggregates real-time news content from news sources around the world, generating 72 editions in 55 languages, and powering Google’s news search. In … Continued
Washington Missourian: Digital offerings growing faster than print
The Washington Missourian’s digital ventures have been evolutionary, picking up steam as the company gets further and further into the effort. The newspaper started with a website more than a decade ago, recalls General Manager Bill Miller Jr., “mostly because everybody else was doing it.” Now the company has a presence on social media sites … Continued
Washington Missourian: Print or be printed
I did a “press check” with Washington Missourian Publisher Bill Miller Sr. and General Manager Bill Miller Jr. during a recent Friday afternoon press run and it brought back decades-old memories to this old newspaper guy. But the technology involved in the Missourian’s printing process — electronic transfer of information directly from computer screen to … Continued
Washington Missourian: Striving to survive in print and online
When it comes to applying technology to improve their business, leaders of the Washington Missourian take a best of both worlds approach. The twice-weekly paper in Eastern Missouri has pushed into nearly every new digital communication method — from a website to Twitter to Pinterest. “If we don’t do it,” says Advertising Director Jeanine York, … Continued
Looking at a photographic image from another point of view: Yours
Good writers can conjure a vivid image in our minds with just words. But journalists also have long relied on illustrations, photographs and videos to enrich a story. Photographs and, by extension, videos have an important limitation. The story is told from one point of view – that of the photographer. The photographer structures our … Continued