Category Archives: online journalism

More behavioural targeting for advertisers as Times revamps website

MediaWeek has lots of blah about the Times revamp meaning ‘upgrading’ audio and video (whatever that means) and “more analysis” (you need to ‘revamp’ a website to do that?). But what’s this hidden in par 2?

“Zach Leonard, digital media publisher of Times Online, said the site would also offer more contextual and behavioural targeting for advertisers and sponsors.”

Sounds like that’s the real headline story here.

UPDATE (Feb 6): There’s an ‘ask the designers’ feature at Times Online where they explain the process of the redesign, including the reason for that strange lime green. Georgia works well but it is very ‘now’ and may start to date in a few years…

UPDATE (Feb 9): There’s even more at Press Gazette on the systems that are being used to integrate print and online, to handle comments, and the future plans around video and archive content.

Newspaper Video:Editing and Apps. Part 3

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More from Andy Dickinson (see post on the previous incarnation of this blog) on Newspaper Video:Editing and Apps. Part 3 looks at the low/no cost option, (in the second post he looked at packages that “may not have the reputation but may have what you need at a price that suits.”)

Online Journalism Blog email feed

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If you’re one of the subscribers to the FeedBurner email newsletter that I set up for this blog’s previous incarnation – do not worry: I have updated the details so that you will continue to receive updates from the new, WordPress-based version.

If you’re interested, the new feed is at http://feeds.feedburner.com/onlinejournalismblog

Wiki weakness: the PR trap

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Following Shane Richmond’s detailed analysis of wikis and factors hindering their growth as news tools (namely vandalism and inaccuracy), Jemima Kiss has an interesting article highlighting another: PR companies, “after Microsoft apparently paid a blogger to work on various technical entries”. It’s a trap that blogs have already fell foul of – from fake blogs like Cillit Bang’s Barry Scott’s and the even faker WalMart couple-travelling-across-the-USA blog, to PR companies who are employed to seed positive mentions of their clients’ products/services across blogs (among other sites).

Press releases, sponsored ‘surveys’ and PR-organised media events have always provided a large amount of journalistic fuel, so this is nothing new, but one skill the future editor must have is the ability to spot these tactics in their blogs and wikis.

THIS BLOG IS MOVING

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I’ve bowed to the inevitable and decided to move the Online Journalism Blog to WordPress. I’ve had a few good years with Blogger but the relationship never felt like it was going anywhere, and, to be honest, on occasion I even felt ashamed to be seen in public together.

I admit, I was starstruck by the prospect of better Google rankings, but the indie appeal of WordPress has finally won me over. Oh, and the fact that when Blogger went over to a Google sign-in I couldn’t log on at work (I’m sure it’s something to do with cookie settings and I could sort it out if I had the time, but no, I’d rather spend endless hours configuring WordPress to work the same way).

So, if you want to carry on reading my clippings, comments and very occasional flash of insightful analysis, add https://onlinejournalismblog.wordpress.com/ to your Favourites and https://onlinejournalismblog.wordpress.com/feed/ to your RSS feed.

I may occasionally still post to Blogger while I figure WordPress out, but don’t hold your breath.

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Paul Bradshaw lectures on the Journalism degree at UCE Birmingham media department. He writes a number of blogs including the Online Journalism Blog, Interactive PR and Web and New Media

Another wiki service

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Following my previous post on the free xwiki service for creating wikis, I’ve discovered SocialText, a more commercial operation but which does offer a free ‘personal version’ as well. Worth exploring if you’re thinking of experimenting with ‘the new blog’ (TM).

UPDATE: Added to the list is Zoho’s wiki, part of a whole suite of free online office products. And you can add PBwiki to that, too.

Are you killing your comments?

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Article at the OJR highlights mistakes that “cripple” reader interactivity. These are, in a nutshell:
Not reading or responding to your readers’ comments
Responding too quickly, and too often, to readers’ comments
Not giving readers a place of their own place to talk

Integrated Newsrooms part 1: The new Telegraph model

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[Keyword: journalism, online journalism]. In the first of a promised three-part series, Editors Weblog looks at the new ‘multimedia hub’ newsroom of the Daily Telegraph. Unfortunately, it reads a bit fluffy, complete with a riding-into-the-sunset final paragraph:

“[Rhidian Wynn Davies, Consulting Editor of The Telegraph] says simply “we couldn’t do what we do now in the old structure”. [Edward Roussel, Digital Editor at The Telegraph] explains a little further “Everyone is on one floor and no-one can hide away in their office – there aren’t any. It improves communication. I don’t think anyone would want to go back to how it was. It’s such a dynamic environment now, we have short sharp meetings where decisions are made quickly rather than hour long arranged meetings. Before people didn’t communicate. Now those that aren’t good at communicating are forced to. There is no question that it works a lot better and the quality of the content is higher””

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Paul Bradshaw lectures on the Journalism degree at UCE Birmingham media department. He writes a number of blogs including the Online Journalism Blog, Interactive PR and Web and New Media