BY CHRISTIAN OLIVER
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE 2008 WAN REPORT
Much progress has been made in creating multimedia newsrooms over the past couple of years, and newspapers of all sizes have built newsrooms capable of producing content for a variety of media outlets. Every company has had its own approach and the focus has mostly been on pure organizational aspects such as who reports to whom and how working groups are formed as well as the physical aspects of the newsroom of the future. In last year’s Innovations in Newspapers report we talked about how a cutting edge multimedia newsroom operates and is laid out.
As multimedia publishing continues to grow, team work is becoming the norm, not just for special projects but for everyday content production. The days of the go-it-alone prize-winning reporter are numbered. In the future, award-winning journalism will be produced by well trained multidisciplinary teams. The bar has been raised to the point where no single person has all the skills needed to pull it off on his or her own.
Keeping this in mind, and assuming that the physical and organizational changes for a multimedia newsroom have taken place, let’s explore the kind of tools that newsrooms will rely on to compete in the future.
Technology Framework
The architecture of the newsroom is a key component of the newsroom of the future, but newsrooms can’t truly become multimedia unless they have the technology platforms needed to actually publish content in multiple media outlets.
Unfortunately, many newsrooms still rely on print oriented content management systems (CMS) that are completely independent and separate from their website’s content management system. In many cases, the web’s CMS is an appendix, or an afterthought, to the newspaper’s system. Another problem is that most publishing systems have evolved from print to web and still use the newspaper product as the core system for publishing content.
Using the newspaper as the system’s anchor is not nearly as good as basing it on the web, since the web provides an incredibly broader scope of content possibilities, and thus would be the ideal core of a modern Content Management System.
A truly multimedia-capable CMS is the crucial underpinning for the newsroom of the future. It must be able to manage input and output for a large number of media outlets with flexible, on-the-fly, content construction and delivery. Most importantly, it must be able to interact with “the next thing” every time it appears. One way to achieve this is by being able to interact with systems through common and standardized data formats such as XML (Extensible Markup Language). This not only increases the flexibility and speed of adopting future new platforms but also makes it easy for the core system to be entirely replaced in the event that something better becomes available.
Another crucial component that should be part of the newsroom of the future is secure remote connectivity. Working with e-mail is fine but incredibly limited and incredibly insecure. The necessary infrastructure has to be put in place so that journalists and other team members are able to work remotely with full access to all the tools and resources that are available inside the newsroom. Thus, all the tools yet to be mentioned should be remotely accessible in a secure fashion.
Team Work Support Tools
Even well trained teams cannot function without tools to support their work. Some are still being developed, but others have been in use in other fast-paced industries for years. In fact, I’ve written this article based not only on my expertise but also by looking at best practices in other industries that require fast and well coordinated team work.
The ability to communicate effectively is critical. A team that relies solely on e-mail or on walking to somebody’s desk (if he/she is there), and on being able to talk face-to-face is bound to run into trouble. Adopting a robust communications platform is the key to solving most of these problems and increasing productivity. There are many solutions ranging widely in complexity and price but the most important components are shared calendars, to-do lists, discussion forums, file sharing and even collaborative authoring. The overriding goal must be simplicity and ease of use. One very important advantage of using such a system is that everything stays documented: why decisions were made, what was considered, what problems were faced, etc. If someone new joins a team, it’s very easy for that person to catch up and quickly learn the history of a project. Tools of this type have been adopted extensively in the software and web development communities.
The way we communicate has become fragmented in the sense that there are different tools for communicating specific message at a certain time and in a certain place. The new generation knows that it’s ineffective to make a phone call when the message is more appropriate for an SMS. They also know that some things have to be discussed in person and that sitting around a table is sometimes the best way to resolve an argument. But what are these other tools that can be used to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of communications?
Without a doubt, Instant Messaging is one of them. A well deployed platform would allow team members to quickly exchange information as needed, including files and links. Furthermore, instant voice conversations and video conferences right from someone’s desk or laptop can improve the speed of decision making and content production. This doesn’t mean phones will no longer be used. They will just be used in different ways. In the case of mobile phones, SMS (Short Messaging Service) will no doubt be used as much or more than voice, particularly when someone is not at his/her desk or available over the Instant Messaging platform. In fact, broadcast SMS messages can become very useful for time-sensitive alerts that must reach everyone.
The latest iteration of the Mac OS’s chat application even includes a feature which allows users to share their screen during a chat session. This can be very helpful for some types of training and troubleshooting. Imagine helping a co-worker with a computer problem without even leaving your desk.
But how good are all these communication tools if we don’t know whom we need to be communicating with? The Rolodex needs to be replaced by a centralized “people repository” which includes not just a person’s contact information but additional information such as areas of expertise, relationships with other persons and keeps track of the interactions with external contacts. Think CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for the Newsroom. The best practices in shared contact management are in sales, personal relations and support. Why can’t a newsroom use tools to track everyone it “knows” and how it interacts with them. Granted, there are confidential sources and those should be handled differently. Such a tool would help reduce redundant contacts with a source and even detect over-reliance on certain sources, while leading to an overall improvement in the relationship with the source.
Individual Work Support Tools
Other tools can help improve individual productivity. In some industries, Intranets have been used for a long time, particularly in consulting. Some of the largest and most successful consulting firms rely on extensive document repositories to allow their employees to be more productive on their own and reduce the time usually wasted in reinventing the wheel. Newsrooms can leverage such platforms to share documents and manuals which can be used by all employees. Furthermore, using tools such as WiKis, which are sites that can be collaboratively edited, the newsroom can have instant access to style manuals, standardized letters, reference content and even training materials.
Speaking of training, this is one of the areas where newsrooms need more help on a continuous basis. The media world is changing and will continue changing at a fast pace and journalists need to keep up with the technologies, applications and tools that can help them do a better job, starting with the tools mentioned here, which can be learned though interactive training programs such as those available from Lynda.com. How can one make a photo slideshow with voice over? How can one edit an audio podcast? What has changed in the latest version of my favorite program?
There are also tools that can help to improve journalistic work. Keeping tabs on sources has always taken a lot of time, but now the audience and the competition need to be tracked as well. Tools such as RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and customized widgets (small applications that run in the background on the computer) can help journalists keep track of developments involving their sources, their competition and their audience. They can receive notification of new comments about their articles or view traffic to their stories or keep abreast of the areas they are covering. Another widget could provide live tracking of user searches in the website, providing help in reorganizing the layout of stories in the homepage. This would help determine the audience’s reaction to a story and point the way to additional coverage.
Finally, newsroom managers must be prepared for one important challenge: the generational difference in adoption rates for such tools and technologies. Younger professionals are quicker to see their advantages and are used to working with digital devices. Older professionals may not be as willing to adapt, a situation that can sometimes lead to frustration in the ranks and may ultimately lead to difficulties in retaining employees.
Tags: Articles, Newspapers, Newsrooms, Productivity, Tools
I found Steve Outing’s article about his experience of switching to digital only very interesting. I’ve been digital only for more than 11 years now. I tried to go back once but found the paper to be too messy.
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