It would be a horrific and callous mistake to analyze the actions of the Virginia Tech shooter as the actions of a sane man. My heart goes out to the victims and the families. Cho Seung-Hui was clearly a very disturbed young man; his actions cannot be rationalized.

But the multimedia manifesto - and it’s distribution methods - pose some interesting questions in the age of self publishing.

View graphic full size

I can’t claim to have any answers, but I’ve given this matter some thought.

Why did the shooter choose to send his multimedia package via mail to NBC? Why, in the age of easy, digital self-publishing, did he not simply upload his material to YouTube - create a blog on blogger, add his images to Flickr or Photobucket? An individual with the technical ability to create QuickTime movies and burn them to disk would more than likely be able to use YouTube.

If his goal was to spread his message - to be at last and finally understood - why send his manifesto to a news organization that would have no choice but to ethically edit the material that they chose to brand, publish and distribute?

What are the distribution advantages to utilizing an ‘old-school’ method of publishing?

In a discussion with a colleague, I posed these questions. He posed an interesting alternative - perhaps in the age of self-publishing, granting content exclusivity to a traditional news organization creates credibility in the way that self-published content could not.

Building on this idea, I wondered if sending the material directly to a news organization wasn’t a slick manipulation of NBC - which might, under different circumstances, have chosen not to air the material out of sensitivity to the victims. (Granting an exclusive scoop to one organization, as cynical as it may seem, almost inevitably guarantees that they will publish the material.)

Putting all questions of the individual’s motivation aside - what lessons about the role of news organizations in the age of self-publishing can we garner from this horrifically public, tragic story? Does this mean that traditional news organizations will indeed continue to have relevance in a self-publishing environment?

“My newsroom has great ideas for online innovation. We have great brainstorming sessions, but then it all kinda peters out, and nothing happens.”

Paraphrased, this is a question a paper staffer asked me recently: How do I bridge the gap between a great idea and its implementation?

I know this is the hardest thing for an alt-paper - time and resources being so limited.

Here are some suggestions I had - what would you add?

1. Think Small

Sometimes, thinking of a great meta-strategy is too-much - too overwhelming, too expensive, too far out of reach. Identify a small improvement that can be made, and get it done this week. Free tools that bloggers use are a great place to start - embedding video, adding audio, or creating a photo slideshow - any tool that someone is using to spruce up their MySpace page can probably be incorporated into your site.

2. Think Storytelling

Photos, video, and audio are tools in your journalistic arsenal. From the first pitch of an idea, through reporting and story meetings, consider these tools in addition to your standard print accompaniments of sidebars and graphics. Its much easier to gather multimedia content during the reporting phase than to add it at the last moment.

3. Think Experiments

It’s one thing to imagine adding local mp3s for each music story running in the paper. That could potentially be a lot of work! So - think experiments. Try different methods; see what works for your readers and your staff before making commitments.

4. Think Collaboration

Many papers have a dividing line between the editorial staff and the web staff. The website might be produced downstairs, by a freelancer, or by another arm of your corporate ownership that you never see. Of course, at many smaller papers, the web duties are 20 percent of what a staffer with another full time job does. In either scenario, the key to accomplishing a project is for the content producers (writers, editors) to work with the web producers throughout the writing and reporting process - no Monday morning requests for slideshows.

5. Think Workflow

“That sounds great. I have tons of ideas. The problem is - I HAVE NO TIME.” This is really one of the biggest challenges facing alts and the web - overloaded staffers who are already overwhelmed with their weekly duties and planning special sections. There are no easy answers here - but the biggest tip I can offer is to look carefully at workflow, and to make as many time-saving technical changes as possible in order to free staffers up to innovate online.

Those are my tips - what advice would you offer a newsroom struggling to implement its great ideas?

UPDATE, May 1, 2007
Innovation in College Media has adapted these tips for a college audience - with useful tips for everyone.

Here’s a quick improvement idea for your site - where is your newspaper website located?

Take a fresh look at your website - the way a first time reader might, if they happened upon a story link or a classifieds page. Looking at the header (the top part of a website that has the site name and slogan) - can your first-time reader identify where your paper is located?

I gave this a test on randomly selected AAN papers.

Where is this paper located?

This paper has a great name, but it’s not immediately clear where it is located.

Some information is better than none …

But to a worldwide audience, a city name or county might not be descriptive enough

I like the header on this site, which lists the internationally-known city name three times, and gives a clear overview of what this site is about: Everything Toronto.

Scroll down to the bottom of your site to check the footer navigation.
This is an easy place to list the full address and contact information for your paper - without making any design sacrifices.

Counter Argument

So what? Our readers know our name. They certainly know what city they live in! I don’t see how this matters.

Well …

it is true that your print readers certainly know what city they are in when they pick up a copy of your paper. But your online readers could be, well - anywhere. And while there is some truth to the argument that local online readers are the most valuable to your paper and your advertisers, it’s just not good business — or journalism — to confuse potential audiences.

Peeling the Onion from Web to Print

The Onion debuted a print product in Washington, DC last week, on the heels of it’s web-TV launch [See post, Onion TV Live Now].

The Onion’s media kit claims a healthy print circulation of 610,000 weekly, with print products in nine markets (not including the recent DC launch), and demographics similar to alt readers [See AWN demographics].

And hey, since faux-alts and dailies have been stealing ideas from alts for years, it seems only fair to size up this latest addition to newsracks.

The Onion’s DC print product is a great example of a reverse publishing model - content that is produced and then adapted for its respective mediums.

Graphs created by LauraFries.com using OmniGraffle

In its inaugural edition, the printed version of the DC Onion featured ‘news’ articles that published throughout the week on theONION.com. A.V. Club content (Arts and Entertainment Coverage) including both full-text articles (published on Friday online, vs. the paper’s Thursday), and excerpts of older reviews for capsule movie reviews.

Local events coverage - A.V. Washington, D.C. - featured 150 word capsules highlighting music, film and comedy events, with short articles written locally. None of this material currently appears on an Onion website.

What ideas can I steal?

• Different editorial calendars/publishing schedules for content that appears online and in print
• Formats that suit the medium: short, scannable excerpts in a commuter-based print product, and lengthier, more comprehensive coverage online.
• Brand leverage: Just as the Onion uses its brand name familiarity to launch new products with authority, so too can alts!

Thoughts?

Why is the Onion expanding into print markets at a time when so many others are shrinking their print operations in favor of web publishing? Will the Onion create city-specific web presences? What other web/print entities does the Onion have partnerships with?

Easy, Embeddable Google Maps for Your Site

Tagzania.com offers an easy way to add contextual map experience to your site.

Tagzania: Items by LauraFries

Tagzania allows you to:

• Create a point by searching for an address or clicking on the map.
• Add a description; including links to pictures hosted elsewhere, and links to stories
• Add keywords to your ‘point’ to help other users find your content

From there, it’s just a matter of clicking “Paste this map on your site” in order to generate some code that can be used throughout your site (depending, of course, on your individual templates).

In news stories where place is important, Tagzania can help illustrate the story for a reader. For example:

Point A: Factory leaking fumes
Point B: Schoolhouse where children became sick
Point C: Bakery where bread became contaminated

I created a quick map using AAN’s offices and two hostels I worked at to illustrate some possibilities.

How do you think Tagzania could work for your publication? Or do you have a better mapping tool we should know about?

Recently, the editor of an AAN paper asked for suggestions on improving his paper’s website. I received permission to blog my answer to him - so that we all could offer ideas.

Above the fold

“Above the fold” is a term leftover from print newspaper days, but it has relevance in the online world, where users rarely scroll down the homepage to view additional content. [See Poynter’s EyeTrack Studies.]

So what’s visible above the fold? Navigation, ad content, a rotating story/image teaser, a link to the cover story, and 3 upcoming events.

What’s below the fold? Tons of articles, more ad content, and listings search engines.

Five Quick Ideas for Improving this Site

1. Revamp the ‘above the fold’ space on the homepage. Move search for events and restaurants into a prominent position. Shrink the size of the rotating image (if it is kept), and add navigational elements that allow readers to flip back to the 3rd or last image they saw.

2. Make it a conversation. Add commenting functionality to articles. Consider displaying user comments on your homepage or on the section fronts to let readers know their voices are being heard. Including “bloggers linking here” links from technorati on articles.

3. Write headlines for the web. “Lonely Rose,” “Hay Ride,” and “Fuzzy Math” are clever headlines that work well in print layouts with images and subheads as context clues, but to readers who scan online, they don’t contain enough information. (Nor are they particularly search engine friendly.)

4. Invest in events listings. It can be a tremendous amount of work on the backend, but users expect the robust events listings functionality that they can find from sites as varied as Pollstar, Upcoming.org, and Eventful. I could only find 1 music event on this site, but I know there are many in the print edition.

5. Consider a ‘daily’ content strategy. This one is a toughie. But no matter how well designed a site of Thursday’s content is, it will be old hat to readers on Tuesdays. Brainstorm ways to get material on the website daily - publishing syndicated or feature stories online before they are printed, for example. Create robust events listings that feature ‘things to do today’ on the homepage every day.

Does anyone else have ideas for improving this website? What has worked for you?

Or, a Lil Dab’ll DB-Do ya.

WHAT: Online Spreadsheets, made better. DabbleDB.com features a faaaast video demonstration of Dabble’s functionality.

WHO WILL LOVE IT: Anyone who uses spreadsheets to track assignments, special sections, clients or finances will be impressed with DabbleDB’s versatility - especially reporters who crunch data and reps who crunch numbers.

WHY: Excel spreadsheets are clunky and often crash on Macs. Google Spreadsheets are somewhat better, but DabbleDB offers more flexibility.

HOW IT ROCKS: To import your old spreadsheets, you can *cut and paste* your old spreadsheets. You can also cut and paste info you find online, such as public records search results.

Dabble allows you to select which fields you want to see at any given time … which means you can have a giant spreadsheet, but you can easily just compare and sort by two columns — without having to cut and paste your info into a new spreadsheet.

Below is a screenshot of my Dabble account, as I sort by AAN member papers with a MySpace presence.

You can also re-arrange your columns easily and on a whim. Filters allow you to display only the info you need (like “unpaid accounts”).

I asked AAN Awards Contest Administrator Heather Kuldell, who works with massive spreadsheets, for her take on Dabble:

The handiest part of Dabble DB is combining the view feature with the export features. For the AltWeekly Awards, I have large spreadsheets of information on judges — first name, last name, email, mailing addresses, what categories they judge, reading assignments, etc. But I only need to see a few columns for various steps of the awards. One view I have is simply a view that shows a first name, last name, and mailing address that I can export as a .csv file, which I can flow into Word to create mailing labels.

HOW TO USE IT: DabbleDB has a lot of great “help” info with screenshots embedded into the site, so the best way to figure out DabbleDB is to set up a trial account.

COST: Free, if you are OK with your info being public [Free account info]. Free, if you remember to delete your account within the 30 day trial period. Or, for a private account $10/month. [See Dabble DB pricing plans]

NERD NOTE: To create a free account, set up a 30 day trial account. Follow instructions to ‘upgrade your account’ - but choose the Free option, not a paid one.