Sky Launches Interactive Site

Sky News has unveiled a new beta version of its website where interactivity and customisation are the name of the game.

The site has a community section managed by Pluck which currently comprises discussion forums and comments areas.

According to the Guardian, the community offerings will be expanded in the future to allow users to create profiles of themselves and start writing their own blogs.

Other current interactive features include a Story Tracker device enabling visitors to select up to ten articles for which they want to receive automatic updates.

And the left-hand sidebar has a customisable element as users can select the category of news they wish to see displayed there.

Sky News Networked Media editor Steve Bennedik said of these new customisable sections: “The features we are introducing to personalise the site are just the start of a process aimed at allowing our users to tailor sky.com/news to suit all their online needs.”

The site has also introduced a new blog penned by Sky News anchor Eammon Holmes.

Further details on the new site can be found on the Sky News editors’ blog.

Comments Make Front-Page News

A newspaper has used online comments from the public to support its “Divided City” front page.

Visitors to the South Wales Evening Post have submitted hundreds of comments on articles concerning a local man who died when driving a stolen car.

The often heated debate taking place among its web users has been transferred to its printed pages with the reverse-publishing of sample comments.

And last week the Post splashed on the issue and reported that the clear divide between those making comments reflected the social divisions within Swansea itself.

The title’s web content editor told holdthefrontpage.co.uk that the newspaper’s digital coverage of the story has seen young people get involved in a way never seen with the print publication.

Paul Turner said: “The reaction to the story has revealed the power of a multimedia approach to presenting the news.

“It has also allowed teenagers and young adults who would never have dreamed of writing to a newspaper, to make their feelings known on an issue via the web.”

Beeb Unveils Video Plans

Plans for a local video online network to serve the UK regions have been made public by the BBC.

The corporation is proposing to create a network of about 65 local websites to provide on-demand video news.

And the plans include a fund of £800,000 which would be used to buy video content from other news providers, according to Journalism.co.uk.

The BBC says it would also make its own video packages available to other news sites to embed on their pages.

The plans have been met with criticism by the Newspaper Society, which is outlined in its initial response.

Further details on the proposals can be found in this Guardian article from last month.

North West Web Winners Announced

The Liverpool Daily Post and the Warrington Guardian took the online honours at this year’s North West Newspaper Awards.

Among the three prizes taken by the Daily Post was the award for best Daily Newspaper Website, reports Holdthefrontpage.co.uk.

“We’re very proud of what we have achieved online in a relatively short time; from our breaking news and video reports to the niche sites, live blogs and hugely popular Flickr group,” said editor Mark Thomas.

And the corresponding prize for a weekly newspaper website went to the Warrington Guardian.

Editor Nicola Priest commented: “This is a prestigious award and is a testament to all the hard work of our brilliant journalists as well as the valuable contribution of our readers.”

SPOTLIGHT - MAPS

Hello and welcome to this fortnight’s SPOTLIGHT post on the use of maps by the news media.

We’ll start our journey by going back to see when using maps as online reporting tools really took off.

Then we’ll travel through the current media landscape to take a look at some of the many innovative ways that news sites are using maps to enhance their online coverage.

Along the way we’ll also see examples of maps which rely on user participation, before completing our travels with a guide to mapping resources for journalists.


INTRODUCTION

Exactly eight years ago yesterday, Dylan Loeb McClain wrote in the New York Times:

“If The Associated Press succeeds with its newest project, people who read newspapers, watch television news broadcasts or scan Web media sites will soon see maps, maps and more maps.

“And not just ordinary, run-of-the-mill maps - those pedestrian items with a couple of roads and the names of some towns - but maps that show demographic data, or earthquake fault lines and the number and location of quakes along each fault or even the location of every tree and bush in a neighborhood.

“The new product, called MapShop, is a Web-based program designed to allow journalists to create in minutes sophisticated, information-rich maps that once might have taken hours or even days.”

McClain may not have backed the right horse in the software stakes but his prescient article does provide a pretty accurate picture of today’s multimedia mapping landscape.

Newsrooms are now able to create detailed maps integrating different kinds of data in a relatively quick and easy way which must have been almost unthinkable back in the early days of news websites.

The Advent of Google Maps

But it wasn’t MapShop that unleashed this mapping frenzy, rather it was the launch of Google Maps in 2005 which saw cybercartography become one of the most popular and exciting trends in online journalism.

Unlike the paid-for MapShop (now known as Map Studio), the Google Maps API is a free tool which enables users to create their own maps which can be embedded on their own sites.

Since then, growing numbers of mapping software providers offer their applications for free (listed at the end), but the Google Maps API is the overwhelming tool of choice for the majority of news sites.

Now let’s take a look at how news organisations in the UK and the US have created their own maps to add a fresh dimension to their stories.

The Three Degrees

There are three main ways that maps are currently used by news providers or aggregators, they can be categorised as follows:

1 Interactive Maps

The map and all its data is submitted and maintained by journalists/ technical staff. Users can usually interact by choosing which areas to view and digging down to find more content.

Examples:- Maps of restaurant reviews, traffic hotspots and special projects such as crime maps.

2 Collaborative Maps

Users can submit their own data to the map to supplement the information provided by the editorial team.

Examples:- Pothole and fuel price maps.

3 News Maps

These maps enable users to select news in areas of interest to them by browsing a map and are created using geotagging or geocoding systems – these will be discussed in next fortnight’s post.

Interactive Maps – UK

Maps can be used as part of a campaign issue and this is how the Manchester Evening News started the new year with its interactive multimedia map showing shooting deaths in Greater Manchester over the last eight years.

[Manchester Gun Murders Mapped – 10.01.08]

While Sky News used an interactive map to highlight the various environmental projects taking place throughout the UK, from individual actions to large-scale green schemes.

Maps can be used as an information resource and are particularly popular in relation to fuel price issues.

For example, the Lancashire Evening Post recently used a Google map satellite image to show where to buy the cheapest petrol in Preston.

Maps are also a popular tool for election coverage and here’s an example from the Liverpool Echo’s online reporting of the recent council elections.

And maps can be an effective way to communicate information from a breaking news story, demonstrated by the Plymouth Herald which used a Google map with an article about unsafe drinking water.

The Herald used the map to inform people of the areas potentially affected by the incident.

Journalists are also deploying mapping applications in order to provide a multimedia dimension to major news stories.

For example, the Ipswich Evening Star used several interactive maps in its coverage of a multiple murder trial.

[Multimedia Journalism Draws Traffic – 18.03.08]

Interactive Maps – US

Looking across the pond, maps are being used in similar ways but there are also several areas where maps really seem to have taken off in a manner not seen in the UK.

Interactive maps using real-time data are cropping up on a significant number of sites and a great example is the 911 Calls graphic from the Indianapolis Star.

The map, which received a notable entry mention at last year’s Knight-Batten Awards, enables users to see the most recent 30 emergency callouts for police and fire services.

While among the Toronto Star’s gallery of interactive maps is a traffic information resource which provides links to real-time pictures from the city’s traffic cameras.

In the US, journalists are also using maps to provide graphics on non-news stories and feature articles.

For example, the Las Vegas Sun illustrated its History of Fabulous Las Vegas with an interactive map charting the development of casinos along the strip.



While the Bakersfield Californian has mapped the favourite restaurant reviews of its resident food critic.

Collaborative Maps – UK

Collaborative maps are certainly a less common sight on UK websites at present but seem to be growing in popularity.

They encourage the active participation of users to help submit information and build a collaborative data resource.

Recent examples include an online map from BBC Radio 4’s iPM programme which asked visitors their experience of the credit crunch in order to create “a mood map”.

[Users Help Beeb Map Credit Crunch – 13.05.08]

Another example of an innovative collaborative map can be seen at the Sunderland Echo where expats from the north-east can add their locations and details about themselves on a map of the world.



Collaborative Maps – US

The Bakersfield Californian boasts a number of interesting collaborative maps, including the potholes graphic where users have helped map potholes so they can be brought to the attention of local services.

In addition, the website has a Quirks map where registered members can post details about their favourite quirky features and local landmarks in the area.

The Bowling Green Daily News is using collaborative mapping to serve the community through its Yard Sales map where users submit information of garage and yard sales.

Finally, the Times Herald-Record used collaborative mapping tools to create its Gas Watch graphic showing petrol prices in the region.

Resources

There’s no shortage of online resources about mapping so here’s a just a few links to some useful sites.

Directions magazine has regular podcasts about geospatial technology and many include discussions on the use of maps by news media.

While the Google Maps Mania blog offers an abundance of hints and tips through its Special Features posts such as 100 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups and a four-part series on how the news media is using maps.

Other useful posts about Google maps include this entry from 10,000 Words on how to use pictures with Google maps and this Google maps tutorial post from Andy Dickinson.

There are lots of other mapping software providers and here’s links to a few of them:

Stamen Design

Atlas

Quik Maps

Map Builder

MappedUp – This displays stories from news source RSS feeds and puts them onto a world map

Frappr - Enables users to map visitors to their websites

Platial - Social mapping provider

So that’s it for this fortnight’s SPOTLIGHT post, next time we’ll be looking at the accompanying subject of geotagging.

Trinity Papers Launch YouTube Channels

A further 20 Trinity Mirror newspapers have created their own channels on video-sharing site YouTube.

The Liverpool Daily Post was the first Trinity title to launch its own branded space on the website last month.

It has now been joined by another 20 including the Huddersfield Examiner channel and the Liverpool Echo channel.

Journalists are able to upload videos to their own sites and to the channels by a single click since the incorporation of a YouTube application within the content management system.

Trinity Mirror’s online marketing manager told Holdthefrontpage.co.uk that its newspapers are creating YouTube channels as they launch their revamped websites.

Jessica Healy said: “Every new site that we launch, we set up the functionality and encourage them to use it.”

She added: “It’s very much in its infancy but the aim is that every video we put up on our sites will be put into YouTube.”

News Sites Offer Interactive Flood Coverage

Regional news websites are collaborating with their readers to provide comprehensive coverage of the recent floods in Iowa.

The Des Moines Register has created picture galleries where users are able to post their photos of the extensive flooding.

Residents are also able to contribute to a Google map indicating the severity of flooding across the state (at time of writing this map was down due to technical problems).

The Register has also created several non-interactive maps, including one which shows the evacuation zones for people living in the Des Moines flood plains.

Data editor James Wilkerson told Poynter Online: “We’ve been doing interactive maps like this for other, non-emergency situations, so it just struck us as an appropriate use for something we’d already developed.”

He added that the Register’s digital projects editor took about a day to produce the information maps from existing code.

Iowa’s (Cedar Rapids) Gazette has also deployed multimedia tools to report on the floods.

Its YouTube channel has videos with aerial shots of the rising waters as well as footage take from boats.

Further information on the Iowa floods coverage can be found at Poynter Online.

Times Maps Major League Menus

A New York Times journalist has used multimedia tools to tell the story of his trip round the food stalls of America’s baseball stadiums.

Food critic Peter Meehan visited all 30 major league ballparks in order to produce his culinary scorecard feature.

This includes an interactive map where users can choose a stadium and see Meehan’s reviews with photos of “what to order” and “what to avoid”.

Visitors can also view a slideshow of photographs taken during the cross-country road trip and read Meehan’s 3-page article about his culinary quest.

Boston.com Employs Geotagging Partner

The website of the Boston Globe has enlisted a third party to geotag all its content.

MetaCarta will geocode all articles uploaded to Boston.com and will also handle the geotagging of information taken from other websites for the Globe’s local search service.

This means visitors to the Globe’s site will be able to search for stories and information within their own hyperlocal area.

These search services are intended to improve user frequency and the number of page views.

According to the vice president of product at Boston.com, the new tagging service will enable readers to “zero in on locations that matter to them”.

Bob Kempf added: “We are committed to positioning content and offering functionality in ways that meet the needs of our audience and advertisers.

“We see that opportunity as increasingly local.”

More information on the deal can be found in the press release.

Interactive Graphics: Recipe For Success

A designer with USA Today has revealed the secrets behind its successful interactive political feature.

Juan Thomassie told Poynter Online about the process behind putting together USA Today’s Candidate Match Game.

The interactive graphic enables users to see how their opinions on key issues match up with the declared views of the future presidential candidates.

And this month saw the website launch Candidate Match Game II – where the field has been whittled down to an Obama-McCain head-to-head.

The original game has attracted some 2.5 million unique users since it launched in September 2007.

According to Thomassie, the success of the feature is down to three elements:

1 Design

2 Content

3 Development

The designer said that the content side requires the most effective teamwork and communication.

And it’s the feature’s development which is the crucial ingredient for a successful online interactive game, asserted Thomassie.

He stated: “Each piece of the equation in interactivity requires some level of programming and familiarity with dynamic content, often dealing with databases and queries and presentation of the data.”

“Interactivity takes more and more skills, more teamwork and more people involved to bring all of those skills into the project,” noted Thomassie.

He concluded: “If someone comes to the page, interacts with the graphic, spends time digging for more content - spending at least 5 or 6 minutes on a page - it’s worth it.”