1. University of North Texas
Department of Journalism
Online Journalism 3340
March 2, 2010
Types of Convergence

2. Todays class
Election Day news
Types of convergence
3. Ten Key Lessons
Dont overload them.
Create home pages that satisfy.
Entice them to keep reading.
Summarize stories on the home page.
Include visuals with anything that matters
Convey whats important with a clear visual hierarchy.
Beware of too much scrolling and clicking.
Provide background, explanation and context.
Provide background, explanation and context.
Break up information into manageable chunks.
Get rid of clutter.
4. The Early Days News Websites
The Evolution
Mainly straight text, no graphics
Bulletin boards (BBS), forums ruled
Minimal investment
Late 70s/early 80s: VideoText
Miami Herald: Viewtron
Belo: BISON Belo Information Systems On-line
Progidy: Cowboys Content
Knight Ridder, Tribune: $30 million
Regurgitation: What was in print showed up online
No staffs Gungho geeks who become mavericks of their time
5. The Miami Herald, then owned by Knight-Ridder, invested $17mm in 1984
Dedicated keyboard/terminal that could only be used for the videotext service. This equipment cost $600 to $900; later, as personal computing caught on,Viewtron would try to sell its services via IBM, Apple, or Commodore PCs.
A television set to display the color images, which took time to load or paint
A monthly subscription fee of $12 (the first month was free)
A phone line to send information back to a central computer, for which the consumer initially paid $1 an hour
Source: Poynter.org: Before there was the Internet, There was Viewtron, by Howard Finberg, http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=52769
6. 1993: September 2: Middlesex (Mass.) News launches first Internet gopher-based online newspaper.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/ScreenShots/Fred_the_computer.jpg
7. January 1994: Salt Lake Tribune opens a BBS called Utah Online.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carlson/history/ScreenShots/utah_online.jpg
8. Types of News Websites
Shovelware
What you read in the daily newspaper or see on TV is what you see on the website
Costs
Staffing
Lack of technology/content management system
Strategic decision
All stories written in traditional inverted pyramid style
What are the pros & cons?
9. Types of News Websites
Periodic Updating
Mainly shovelware with some exceptions
Breaking News
Sports stories/scores
Some dedicated staff assigned
10. Types of News Websites
Continuous Updating
Combination of shovelware and original packages
Wire-service (AP, Reuters) operation mentality
Sports stories/scores
Special web-only reports
Extensive interactive features, graphics, including audio and video
Full-time dedicated staff
11. Corporate Structure
Specific newspaper brands tied to the home town
Dallasnews.com
Washingtonpost.com
Nytimes.com
Umbrella sites
Newhouse News Regional Approach
AlabamaLive.com
NJ.com
ClevelandLive.com
Which approach is better? Does it matter?
12. Digital Storytelling Tools
Shovelware out, Within Media In
Its no place for lazy journalists
Dig deeper, report more, drive to find more sources, quicker
Need to be more accurate and more thorough
Search, research and verify
13. Integration
Among-media
Shovelware
Reproducing newspaper story as-is into newspaper
Posting video from newscast onto the web
I think that the great fear was that we were all going to turn into three-headed monsters and do three times as much work in eight hours, and you just cant. And, furthermore, you probably wont do it that well; particularly in a market this size you cant afford to have a mediocre person on TV or a mediocre news writer.
Jim Riley, Director of Operations, of TBO.com
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017858030.php
14. Integration
Within-media
Great reporting + multimedia using digital media tools: your pen, paper, digital recorder, digital video camera
Long form narrative meets digital story telling
Fully integrated into the story assignment process
Ability for more in-depth coverage
Better interviews
Greater consciousness of photos
Selected use of video
Fairness & accuracy still reign
15. Types of Convergence
Storytelling or presentation: Using digital tools to create new forms of story telling.
Print
Broadcast
Internet
16. Types of Convergence
Storytelling or presentation: Using digital tools to create new forms of story telling.
Broadcast
Internet
Print
17. 18. The Interactive Audience
Shorter lines of communication between journalists and audience
Traditional Media:
Readers v. Non-readers
Readers an amorphous mass
Defined audience by geography
Circulation, signal
19. The Interactive Audience
Now:
Individual, personalized, direct
Email addresses for reporters
Tracking readers: Story by story
Top Down
Editors to
Readers
Readers in
Control
Audience
Participation
20. Participatory journalism - We Media
http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php?id=P36