We’re back with more links and resources around some of the discussion topics planned for news:rewired – beyond the story.
In this post we’ve collected some tips and articles of interest relating to the digital production desk session, which features speakers Jonathan Richards, Martin Stabe and Vicky Taylor, discussing: the move to digital platforms and production desks; the new tools and opportunities on offer and also how to apply traditional skills to the new media environment.
Importantly, we’ll be discussing how the roles of production staff, not just journalists, are being challenged and developed in the digital arena and how the production boundaries can be pushed even further.
Useful blog posts
- Here’s a useful, albeit brief, introduction to one of our speakers, Vicky Taylor, from an interview with us back in 2008 – “Social media journalist”
- In this 2007 post on Journalism.co.uk Janice Min, editor in chief of Us Weekly, talks about how her magazine is adapting to the challenges of digital publication – “What does a print magazine need to do to live digitally”
- Considering producing content on tablet devices? These tips for tablet publishers may be a useful read from igadgetlife.com – “Five tips for the tablet digital magazine publisher”
- Here multimedia producer Colin Mulvany offers his thoughts on how newspaper website videos can, and need, to improve and make more of the digital production desk available to them – “Video at newspapers needs to improve”
- The BBC College of Journalism discusses another digital production desk opportunity for storytelling, the audio slideshow – “In praise of the audio slideshow”
- Martin Belam, who is actually speaking on our linked data and semantic web panel, provides a round-up of all his blogposts which look at digital newspaper design for traditional publication websites – “Newspaper website design”
- Last year Fiona Cullinan produced this starter kit for online sub-editors on her Subs’ Standards blog – “Top 10 checks” and this interesting post on evolving online – “RIP sub-editing”
- Back in 2006, when the Telegraph announced some of its stories would be published to the web first, Journalism.co.uk featured this article from Shane Richmond where he discusses the impact on journalists and the production of the paper and site – “Internet publishing does not mean the death of newspapers”
- Editorial development director at RBI Karl Schneider wrote about the transition of production staff to online desks last year on his blog, outlining how he sees these roles developing and what will be required from publishers – “The web production desk”
- In this post on his Currybet.net blog Martin Belam asks whether journalists need to learn to be programmers?
Resources
- Looking for inspiration on opening up production? The Guardian developed its digital platform through this WordPress plugin which enables the publication of its own articles to bloggers – “The Guardian news feed”
- There are scores of ideas at PBS Mediashift on the changing role of production staff and journalists in the digital age, some of the most relevant posts include “Rethinking the role of the journalist in the participatory age” and “Your guide to next generation content farms”, for a look at the challenges facing digital production desks within traditional media
- Interested in drawing the crowd into the digital production process? Take a look at projects like Storify, which exploits a range of new media platforms to produce a collaborative news production process – “Why are we just doing static things?”
- Moving to the digital production desk on a budget? Here Andy Dickinson offers his advice within a three-part feature on how to set up multimedia functionality on a newspaper website – “How to set up video for newspaper websites on a budget”
Issues to discuss
- How can we build on traditional production, design and art desk skills in order to produce a digital production desk?
- How can “traditional” roles be adapted to new media and contribute their skills to digital developments?
- With content farms maximising on the speed of digital production, how can, or should, traditional media be competing?
- How can we develop basic multimedia through digital technologies and platforms? What’s next for online video/audio?
- What design/graphical opportunities are there on the digital production desk, are we making the most of this and if not – what should we be doing?
- And finally – how can we bring together the traditional skills of news production with the potential of digital and what will the future of the news industry look like as a result?
Image by Moses M on Flickr. Some rights reserved.
