What exactly is ROFLCon? According to the organizers:

It was a classic story as old as time: college kids grow up online, decide that it’d be a great idea to throw a internet culture conference, and unleash sheer ridiculousness upon the world.

Back in April 2008, we put on the original ROFLCon — the first internet culture conference devoted to discussing what makes memes work, why they work, and where it’s all going (and then throwing a big-ass rocking party with the internet celebs themselves). It was a kickass time, not to mention the most important gatherings since the fall of the tower of Babel.

We figured we’d keep doing this as long as it remains awesome (and it still is), so we’ve put together several more internet culture events. Will we ever stop? WHO KNOWS?

The conference has become a core part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s festivities, a IRL meetup for internet luminaries and a place for those who love the internet to host conversations about everything from the true nature of anonymous to a rough guide to pwning for the good of mankind.

At this latest (and potentially last) ROFLCon* May 4 and 5 at MIT, which I attended, stories were shared, trolls were baited, and the worst minds on the internet conspired to ruin the Twitter hashtag. In the middle of the chaos, a few gems for journalists emerged.

1. Beyond the Lulz Lies Meaning

ROFLCon is known for exploring the magic of internet memes — seemingly random ideas that become popular.

However, outside of cat antics and cosplayers, there can be more to memes than meets the eye. This year, ROFLCon hosted a panel on Global Lulzes, which had interesting beginnings.

In his keynote at ROFLCon 2, (MIT’s) Ethan Zuckerman reminded us that there’s a whole wide world of internets beyond our anglophone borders. Two years and countless news stories about “internet revolutions” later, we’ve brought Ethan back along with emissaries from the Chinese, Brazilian, and Syrian blogospheres to tell us more. Go forth, young n00b, and learn about the mythical creatures of Baidu, the Brazilian rule 34, and what role memes are playing in the Syrian revolution.

Bia Granja of youPIX showed how Brazilian memes need a variety of factors to become popular. There’s everything from goofy 16-year-olds promising to talk about very serious problems …

… to viral videos that hit on the right amount of ridiculous lyrics, a beat and a dance move to become national sensations (visuals slightly NSFW):

Anas Qtiesh (Global Voices) explained how Syrians used memes during the revolution both to ridicule leaders and spread information, like with this image (via Jillian C. York’s Middle East Memes Guide):

And An Xiao Mina (Digital Artist) created an illuminating presentation on how symbolism in Chinese memes are used to subvert censorship. (Partial panel summary here. For example, this image is actually sharp commentary on an event that made headlines:

So why is this evil panda jumping on Batman? It’s a reference. When American actor Christian Bale (most recently known for playing the title role in the Batman reboot) went to visit Chinese activist Chen Guancheng, he was pushed around by dozens of guards who were placed there to ensure Chen did not violate house arrest. One guard in particular looked like a Panda, hence the moniker, Pandaman. Thus, Pandaman vs. Batman. An Xiao noted that the meme was so popular, Chen actually identified the guard.

While memes may seem like fun and games, they can also be a way to gain insight into a nation’s digital culture — and provide a different lens for understanding current events.

2. Level Up Your Swag

Throwing an event? Think beyond the company pens, jump drives and water bottles that normally line official conference tote/messenger bags. And, please, journalist organizations, stop giving out notepads. At one convention, I received four separate spiral-bound packets of dead tree innards. ROFLCon stepped its game way up by knowing its audience and tailoring the offerings. Starting with the oh-so-hideous-yet-awesome fanny pack (complete with drink holder), attendees received a Choose Your Own Adventure Program, a customized viewmaster, stickers and a button.

The front pocket also contained some surprises: 2 drink tickets and two ROFLcondoms. (Was that a hint?) And if all the fanny-packed goodness wasn’t enough, ROFLCon partnered with local ice cream purveyor to create a Nyancat flavor, based on this meme:

So what does it taste like?
According to Cambridge Day:

[F]ounder Gus Rancatore describes [the flavor] as cherry-flavored Pop-Tarts (just like in Torres’ image of a whimsical space cat) and mukhwas (candy-coated fennel seeds) in vanilla ice cream or vegan coconut sorbet. The flavor was invented for this ROFLcon just as Central Square ice cream shop came up with the flavor Nerds for last year’s conference.

3. Cultivate Space for a Spectrum of Dissent

Far too often, time-stressed journalists default to using a “both sides” model of presenting an issue. This is problematic for a variety of reasons: sometimes, it leads journalists to give airtime to information that is not factual in the name of “objectivity,” and it can lead to a lazy, binary framing of a complex problem. This is particularly easy when writing about technology and policy for an audience that doesn’t follow the issues. Let’s take the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, better known as CISPA. For example, in ABC’s coverage of CISPA, the headline reads “Cybersecurity Bill May Pit Online Safety Against Privacy.” The article follows the usual formula, combining a paragraph about the bill with a quick outline of who is opposed and who is in favor. Topped off with a couple of quotes, the article acts as a placeholder for a much more in-depth article. Post Tech produces a much more detailed version of events, but still works with the two-sides model.

Lifehacker created a fictionalized narrative to illuminate the possible impact of CISPA, but that’s the problem — it isn’t true. The Lifehacker “Explainer” on CISPA is a much better summary of the full bill and it’s potentially negative impacts, but only gives a short paragraph to why a tech company might support the bill. Gawker posts a piece from a consumer perspective, Mashable explains what’s currently happening, Techdirt gets in the weeds of the bill (before declaring it unsupportable). But who else might have something to say about CISPA?

The final ROFLCon panel, called Defending the Internet, featured a tech star line up: moderated by Anil Dash, the panel pulled together Alexis Ohanian of Reddit / Breadpig, Tiff Cheng of Fight For The Future, Derek Slater of Google and Elizabeth Stark of Stanford/Yale to debate the world beyond SOPA/PIPA and take the long view of current threats against the online landscape. Ohanian, Cheng and Stark took the “free internet” position; Slater was more measured, balancing his remarks with a healthy respect for Congress and with an eye toward not demonizing his employer or other large corporations. After some remarks were traded about corporate control of the internet, a figure in blue and white signaled he wanted to speak. A hush fell over the crowd.

It was Tron Guy.

Know Your Meme explains:

Jay Maynard (a.k.a Tron Guy) is an American computer programmer who became internet famous for his homemade electroluminescent costume inspired by the 1982 sci-fi film Tron. Maynard first became a subject of online discussions in April 2004 after uploading pictures of his costume on his website, which quickly spread across tech news sites and humor forums like Slashdot and FARK. Since his rise to stardom as a nerd icon, Maynard has appeared on the late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and remains a regular attendant in many tech-related conference circuits, particularly in advocacy of network neutrality.

Maynard has argued passionately for net neutrality, but he rose to speak based on a different matter. “I’m a conservative,” he began, “and proud of it!” Then Maynard explained his core issue: that conversations that automatically skewed anti-corporation left out conservatives, who may in fact be in favor of defending the internet. Maynard’s reminder was timely. Internet issues impact a broad constituency, but we normally don’t hear from all the impacted parties. Journalists covering tech issues would be wise to expand their interview circles beyond tech titans, lawmakers, lobbyists, and corporate spokespeople. There are citizens, privacy experts, academics and internet superstars who also have valuable perspectives.

Disclosure: Latoya Peterson attended ROFLCon as a panelist/participant.

(Image Credits: ROFLCon, Know Your Meme, Cambridge Day)

But starting Homicide Watch, the business, took much more.

There are a lot of resources out there for entrepreneurial journalists; unfortunately I didn’t know about any of them when I got started. Much of my learning was trial and error. Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to set up your own business, and in this post I’ll take you through my steps and what I learned in the process.

My first step was to define my vision for the venture. What did I want to accomplish? What was my editorial direction? As Alex reported, this was initially a spreadsheet. But, eventually, it became my organizing principals: Homicide Watch DC would report every homicide that post-dated our launch date from crime to conviction using data and an open-notebook method. Being able to identify my vision helped me write my business plan, craft the site and communicate to others what I wanted to accomplish.

But I wasn’t ready to publish yet.

Before I put a character to WordPress, I formed an LLC. Requirements are going to vary based on where you are; the Citizen Media Law Project has a really fantastic explainer about LLCs, including details about requirements in your state or district. Here’s the listing for the District of Columbia.

I also needed to file trade name (DBA) paperwork with D.C. Basically this is for any name you use that isn’t the name of your LLC. I realized this late, when I received a donation check made out to Homicide Watch DC, but our LLC was named Glass Eye (we picked a name out of the hat). In order to cash the check, I had to register a trade name and provide that paperwork to the bank.

Which brings us to what we all really care about: money. The first step is to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the IRS. This is necessary even if you don’t have any employees because it’s used to set up your bank account. You can apply online and receive an EIN almost immediately.

To set up a bank account, you’ll need your LLC and DBA (trade name) paperwork and your EIN. I went down to my local Bank of America branch to set up my account because it was easier than doing it online. Having a business bank account made my business finally feel real. My account is super basic, but I’ve connected it to Wave, a free online accounting service, that helps me track spending and income and send invoices. There are lots of online tools that do this, but when I looked at Wave, it seemed easiest to use.

The nest step is another big one: Buy your domain. There are lots of services including goDaddy, Google and more to do this. It’s about ten bucks and a good chance to use that new bank account!

For Homicide Watch, I choose a .org domain because I initially anticipated that my business would be non-profit. As my business evolved, however, and as I considered my business plan, I moved to a for-profit business plan. We’ve kept the .org because it’s how our readers know how to find us, and I haven’t felt that it’s really mattered. See this post for more on business plans.

While you’re setting up accounts, consider what online accounts you’ll need immediately and in the future for your business. Also, consider registering names that people might assume your business is called. (Homicide Watch DC is online at www.homicidewatch.org, but people might search www.homicidewatchdc.com.) Some basic accounts to think about or remember are:

• Google (analytics, AdSense, email, etc)
• PayPal
• WordPress
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Document Cloud
• Sound Cloud
• Tumblr

Finally, with your site ready to ramp up, consider building your resource network. Get in touch with the Online Media Legal Network and see if you qualify for free legal assistance should (God forbid) you need it. Connect with others doing similar work through ONA, the Knight Digital Media Center, Block by Block, Poynter, your local press club and other organizations. Many universities also are now teaching entrepreneurial courses (which will cost you), but you might be able to see their reading lists and follow what the students are doing online. (Mark Potts teaches an excellent class at the University of Maryland, for example.)

Keep records as you go. A well-organized file cabinet is priceless, and a skill I haven’t yet mastered.

Also, especially as you take care of the financial and legal matters, make note of any deadlines or further requirements. While putting together this column, I realized that my LLC’s bi-annual report was overdue. That’s going to be a hefty fine that I could have avoided if I had been more organized.

This certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of steps, just what I remember of my experiences, so please leave comments with steps or tips that I might have forgotten or not experienced. And good luck.

While in Washington, I´m working with our local staff to develop plans for growing the U.S. market. It is definitely a challenge when compared to Scandinavia because of its size and competition. In addition, I am also deeply involved in coordinating activities with our technology partner Scientia Mobile. I think the world has underestimated the need for device detection to determine phone capabilities. It used to be that device detection was limited to feature phones, but it is even more important today in the “new world” of mobile smart phones and devices. Pretty much any device can surf the web today and knowing the capabilities is the key to a great user experience.

Why did you choose to get involved with online media?

It started in 2000 when I helped launch one of the first online Internet banking applications. It was a true “killer” app. At the time, we also saw the media sector adapt quickly to the internet, but we missed the boat at the time. When the mobile web then entered in the mid 2000’s, we quickly recognized that there weren’t any content tools available to support this new channel. Thus, I saw an opportunity to do something in the “second online wave” and luckily connected to some really smart guys from the Telecom sector. We wanted to build a solution to give any content owner full control over their content and distribution on the mobile web –- without being dependent on the carrier. (Remember those pesky carrier portals?) We built that platform and the media was the first to adopt our solution. We got all the big media brands in Scandinavia to use our platform and have been engaged in online media since.

What motivates your work at Mobiletech?

Great, smart and innovative people — willing to create their own future. The interaction between machines and people is completely changing. We have not experienced a bigger change in human behavior since the industrial revolution. Look what touch devices and touch gestures have done for us in the past year. These devices have sensors that adapt to the context you are in — shake your phone to delete an email. Where will voice recognition and Siri take us? In my opinion, (this is the) tip of the iceberg and the revolution of mobile technology is happening all around us now. I’m so lucky to be a part of this revolution and inventing great technology with Mobiletech.

From your perspective, what is the most difficult thing about creating publishing solutions for the news market?

Having the media’s attention long enough so we can really improve the solutions and business models. Today I feel that media is desperately seeking quick answers and fixes, but afraid of doing radical changes. I think the biggest challenge for media is not technology, but how to change and adapt to the way people interact. The media consumer of today has so many form factors and needs. I think it is wrong if the media tries to force the users into one particular pattern or channel, i.e. apps, responsive web, etc. Instead, they need to adapt, improvise, overcome, small steps at a time. Most importantly, they need to understand how their customers interact with their content and when they do it –- what content is accessed on what device and when.

What are the looming challenges for the mobile marketplace?

Network infrastructure. Everything is going mobile and bandwith will, and to some degree already is, the bottleneck. Even though we are building out LTE to get higher speed, the consumptions and demand for network access is growing faster than the infrastructure. We see this already with AT&T limiting the “unlimited usage.” Solution providers must think speed optimization when designing solutions. The devices are smart enough to deal with all kinds of data, but it is not effective to push a HD video to a device connected to a 3G network. Usability is not only fancy functionality working perfectly in a WiFi test suite. Solutions must also work across networks and be available every time. That’s why we call them connected devices. If we offer consumers great experiences, including access speed, features, functions, and so on, it will make the customer return and you will grow your revenue. The mobile user attention span is short, don’t kill the user experience with slow solutions.

If you had a million dollars dedicated to improving media, you would …
… continue to do even more of what we are doing today — creating great mobile development tools for the media space. Media can then focus on its core –- producing great content!

“You are Creative, Artistic, and We Love You” read the subject line from my latest email from scroll kit, a website creation service. If I had to rate them just on marketing alone, scroll kit would get five stars. Since when do website companies send affirmations to your inbox? Unfortunately, I also had to grade ScrollKit on usability and experience, which is where we run into some problems.

A new company, scroll kit aims to take the pain out of web design by removing even the most basic HTML coding through a clear and simple interface. Logging into the home screen, the first problem is evident: scroll kit only works in the Chrome web browser. It’s also a bit glitchy; I was frustrated at the interface, but then realized that there was some kind of error. One day, when I attempted to use the “click to type” feature, it would not respond at all. A couple days later, it worked like a charm. Also, the interface is not as intuitive as I would like. I tried to use the draw feature, but was stymied on how to delete one part of the drawing. If I wanted to tinker with it for 15 more minutes, I probably would have figured it out, but the usual items I would look for (an eraser, or being able to highlight just that part of the drawing) were nowhere to be found.

scroll kit competes with about.me, another simple website generator currently embraced by people too busy to mess with their own personal websites. But about.me is even more streamlined. I was able to get up and running in less than five minutes, and the default backgrounds were polished and professional looking. While more tinkering is required there as well to truly make the page appear the way you’d like, the experience was literally about 10 clicks of the mouse until I was happy with the result.

Both services require some fiddling to add in the finer details and customization. And while both were intriguing, if I am going to spend the time to really learn an interface, I should invest that time in a CMS like WordPress.

Verdict

Overall, while I like the idea of scroll kit, it doesn’t compel me to put more time and energy into just another webpage.

During an average day, three days a week, I go to exercise class, attend meetings, post news releases from emails received, write articles on meetings. The other five days, I post news releases and articles I write or I receive from freelancers. Sometimes, I interview folks. I love veterans and old-timers. In between, I walk the dog, run errands, visit with my husband, read local and national newspapers, eat and sleep.

Why did you choose to get involved with online media?

Because I love being a reporter. After my layoff, I had no other local options. Print is too expensive, so I, within four days of my layoff, had my online news source up and running. It’s now a little over 1 1/2 years old.

You’ve been a serious photographer for the last 40 years. Can you describe the feeling when you discover something that would make an excellent photo?

Light and color usually pull me into a photograph, so that I simply must press the shutter button to record the vision for posterity. I also enjoy recording journalistic photos to enhance an article. My feeling is of pleasure to record and share something that perhaps only I see in a place, a person or a moment.

You started the Grant County Beat after being laid off from the Silver City Daily Press. What made you want to continue your coverage of Grant County?

I love networking. I don’t mind attending meetings. My passion is to inform the public of the facts of a situation and let them know what is going on in their community, so they can make up their own minds about whether, where and how to become an involved citizen.

Your local outlet is supported by advertising and donations, like many other local news outlets. Do you think this profit structure is sustainable?

I worry whether advertising will sustain the Grant County Beat. So far, I’ve been in the black and always able to pay freelancers, but I pay myself only a token amount to show I’m serious. At least one local advertiser will not advertise online, which is a disappointment to me. I feel that advertisers do not realize the benefit of advertising online and having their ads viewable 24/7, so it is an educational challenge for me and my commission-only freelance advertising reps.

If you had a million dollars dedicated to improving media, you would …

The first thing I would promote is “Just the Facts, MAM” (which is one of my nicknames locally). I constantly strive to report only what people say and the absolute concrete facts of a meeting or event. Just yesterday, a reader saw me at a meeting, and said: “Now that I know you’re here, I don’t have to stay.” (He stayed.) I primarily take the meeting beat, although I have freelancers who also attend meetings, as it is difficult to be in two places at once or to cover more than two or three meetings a day and have time to write them up for the Beat. I’m especially a stickler for spelling people’s names correctly.

It distresses me to see a reporter’s bias and errors in an article. So, I would like to create an online course to show reporters how to write articles without their opinions intruding on the facts and how to include all sides of a controversial issue.

Sure, I like to read articles that match my opinion, but I’m never quite sure whether I should believe what I read or hear, because I’ve read and heard too many items that skew the facts to match the bias. I endeavor to put into any article that I write information that does not agree with my personal opinion if it is expressed at the meeting. As a result, I have faithful readers, who definitely lean conservative, as well as many who are on the liberal side of the spectrum. As my Silver City Daily Press editor once told me: “I must be doing something right. I have people call me and tell me I’m a (expletive deleted) liberal. Then, I’ll get a call, and somebody reams me out for being an (expletive deleted) right-winger.” I want people to perceive the Grant County Beat as fair and factual, and not biased.

As for a million dollars, I might find it difficult to spend that much, other than to be seed money to create a national (possibly international) money-making project and to pay for helpers to create and promote the course that would fulfill my desire to have all media return to the roots of journalism —- to report the facts, even the uncomfortable ones dug up through investigative reporting.

Ugh, the blog format. For a lover of long-form magazine stories and documentaries, I was never the biggest fan.

With blogs came shortened word counts, limited visual capabilities and a curtailed shelf life (although that might be arguable).

But necessity is the mother of invention, and there have been a number of folks who took the format, ran with it and converted me (which is good because I now work on a blog).

Short form vs. mini site

Here’s one of the hardest things I had to swallow. The kind of journalism I loved to do, the long-form multimedia projects and the mini-sites for special coverage, aren’t the way people enter a website anymore.

Less of this?

How we get to our reading and viewing material has changed. Big destination sites don’t garner the kind of audiences that a series of or even just one well-done shorter piece get.

Yes, long-form journalism — meaning longer articles — might have caught a second wind from the rise of the iPad, the Kindle and other tablets. But special mini-sites haven’t enjoyed the same renaissance — at least that’s what I gather from anecdotal evidence. These sites might not die, but they certainly are going to be rarer.

But just because my work is being parceled into bite-sized posts on online avenues doesn’t mean I have to compromise quality in reporting and multimedia storytelling, right? Here’s why.

A stage for experimentation

Some of the most interesting developments in our recent news gathering — from real-time coverage to more integrated interplay of multimedia elements and text — are perfect for blogs.

One of the first multi-format bloggers I started noticing was a former Wall Street Journal colleague Zach Seward.

Before starting at The Atlantic, the former WSJ social media editor caught my attention with playful posts like this one, titled “Everything the Internet Knows About Me (Because I Asked It To)” or this one, called “Listen to the Obama Campaign’s Soundtrack”.

Everything the Internet Knows about Zach Seward (The Wall Street Journal)

The beauty of these posts is that they are not necessarily bound to text, and they weigh each element equally. As someone who’s always worked on “art for stories,” it’s nice to see someone practice what we always preach: Treat all media equally and use each according to their strength.

Another great development on blogs that’s now gained enough traction to get the attention of the Pulitzer Prizes is live coverage. The Guardian was one of the first publications to fully embrace and then refine the art of live blogging, a news reporting format that has won more prominence with the rise of twitter.

One of the Guardian’s earliest live products, its soccer (or football) live blogs, is a great example of value-added live coverage. The writers are hilarious, well-informed commentators who offer a different view of the game while delivering basic information.

Sports events, awards ceremonies and other “low-pressure” live events also are a great training ground for live coverage of news. Live blogging later became a central tool for the Guardian’s coverage of the Arab Spring, and transformed it into both a news delivery system and a crowd-sourcing platform.

A more traditional print reporter once told me that blog posts are for reporters to “dump” into whatever didn’t make it into the “actual” story, which reduces blogs to the function of traffic-generating byproducts. But I see a blog as a vehicle for experimentation, integrated, multiple-platform storytelling — a tool with specific strengths, useful for certain stories.

Serial blogging

Blogs lack depth, some would say. And while you might not get as much out of a 300-word post as you would a 5,000-word article, blogs do offer room for developing a deeper understanding of a story or subject over time.

Serial coverage of a subject can unravel nicely over a blog, which can provide more flexibility to react to recent developments. When we think of superficial blogs, we think of posts that “recycle” other people’s reporting. And while that is part of the blogosphere, there’s some great original reporting in blogs.

The Atlantic, for instance, is rolling out a series on spending, which combines smart reporting with graphics and guest entries. On some level, this is just a way to parcel out great coverage of a subject.

Maybe my long-form projects don’t have to die. They just have to be repackaged.

Idea

The Reticulator is a website plug-in that encourages users to rate and rank the media they consume. With the ability to rank a piece based on effectiveness, reporting, craft, accuracy, inclusion and collaboration, the Reticulator was poised to be a valuable tool in the fight for media literacy. Created by The People’s Production House, the Reticulator idea managed to work in both cutting-edge technologies and social justice principles.

Marisa Jahn, one of the project leads from the People’s Production House, references the core idea behind the project: “We wanted it to be a peer-to-peer system of evaluation, but one that gives users the information they need to make thoughtful assessments. So the core areas for evaluation have been initially developed by our team of journalists, media makers and educators, but are also open to further development by the Reticulator community itself. Ensuring that the entire framework is participatory is very important to us.”

Innovation

The idea hinges on making journalism more accessible. As comment sections across the internet illustrate, many users are frustrated by the structures of traditional reporting. The Reticulator solves this problem by allowing users to evaluate the stories they consume — and provide valuable feedback for news organizations in the process.

Team

The team was pulled together because of its members’ blend of unique strengths:

Matthew Hockenberry, visiting scientist at the MIT Center for Civic Media, technologist and scholar of supply chain studies and material culture. He is the creator of Sourcemap, a web platform for visualizing supply chains, and Sourcemap.com, an open-source website that offers a suite of tools for companies and individuals to share information about where things come from, what they’re made of, and their social and environmental impact. He has taught supply chain studies and the design of technology at New York University and at MIT.

Connor Dickie, current Mozilla WebFWD Fellow, scientist, artist, inventor and futurist who explores the edge of human-machine communication. He has developed a number of novel computing platforms that augment and share human memory and maximize attention. His interests lie in the creation and dissemination of modern mythologies that will inform and empower future generations. Connor was the Experience Director of the 2008 “Changing the World” youth innovation conference, Technical Director of the “10sec 1bayt” national poetry conference in Tajikistan, and is also the Creative Director and Founder of “kameraflage Inc.”

Marisa Jahn, an artist, community organizer, and writer recognized by UNESCO as leading educator and for her dedication to working with under-served youth. She is the editor of two books about art and in 2009 co-founded REV-, a non-profit organization dedicated to socially-engaged art, design and pedagogy. A graduate of MIT and a 2007-9 critic in residence at MIT’s Media Lab, she is currently the Executive Director of People’s Production House.

A native Texan, Anjum Asharia studied philosophy at Wellesley College where she hosted a weekly radio show at the campus station, WZLY. A social media coordinator and journalist for organizations including People’s Production House and Newsmotion, she has previously worked with the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, and the Family Literacy Involvement Program at the Children’s Museum of Houston.

Jahn notes:

The process of conceptualizing Reticulator leveraged Matt’s highly conceptual strategies and socially engaged tech ideation; Marisa’s background as a designer, her involvement as the Executive Director of the journalism non-profit People’s Production House, and her decade-long experience in youth-development/youth-education; Anjum’s expertise in social media, and Connor’s background in creating user experiences and rapid development/prototyping.

Mechanics

Reticulator runs on media participation — reading, evaluating, tagging, and sharing media. Through a progressive, Four Square-esque badge system, users can unlock different abilities and privileges. The rewards can be set by the hosting organization, and can be anything from allowing power users to comment on other assessments up to a free subscription or exclusive content.

Media Makers also have an incentive to sign up for Reticulator; the badge designations set by users signaling the journalist’s competencies are useful to readers and current or potential employers. Since Reticulator is designed to be dynamic system a change in skills or focus would be reflected over time.

Pitch

The People’s Production House chose to pitch the Reticulator to the Digital Media and Learning Competition, which is a joint project of the MacArthur Foundation, HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory), and Mozilla to focus on connected learning experiences. They kept their opening short and to the point:

We are proposing the design and technology for Reticulator, a civic media badge system we submitted in Stage One. By rewarding and evaluating participants’ contributions to accurate, nuanced, and well-crafted journalism, Reticulator aims to provide both a learning environment for advancing media literacy and a platform for networking individuals across the media ecosystem.

Reticulator will track ongoing performances across a set of core civic media competencies and abilities, including: working with others (collaboration); collecting and sourcing data (accuracy); synthesizing different stories and information (curation); creating technically thoughtful stories (craft); breaking new stories (reportage); and highlighting underrepresented voices (inclusion).

Outcome

The Reticulator was not selected. (The winners are here.)

According to Jahn:

We were told by two of the four jurors that they absolutely love our project and they gave us kudos for being ambitious and taking the badge system whole hog to a different level. Most of the groups we are most familiar with were significantly larger than our organization so the scope of what we proposed was ambitious indeed.

We also proposed a large budget of $200,000 (which was the max), which is what it would have taken to build if we were building it on scratch. However, they apprised us at the competition that they were [helping to build] a lot more of the tech than what was originally indicated, so I think our large [financial] request hurt our application.

ONA reached out to the DML competition via email, but did not receive a response with their perspective.

The Edmonton Journal is hiring a new sports editor. When the posting went up a few weeks ago, it got me wondering exactly what I would change if I were in charge of a sports section. How would I transform our coverage and focus to deal with the new digital reality? Where do I think sports reporting is going?

To be truthful, I always intended to be a sportswriter, not a data journalist or news applications developer. It was a speech given by Jim Brady (of Digital First Media, and ONA Board President) back in 2010 at a Canadian Association of Journalists conference in Toronto that got me excited to be in the digital world.

With that in mind, I’ve put together this plan — a bit of a dream, but this is what I would do if I had the chance.

Engagement

Sports sections need to give readers a reason to visit the website. The way I see it, anyone who would want the score from last night’s game either already watched the game or the highlights on ESPN, or checked the league’s website. Writing a story for the next day’s newspaper seems like a very poor use of reporters’ time. So what should we do instead?

We need to engage our readers — bring them to our website during the game. The audience we want to grow has more than one screen in their houses — they have laptops, tablets and smartphones along with their television sets. Hosting chats during the games builds community, creates loyal readers and gives those readers a say in the coverage.

Putting a talented sports writer into the chat during the game gives him or her the opportunity to answer questions, but also give fans the chance to go one level deeper into the game. Sports fans often are fanatics; connecting them with a writer who has access to their team will satisfy their craving. This is an opportunity that no one else can offer, and news outlets need to leverage the fans’ access. The result will be a dedicated, engaged community of readers.

It’s also a community that can be identified and marketed to directly. News outlets can charge more for advertisements because they can target an identifiable group directly. The chats also can be sponsored, providing another source of income.

A brief game story still will be helpful, but as they are becoming irrelevant, they can be phased out over time.

So, engagement works on many levels: It utilizes the resources of the news outlet more efficiently. It brings readers to the website, and turns them into community members who will be more likely to return and help the community grow. And engagement can provide new revenue streams and sponsorship opportunities.

Interactivity

Once you’ve developed a sports community, viewers will need a reason to stay — and return. That’s where interactivity comes in. Gameification of comments, a hockey/football/baseball/March madness pool, interactive graphics and basic web-based games can give readers an added incentive to stay on the site or check back daily.

Fantasy sports players will return every day to set their lineups. A message forum with a “gameified” comment section will engage readers and have them checking the site more regularly. Rewarding the readers with tokens or larger prizes will help keep traffic coming in. Involve the most knowledgeable fans by giving them the opportunity to have fun and win prizes.

The focus must be local, however. You aren’t going to beat ESPN. You don’t want a message board for every team in the NFL, but if you have a team in your market, make your site the home of the community.

Automation

You can dramatically increase traffic by expanding coverage to include local minor league sports. In Edmonton, minor league hockey and soccer involve tens of thousands of children in the Journal’s coverage area. The type of sport isn’t important; it could be baseball or football, just as long as a lot of children are playing in it. If news outlets cover these sports, they could potentially draw several thousand more readers. Who doesn’t like reading about their kids?

League coverage also could provide outlets with other sponsorship and advertising opportunities, this time from the leagues and clubs.

There is one problem, though: resources. But webscrapers and automated scripts outlets could help by writing software to automatically look at the game summaries and create basic game stories.

There are companies such as Narrative Science that can create applications to provide daily stories for a minor league hockey or club soccer section. Such a section could help create community, expand the reader base and, hopefully, convince new — and younger — readers to get into the habit of checking your website. Some basic curation, coupled with a call-out for parents to send in photos of their children’s games, could provide a lot of low-work local content.

Refocus

Sports sections need to refocus content. The best sports sites on the Internet now feature a mix of sports and pop culture and long-form journalism. A switch to a blog format for sports news would make it easier for people to comment and allow bloggers to engage more casually. Focus would change, too, from strictly sports and athletes to how athletes fit in pop culture.

Score stories are becoming increasingly less relevant. The sports section of the future needs to provide something more than game coverage. The sports section shouldn’t be where you go for a score; it should be were you go to learn, understand and embrace everything sports is about. Enter long-form journalism, stories with long takeouts and deep-think pieces.

The web offers the perfect opportunity for long-form journalism, which is undergoing a renaissance online. The web allows better leverage of platforms for deeper story telling. No longer constrained by space considerations, writers can focus on what suits the story best. Using video, interactive graphics and games can bring a story to life on the web in ways print never can.

Conclusion

Sports is an area where the industry can experiment and win. It will just take a brave editor to take the first step.

Slide photo is by Rama V via Flickr.

As in a newsroom, there’s really no “average” day in academia. I usually spend about half my time prepping and/or reviewing assignments and tutorials, and meeting with students to discuss projects or individual work. I also try to spend about a third of my time discussing potential collaborations with colleagues in the school or at the School of Engineering, as well as with news organizations and tech companies around the city. The last bit I spend organizing events here at the school and/or attending them elsewhere – staying current is essential.

Why did you choose to get involved with online media?

I grew up with the internet, and it was clear to me that being involved with technology was a career path that would never get boring. I was also a longtime (if very private) nonfiction writer, which naturally drew me to journalism. Finally, I really, really believe in the capacity for journalism and technology to enhance personal agency. I’m extremely passionate about that.

When did you know it was the right time to transition from the Wall Street Journal into academia?

Working at the Journal taught me a great deal about the choices and challenges involved in producing high-quality journalism in an evolving publishing landscape. While it’s an enormous privilege to produce work that’s seen by tens of thousands of people every day, the pace of the newsroom doesn’t allow much time for reflection. As we continually embraced new technologies, I found myself wanting a deeper understanding of how our audience was really engaging with our platforms and material, and use those insights to begin thinking about how we could make our work even more compelling and valuable. At the same time, I found that I really enjoyed the opportunities I had to teach my colleagues tricks and tools that enhanced their journalism, and was thrilled at the opportunity to do that for new journalists in a more coherent way. I consider education the third point in the triumvirate of personal agency.

Why is data visualization important to the future of journalism?

At this point, it’s sort of pat to say that data is important to the future of every field – and journalism is certainly no exception. At the same time, there’s a danger of being overawed by data in its sheer volume and apparent authority. Data visualization is important to the future of journalism because it’s an essential mechanism for analyzing all that data, and, eventually, communicating its meaning to our audiences. On a strictly practical level, too, journalists must be able to evaluate graphics as sources, and know how to judge their accuracy and validity. As an industry, we need to become more visually and numerically literate.

If you had a million dollars dedicated to improving media, you would …

Fund very detailed ethnographic studies of how individuals use media and technology on a daily basis – from urban iPhone users to rural radio listeners. The vast quantities of data that news organizations now have about the page views on an article or the number of times a video has been streamed does very little to illuminate how our audiences did (or didn’t) make use of that media; we need an informed framework to meaningfully interpret the data. While digital traces can help us understand the “what” of users’ media habits, we still need to know the “why.” And for that I don’t think anything will beat good, old-fashioned, on-the-ground research.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Online News Association, the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, today announced its fourth year of free digital training, thanks to a renewed grant from the Gannett Foundation.

The $50,000 in funding enables ONA to continue one of its most popular and valued programs, ONACamp, which so far has visited nearly 1,000 journalists in communities throughout the United States to update their media skills.

ONACamp sessions are tailored specifically to the needs of independent, community, non-profit, displaced and employed journalists, bloggers and entrepreneurs. Trainers include leaders in their fields, covering the latest in multimedia, data, metrics, blogging, mobile, legal and business issues, network strategies, free web tools and marketing through social networks.

“The Gannett Foundation is very proud to continue its strong relationship and support of ONA,” said Virgil Smith, Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Diversity at Gannett. "ONA’s Executive Director Jane McDonnell has led this organization to greater relevance and significance for the media industry with outstanding programs for improving the knowledge and sharing of the new and changing landscape of digital journalism.”

About ONA
The Online News Association is the world’s largest association of online journalists. ONA’s mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. The membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, technologists, photographers and others who produce news for the Internet or other digital delivery systems, as well as academic members and others interested in the development of online journalism. ONA also hosts the annual Online News Association conference and administers the Online Journalism Awards.

About The Gannett Foundation
The Gannett Foundation is a corporate foundation sponsored by Gannett Co., Inc. whose mission is to invest in the future of the communities in which Gannett does business, and in the future of our industry. It supports projects that take a creative approach to fundamental issues such as education and neighborhood improvement, economic development, youth development, community problem-solving, assistance to disadvantaged people, environmental conservation and cultural enrichment.

For more information, contact:
Jane McDonnell, Executive Director
Online News Association
director@journalists.org