A fundamental way newspaper sites need

to change
Written by Adrian Holovaty on September 6, 2006
A blog entry titled 9 Ways for Newspapers to Improve Teir Websites as been ma!ing
te ro"nds lately# I don$t write abo"t te online news ind"stry on tis site as m"% as I
"sed to, b"t tis arti%le inspired me to %olle%t my %"rrent tin!ing on wat newspaper
sites need to do# Here, I present my opinion of one f"ndamental %ange tat needs to
appen#
&or ba%!gro"nd' I ave a (o"rnalism degree, for wat it$s wort, and I$ve wor!ed for
newspaper Web sites sin%e )99* +in%l"ding te %ollege paper and internsips,# Te sites'
temaneater#%om +now a pale sadow of its former self, at te -niversity of .isso"ri,
S"b"rban/i%agoNews#%om, a(%#%om in Atlanta, 01World#%om 2 0awren%e#%om in
0awren%e, 3ansas, and, for te last year, wasingtonpost#%om#
.ost of te points made in te 49 Ways4 entry are 53, if a little overly spe%ifi% +4ma!e
yo"r %ontent wor! on %ell pones and 67As4, and trendy +tagging8,# Tere$s noting
wrong wit tat 99 te online newspaper ind"stry needs all te advi%e it %an get# :"t
more f"ndamental sifts need to appen for newspaper %ompanies to remain essential
so"r%es of information for teir %omm"nities#
5ne of tose important sifts is' Newspapers need to stop the story-centric
worldview#
/onditioned by de%ades of an establised style of (o"rnalism, newspaper (o"rnalists
tend to see teir primary role t"sly'
)# /olle%t information
2# Write a newspaper story
Te problem ere is tat, for many types of news and information, newspaper stories
don$t %"t it anymore#
So m"% of wat lo%al (o"rnalists %olle%t day9to9day is structured information' te type
of information tat %an be sli%ed9and9di%ed, in an a"tomated fasion, by %omp"ters# ;et
te information gets distilled into a big blob of te<t 99 a newspaper story 99 tat as no
%an%e of being rep"rposed#
4=ep"rposed4>
0et me %larify# I don$t mean 47isplay a newspaper story on a %ell pone#4 I don$t mean
47isplay a newspaper story in =SS#4 I don$t mean 47isplay a newspaper story on my
67A#4 Tose are fine goals, b"t tey$re e<amples of %anging te format, not te
information itself# =ep"rposing and aggregating information is a different story, and it
re?"ires te information to be stored atomi%ally 99 and in ma%ine9readable format#
&or e<ample, say a newspaper as written a story abo"t a lo%al fire# :eing able to read
tat story on a %ell pone is fine and dandy# Hooray, te%nology8 :"t wat I really want
to be able to do is e<plore te raw fa%ts of tat story, one by one, wit layers of
attrib"tion, and an infrastr"%t"re for %omparing te details of te fire 99 date, time, pla%e,
vi%tims, fire station n"mber, distan%e from fire department, names and years e<perien%e
of firemen on te s%ene, time it too! for firemen to arrive 99 wit te details of previo"s
fires# And s"bse?"ent fires, wenever tey appen#
Tat$s wat I mean by str"%t"red data' information wit attrib"tes tat are %onsistent
a%ross a domain# @very fire as tose attrib"tes, ("st as every reported %rime as many
attrib"tes, ("st as every %ollege bas!etball game as many attrib"tes#
Tose tree e<amples are obvious %andidates for str"%t"re, mostly d"e to "bi?"ity#
6eople ave been sli%ing and di%ing sports stats for years# 6eople ave been analyAing
%rime for years#
:"t it doesn$t stop at tose obvio"s e<amples# If yo" ta!e some time to e<amine wat
sort of information newspaper (o"rnalists %olle%t, te amo"nt of str"%t"re will ("mp at
yo"# If I may ta!e te liberty of giving e<amples from Web sites I$ve wor!ed for'
An obit"ary is abo"t a person, involves dates and f"neral omes#
A wedding anno"n%ement is abo"t a %o"ple, wit a wedding date, engagement
date, bride ometown, groom ometown and vario"s oter appy, flowery
pie%es of information#
A birt as parents, a %ild +or %ildren, and a date#
A %ollege grad"ate as a ome state, a ome town, a degree, a ma(or and
grad"ation year#
An 5nion9style 45n te Street4 feat"re as respondents, answers and a
p"bli%ation date#
A drin! spe%ial as a day of te wee! and is offered at a bar#
Te s%ed"le of te -#S# /ongress as a day and m"ltiple agenda items#
A politi%al advertisement as a %andidate, a state, a politi%al party, m"ltiple
iss"es, %ara%ters, %"es, m"si% and more#
@very Senate, Ho"se and Bovernor ra%e in te -#S# as lo%ation, analysis,
demograpi% information, previo"s ele%tion res"lts, %ampaign9finan%e
information and more#
@very !nown detainee at B"antanamo :ay as an appro<imate age, birtpla%e,
formal %arges and more#
See te teme ere> A lot of te information tat newspaper organiAations %olle%t is
relentlessly str"%t"red# It ("st ta!es somebody to realiAe te str"%t"re +te easy part,, and
it ("st ta!es somebody to start storing it in a str"%t"red format +te ard part,#
Now, I %an "nderstand wy newspapers are slow to a%%ept tis sort of tin!ing#
1o"rnalists aren$t te most te%9savvy b"n%, tey$re not te most innovative b"n%, and
tey$re +("st a tad, resistant to %ange#
5ne barrier to tis tin!ing is a sort of (o"rnalisti% arrogan%e' 4How is tis (o"rnalism>
We$re (o"rnalists, and we$ve been trained to e<plain %omple< information to people in
ways tat tey %an "nderstand# 7isplaying raw data does not elp peopleC writing a
news arti%le does elp people, be%a"se it$s plain @nglis#4 I$ve presented tese %on%epts
+4(o"rnalism via %omp"ter programming,4 te importan%e of ma%ine9readable data,
et%#, at a n"mber of (o"rnalism9ind"stry events, and inevitably somebody as!s tese
?"estions#
Well, I ave a %o"ple of answers#
&irst, te ?"estion of 4How is tis (o"rnalism>4 is a%ademi%# 1o"rnalists so"ld ave less
of a %on%ern of wat is and isn$t 4(o"rnalism,4 and more of a %on%ern for important,
focused information that is useful to people's lives and helps them understand the world#
A newspaper o"gt to be tat' a fair loo! at %"rrent, important information for a
readersip#
Se%ond, it$s important to note I$m not ma!ing an all9or9noting propositionC I$m not
saying newspapers so"ld t"rn %ompletely to vast %olle%tions of data, %ompletely
abandoning te format of a news arti%le# News arti%les are great for telling stories,
analyAing %omple< iss"es and all sorts of oter tings# An arti%le 99 a 4big blob of te<t4
99 is often te best way to e<plain %on%epts# Te n"an%es of te @nglis lang"age do not
map neatly to ma%ine9manip"latable data so"r%es# +Tis very entry, wi% yo"$re
reading rigt now, is a prime e<ample of someting tat %o"ld not be repla%ed wit a
database#, Wen I say 4newspapers need to stop te story9%entri% worldview,4 I don$t
mean 4newspapers need to abolis stories#4 Te two forms of information dissemination
%an %oe<ist and %omplement ea% oter#
:"t beyond te (o"rnalisti% arrogan%e, anoter problem is tat newspaper %ompanies$
%"rrent software and organiAational set"p overwelmingly dis%o"rages any sort of
4information spe%ial9%asing#4 1"st abo"t every newspaper Web site %ontent9management
system I$ve ever seen is "nabasedly story9%entri%# Want to post event %alendar
information into yo"r news9site /.S> 6ost it as a 4news arti%le4 ob(e%t# Want to p"blis
listings of re%ent %rimes in yo"r town> It goes in as a 4news arti%le#4 Tere$s not m"%
1oe =eporter, or even 1ane 5nline @ditor, %an do abo"t tis, be%a"se 5 We$ve Invested
So ."% Into Tis /.S, and2or 5"r Newspaper Web Site 7oesn$t @mploy Any
/omp"ter 6rogrammers# +Te latter of wi% ma!es as m"% sense as a film dire%tor
ref"sing to employ %ameramen or video editors#,
Wen I wor!ed at 01World#%om, we wrote a /.S from te gro"nd "p to be able to
andle all tese distin%t types of information# +And we %reated te Web framewor!
7(ango to let "s andle new types of information rapidly#, :"t, before tat, we ad an
old /.S, and o"r nigt prod"%ers, wose (ob it was to %opy9and9paste everyting from
te print newspaper into te Web system, wo"ld ro"tinely p"blis all te newspaper$s
little spe%ial feat"res as 4news arti%les#4 Te 4poto of te day4 newspaper feat"re
wo"ld get posted as a story wit no te<t 99 ("st a poto# Te 5nion9style 45n te Street4
feat"re wo"ld get posted as a 4news arti%le4 ob(e%t %ontaining a ?"estion, fo"r potos,
and fo"r responses# @a% re%"rring newspaper feat"re was posted as a 4news arti%le,4
regardless of weter it a%t"ally was a news arti%le 99 simply be%a"se tat$s all te
%ontent9management system !new ow to do#
Tis is a s"btle problem, and terein lies te r"b# In my e<perien%e, wen I$ve tried to
e<plain te error of storing everything as a news arti%le, (o"rnalists don$t immediately
"nderstand wy it is bad# To tem, a p"blising system is ("st a means to an end' getting
information o"t to te p"bli%# Tey want it to be as fast and streamlined as possible to
ta!e information bat% X and p"t it on Web site Y# Te goal isn$t to ave %lean data 99 it$s
to p"blis data ?"i%!ly, wit bon"s points for a ni%e "ser interfa%e#
:"t te goal for me, a data person fo%"sed more on te long term, is to store information
in te most val"able format possible# Te problem is parti%"larly fr"strating to e<plain
be%a"se it$s not ne%essarily obvio"sC if yo" store everyting on yo"r Web site as a news
arti%le, te Web site is not ne%essarily ard to "se# =ater, it$s a problem of lost
opportunity# If all of yo"r information is stored in te same 4news arti%le4 b"%!et, yo"
%an$t easily p"ll o"t ("st te %rimes and plot tem on a map of te %ity# ;o" %an$t easily
grab te events to %reate an event %alendar# ;o" end "p settling on te least %ommon
denominator' a Web site tat !nows ow to display one type of %ontent, a big blob of
te<t# Tat Web site %annot do te %ool tings tat readers are beginning to e<pe%t#
Ten tere$s te serendipity advantage# Wen I wor!ed for 01World#%om, we wor!ed
wit te lo%al weatermen to %reate a weater site tat displayed te weatermen$s
fore%ast for te ne<t few days# I made tem a Web interfa%e tat let tem enter te
predi%ted ig temperat"re, low temperat"re and s!y %onditions 99 all in separate
database fields# Tere really wasn$t any reason to "se separate fields for tese val"es
oter tan te fa%t tat te site$s design %alled for presenting te temperat"res in a
different %olor tan te %onditions, and we didn$t want te weatermen to ave to
remember to insert te HT.0 %oloring %odes in te rigt pla%e# :"t it wasn$t "ntil
several monts later tat we reaped some real benefits of databasing te information,
wen we were p"tting togeter Bame, an e<a"stive database of lo%al little9leag"e
teams and games# +;es, yo" read tat rigt#, We %reated a page for every little9leag"e
team and every little9leag"e game, and wen it %ame time to %reate te game pages, one
of "s said, 4;o" !now, tese games tend to rain o"t a lot# It$d be really %ool if we %o"ld
someow display te weater fore%ast for ea% game#4 And, boom8 5ne of "s realiAed
tat we already had weater fore%ast data, in ni%e, sli%eable9and9di%eable format, tan!s
to o"r database pop"lated by te weatermen# Ten min"tes later, o"r little9leag"e pages
displayed weater fore%asts# Serendipity#
&inally, I$ll note tat some newspaper Web sites are a%tively loo!ing to improve teir
"nderstanding of tese iss"es, and a n"mber of Web editors ave %onta%ted me to as! if
I !now of anybody 99 please, Adrian, anybody8 99 wo as te% s!ills and wo"ld be
interested in applying is2er !nowledge to a newspaper Web site# If yo" ave tese
s!ills, please %onta%t me, and I$ll p"t yo" in to"%# Te ind"stry needs yo"#
ttp'22www#olovaty#%om2writing2f"ndamental9%ange2