Drupal best features for newspapers

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cirotix's picture
Posted by cirotix on December 20, 2007 at 9:08am

Greetings,

We (rue89.com) are giving a 2-days seminar to 15 african journalist/web project managers.
As the technical manage, I will give a presentation of drupal and why is it good for newspaper. We have used Drupal for 3 newspaper related website, so I am starting to know why drupal is good for that use. As an engineer I also know that I like Drupal for its technical qualities (think modularity, quality of code, performances; extensibility, ...).

Can you list me your best Druapl features for newspaper ? Not necessarily in term of modules (but it could be) but rather in term of functionnalities. If this list exists somewhere esle please forgive me (but send me a pointer to this list :) ). Otherwise I am willing to set up a document with all the arguments in favor of Drupal for newspapers. Could be very useful for a number of projects.

Best regards,
Damien

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Community and participation

Posted by yelvington on December 20, 2007 at 5:04pm
yelvington's picture

Damien, I'm a strong advocate of several basic concepts:

  • Use print for print's strengths, and the Internet for the Internet's strengths
  • Create products that work together, not against one another
  • Engage people in civic life through civil conversation
  • As a journalist, listen and participate rather than merely telling stories
  • Look for ways to innovate, to create new kinds of services in your market

As a journalist, as a corporate executive and as an innovation leader, I like Drupal because it serves these ends well. As "community plumbing" its basic assumptions are valid. Technical details like the hook and theme systems, and the existence of powerful contributed modules such as CCK and Views, make it possible to quickly extend the capabilities of the system, test new ideas, and create new reasons for people to spend their time with us.

A digital website follows

Posted by ericatkins on December 21, 2007 at 4:44pm
ericatkins's picture
  • A digital website follows you where ever you go but it usually requires a gadget (laptop, cell phone, reader), a monthly fee (ISP charge, library card), and a network (ethernet, Wi-Fi, mobile internet) to access it.
  • Digital portability, though, opens a lot of doors. You can access it anywhere you have an internet connection. Of course, you can physically carry a newspaper to all corners of the earth. It is very accessible in that sense. With a physical newspaper, the message (the news) dies as the paper deteriorates. Digital newspapers preserve the message in a way that is more accessible over time (I can search through old NYTimes papers from the 1800's).
  • Searchable archives are a huge advantage to digital newspapers. All of the local newspapers that I've read and collected over time aren't keep. They are thrown away and the information in large is never accessible again without tons of manual labor (searching in libraries or other stores of record).
  • Direct and immediate user input is a huge feature of digital newspapers. My voice is very small when I read an old newspaper. Not only is my voice small, but I am deaf to what others think about the news. With a digital newspaper, feedback and immediately be received from the readers via comment forms, email, chat, etc. Additionally, I can read that feedback if the feedback is chosen to be made public. This develops a community.

Yelvington said it best: "listen and participate rather than merely telling stories".

TIME magazine's 2006 person of the year was "You". "You" used the internet and had a voice. The public wants a voice.

ericatkins.com
Sojourn Huntsville | the Hushed Casket

@ericatkins

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