Multi Platform Authoring

8/14/2019 Multi Platform Authoring

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Multi Platform

Authoring (MPA)Babak Fakhamzadeh

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MPA - contents

• How to write headlines,

• How to write summaries,

• Editing,

• Editorial tools,

• Story journey.

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MPA - introduction

Every website must

deliver essential

information, presentedeffectively , elegantly ,

efficiently .

Your website is the

public’s window onto your

business.

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MPA - story headlines

Headlines can serve two purposes:

Informing and attracting users.

Example: You want to inform peopleabout an excellent recent IT course and

attract participants to the next one.

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Compare

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The first is a sentence which stands alone

and informs; the second makes no sense but appeals to readers’ curiosity.

Both can have the same effect of people to

click and read on, but for differentreasons.

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For news items, headlines must:

•Make sense standing alone,

• Have a subject, verb and object.

In a teaser, headlines can be a label or

question.

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On the web, news item headlines should:

• Be of similar length, for cosmetic

reasons,

• Fit in predefined publication channels

(for example, headline scrollers),

• Be limited in length (typically, no more

than 50 characters).

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MPA - summaries

A summary, or abstract, is typically thefirst paragraph of a story. It is typically the part of the story which appears on the

frontpage, together with the headline.

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MPA - summaries

A summary must:

• Compliment the headline,

• Not repeat the headline,

• Not contradict the headline,

• Add value to the headline,

• Be short, say around 120 characters.

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MPA - summaries

For news stories, the summary will

support the headline with moreinformation.

For teasers headlines, the summary

should give some basic information andencourage the reader to click through.

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MPA - summaries

Compare

Course delivers IT

skills

A dozen technology leaders have drawn

up IT requirementsand programs for

the region.

IT training: did

you miss out?

A new set of IT

programs has been

revealed for theregion. Should you

have been there?

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MPA - summaries

For online journalists, the headline andsummary are the most important parts of

the story. They have to appeal to users toclick for more.

In print, the ‘more’ is already there.

Online, you have to tease.

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MPA - editing

Usually, one person has editorial end

control of news oriented website. This

person decides:

• Stories covered and features written,

• Images and layout used,

• Interactivity.

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MPA - editing

Editors:

• Act as the guardian of the

organization’s brand,

• Are responsible for delivering

information to your users,

• Have three things in mind: users,

brand, product.

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MPA - editing

• The front page of your website is where

you display your goods,

• If items are hidden or badly displayed,

users might miss them,

• Messy websites drive users away, not tocome back, damaging your brand.

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MPA - editing

• Information must be clearly presented,

• Users must be able to find their way to what they want,

• Users expect clear labeling,

• Users like a clean and simple design.

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MPA - editing

• Stories should be pyramidal in format,

items cut at any point will still make

sense, allowing for stories to be easily used in multiple channels with minimal

editing.

• As a soft guide, news stories should bearound 500 words.

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MPA - editorial tools

Quotes:

• Quotes are ideal for breaking up a story and

to highlight key parts,

• Make sure a quote

doesn’t give too muchaway, drawing the

reader in to the story.

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Lists:

• Large numbers of facts

and statistics might be

more easily displayed

using a list or graph.

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Images:

• Images used with

summaries should draw a user into the story,

• Successful images are

provocative,

• Portraited people

should look into the

page.

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Captions:

• Captions shouldenhance understanding

and stimulate interest,

• Captions are not labels,

• Captions should not

state the obvious.

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Links:

• Links are part of the

story and should add

value.

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Cut the clutter and focus:

• What has happened?

• When did it happen?

• Why did it happen?

• Who does it affect and

how ?

• What happens next?

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Cut the clutter and focus:

• Go back to basics; don’t

be clever,

• Is there one line to sum

up the story?

• Keep it short and

simple,

• You write to inform, not

confuse.

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MPA - story journey

• Journalists should only worry about

finding and presenting facts insentences. The technical tools do the

rest.

• A CMS should facilitate the workflow

form creation to publication.

• The way journalists represent the facts

is crucial.

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MPA - credits

Photos courtesy of:

• Cougar-Studio (http://flickr.com/photos/suvcougar/),

• sindesign (http://flickr.com/photos/sindesign /),

• willsfca (http://flickr.com/photos/analogian/),

• Screenshots from BBC news.

http://flickr.com/photos/sindesign

http://flickr.com/photos/sindesign

http://flickr.com/photos/suvcougar/

http://flickr.com/photos/suvcougar/

Multi Platform Authoring

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