Online First: Making It Work

ONLINE FIRSTMAKING IT WORK

Logan Aimone, MJE

School Newspapers Online


State of many high school news websites• They’re a repository for printed stories.

• They’re where the bad stories are published.

• They’re a storage place for print PDFs.

• They’re only occasionally thought about.

• Big stories are published only after the “big reveal” in print.

• They don’t live up to their potential.


What if it didn’t have to be that way?• What if you didn’t have to wait until the next issue?

• What if you needed to reach your audience instantly, no matter where they were?

• What if your audience wasn’t just your school?

• What if you have real news to report?

It can be different.


Online first gives you new opportunities.• Breaking news and emergencies

• Developing stories

• Sports game coverage

• Movie and music reviews

• Opinions


Your publication is no longer a newspaper.• It’s a news program.

• It’s news beyond the paper.

• It’s time to change your language.

• Issues/Editions

• Archives

• Section Names


Your audience expands beyond school walls• Students

• Teachers and school staff

• Parents

• Community

• The World


What do you need to do to be online first?• Commit.

• Build the audience.

• Have a writing/editing/classroom structure.


You’re committed.You know what is needed.

So how do you do it?


Build the audience.• Establish a reputation: Be the #1 news source in your school.

• Deliver relevant content. Timeliness makes content relevant.

• How do readers know you’ve posted a new story?

• Browsing

• Email updates/RSS

• Social media


Engage with readers via social media.• Build your social media networks.

• Post to social media. Avoid the auto-post plugin.

• Time your posts.

• Get readers to distribute content they like or want to promote.

• Listen to your readers with social media.

• Find sources and story ideas on social media.


Start looking at design differently• Story page design is consistent, putting focus on content.

• Contextual linking

• Embeddable elements

• Multiple photos and video

• Rethink your home page. Rethink the carousel.

• Design and structure can vary to fit the circumstances


5 things to think about and address:• Day-to-day activities

• Leadership structures

• Coverage decisions

• Grading

• Fun


Students will be in different points of the

production schedule daily.And that’s OK.


Rethink the story cycle• With an online-first attitude, there is no “cycle.”

• You can make every day a story idea day.

• You can make every day a publication day.

• A story might take three weeks or three hours to produce.


Day-to-day Activities• You can bring order to the chaos.

• Review. What was published yesterday? Did it get read?

• Brainstorm and plan stories. What’s happening today? What do readers need to know?

• Teach lessons. Large-group, mini-lessons, ad hoc.

• Set a priority for the day. If it’s the print edition, spend time on design, editing.


Day-to-day Activities, continued• Communicate beyond classroom. Develop a method to

facilitate organization and communication.

• One-on-one checkins. These add accountability and opportunity to redirect student efforts.

• Story groups. Pull writer, editor, & photographer together.

• Down time. It’s OK.


Leadership structures• Accommodate the online-first philosophy by revising student

leadership positions and descriptions.

• Have an online editor-in-chief.

• Roles for managing editor (assignment editor) and photographers/photo editors must be expanded.

• Also consider a social media coordinator.


Leadership roles• Empower editors to own their positions

• to keep up with story ideas.

• to keep the audience informed.

• to keep up with the editing.

• to make decisions responsibly.

• Plan for when big news happens.


Coverage: Timeline and deadlines• Determine the best platform. Some stories are told better in

print, while some are told better online.

• Don’t just use the general deadline for a print issue.

• What deadline makes sense? What deadline is realistic?

• Set up an editing process that allows for students to finish stories successfully. Individualize.


Use a collaborative writing tool• You need a tool that allows you to collaborate in real time to

speed up the editing process.

• Google Drive (Apps/Docs) is great for this.

• Share a folder rather than a Doc

• Have a master planning spreadsheet/plan


Grading: What to consider• Assignments will have many forms. How do you

accommodate this in grading?

• What happens when students slack off, flake out or just don’t produce?

• Set up a checklist of requirements to earn grades.

• Determine competency levels and grade based on level.

• Establish production quota for quarter/semester.


Make time for fun• The production cycle doesn’t have the same ebb and flow as

each printed paper, so you will need to build in time to celebrate, evaluate, bond and grow.

• Incorporate Web milestones (analytics, hits, likes, retweets) into the celebration list.


Take advantage of what the Web offers• Publishing is instantaneous.

• Stories can be published when they are ready — not when the print cycle dictates.

• Content can be the length that is appropriate —not cut or expanded to fit space.

• Storage is not an issue — lots of photos or multimedia.


Take advantage (continued)• Stories can be updated or corrected easily as new information

is gathered.

• A story can be a springboard for exploration with links to additional content and related stories.


Ready to jump in?


QUESTIONS? Let’s hear ’em.• Contact me at [email protected] or @loganaimone

• School Newspapers Online

• See me at the table in the exhibitor area

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Online First: Making It Work

Education

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