OK, judging from the response I received to the recent team building tech and postmortem posts, maybe it would help to step back and focus on something more personal, perhaps something that assistant editors can use to help themselves.

I know first-hand how much the computer systems at many newspapers leave you wanting something more. I had a computer once that physically shimmied and shook if I tried to work on a spreadsheet at the same time that I was on the Internet. But try telling the executive editor that you need a new computer; you’re likely to get laughed out of their office.

Thankfully at most newspapers, Internet access is no longer an issue. Gone are the days when there was only one or two machines connected to the Net. Additionally most newsrooms have left behind dial-up and embraced faster connectivity. So what does any of this mean for our assistant editor with the circa 1980 machine who has no hope for new hardware and whose software is an even bigger joke. Where can they turn? What other tech options do they have?

While the Internet is full of content that can be used to waste time (my personal favorite is Desktop Tower Defense), it also offers lots of productivity and organization tools. There are two companies in particular that I think can provide the most assistance in this instance.

The most familiar would be Google Docs. The company, known for Internet search, email and instant messaging, has developed a suite of applications including an online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program (think PowerPoint, but not). One of the things that’s great about these online tools is just that, they’re online, so you can use them wherever you have access to an Internet connection. And you can easily transfer documents from one of these applications to Microsoft Word or Excel and vice-versa. As such, moving content from say Google Documents (their version of Word) to your editorial or CMS would also likely be simple. Additionally, all these applications allow for great collaboration. For example, at Ottaway, I will frequently use Google Spreadsheet instead of Excel. I can work on it wherever I am and my colleagues can contribute, even when I’ve already got the spreadsheet open.

The other option comes from the folks at 37signals. What they have to offer is really a organizational tool. Backpack is “a simple web-based service that allows you to make pages with to-do lists, notes, files, and images … also features a Calendar and Reminders that can be sent via email or to your cell phone at predefined times.” There is nothing to say that you can’t use Backpack in conjunction with Google Docs. Get organized with Backpack and stay productive with Google Docs.

While both of these are free, Backpack does offer paid upgrades for added functionality.

You’ll have to decide what works for you. For example, you might just want to start with Google Documents, since it will allow you to work at home on reviews and that weekend package. Or you may want to use Google Spreadsheet to plan the holiday rotation. On the other hand, a to-do list tied in with email reminders might be just what you need to ensure that you get your timesheet in on time or expense reports filed before the deadline.

Best of all, since these are online applications, no one has to know you are using them, they’ll just marvel at your increased productivity and organizational skills.

Everyone loves a surprise, right?

When it comes to Hanukkah, Christmas for even birthday gifts, surprises are a big hit. But in terms of your website, surprises don’t really work.

Having been part of a number of redesigns, I can tell you that out of all the complaints that will typically come in, number one with a bullet will be “Why didn’t you tell me this was coming?” (Of course followed quickly by “What did you do to my website?” “What were you thinking?” and “I can’t find anything!“) Despite that, many newspapers still surprise their readers with everything from navigational changes to complete site redesigns.

What only serves to make a bad situation worse is the lack of follow through once the change is revealed — no house ads or even a note from the editor to explain what changed and why. So we’ve taken a bad initial decision and made it worse by failing to acknowledge it — sounds just like a newspaper, right?

Not everyone makes these mistakes, there are some best practices out there that are worth noting.

At sfgate.com the, the Redesign Team uses blog posts to discuss and introduce new designs and functionality. For example, last month they introduced a new business section and wrote a post that incorporated a screenshot and provided a way for people to offer feedback. They wrote:

We’ve given the SFGate Business and Technology pages a brighter design, increased the size of headlines and simplified the navigation, which is now at the top of the page. We’re also increasing the frequency of updates during the business day.

We’ve also made it easier to find related content, such as Real Estate, Small Business, our five business columns, and the Technology and Bay Area Biz blogs.

The marketing team at the Ledger.com designed a house ad to go along with their home page redesign. They used a screenshot of the front page to explain to readers all the new and/or changed functionality. Stan Ostashen, The Ledger’s marketing manager wrote:

“TheLedger.com has been redesigned to put focus on multimedia and interactive content not available in print editions of The Ledger. This handy reference guide will help you navigate through our redesigned home page. We hope you enjoy all our new features.”

In addition, the ad was included in a post on their “What’s new online” blog, allowing them to reach both their print and online readers.

Another approach is to create an FAQ that predicts some of the questions readers might have and can be added to as new questions arise. The Pocono Record relaunched their site a few months back and created an FAQ that explained the rationale behind their redesign and where everything could be found.

Even CNN worked hard to ensure that their 2.0 redesign was not a surprise. For weeks before their formal relaunch, they ran a mirror site offering a look at the redesign and new functionality. Visitors had a choice between using the new site and continuing to use the old site.

So what tips can we take away from these examples:

• Let your visitors know that a change is coming.
• Provide as much detail as you can. A screenshot will go a long way.
• Don’t forget to use your print publication to inform readers of changes online.
• Think about blogging about changes or improvements to your site.
• Make it easy for people to provide feedback.

Those are my thoughts, but I’d like to hear from you, what are your thoughts on surprises and changes to your website? What tips do you have for other sites thinking of making changes or doing a redesign? And those of you visiting via the Newsdesigner.com, do you have any thoughts on this issue?

Please join me in congratulating the four Ottaway newspapers who are finalists in the Newspaper Association of America’s Digital Edge Awards.

I’m proud to be able to say that I work with the talented people at these sites and I’m happy, especially at this moment in the groups history, for them to be receiving this recognition.

Most Innovative Use of Interactive Media
Circ. less than 75,000
CapeCast (Cape Cod Online/Cape Cod Media Group)
NHPrimary.com (The Telegraph)
PigskinReview.com (Amarillo Globe-News)
Studio55 (NaplesNews.com/Naples Daily News)

Best Local Guide or Entertainment Site
Circ. less than 75,000
CoastalBeat.com (Scripps Newspaper Group – Florida)
Lawrence.com (The World Co.)
SouthCoast247.com (South Coast Media Group)

Best Design and Site Architecture
Circ. less than 75,000
209vibe.com (The Stockton Record)
Caller.com (Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
LJWorld.com (The Lawrence Journal-World/The World Co.)
Prepzone (CJOnline/The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Savannahnow.com (Savannah Morning News)

Circ. 75,000 – 250,000
DaytonDailyNews.com (Dayton Daily News)
Knoxnews.com (Knoxville News Sentinel)
Quickdfw.com (The Dallas Morning News Co.)
Varsity845 (Times Herald-Record/Hudson Valley Media Group)

Lately at Ottaway, we’ve been encouraging the online staff at our newspapers to complete the meta tags for the pages on their sites — specifically keywords and descriptions. Not generic keywords or descriptions mind you, but relevant and researched data. Simply put, we see incomplete tags as missed opportunities.

But as I spoke with friends at other newspapers around the country, I realized that this issue was not unique to our shop. So this past weekend, I decided to look at some of the area newspapers I read online to see if they have completed tags on their pages and here’s what I found:

northjersey.com – generic meta data repeated throughout most of the site.
nj.com – no meta data.
courierpostonline.com – incomplete generic meta data repeated throughout most of the site.
philly.com – generic meta data repeated throughout most of the site.
app.com – generic meta data repeated throughout most of the site.

Was I surprised? A bit. Why? In part because at least three of these newspapers are using a CMS that makes it easy to complete their meta tags. And at least one of the two remaining newspapers has a significant enough online staff to support this effort even if they are coding by hand.

So what explains this? Well, I’m sure if I asked the staff at these sites, they would tell me that they have so much going on that they don’t have the time to customize their meta tags. “At least” some would say “we’ve got something in those fields.” Others would try to argue that the tags aren’t important, that the “big” search engines don’t pay attention to keywords, or something like that.

Maybe this way of thinking is unique to newspapers, because it doesn’t take much time looking around the Internet to find that the overwhelming opinion is that complete meta tags are actually extremely important. For example, your description tag has a high value since it will show up in the search engine’s themselves.

Given the significance of these tags and urgent need to grow online audience, why overlook this opportunity? My advice, attack a few pages at a time, do your keyword research, and get these tags completed. You will see the difference.

If you want to see how we are handling it, feel free to visit the Times Herald-Record or the Mail Tribune. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.

My intention with this blog is not to primarily use it as a venue to promote work done by my own company. However, I believe I need to make an exception when one of my newspapers does something that can be a lesson to the broader industry. Such a moment has occurred.

Allow me to introduce you to the Pocono Record a 35-person newsroom in Stroudsburg, Pa., (if you can find the Delaware Water Gap, you can locate the Record). This is a newsroom that breaks many of the traditional media gathering rules. They’ve embraced the web and technology (use blogs, forums, videos, text alerts, twitter, rss and email newsletters and alerts) and have empowered everyone from the executive editor down to the paper’s receptionist to participate.

While that is a lesson for other newspapers large and small that are still wrapped up in silo mentality, today I want to take a moment to call your attention to their recent coverage of a fatal fire.

On Thursday, Nov. 8, authorities now maintain an 8-year-old playing with a cigarette lighter started a fire that destroyed two homes and took the lives of two people. A fire for any newspaper can be a challenging story to cover, especially covering it live. Access to the scene and the participants, timing (fires can be out before your reporter leaves the newsroom) and good visuals are all challenges.

None of those obstacles stopped the staff of the Record from covering this fire and covering it as if they were a “24-hour news channel”¹.

Their photo staff shot stills AND video. Their reporters gathered yarn for their print stories and the web providing updates online, by email and phone messaging as the fire leapt to a neighboring house; as more firefighters responded and streets were closed; and as fatalities were announced and the community grieved.

Visitors to poconorecord.com on that day found a scalable map that showed where the fire was, videos of the fire and an interview with a rescuer, still images and, of course, good reporting and even better writing. It was all the pieces of online coverage that Pennsylvania web users likely expect from CNN or the New York Times, but instead found on the homepage of their local newspaper. All of that content is now available on one landing page.

Traffic to the website reflected an increase in daily uniques of some 5,000 visitors and an increase of some 60,000 page views – not only did more people come to the site, but they spent more time. And the traffic boost did not evaporate after the first day of coverage. Even their YouTube profile saw an increase in traffic.

I point this effort out, not because as I said it is by one of the newspapers that I’m proud to work with, but because so many of the larger newspapers that I have either worked at or frequent online should learn from. So, I offer these takeaways from the Pocono Record:

• Involve and train everyone in your newsgathering and presentation effort.
• Give the reader everything they want and everything you’ve got. If you collapse at the end, it was likely an effort well done.
• Use video. Yes still images might win you a Pulitzer, but your readers want more and everyone else is using video.
• Report for the web and update in print. Simple concept (albeit from Gannett) that means get it online FAST. It’s a competitive market out there, if you don’t offer it, someone else will.
• Use every technology available and don’t try to offer excuses for bypassing any of them. For example, if hosting video is an issue, use YouTube; it’s FREE.

It’s more then just saying that if a small newspaper like the Pocono Record can produce this type of package there is no reason why other, large, news outlets can’t. It comes down to the reality that, if small newspapers like the Pocono Record are doing this then larger newspapers must do it.

And if any of these news outlets need help, I’d say give the folks at the Pocono Record a call, I’m sure they’d offer you some guidance.

1- Observation made by Pocono Record Online Director, Kathy Schwartz and one that, frankly, I agree with.