Leaderboard for week of 4-20-2009: Pulitzer Prize edition

The Pulitzer Prizes were awarded this week, and we thought it was appropriate to look at the lessons learned from winners and finalists.

More than any other year, this year’s Pulitzer Prizes featured journalists who were making strong use of the Internet. One of our top beatbloggers almost won an award. Unfortunately, Elliot Spitzer couldn’t keep his pants on.

Each of these winners and finalists below showcase how the Internet can help revolutionize journalism. What they were able to using databases, blogs, video, live chats, etc helped cover a major story or event better than what was possible even a few years ago. These examples demonstrate the Internet is in fact great for journalism.

Eric Berger | The Houston Chronicle

• The Houston Chronicle was a finalist for the breaking news award. The Chronicle was recognized for its outstanding Hurricane Ike coverage.
• It’s coverage featured live, daily chats with science writer Eric Berger about the oncoming storm, continuous updates and coverage on Berger’s SciGuy blog, around the clock updates on Chron.com, information after the storm struck (including a database of which areas of Houston had power restored), a map of Ike’s damage, video reports, a dedicated “Ike’s Answers” blog and much more. It’s hard to imagine a more complete package of information and reports from a news organizations.
• This is what the Pulitzer committee had to say about the Chronicle’s hurricane coverage, “For taking full advantage of online technology and its newsroom expertise to become a lifeline to the city when Hurricane Ike struck, providing vital minute-by-minute updates on the storm, its flood surge and its aftermath.”
• Berger said to me in an e-mail, “during the hurricane my blog had about 3.5 million page views and the daily live chats I did drew up to 14,000 viewers each time. One of my bosses remarked that it’s not every day a science writer could fill a basketball arena. Additionally, the comments from readers during and after the storm were tremendously positive and heartwarming. I also got great feedback from the director of the National Hurricane Center and storm forecasters who got what I was trying to do in terms of translating their work into meaningful real-time information for people on the ground. So while the Pulitzer recognition for what we did is nice, I’d already received this amazing feedback from critics who matter most to me, the readers and forecasters.”

PolitiFact | The St. Petersburg Times

• We’d like to congratulate one of the shinning beacons of Web journalism, PolitiFact on winning a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.
• Technically, PolitiFact isn’t beatblogging. Regardless, it rocks. Politifact offers a lot of strong examples for journalists and journalism organizations on how databases can improve journalism. PolitiFact is a shinning example of how getting away from the inverted pyramid and column inches can improve journalism. Plus, PolitiFact is only possible on the Web.
• PolitiFact has forever changed how politics — especially presidential elections — will be covered. The whole site is based around the simple concept of examining the claims of politicians, pundits and lobbyists. Instead of stringing a bunch of these examinations into one, long post or story, PolitiFact breaks them up into individually searchable vignettes. The Django backbone of PolitiFact both makes the site easy to build and update, while also making it really easy to use. Bravo.
• The prize committee recognized PolitiFact for its, “fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters. (Moved by the Board to the National Reporting category.)”
• “Neil Brown, executive editor of the St. Petersburg Times, which launched PolitiFact in August 2007, said the award was ‘proof that the Web is not a death sentence for newspapers. In fact, PolitiFact marries the power of old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism with an extraordinarily powerful way to present it.’”
• The good news for all of is that this summer they plan to expand their coverage of pundits and talk show hosts. They will also be expanding their state and local fact-checking.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• The Post-Dispatch was a breaking news finalist because of its coverage — online and in print — of a deadly city hall shooting.
• The prize committee made the Post-Dispatch a finalist,  “for its creative and aggressive coverage, both online and in print, of a city hall shooting that left six people dead, displaying an exemplary blend of speed and rigor in its reporting.”
• Like the Chronicle, the Post-Dispatch covered this story from a variety of angles and in a variety of mediums from videos to numerous stories to slideshows, audio interviews, a condolences blog, an interactive graphic and more.
• Edward J. Delaney of The Nieman Lab reports that, “In the Post-Dispatch newsroom, the paper had only recently shifted to what managing editor Pam Maples called an “online first” approach. The paper had only recently integrated its online and print staffs so that “we didn’t have one of those online units sitting over in the corner.”
• A news organization like the Post-Dispatch is uniquely positioned in the community to provide this kind of breadth and depth of coverage. Other outlets and blogs could have provided some of those coverage, but it takes an organization like the Post-Dispatch to create the complete package. This is called owning a story

Leaderboard for week of 4-13-2009: Kent Fischer memorial edition

It’s not the best time to work for a newspaper: lay-offs, buy-outs, pay cuts and more

Against this backdrop, one of our favorite beatbloggers, Ed Silverman, left newspapers last year. His former employer, The Star-Ledger, may not survive the year. Another one of our favorite beatbloggers, Kent Fischer, announced that he’ll be leaving journalism too.

Fischer had survived several rounds of lay-offs, buy-outs and pay cuts at The Dallas Morning News but wondered how much more his employer could keep making big cuts, while still delivering a quality product. Fischer’s partner in crime on the DISD Blog, Tawnell Hobbs, will carry on the torch by herself. She’ll be expected to run the blog and be a major contributor to print.

Kent Fischer | The Dallas Morning News

• Fischer was one of the first beatbloggers to begin hoisting comments. He realized early on that it was important to acknowledge readers when they contributed something worthwhile to the conversation. Each week Fischer has been picking a comment of the week.
• Fischer also began accepting guest posts from community members last year. His blog is read by many insiders, and the majority of the comments left on his blog are from insiders. He wanted to tap into that network and give some of his top contributors the chance to have a bigger voice. Also, Fischer scheduled his guest posts around summer vacation, a time when education coverage is usually light. The summer is the perfect time to start discussions about bigger issues in education.
• Fischer was one of the first journalists I studied that really got that user comments add value to a news Web site. He understood that not only are comments something that attracts users, but they can also be a great place for thoughtful debate. And they can even be a place for beat reporters to discover stories.
• The comments left on the DISD Blog were usually quite good. Fischer took care to make sure a comment ghetto did not form. A strong comments community requires a journalist who is willing to cultivate a community. It takes a journalist who is not afraid to regularly enter the fray, and Fischer genuinely respected the opinions of his users.
• Fischer wasn’t afraid to try anything. He said that he regularly tried new ideas and features and saw what caught on. If something didn’t catch on, he would move on to something new. It was that ethos of experimentation that really allowed Fischer to shine.
• We’ll have more on Fischer, the lessons he learned from beatblogging and why he left journalism in a podcast later today.

Brian Krebs | The Washington Post

• Krebs was nominated this week for using his blog to provide context to a series of print stories. He explains why the stories are worth reading, what’s new about them (the topic of cyber terrorism is not new) and he provides background and context. Krebs also provides some nitty gritty details that may be too minute for the print edition. And, as always, his blog is the perfect place to provide links to resources.
• Krebs also did some quick checks on the Internet and found some compromised U.S. utilities. These companies have computers that were recently infected with bots and backdoors. His blog post does an excellent job of explaining what the threats are and how they could be harmful to U.S. citizens.
• Again, it’s the comments where this post really begins to shine. Krebs has built up a knowledgeable user community. In the comments you’ll find users asking questions about how easy it is to become infected, what precautions should be taken, etc, and you’ll find other users providing detailed answers.
• Krebs did not write the print stories he linked to, but he did provide excellent context around them. His blog post was a strong compliment to the print content his paper product.

Brian Christopherson | Lincoln Journal Star

• Life in the Red, a joint, staff blog at the Journal Star is one of the better sports blogs we’ve seen. The beat is all things Nebraska Cornhusker related, and a team of five bloggers shares the responsibility.
• One of the things we really like about this blog is the interaction. Sports fans are often a very passionate bunch and sometimes quite knowledgeable. They would love the chance to get to interact with sports writers they follow. On this seemingly simple post, Christopherson and users are discussing safeties for the Nebrasks football team. It all started with a simple post about redshirt freshman P.J. Smith and a quote from head coach Bo Pelini saying Smith could push for playing time with senior Larry Asante.
• This is the kind of little nugget of information that probably wouldn’t make a good print story. Even if it were a print story (or part of a “news an notes” kind of feature) it wouldn’t be nearly the same as doing it online. Each nugget of information gets its own blog post (good for SEO and segregating conversations to individual topics). Breaking these nuggets into individual posts increases visits and comments.
• Also, the Life in Red blog provides the perfect opportunity for beat reporters and fans to discuss minute topics like this. All of the sudden this seemingly small nugget of information becomes a launching pad for debate among writers and users.

Leaderboard for week of 4-6-2009: Sports writers strike back

Last week we focused on sports writers and said that it wasn’t easy for us to find innovative, beatblogging sports reporters.

Some of you took offense to that and sent in additional nominations. It turns out that you were right; there are lots of innovative, beatblogging sports reporters (just not on the scale of their news colleagues). This week we’re back with three more, really innovative sports beat reporters.

We’re still not pleased with how many sports reporters have blogs that they aren’t using properly. The kinds of blogs with giant comment ghettos. But this week gives us hope.

This week’s Leaderboard is filled with sports reporters who get interaction, and interaction is ultimately the name of the game.

Greg Auman | St. Petersburg Times

• Auman reminds me a lot of Ed Silverman. His individual posts don’t usually stand out, but when you take his entire body of his work, it’s when you begin to notice how he shines. He covers his beat well and harnesses the Web well. It’s the total package.
• His beat — University of South Florida sports — lends itself well to blogging. He is an expert on all things related to sports at USF but not focused on an individual sport. His beat and his blog allow him to connect with students and alumni of the school.
• He posts a lot of quality updates to his blog. Many of his posts serve as conversation starters for the community. And Auman, unlike many sports reporters, is active in the comments after his posts. This, unfortunately, is uncommon.
• Auman’s tweets, however, do shine on their own. He posts little tidbits of information that may eventually become longer posts. He has created a Twitter feed that offers real value to USF sports fans, and his tweets compliment his blog perfectly.
• I also like how Auman makes use of live chats with readers. Live chats are a great way for sports reporters in particular to connect with users.
• Auman is the perfect combination of good sports reporting combined with more casual blog posts and a health dose of interaction.
• The level of interaction that Auman engages in — from the comments after his blog posts to Twitter to live chats — is a level that all sports reporters should strive to achieve.

Britt Robson | Secrets of the City

• Robson’s work covering the Minnesota Timberwolves could best be described as a combination between a basketball analyst and a blogger. His writing style lends itself well to blogging, and the way he writes and the content of his writing has helped create a niche that compliments standard sports writing.
• One of my pet peeves with many sports reporters and columnists who have been given blogs is that they never interact with people in the comments section. And, naturally, the comments after their posts are usually incendiary, banal and don’t contribute to the conversation. In short, they have successfully created a comment ghetto by not taking ownership of the comments that appear after their comments. (I’m looking at you Cleveland.com sports writers).
• Robson is active in the comments after his posts, and, of course, a comment ghetto has not formed. There is actual debate and discussion that occurs. It furthers the conversation and adds to the value of the blog.
• It’s refreshing to see the quality of community that Robson has created around a professional sports team. It’s rather uncommon. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like many sports writers who cover professional sports don’t feel the need to build a community around their blog. But is it even a blog if a “blogger” wants nothing to do with the comments after his posts?

Dona Ditota | The Post-Standard

• Ditota made the Leaderboard for her use of Twitter for sports analysis and live blogging. Rather than liveblog play-by-play for games, Ditota provides stats and analysis. She did a phenomenal job of providing live analysis and updates during the Oklahoma-Syracuse game. Her tweeting during games is the perfect compliment to other live sports coverage.
• This tweet from Ditota mentions how OU was able to beat a zone defense by shooting well. This little tidbit of info could help sports fans understand what they are seeing.
• It doesn’t make that much sense to just liveblog play-by-play at a major sporting event. People can get that kind of information from a variety of places — TV, iPhone apps, mobile phone video, etc — but getting succinct analysis is not easy to get. Ditota filled a niche. In fact, her coverage was the perfect compliment to watching the Oklahoma-Syracuse game live. It was also helpful for people following along on the go.

Leaderboard for week of 3-30-09: Sports reporter edition

We have honored sports beatbloggers in the past, but we thought it was high time that we found some more innovative sports beat reporters.

Sports reporting (especially at the pro or major college level) does not lend itself well to beatblogging, but we have found some beat reporters who are innovating and utilizing new tools. Yes, the best beatbloggers typically come from news beats, but there are some sports reporters who have lessons to share.

Derrick Goold | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• Beatblogging, social media and other Web tools don’t lend themselves that well to sports reporting, especially at the professional level, but Goold has found ways to be innovative with these new tools and connect with users better than ever before. Goold covers the St. Louis Cardinals for the Post-Dispatch and is very active on his blog and social media.
• Goold leaves little tidbits in his Twitter feed before games. Here is one example: “Cardinals currently in clubhouse watching a MLB steroid-related video.” That’s the kind of nugget of information that would never make it into a story for the paper and probably wouldn’t even make it into a blog post. Goold’s Twitter feed is filled with tidbits like that. He also interacts with users via Twitter.
  
• Goold also has a Facebook page for himself and his blog. What I really like about his use of Facebook is how he gives users the chance to start discussions about the Cardinals or baseball and Goold participates in those discussions. Whereas Goold leads the discussion on his blog, users get to lead the discussion on Facebook.
• The nature of being a beat reporter that covers a professional sports team doesn’t lead well to beatblogging, but Goold has done a very good job of innovating and engaging his users.

James Walker | ESPN.com

• ESPN has done a really nice job of adding on bloggers to its staff, and these bloggers operate in a much different fashion than their on-air personalities and standard reporters. Walker is a former beat reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, but now has a beatblog focused on the AFC North in the NFL for ESPN.com.
• Walker engages users in a myriad of ways. He has a weekly chat where users can submit questions, and he selects the best ones to answer. This is a great way for users to be able to tap into his deep knowledge of the AFC North, and it’s an opportunity for users to ask questions that may not have been answered by reporters. This is also an opportunity to clarify some of the confusing things around professional sports (for instance, the cap hit of trading an NFL player).
• He also has a mailbag feature where users can send in questions about their respective teams. He does a mailbag at least a few times a week.
• Walker also engages in daily link journalism. He finds the most interesting story of the day for each of the four teams in the AFC North.

Dave Levinthal | Dallas City Hall Blog

• Yes, we have nominated people in the past for hoisting comments, but we’re going to keep doing it until every beatblogger starts doing this. The Dallas City Hall Blog just started hoisting comments by creating a new weekly feature.
• If you want people to leave thoughtful comments, you have to give them some sort of incentive. Being active in the comments and having the opportunity to interact with a beatblogger is one form of incentive. Another great incentive is highlighting the best comments of the week. People will leave better comments if A) they know you are reading them B) they know you’ll responsed and interact with them and C) they know if they leave something really insightful that you’ll acknowledge what they have to say.
• Levinthal said this is why they are starting this new feature: “Because, at the end of the day, we want the Dallas City Hall Blog’s comments section to be more than a repository for throwaway thoughts, bland retorts, or worse, a shouting match. Sometimes, it’s any or all of those things. Instead, we hope our blog reporting will more often than not foster thoughtful conversation and spirited, yet respectful debate on any of the hundreds of issues that face Dallas city government. Therefore, starting this Friday and continuing each Friday thereafter, we’ll select at least one reader comment from the week, highlight it and discuss it. So fire up your intellect. And while we can’t promise you a golden cow if your comment is selected — already in use — we’ll come up with something fun.”

Leaderdboard for week of 3-23-2009: the complete journalism package

What makes a good, modern journalist?

It’s no longer about just writing and reporting. Journalism has gone multimedia, and two-way communication is a big part of Web journalism. Defining what a good journalist is today is a lot harder than it was 10 years ago.

Now being a journalist requires a lot more skills. But it’s not just skills and buzzwords that make a good, modern journalist — it’s about putting it all together and making sense of it all.

Stephanie De Pasquale | Quad-City Times

• De Pasquale is one of the most innovative entertainment reporters we have seen. She combines her writing and video backgrounds to make an outstanding blog. Our favorite video feature of hers is Live Sessions, where she brings in local bands to record their music. Local musicians love the chance to get recorded on video and get promotion. This is a feature that causes bands to seek Stephanie out and update her on their latest releases or upcoming performances.
• De Pasquale is an excellent example of running with the opportunities that were presented to her. When she was 19 she couldn’t find a newspaper willing to offer her an internship because she had no experience. But her local NPR station was willing to take her on. From there she had an internship at a TV station. Eventually she was able to land writing internships as well. What at one point must have been frustrating for De Pasquale has turned into a big asset for her. She understands how to shoot and edit video and audio better than most journalists.
• Combine De Pasquale’s writing, video and audio skills together with her social media and blogging skills and you have one modern journalist. And all of her skills work together to form a total package.
• De Pasquale is also a shinning example of how to use MySpace for beatblogging. Having her music player on her MySpace page filled with local musicians and their music is a really nice touch. It’s a very thoughtful way to acknowledge people who help her with her beat.
• For entertainment reporters, MySpace is an absolute must. Virtually every aspiring artist is on MySpace. Plus, many bars and clubs have MySpace pages, but not Web sites. De Pasquale also engages her readers in the comments on her blog and on MySpace.

Nina Simon | Museum 2.0

• Nina has both a strong beatblog and presence on social networks. Specifically, she was nominated for her focused use of Twitter. Many people use Twitter for work, but Simon’s Twitter account never strays far from her beat or purpose of discussing museum exhibits and ways to create more interactive spaces at museums. She can often be found engaging in link journalism and offering up commentary about the links she provides.
• Museum 2.0 differs from most beatblogs in that Simon is not a journalist, nor is she directly practicing journalism. “Museum 2.0 is a design consultancy focused on creating participatory, dynamic, audience-centered museum spaces.I work with museums to design exhibitions, programs, and online experiences that engage visitors as co-creators and community members, not just consumers.”
• Simon does a fantastic job of writing about what she helps create and writing about exhibits that others create and what works or doesn’t work with those exhibits. She posts about research into how people interact with social media, innovative exhibits and the lessons that can be learned from them and the business models of museums.
• Her advice to museums is also good advice for journalists, “I believe that every museum can grow its audience as long as it is willing to grow with that audience by taking risks, trying new things, and communicating openly.”

Amber Smith | The Syracuse Post-Standard

• Smith made the Leaderboard this week for crowdsourcing on her blog and on Twitter. Need to write a piece that requires feedback from people? Blogs and social media are an excellent way to do that.
• Smith has a simple question she needs help answering, “So, what’s your reward? How do you treat yourself after a good run? Do you have a special feast? Do you reward yourself with new running gear when you hit a milestone?”
• Before blogs and social media, this would have been a much more time consuming task. Smith would have probably had to go out to an area where there were lots of runners and tried to get their attention. She would have had to go the runners and try to bug them to answer her question. Instead, she can now use her blog and Twitter accounts to get runners to come to her.  While she waits for the responses to come in, she can work on other stories.
• This is a simple instance of where beatblogging makes a journalist much more efficient. When people come to you with information, it makes your job a lot easier.

Leaderboard for 3-2-2009: Two-way communication edition

This week’s Leaderboard is all about two-way communication by interacting with users.

The best beat bloggers have established networks around their beats with knowledgeable sources and users. Many of these users add significant value to the beat blogs they comment on. They link to additional resources and Web site, cite studies, forward the debate along and fact check a beat blogger’s work.

Beat bloggers may not always agree with these users, but they can’t imagine their blogs without them either. Beat blogs that are surrounded by an active and knowledgeable community offer so much more for people. These blogs feature great content from beat bloggers and from users.

Eric Berger | The Houston Chronicle

• Look at how Berger interacts with his users in the comments after his posts. They go back and forth, help each other out, publish links and more. Berger published the results of a new study that says that being overweight is as bad for a person as smoking. Berger’s users had much to point out and questioned whether the study is that definitive (Berger hinted that he was skeptical too).
• Berger’s users brought up several strong points: This study only looked at young males. Many suggested that it would be difficult to apply these findings to women, and they provided sources and links backing up their thoughts. Also, Berger’s users pointed out that there is a difference between becoming overweight/obese later in life than being overweight/obese from a young age.
• All of this back forth made for a lively discussion and the real value of this post become apparent after his users had a chance to weigh in. All Berger did was provide a succinct summary of the study and his users ran with it.
• Berger’s post was interesting, but the comments really take this to a new level. Plus, Berger’s users helped correct some mistakes in his original post.

Brian Krebs | The Washington Post

• Yet again, Krebs is providing a public service to his users. This post didn’t take long to write, but it will certainly help keep his users safer. For a beat like computer security, it’s important to give users real value. Krebs does that every week by helping his users navigate the rough waters of computer security.
• In this post, Krebs is explaining what to do if users receive unsolicited IM messages on GMAIL from “ViddyHo.” This is a phishing scam aimed at gaining access to GMAIL users’ credentials.
• Krebs also explains why this phishing attack can be particular bad for people; GMAIL accounts often use the same logins as valuable Google Adsense and Google Checkout accounts. Access to either of those could leave a person financial vulnerable.
• What makes this post truly Leaderboard worthy is how his users fill in additional information about the phishing attack and the ways that it can harm users.

Jon Ortiz | The Sacramento Bee

• This is just an all-around great example of beat blogging. State workers have been greatly affected during the financial crisis, and the financial crisis’s affect on state workers been a big part of Ortiz’s blog — The State Worker — the past few months. In California and other states, one of the major ways politicians have proposed covering huge budget shortfalls is by furloughing state workers, cutting their pay and benefits and even laying them off.
• Ortiz found issues affecting state workers in other states and linked to stories and blog posts highlighting how the financial crisis is affecting those state workers. He also wanted his users to check out the comments that state workers were leaving, because they mirrored the comments that Ortiz had been getting for months on his blog.
• This post is, at its heart, link journalism. It’s just very focused link journalism. The idea of finding a specific topic that is more niche than the beat itself and finding interesting links is an idea that more beat bloggers should explore. This bit of link of journalism got Ortiz’s users talking.

Leaderboard for week 2-16-2009: Access edition

Good beat reporters have something that most people don’t — access.

Journalists have access to politicians, sports stars, scientists and other experts. What if journalists created more content that harnessed their ability to gain access? Is there even a business model to be created around access?

That last point will be left for others to debate and discover, but this week our first Leaderboard member shows the power of access.

Eric Berger | The Houston Chronicle

• Every month Berger has a chat with experts on a different science topic. Users are free to submit questions and the best ones are put forth to the experts. This month Berger brought in two experts on climate change to answer his users’ questions.
• Berger uses a popular live blogging technology, CoveritLive for his chats. CoveritLive allows Berger to screen questions as they come in and then broadcast the best ones for his experts to answer.
• These chats are popular when they happen live, but they also make great content once they are over. Each chat is automatically archived, allowing users to read over the questions and answers at anytime.
• These chats can also be provide fertile ground for potential blog posts and stories for Berger. His users may pose questions that Berger may not have thought of before. He can then look into those topics more indepth.

Brian Krebs | The Washington Post

• Krebs is consistently rewarded for building such a strong community around his beat. Again, Security Fix users are helping each other out by providing information on computer security. Krebs made a post about the Conflicker Worm that has been rapidly infecting Windows users, and Security Fix users provided each other with tips on how to keep their machines safe.
• He has developed a great beat blog that has useful information on a daily basis. But what really makes his blog shine is the kind of users he has gathered around it and the comments they leave. Users can  learn an awful lot from the comments left after posts. They are a treasure trove of knowledge.
• Krebs shows us why building a community is so important. Many of his blog users are very knowledgeable about computer security and many work in the IT field. Krebs has actively cultivated a community of knowledgeable users, and because he is so active in the comments section, users leave more thoughtful and civilized comments. Krebs has not allowed a comment ghetto to form.
• The community has made Security Fix into a better blog. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine Security Fix without the community that has formed around it.

Jon Ortiz | The Sacramento Bee

• This post is an excellent all-around example of beat blogging. Ortiz was alerted to the blogger he mentions in this post by one of his users. Then his users provide excellent information and insight in the comments after his post. Ortiz has a network of California state workers around his blog that can provide great insight.
• One of his readers told Ortiz to check out a post by a blogger analyzing a report by the California CIO. The blogger raised questions and interesting points about the report. Berger took the best points the blogger made and asked the government of California to respond. He then posted the unedited e-mail to his blog.
• This post is an excellent example of what happens when a beat reporters builds a network around this beat. Ortiz has a niche blog that focuses on issues surrounding state workers. Because of this, Ortiz has been able to build a much larger network of state worker sources than before he had the blog.
• Both Ortiz and Krebs also demonstrate the power of having a niche beat blog. A blog about the state of California or about the government in general would probably attract a lot of non-government workers. The State Worker, on the other hand, mostly appeals to state employees — exactly the kinds of people Ortiz wants to add to his growing network of sources.

Leaderboard for 2-9-2009: Crowdsourcing edition

This week’s Leaderboard focuses on crowdsourcing and interacting with readers.

A beat blog is a great way to find out what people are thinking, and unlike the print edition that may run a few thoughts from readers, a beat blog can allow anyone to comment. Plus, users can interact with each other, share links and debate topics.

A beat blog is also a great way to ask readers what they would like you to cover. Want to know what your readers think? Ask them.

Jon Ortiz | Sacramento Bee

• Ortiz is using his blog to crowd source opinions on what it’s like to be back after a day of being furloughed. Due to the budget crisis in California, it’s mandatory for state workers to take several furlough days. Ortiz wants to know what morale is like now that furloughs have officially begun.
• This blog post has been a sounding board for state workers who were furloughed. The post itself is interesting because of all the comments that users have left. It doesn’t take a lot of effort for Ortiz to ask a simple question about morale, but this post has yielded a lot of good information.
• The post will also help Ortiz create more content. He can take the best comments and make a new blog post or print story with them. He can also ask in a few weeks how morale is after employees receive their first reduced paychecks. He can then compare and contrast comments left this week with comments left after employees receive their smaller paychecks.
• A beat blog makes it much easier for a reporter to write stories like these. Before the Web, Ortiz could have contacted a few state workers and used their opinions for stories. After the story was published, additional state workers could write in. But with Ortiz’s beat blog, anyone can comment, and this post has led to a wide swatch of state workers form different departments commenting on how morale is.
• People are much more willing to share their stories when we make it easy for them. It’s much easier to leave a comment after a blog post than it is to find a newspaper’s number, call the newspaper and try to get a hold of an individual reporter.

John A. Bryne | BusinessWeek

• “What’s Your Story Idea?” gives BusinessWeek.com readers the chance to have a direct impact on the publication’s coverage. Editor-in-Chief John A. Byrne reviews reader comments and then assigns them to journalists. When the story goes live, the reader gets the credit.
• Each week at least one story pitched by a reader is assigned to a BusinessWeek staffer.
• Bryne also provides feedback to stories pitched by users, “As Editor-in-Chief of BusinessWeek.com, I’ll respond to your suggestions just as I do to my own reporters. ‘Tom, that’s a brilliant and original idea with importance significance to our readers.’ Or, ‘Frank, I’ve read that story a hundred times. What can you possibly add that’s new?’”
• This feature is not only good for unearthing new and interesting story assignments, but it’s also a good way to get user feedback on existing content. Is BusinessWeek covering the stories that its readers are interested in? Why not just ask?
• This sums up what BusinessWeek and Bryne are trying to accomplish: “User engagement. That’s what we believe in.” User engagement is a must to succeed on the Web.

Gene Sloan | USA Today

• Sloan is live blogging all week from the Carnival Fantasy cruise. His live blogging is cool enough, but Sloan is also engaging users in the comments section after his posts and answering questions.
• Sloan is living blogging this week so he can report on, “What’s it like to sail on one of the refurbished Fantasy Class ships? I’ll be on board the Fantasy for the next five days as it cruises to Mexico, posting my impressions and answering your questions (leave them in the comment area below).”
• As he leaves impressions throughout the day, users have been leaving comments and asking questions. Sloan has been responding to their questions and trying out some of their suggestions (which activities to try, what to eat, etc).
• Before the Web and live blogging, Sloan could have ridden a cruise ship for a week and written a story about his experiences. Now he can post updates and photos throughout the course of his trip and interact with users along the way. The ability for users to leave comments and suggestions makes this form of journalism much more interactive and engaging for users.

Leaderboard for week of 2-2-09: Curation edition

This week’s Leaderboard is all about curation.

Yes, the Internet makes information more accessible and has destroyed much of the gatekeeping role that journalists have played in the past, but it also has overloaded people with information. There is just so much information on the Internet that it can be hard to make sense of it all. That’s where journalists can come in.

On the Web, journalists can provide value by acting as curators. Journalists can sift through the mountains of information on a given topic, find the best parts, highlight keywords, link to important documents and help people make sense of it all. Beat reporters in particular have deep knowledge of topics and can harness that knowledge to be strong curators.

The link is a powerful thing. It is the basis of good curation on the Web. This week’s Leaderboard is comprised of journalists who act as curators for people.

They help their users make sense of it all.

Dave Levinthal | The Dallas Morning News

• This is another great beat blog from The Dallas Morning News. Levinthal was inspired by Tawnell Hobbs and Kent Fischer’s popular beat blog. Levinthal has used beat blogging to improve his beat reporting and to connect better with users.
• This is an interesting bit of link journalism. Instead of linking to other news stories, Levinthal mostly links to government documents about the Dallas City Hall. It’s a great way to provide curation of government documents. Journalists can sift through documents, finding and linking to important ones. Journalists can also help make sense of individual documents.
• Many documents, including government documents, are publicly available. Journalists, however, can provide value for users by curating and making sense of all those documents and information.

Kent Fischer | The Dallas Morning News

• Fischer originally blogged about a new Texas senate bill that would require school districts to make public the name of candidates during superintendent searches. He then posted about an exchange that he believes shows why the superintendent search process could use some openness.
• Fischer then highlighted keywords and phrases in the exchange that would be of interest to his users. The phrases he highlighted demonstrated a lack of openness that the Senate bill is meant to address. This is another act of curation. Fischer is able to read longer documents and explain them to users in much easier and digestible terms.
• Fischer and Hobbs have done a great job of getting people talking on their blog. These users often offer incredible insight into the district (many work for it), and they often provide links that can help Fischer and Hobbs report and help other users understand issues surrounding the school district better.

Daniel Bassill | Tutor Mentor Connection

• This post clearly demonstrates the power of linking, and it showcases how asinine it is when journalists don’t link out. If a journalist mentions an article, blog post, photo, video, etc that is on the Internet, it is paramount that he or she links or embeds said content.
• This post takes linking a bit further. It’s not just about linking to content that is mentioned within the blog post, but it’s also about fashioning a blog post around linking.
• In this blog post, Bassil links to articles, Web sites, books and other relevant information on the topic of school reform in Chicago. The value of this post is not only in the original content that Bassil produced but also the quality content that he links to and suggests that others read.
• Bassil knows the issue of school reform well, and he can act as a curator for the topic by sending people to the best content available on the topic.

Leaderboard for week of 1-26-09: Participation

This week’s Leaderboard is all about participation.

We are featuring three distinct ways beat bloggers are getting their users involved and harnessing the collective intelligence of their communities. In today’s era of limited journalism resources, utilizing a knowledgeable user base just makes sense. Users are a tremendous asset and the best beat bloggers have learned to tap into their collective wisdom.

These beat bloggers have found ways to not only harness the wisdom of the crowd, but they have also succeeded in getting their users to participate. Participation is a big part of the Web, and these three beat bloggers offer distinct ways to get users involved.

Gene Sloan | USA Today

• Sloan made the Leaderboard this week for a cool feature of his, “Reader Tip of the Week.” Each week Sloan asks readers to send in tips on a cruise-related issue. This week he is looking for advice on going on a cruise with teenagers.
• There are some fantastic tips left by readers that help Sloan do his job better. One reader pointed out that certain cruise lines offer teen programs and suggested that people with teens avoid lines that do not offer teen programs.
• This weekly feature servers several purposes: It gets users involved and talking about issues, it taps into the wisdom of Sloan’s community and it serves to help Sloan report better. It’s also a very easy feature to produce.
• The best readers’ tips are put into the print edition of USA Today. A little bit of work can go a long way.

Etan Horowitz | Orlando Sentinel

• Horowitz is employing some networked journalism this week by asking users to report on Circuit City liquidation sales. Standard operating practice during a liquidation usually sees a store raise prices to MSRP before offering discounts. Few retailers attempt to sell items — sale or no — at MSRP.
• This means that a discount of 10 percent off, for instance, during liquidation might actually be more expensive than Circuit City was selling it for before liquidation.
• Prices and availability vary greatly per store during liquidation. One Circuit City may be barely discounting items because of brisk sales, while another may have begun deep discounting.
• Horowitz is asking users to report on the prices of items they see at their local Circuit City. He is also asking that they list which store they went to. Horowitz couldn’t do this all himself, but he is smartly employing the power of his users on his site to piece together this story.
• Horowitz’s users can help other users determine whether or not it is worth shopping at a particular Circuit City.
• Networked journalism is a great way to get users involved and to report on topics that a reporter couldn’t do alone.

Buzz Out Loud | CNET

• “Well actually” are two of the most famous words on this daily podcasts. Listeners write in to correct the hosts or to clarify tricky tech-related information.
• Covering a wide range of tech topics isn’t the easiest, and Buzz Out Loud’s vast, knowledgeable audience provides a lot of fact checkers to ensure accuracy.
• BOL’s Tom Merritt, Natali Del Conte, Molly Wood and Jason Howell know tech well, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t use some help in covering a broad and nuanced topic. Users send in tips and news stories every day that help BOL report on tech in a more efficient manner.
• Listeners also correct the hosts when they are wrong. It’s not often that one of the hosts is blatantly wrong, but many tech topics are extremely nuanced and can be hard for most people to get 100 percent right. The BOL gang may report on computer encryption, for instance, and the next day a computer security expert may call in to clarify a point or to add additional insight.
• This show is all about user participation because it wouldn’t be possible without a lot of help from listeners.