Hacking News

Hacking the NewsThe who, what, where, when, why & how of interactive news technology at the NYT

ALAN MCLEAN, DEVELOPER/JOURNALIST

#caj#jhack

Who?

Alan McLean• Art/Design/Development background • Worked at CBC.ca 2005-2007• Working at the NYTimes in 2007-Present

• 2008 Election• 2008 Olympics• 2010 Olympics• Guantanamo Docket • Document Viewer• Run-Well• more...

InteractiveNews

Technology@

InteractiveNews

Technology@

Use the web to tell a story, not just as a delivery medium.

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

- Project dreamed up - Pitch made - Success! They love it! (with a few minor tweaks) - Meet the dev team - Requirements assessed, features parceled

The traditionaldeveloper/newsroom relationship

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

1. Resources assigned2. Work begins3. Work4. Work5. Work6. Work7. Work 8. Review9. (go to line X)10. Launch!

The traditionaldeveloper/newsroom workflow

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Good Afternoon,

In preparation for Phase 3 launch for the Project X, we need to capturethe requirements for this phase as well as gain consensus from allinvolved partners.

To date, these were the deliverables captured a couple of months back...

What do you get from this process?

Robust, Solid,

Reliable "deliverables"

SoftwareArchitecture

Design

What do we call it?

SADSoftware Architecture Design

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Why does that happen? - Developers strive to meet the list of requirements - They are removed from the editorial process - Developers become invested in features rather than content.

The typical newsroom/developer

relationship

Journalist

Developer

JournalistDeveloper

The typical newsroom/developer

relationship

The typical newsroom/developer

relationship

Developer/Journalist

The birth of an online story

How do we work as a newsdesk?

Editorial approaches us

We pitch editorial

Breaking News

The Evolution of the Elections Online at

NYT

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Caption would go here...lorem ipsum.Title Goes Here

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TheGuantanamo

Docket

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RunWell

DocumentViewer

Demo

Lessons

No one clicks the other tabs

Lessons

Election Night, November 4, 2008

The nav is mostly visual clutter

Lessons

450px

450px

JournalistsTextText

Master the visual lede

Lessons

Document Viewer V.3

Master the visual lede

Document Viewer V.3

Master the visual lede

Document Viewer V.3

Master the visual lede

Get to work!

Lessons

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

• Design with napkins and pens over coffee • Not PSD's in boardrooms with “Stake Holders”

Get to work!...and stop pushing pixels

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Rarely if ever go hi-fi, get to code sooner than later. You want to start playing with something that works.

Get to work!...and stop pushing pixels

How can I make this happen?

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Step away from the site architecture.And start getting things done.

• Most solid web sites are not built to facilitate rapid development• You need an adobe house instead of a fortresses• Cue “Cloud” portion of talk

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Host your own sites. Take responsibility. Deliver on deadline.

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

A****n Web ServicesAkin to the pay as you go phone for web services

• Scale on demand.• Make no long term investments in hardware.• Control your own changes and launches.• Finally start using databases on news sites.• For what you get, its cheap.

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Work in a framework that encourages rapid prototyping, agile practices and

open source solutions

Stop asking permission.

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Nothing diminishes great content while damaging your credibility more effectively than poor UI.

Get someone with design skills

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Stop thinking features, start thinking stories. Are you really enhancing engagement?

For Developers...

#CAJ #JHACKALAN MCLEAN: HACKING THE NEWS

Stop thinking readers, start thinking users.For Editorial...

Questions?

ALAN MCLEAN

alan.mclean@nytimes.com

@alanmclean