News Workgroup Report

February 25, 2004Phoenix, AZ

My Yahoo News

PPIN, P2Rx and News

• PPIN – easy access, searchable information

• P2Rx – increase awareness, accessibility and usability of P2 information

• News – quick, timely, fresh (daily) content, critical information, marketable

Purpose of News System

• Builds awareness of activities, issues, products, or services for P2 Community

• Can be integrated into Topic Hubs to increase value

• Minimize efforts for collecting important News

• Can help with branding of P2Rx

What Do We Consider News?

• News that Raises the Awareness or Understanding about P2 Issues/topics:– Event announcements

– Product/Services Announcements

– Changes in Policy/New Program Initiatives

– Funding Announcements

– Environmental issues that can be impacted by P2 Approaches

– New Technologies

News Means Traffic

Workgroup Accomplishments

• Survey of Center news services

• Identified News Sharing Standard – RSS

• Developed a Policy Issues Paper

• Developed Code to Create RSS Feed

• Implemented News Collection Databases at Peaks, PPRC, NEWMOA and P2RIC

Terms

• RSS – computer code (like HTML) that lets a computer collect news content and display it for human eyes

• RSS Feeds – a feed is the place on the web where you publish your page in RSS format – just like the news page you currently have

My Yahoo News

Two Products to Consider

1. AggregEditor (Alligator) - a software application that collects news from other sites and puts it into one spot for use by your center news editor. They will be able to pick among the news items (from sites that they select) and choose those for publication on their own site.

2. CAP2NEWS - a software application that allows selected news headlines to be published in a window on other sites.

Alligator

• Automated – less time spent looking at other sites, less time spent crafting summary/story language. Remember screen capture of MyYahoo– List pertinent RSS feeds available – List cost/benefit of proposed change– List of potential partner candidates– Screen capture of sample publication

My Yahoo News

Alligator Benefits

• More items available at one spot; less time spent pulling together stories

• Trusted sources & previous review of story; reduces time verifying content

• Format makes it easier to describe information and build a collection and narrowcast

Alligator Benefits

• Stories that editors choose to post (received by email or flyer) made more widely available (orders of magnitude greater)

• A headline news service (ex: GreenBuzz, Headwaters) provides marketing for P2Rx and/or centers

Alligator - Short Term Effort

• Collecting News in a database

• Uploading a pre-programmed page

• Training editors to use the tools

• Actual level of effort <2 hours

Alligator Full(er) Feature Effort

• Automated system to select and sort news from Alligator - pushbutton “cut and paste”

• Convince external news providers to publish in RSS

• Training for external news providers wishing to conform to RSS

• Headline news (CAP2NEWS)

CAP2NEWS

• Headline Service once Alligator is in place, and centers are publishing news headlines

Discussion

• Who will participate in publishing their news in the easy to install RSS format?

• Who wants to have the capability to select & publish from this news collection?

• Who wants to help market/promote the RSS news standard to other news providers in their regions and spheres of influence?

• CAP2NEWS issues

CAP2NEWS Issues

– P2Rx product? – CAP2News as a name– Regional or National orientation

• If national, who will do the editing?

– Audience

Primer on How P2Rx Centers Currently Publish News

How We Deliver News Now

• E-mail distribution with many news stories• Enter stories into a database and present on center

sites• Hardcode (html) links to a static page• Link to other news publishing sites

• Flow diagram of news collection and publication

News Publication Process

Gather 1.1

Treat2.1

Publish3.1

News Publication Process

Gather 1.1

Rec’d email,hard copy;

review external sites

1.1.1

Verify content, source (URL),publish-ability

1.1.2

Interviews(if necessary)

1.1.3

News Publication Process

Treat 2.1

Proofread2.1.2

Check links2.1.1

Write copy2.1.1

News Publication Process

Send email 3.1.3

Compilestories 3.1.1

Post to online forms

(OR hardcode)3.1.1

Check published

version3.1.2

Post links3.1

Enter in email program

3.1.2

Email

WEB

Publish 3.1