As part of our news:rewired follow-up coverage, we’ll be posting slideshows of the speakers’ presentations for those who missed it or simply want to recap.

We’ll be adding presentations as our speakers send them over to us.

The interactive session session featured Ollie Williams, Olympics reporter for BBC Sport; Rob Minto, interactive editor, Financial Times; Francis Irving, developer, ScraperWiki.

Rob Minto:

What is an interactive graphic?

I’m Ollie, and I’m an Olympic sports reporter for BBC Sport. Most of my job is going out and reporting, but I’ve had a bit of a sideline in interactives for various BBC websites and used to work for the BBC News website on the editorial side of making them, so I’m here to talk through some of the things we’ve done and, perhaps more relevantly, what I think we should be doing more of in future, and how interactives may change.

First, it feels odd to be talking about niche and specialist journalism as a member of the BBC, which you might think is about as mainstream as reporting gets. But working on the Olympic Games occupies strange territory: it’s very much a niche market, in fact it’s about 40 niche markets each catering to very different sports, for two years at a time, and then for a couple of weeks EVERYONE wants a piece of the action during a Summer or Winter Olympics. So everything you do, from straight reporting to building interactives, should appeal to handball and taekwondo fanatics as much as it does football fans with at best a passing interest in those other sports.

The first link is our Beijing 2008 interactive map, from the last Olympics. The first lesson with this is the pace of change of interactives, because this already feels a little old-school and tired, but at the time it did things that felt quite groundbreaking for a website and operation of our size – tracking reporters with live geotagged Twitter updates on the map, before geotagging tweets became something that was easy to do, on top of a comprehensive venue guide, with blog posts appearing according to venue as well. It had a nice “live” feel to it – but it was tough to build. We nearly killed the entire BBC website when we launched it, and it needed a lot of manual effort to keep it updated, plus our reporters in Beijing spent ages staring up at the sky for a GPS fix to add coordinates to their tweets. It wasn’t ideal, and this is an important point with any interactive – plan how much work is going to be involved in the long term. I’m not saying we got it vastly wrong, but given you normally want your interactive to continue to appeal to people, and be a resource they can keep coming back to, that means thinking about how it evolves and the effort that will take.

From that point of view, my next link is a slightly more refined model. This is a simple world map showing where all the football players in the Premier League were born in 2009 and, for comparison, where the players in the 1989/90 season were born. You can filter by team and season, to get an idea of just how vast the changes that have globalised English football have been.

This was a one-hit wonder – it didn’t need updating, it just needed a shedload of data entry and research to get it going. We promoted it well on its first day and it had a long tail, people kept coming back and it did the rounds on sites like Twitter, which is what many websites want their interactives to do. The only way your interactive is going to get the buzz you’re looking for is if it’s interesting and it tells people something they didn’t already know, or couldn’t find elsewhere. There are plenty of news organisations copying interactives that have been made elsewhere first, when I believe you need to be doing something new – and which makes sense to do. Another example would be the BBC Berkshire flood map, from back in 2007, which was the first interactive I created (using Google MyMaps), pooling photos and video from users alongside the BBC’s reports and flood warnings.

So the football map is a largely static (in terms of not being updated) interactive that retained a bit of life because it did something different. At the other extreme, my fourth link is our live map of the G20 in London last year, which involved me sat behind a desk operating some mapping software for 12 hours a day, taking phone calls from reporters, processing emails and taking video from the BBC website as soon as it appeared.

This was a bit rough-and-ready but it took an environment well-known to a lot of our readers, and gave a strong sense of developments over time and where the action was happening… like a heat map of editorial over London, that you could come back to every half an hour and something would be different.

There is a huge temptation to spend a lot of money developing something that would automate this… but I think it would fail. When you’re trying to use an interactive to tell a complex story, you need manual editorial control to get the best results. I could pick and choose what we showed on this map, what got prominence and how long things stayed on it. So I’m in essence crafting a story on this page, it’s not just glorified data entry. Now obviously you have to have the resources to afford the manual editorial input, but I strongly urge you: if possible, make sure your interactives are led by a human pair of eyes that understands you’re telling a story, not just presenting data. the New York Times do this very well, in the way they lay out interactives to tell stories, and I’d encourage you to look at theirs as excellent examples.

Very quickly, one or two other examples to illustrate a final point I’ve not tackled yet, which is the interactivity of your interactive. My examples so far didn’t really involve letting the audience directly contribute to the interactive, but that will definitely be an ambition for London 2012. My final link is the BBC World Service’s Save Our Sounds map from last year. Nothing to do with me I might add, but beautifully executed, a clear, moderated system for content submission, and an exceptional end product.

We’re drafting the BBC Sport website’s social media strategy for London 2012, and interactives – which our audience can not only use to explore stories, but contribute their own and shape that interactive experience for others – will be at the heart of that. For all the growing buzz over London 2012, it will remain a largely untapped niche market for some time yet. The great joy of working in that environment is that the possibility exists to do something different, and to find and present information that nobody else has, in a compelling way that nobody’s thought of before – then get people to share in that. And that’s what I hope to do over the next two years.

As part of our news:rewired follow-up coverage, we’ll be posting slideshows of the speakers’ presentations for those who missed it or simply want to recap.

We’ll be adding presentations as our speakers send them over to us.

The panel discussion featured Philip Trippenbach, freelance interactive producer; Kevin Anderson, digital innovator and online journalist; Hannah Waldram, beat blogger for Guardian Local Cardiff and founder of Bournville Village; Suzanne Kavanagh, publishing sector manager, Skillset.

Hannah Waldram

The nouveau niche – what’s next?

Suzanne Kavanagh

What’s next for the niche?

As part of our news:rewired follow-up coverage, we’ll be posting slideshows of the speakers’ presentations for those who missed it or simply want to recap.

We’ll be adding presentations as our speakers send them over to us.

The mobile session featured Ilicco Elia, head of consumer mobile, Thomson Reuters; Michael Targett, online and digital development editor at Flightglobal (RBI); Miriam Warren, head of European community management, Yelp; and Sam Jones, director of strategy, Kyte.

Michael Targett

Flightglobal mobile reporting

As part of our news:rewired follow-up coverage, we’ll be posting slideshows of the speakers’ presentations for those who missed it or simply want to recap.

We’ll be adding presentations as our speakers send them over to us.

The paid-for content session featured Tom Whitwell, assistant editor and head of online, the Times; Karl Schneider, head of editorial development at RBI; Alastair Bruce, content manager, MSN UK.

Karl Schneider

Alastair Bruce

On 25 June, journalists and media professionals attended Journalism.co.uk’s latest news:rewired event, the nouveau niche. After plenty of debate and discussion, we caught up with a handful of delegates to hear their thoughts on the day

About the event

Journalism.co.uk’s news:rewired – the nouveau niche event took take place on 25 June 2010 at Microsoft UK’s London office.

The aim was a one-day event for journalists and communications professionals with a specialist subject or beat, offering new, practical ideas for online publishing. It was a follow up to our first conference in January with more of a niche focus this time around.

We’re busy collecting all the blog posts, tweets, videos and more from the day at this link. You’ll also be able to see presentations from our speakers on the website soon. If you came and want to catch up, or couldn’t make it, it’s worth checking out coverage of the day from our reporters Rachel McAthy and Patrick Smith and the liveblog of tweets from the day.

You can also see who’s been tweeting about the event under the hashtag #newsrw or on our tweetwall.

More information on the speakers and the day’s agenda is available here.

If you’re interested in hearing about future events from Journalism.co.uk, drop us an email.

As part of our news:rewired follow-up coverage, we’ll be posting slideshows of the speakers’ presentations for those who missed it or simply want to recap.

We’ll be adding presentations as our speakers send them over to us.

The Building user-driven projects session featured Chris Taggart, founder and developer of local authority data platform OpenlyLocal; Paul Bradshaw, director, MA Online Journalism, Birmingham City University; founder of Online Journalism Blog and Help Me Investigate; and Lulu Phongmany, business development & marketing manager, iVillage (NBC).

Chris Taggart:User-driven projects

As part of our news:rewired follow-up coverage, we’ll be posting slideshows of the speakers’ presentations for those who missed it or simply want to recap.

We’ll be adding presentations as our speakers send them over to us.

The Building online communities session featured Simeon Brody, community editor, Community Care (RBI); Samantha Shepherd, online journalist and digital projects co-ordinator, Bournemouth Daily Echo; Simon Perry, publisher, the Ventnor Blog; and Matthew Eltringham, assistant interactivity editor, BBC News.

Simeon Brody:

Samantha Shepherd:

Our final panellists at news:rewired – the nouveau niche did their best to challenge, provoke and predict what’s next for niche journalism. Are specialist journalists too focused on ‘the story’? How do you serve a niche audience and attract new readers? Speaking to them off-stage, we probed a little further in this video.

About the event

Journalism.co.uk’s news:rewired – the nouveau niche event took take place on 25 June 2010 at Microsoft UK’s London office.

The aim was a one-day event for journalists and communications professionals with a specialist subject or beat, offering new, practical ideas for online publishing. It was a follow up to our first conference in January with more of a niche focus this time around.

We’re busy collecting all the blog posts, tweets, videos and more from the day at this link. You’ll also be able to see presentations from our speakers on the website soon. If you came and want to catch up, or couldn’t make it, it’s worth checking out coverage of the day from our reporters Rachel McAthy and Patrick Smith and the liveblog of tweets from the day.

You can also see who’s been tweeting about the event under the hashtag #newsrw on our tweetwall.

More information on the speakers and the day’s agenda is available here.

If you’re interested in hearing about future events from Journalism.co.uk, drop us an email.

Our speakers at news:rewired – the nouveau niche were captured in full arm-waving, hand-gesturing swing by Journalism.co.uk’s @johncthompson and his pictures can be viewed in the slideshow below. The images can also be viewed on Flickr – all rights are reserved.

We’ve done our best to round up all the coverage from our news:rewired conference at Microsoft UK last Friday, but it’s likely we’ve missed some. So please, please send anything else our way and we’ll add it in: tweet @journalismnews or drop us an email events [at] newsrewired.com. We’ll follow this up with as many of the speaker’s presentations as possible.

Keynote by Peter Bale, executive producer, MSN UK

Networked journalists of 2010 “cannot hide behind the brand we always have in the past. It’s all about them and what they have got to say”.

• Keynote speaker Peter Bale kicks off news:rewired, newsrewired.com

• MSN announces new editorial code of conduct, Journalism.co.uk

• Peter Bale of Microsoft UK, Adam Tinworth, One Man and His Blog

• Forget the tools, it’s all about original content, David Higgerson

Mobile

How can mobile devices be better used for newsgathering and publishing? What opportunities are there for specialist publishers to use mobile for journalism and to generate revenue? With: Ilicco Elia, head of consumer mobile, Thomson Reuters; Michael Targett, online and digital development editor at Flightglobal (RBI); Miriam Warren, head of European community management, Yelp; and Sam Jones, director of strategy, Kyte.

• Mobile devices ideal for low-cost, high-volume content, says mobile panel, newsrewired.com

• Mobile news and services, Kevin Anderson, Charman-Anderson.com

Building online buzz

Case studies and advice on how to promote your title’s brand online and how to build buzz around online stories and campaigns. With: Mike Harris, public affairs manager, Libel Reform Campaign; Tony Curzon Price, editor-in-chief, openDemocracy; Vikki Chowney, editor, Reputation Online, Centaur Media.

• Need some online buzz? Create your own personalised network with social media, newsrewired.com

• Building Online Buzz, Adam Tinworth, One Man and His Blog

• Video: Vikki Chowney & Tony Curzon-Price on creating a buzz: how to get your content noticed, Online Journalism Blog

Building user-driven projects

How can you use your audience to produce better reporting and special features? What are the benefits of letting users become part of the editorial process? With: Lulu Phongmany, business development & marketing manager, iVillage (NBC); Chris Taggart, developer, OpenlyLocal; Paul Bradshaw, director, MA Online Journalism, Birmingham City University; founder of Online Journalism Blog and Help Me Investigate.

• Journalists’ pride getting in way of user-generated content, says Paul Bradshaw, Journalism.co.uk

• Users are an essential source of information, agree UGC panellists, newsrewired.com

• Involving Users in Projects, Adam Tinworth, One Man and His Blog

• Distributed Journalism from Paul Bradshaw, Lloyd Shepherd @work

Paid-for content

Case studies on subscription services and paid access models that are working for online, specialist publishers and a look at the challenges and successes of making money from digital products. With: Tom Whitwell, assistant editor and head of online, the Times; Karl Schneider, head of editorial development at RBI; Alastair Bruce, content manager, MSN UK.

• The Times, RBI confident of a paid-for news future, newsrewired.com

• We need to talk about payrolls, Phil Trippenbach

• Times confident of success in ‘leap in the dark’ paywall plan, The Guardian

• Video interview: The Times: safeguarding journalism? Online Journalism Blog

• Get real paid, Chris Edwards

Keynote by Marc Reeves, editor, The Business Desk West Midlands.

To all those saying “sorry I’m just a journalist, I don’t sell advertising” I say: tough: that’s the way it is now

• Marc Reeves keynote speech text, Journalism.co.uk

• Marc Reeves keynote: journalists need to learn to help sell niche, targeted content, newsrewired.com

• Newsroom, meet the advertising team, David Higgerson

• Marc Reeves keynote, Adam Tinworth, One Man and His Blog

• Marc Reeves, TheBusinessDesk.com, Kevin Anderson, Charman-Anderson.com

• Marc Reeves: ‘Journalists need to grow up’, Jon Slattery

Interactives

A look at how interactives, data visualisations and infographics can become a selling point for specialist websites -  from how to build them to why they’re important to online storytelling. With: Ollie Williams, Olympics reporter for BBC Sport; Rob Minto, interactive editor, Financial Times; Francis Irving, developer, ScraperWiki.

• Interactive storytelling and visualisation: a culture shift to more compelling content, newsrewired.com

• Interactive Graphics, Adam Tinworth, One Man and His Blog

• Video: BBC at the 2012 Olympics: visualisations, maps and augmented reality, Online Journalism Blog

Building online communities

If you build it, they will come’ doesn’t work online. This session will look at building and managing communities around your content, from blogs and forums, to social media channels, and how best to make use of this specialist audience. With: Samantha Shepherd, online journalist and digital projects co-ordinator, Bournemouth Daily Echo; Simeon Brody, community editor, Community Care (RBI); Simon Perry, publisher, the Ventnor Blog; Matthew Eltringham, assistant interactivity editor, BBC News.

• Online conversation and the value of comments, newsrewired.com

• So how many ‘readers plus’ DO we have? Samantha Shepherd, Subbedout.wordpress.com

• Engaging with “Readers+”: hard work but valuable for local news websites, Daniel Bennett, Mediating Conflict

• BBC considers introducing Daily Mail-style comment system, Daniel Bennett, Mediating Conflict

Panel: What’s next for the niche?

The best minds in online journalism and digital publishing come together to discuss what tools, techniques and platforms specialist journalists should be looking towards. With: Ciaran Norris, head of social media, Mindshare [Unfortunately Ciaran couldn't make it on the day because of work commitments]; Philip Trippenbach, freelance interactive producer; Kevin Anderson, digital innovator and online journalist, Hannah Waldram, beat blogger for Guardian Local Cardiff and founder of Bournville Village; Suzanne Kavanagh, publishing sector manager, Skillset.

• The future’s bright, the future’s niche, newsrewired.com

• news:rewired, Phil Trippenbach

• Future of the Niche, Adam Tinworth, One Man and His Blog

• What next for the niche? Skillset blog

General commentary / reports

• News:rewired  plugs in via Microsoft in Victoria, Jon Slattery

• But does it work? Jon Jacob, Thoroughly Good

• Three things a new online journalist should know, Crocstar

• Journalists and customers service: News Rewired conference, Alison Gow, Headlines and Deadlines

• Constructive criticism is what we want, not abuse, David Higgerson

• What gets lost in the hunt for the next big thing? David Higgerson

• Does social media prove that big isn’t beautiful? David Higgerson

• ‘Let’s stop being patronising and talk about distributed journalism’, Hannah Waldram

• Traffic drivers: don’t count out email yet, Chris Edwards

• Paywalls and news:rewired, Malcolm Bradbrook

• Journalist og forretningsmand: En mulig kombination? nyjournalistik.dk/

Video

• Available via the BBC College of Journalism on UStream

Some of the tweets (of thousands, and still counting…)

@thoroughlygood: Sometimes you hear people speak at a conference and think “you’re a force for good” @kevglobal is one of those people

@Dan_Martin: @maireadoconnor  Alcohol in a journalism conference goodie bag? They know their audience well! #newsrw

@ChemistDruggist: CandDChris: So far, used at least 4-5 ideas from #newsrw. Still have that tingly inspired feeling

@tobiasgrubbe: My regards @jonslattery  The NEW economie is a construct of QUIRK and CURIOSITY

@psmith: sad that Trippenbach’s argument is going over everyone’s head. it’s most kick-ass point about journalism I heard this yr #newsrw

@heatherchristie: Judging by the tweets, Sounds like it! RT @kevglobal: Worked myself into an poetry slam, live blog, rant of a talk. (Cry freedom!) #newsrw

• Catch up with the tweets by replaying this live blog

• or via this IceRocket search: http://www.icerocket.com/search?tab=twitter&q=newsrw

• UltraKnowledge supplied a tweetwall, which can be viewed here

• All sorts of lovely Twitter information from the event can be viewed here: Top Tweeters; Most Followers; Most Active; Most Event Follows; and the ‘who knows who’ Wheel.