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We did it! - now tell us what you think
On this Independence Day 2010, we here at The Middletown Press present our Ben Franklin Project to you online and in print.
Named after a journalist, scientist, innovator and founding father of this country, the project seeks to make history by freeing newsmakers from expensive computer programs and involving the reader in the process of journalism.
We did this by asking our readers what they wanted us to work on, through Facebook, Twitter, SeeClickFix and our regular website www.middletownprses.com as well as in our print publication The Middletown Press. We then posted a first draft of our two main stories - one about fireworks and another about dangerous intersections - and asked readers to comment on those. Once we had more input from readers - and a greater idea of what direction to take the stories in - we went back and worked on them some more.
A second part of the Ben Franklin Project is the use of free online-based tools, such as Gimp instead of Adobe Photoshop, Scribus instead of Adobe InDesign, and a free Wordpress site instead of a paid website.
Reporters could use their phones and their computers, but they had to type stories in e-mails, Google Documents or Notepad text files. Our videos were edited using the free Flip software that came with our cameras, and you will see that they have been posted to the free video site YouTube for easy sharing.
Copy editor Leslie Poster organized two live chats with readers using a free program called CoverItLive, which we now hope to use more often for regular chats with our readers.
If you pick up Sunday's paper, the Middletown edition of the New Haven Register, you will notice that our colleagues at the Register went above and beyond for the edition with stories, photos and graphics. The front page is all about Middletown, and that is what we put together here at The Middletown Press.
It was frustrating at times to learn new technologies after so many years using what you know, but we certainly learned a lot. We hope to take this experience and move forward.
Now it's your turn: Tell us what you think about our project, our products and where we should go from here.
CHECK OUT OUR BEN FRANKLIN PROJECT WEBSITE HERE.
Viktoria Sundqvist
Editor
The Middletown Press
posted by The Middletown Press at
12:16 AM
4 Comments:
Who cares? Nobody!
I care. But could you at least spell the name of your paper correctly in the web address?
To the first anonymous...then why read, why comment...ahh, you do care!
Cutting costs using freeware is very wise - to say the multinational software companies overprice their products is an understatment - and also necessary these days when the competition among media is harder than ever, whether for incomes from advertisments or to catch the eyes of media consumers when all and sundry are breaking news around the clock.
The Middleton Press is gaining international media attention in is attempts to cover the ongoings in its area faster as well as at a lower cost. Lots will follow if Viktoria Sundqvist and her staff will be successful. Good luck to all of you!
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