The BostonNOW.com website is up and ready for blogging! Check out Editor-in-Chief John Wilpers's welcome post to the community.
Please visit BostonNOW.com and click on the BlogNOW tab to register for your own BostonNOW.com account and blog. Using our customized WordPressMU interface, you will be able to post original items directly to BostonNOW, or post existing items from your own blogs.
We look forward to seeing your blogs on BostonNOW.com!
Sincerely,
The BostonNOW Editorial Team
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Send us a link to your blog
We are having a few last-minute (OK, they're later than last-minute...) bugs with our blogging functionality on BostonNOW.com, so we're going to go to a stop-gap measure for a day or two because we don't want to wait any longer to publish Boston bloggers in the paper.
So, here's what we're proposing — If you'd like your blog to be considered for publication in the paper, e-mail us at media@bostonnow.com with your name and the URL of the item you'd like spotlighted. If chosen, your blog (writing, photography, videography) will be excerpted in BostonNOW's print publication with a link back to your site.
After the blogging functionality is up (later this week), we'll start the system of having you post on BostonNow.com, but for now we'll simply point off.
We look forward to seeing your submissions.
So, here's what we're proposing — If you'd like your blog to be considered for publication in the paper, e-mail us at media@bostonnow.com with your name and the URL of the item you'd like spotlighted. If chosen, your blog (writing, photography, videography) will be excerpted in BostonNOW's print publication with a link back to your site.
After the blogging functionality is up (later this week), we'll start the system of having you post on BostonNow.com, but for now we'll simply point off.
We look forward to seeing your submissions.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
We're so close to launching the blogging functionality
Thank you all for your patience.
It's been frustrating for us to have launched the BostonNOW without being able to get bloggers into the first editions, but we wanted to make sure we had the blogging functionality right.
We knew we had to get our content online the day we launched, so we focused on finishing the content part of the site and kept working on the blogging side of things.
But now we're ready to test the blogging functions tomorrow in hopes of launching the blogs on Friday. By Sunday then, we hope that a bunch of you will have posted and we can put you in the Monday paper.
In the meantime, we hope people have enjoyed being able to watch and participate in our news meeting (clicking on the NewsroomNOW tab at the top of our home page will take you to the meeting room for the 1 p.m. event every day, Sunday through Thursday).
I look forward to reading your stuff starting, we hope, on Friday.
John
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
It's been frustrating for us to have launched the BostonNOW without being able to get bloggers into the first editions, but we wanted to make sure we had the blogging functionality right.
We knew we had to get our content online the day we launched, so we focused on finishing the content part of the site and kept working on the blogging side of things.
But now we're ready to test the blogging functions tomorrow in hopes of launching the blogs on Friday. By Sunday then, we hope that a bunch of you will have posted and we can put you in the Monday paper.
In the meantime, we hope people have enjoyed being able to watch and participate in our news meeting (clicking on the NewsroomNOW tab at the top of our home page will take you to the meeting room for the 1 p.m. event every day, Sunday through Thursday).
I look forward to reading your stuff starting, we hope, on Friday.
John
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
Friday, April 20, 2007
Apologies to bostonist
In our rush to get some items in the paper and get the paper to the press Thursday night, one of our editors lifted some content from bostonist.com without authorization from the folks at bostonist. We attributed it, giving the web address of the item, but we did not seek permission in advance.
Following a post about BostonNOW by Cory Doctorow on boingboing.net, Jon Petitt of bostonist noted the unauthorized lifting of content. I have e-mailed the following note to both Jon and Cory. We apologized and assured them it would not happen again.
Jon:
Let me apologize for our unauthorized lifting of copy from bostonist. I am embarrassed and chagrined. I did not authorize or clear it, nor was I even aware of it. I will certainly find out how it happened and make sure it never happens again.
That (unauthorized lifting) is definitely NOT our model. We hadn't planned on doing that and we don't plan on doing that in the future.
Our vision is based entirely on contributors coming to our site and posting, not us going out on the Internet and poaching.
Our model is to attract Boston-area bloggers to the BostonNOW.com website to become part of a community and to have the opportunity to be published in a metropolitan daily newspaper with 150,000 circulation and a readership of between 300,000 and 400,000 people. We hope people want to share their stories, ideas, arguments, photos, videos, podcasts, etc. with hundreds of thousands of other Bostonians.
We hope we can give aspiring writers, reporters, photographers, videographers, etc. the kind of exposure that can help jump-start their careers. Ultimately, we hope to develop a compensation system to reward them for their work with something beyond fame and massive exposure.
This incident will not happen again, and, at the risk of over-doing it, I apologize once more for this instance.
If you think it's appropriate, please forward my apologies to other members of the bostonist staff and management.
Sincerely,
John
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
365 Media USA
BostonNOW
30 Winter St.
Boston, MA 02108-4720
Following a post about BostonNOW by Cory Doctorow on boingboing.net, Jon Petitt of bostonist noted the unauthorized lifting of content. I have e-mailed the following note to both Jon and Cory. We apologized and assured them it would not happen again.
Jon:
Let me apologize for our unauthorized lifting of copy from bostonist. I am embarrassed and chagrined. I did not authorize or clear it, nor was I even aware of it. I will certainly find out how it happened and make sure it never happens again.
That (unauthorized lifting) is definitely NOT our model. We hadn't planned on doing that and we don't plan on doing that in the future.
Our vision is based entirely on contributors coming to our site and posting, not us going out on the Internet and poaching.
Our model is to attract Boston-area bloggers to the BostonNOW.com website to become part of a community and to have the opportunity to be published in a metropolitan daily newspaper with 150,000 circulation and a readership of between 300,000 and 400,000 people. We hope people want to share their stories, ideas, arguments, photos, videos, podcasts, etc. with hundreds of thousands of other Bostonians.
We hope we can give aspiring writers, reporters, photographers, videographers, etc. the kind of exposure that can help jump-start their careers. Ultimately, we hope to develop a compensation system to reward them for their work with something beyond fame and massive exposure.
This incident will not happen again, and, at the risk of over-doing it, I apologize once more for this instance.
If you think it's appropriate, please forward my apologies to other members of the bostonist staff and management.
Sincerely,
John
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
365 Media USA
BostonNOW
30 Winter St.
Boston, MA 02108-4720
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Aaaargh, we lost conectivity for the news meeting
Darn.
Just when our news meeting was going strong with attendees giving us some great ideas about how Boston-area colleges treat security in light of the Virginia shooting, we lost Internet connectivity. Whoosh.
We've regained our connection, but we have to go back to putting out the paper, so we'll just have to meet again tomorrow at 1 p.m. (the poll asking attendees if they preferred the 1 p.m. time to yesterday's 10:30 a.m. time was a runaway win for 1 p.m.).
See you tomorrow. Sorry about the glitch.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
Just when our news meeting was going strong with attendees giving us some great ideas about how Boston-area colleges treat security in light of the Virginia shooting, we lost Internet connectivity. Whoosh.
We've regained our connection, but we have to go back to putting out the paper, so we'll just have to meet again tomorrow at 1 p.m. (the poll asking attendees if they preferred the 1 p.m. time to yesterday's 10:30 a.m. time was a runaway win for 1 p.m.).
See you tomorrow. Sorry about the glitch.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
Later editorial meeting today
Good morning!
We're pleased with our first edition and the launching of the first stage of our website (the bloggling functionality will be up soon!).
We're also exhausted, having stayed up WAY too late and we're postponing today's news meeting to 1 PM (we're such wimps!).
My apologies if this inconveniences anyone.
See you at 1 p.m. at bostonnow.com/newsroom/.
Bring your ideas. And tell us what you think about both the paper and the website.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
We're pleased with our first edition and the launching of the first stage of our website (the bloggling functionality will be up soon!).
We're also exhausted, having stayed up WAY too late and we're postponing today's news meeting to 1 PM (we're such wimps!).
My apologies if this inconveniences anyone.
See you at 1 p.m. at bostonnow.com/newsroom/.
Bring your ideas. And tell us what you think about both the paper and the website.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
Monday, April 16, 2007
First news meeting available for online viewing
Hey, all!
Our first news meeting is available for online viewing here. Thanks to all who attended! We're still learning and experimenting with the technology, so if you had issues with the video or audio feed, please leave a comment on this post or send me an email at robrien@bostonnow.com with your concerns.
Cheers,
Regina
Our first news meeting is available for online viewing here. Thanks to all who attended! We're still learning and experimenting with the technology, so if you had issues with the video or audio feed, please leave a comment on this post or send me an email at robrien@bostonnow.com with your concerns.
Cheers,
Regina
News meeting time moved to 10:30 AM
Good wet morning.
We're moving the daily news meeting time to 10:30 a.m. to give us more time each day to gather stuff to make it more interesting (and to let us recover from putting out the paper the night before...).
NEWS MEETING LINK: http://bostonnow.acrobat.com/newsroomnow
Remember, there is a 60 "seat" limit to the online auditorium (we're using Adobe ConnectPro). Notify us if you can't get in (email me at jwilpers@bostonnow.com) and we'll look into adding more seats if the demand remains high.
It's a cool system -- you can watch and send us notes about story ideas or people we should talk to and we'll answer. If you don't get in or can't make it at 10:30, you can catch the archived meeting at your convenience.
Until the website is up, we'll post a link here to the archived meeting. When the website is up, you'll use the NewsroomNow tab at the top of the BostonNOW.com home page.
The website is coming along. Lots of last-minute details to attend to. We're shooting to have it up sometime today or tomorrow, but you know how launches go. We'll keep you posted right here.
John Wilpers
Editor in chief
We're moving the daily news meeting time to 10:30 a.m. to give us more time each day to gather stuff to make it more interesting (and to let us recover from putting out the paper the night before...).
NEWS MEETING LINK: http://bostonnow.acrobat.com/newsroomnow
Remember, there is a 60 "seat" limit to the online auditorium (we're using Adobe ConnectPro). Notify us if you can't get in (email me at jwilpers@bostonnow.com) and we'll look into adding more seats if the demand remains high.
It's a cool system -- you can watch and send us notes about story ideas or people we should talk to and we'll answer. If you don't get in or can't make it at 10:30, you can catch the archived meeting at your convenience.
Until the website is up, we'll post a link here to the archived meeting. When the website is up, you'll use the NewsroomNow tab at the top of the BostonNOW.com home page.
The website is coming along. Lots of last-minute details to attend to. We're shooting to have it up sometime today or tomorrow, but you know how launches go. We'll keep you posted right here.
John Wilpers
Editor in chief
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Getting close to launch
Things are pretty frenetic here as we count down the hours to our Monday, April 16 website launch and Tuesday, April 17 newspaper launch.
We can’t wait. (Well, that’s not entirely true, as we wouldn’t mind having an extra day or two to tighten things up a bit.) Building a website and newspaper from scratch in less than two months is, to put it mildly, a real stretch. Our Web Content Master, Regina O’Brien, and our developer, David Sawyer of Metaface Development, are building a site you’ll really, really enjoy.
There were a couple of problems that looked daunting at first: how to find and then encourage a lot of top-quality Boston-area bloggers to participate, and, second: how to webcast our news meeting so people could see and hear and interact with us.
We hope we’ve begun to solve the first challenge. Over the last two months, we’ve been checking out hundreds of Boston-area blogs. We found a lot that impress us, and we’ve reached out to a lot of folks and had a lot of people come to us looking to be included in the paper and on the website.
We’re sending e-mail invitations to as many Boston-area bloggers as we can over the weekend. We’re inviting them and all other Boston bloggers to post on BostonNOW.com on Monday (sometime after noon) to be able to get into the inaugural edition of the paper coming out on Tuesday.
Instructions for posting and being considered for publication are discussed in earlier posts on this blog.
On the second challenge, we think we’ve solved the news meeting webcast challenge. Most remote video cameras don’t include sound, so we had to find a solution and Adobe ConnectPro seems to be the ticket.
Every morning at 10am, up to 60 readers will be able to get a virtual seat at the table when we discuss the direction of the paper: what we should write about in the next day’s paper and in the near future.
Seats in ConnectPro’s virtual auditorium are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited to 60 (at this point). So, go to BostonNOW.com starting at about 9:55am each day. Click on the tab “NewsroomNOW” at the top of the page and follow the instructions to be taken to the “Green Room,” where you will find the meeting's agenda, a poll, and instructions on how to participate.
If you get shut out, we’ll be notified and we’ll look into adding more seats. You can still catch the meeting, though, as we’ll be recording the meeting and archiving the last five sessions. So, you can watch it at your convenience and send us a e-mail with your thoughts.
That’s the latest from the BostonNOW aerie at 30 Winter Street in Downtown Crossing as we brace for both our launch and what (hyperbolic?) meteorologists are predicting will be another “Storm of the Century!”
I look forward to seeing your stuff on BostonNOW.com.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
BostonNOW
We can’t wait. (Well, that’s not entirely true, as we wouldn’t mind having an extra day or two to tighten things up a bit.) Building a website and newspaper from scratch in less than two months is, to put it mildly, a real stretch. Our Web Content Master, Regina O’Brien, and our developer, David Sawyer of Metaface Development, are building a site you’ll really, really enjoy.
There were a couple of problems that looked daunting at first: how to find and then encourage a lot of top-quality Boston-area bloggers to participate, and, second: how to webcast our news meeting so people could see and hear and interact with us.
We hope we’ve begun to solve the first challenge. Over the last two months, we’ve been checking out hundreds of Boston-area blogs. We found a lot that impress us, and we’ve reached out to a lot of folks and had a lot of people come to us looking to be included in the paper and on the website.
We’re sending e-mail invitations to as many Boston-area bloggers as we can over the weekend. We’re inviting them and all other Boston bloggers to post on BostonNOW.com on Monday (sometime after noon) to be able to get into the inaugural edition of the paper coming out on Tuesday.
Instructions for posting and being considered for publication are discussed in earlier posts on this blog.
On the second challenge, we think we’ve solved the news meeting webcast challenge. Most remote video cameras don’t include sound, so we had to find a solution and Adobe ConnectPro seems to be the ticket.
Every morning at 10am, up to 60 readers will be able to get a virtual seat at the table when we discuss the direction of the paper: what we should write about in the next day’s paper and in the near future.
Seats in ConnectPro’s virtual auditorium are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited to 60 (at this point). So, go to BostonNOW.com starting at about 9:55am each day. Click on the tab “NewsroomNOW” at the top of the page and follow the instructions to be taken to the “Green Room,” where you will find the meeting's agenda, a poll, and instructions on how to participate.
If you get shut out, we’ll be notified and we’ll look into adding more seats. You can still catch the meeting, though, as we’ll be recording the meeting and archiving the last five sessions. So, you can watch it at your convenience and send us a e-mail with your thoughts.
That’s the latest from the BostonNOW aerie at 30 Winter Street in Downtown Crossing as we brace for both our launch and what (hyperbolic?) meteorologists are predicting will be another “Storm of the Century!”
I look forward to seeing your stuff on BostonNOW.com.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-chief
BostonNOW
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Berkman Center follow-up
At the weekly Berkman Center blogger meeting last Thursday, there were several questions that we promised to answer later. Here they are. If any of you who attended (or anyone else, for that matter) has any more questions, please ask them here and we'll get back to you.
Libel/obscenity on the Web: How will we deal with it?
The BostonNOW online community will be self-policed. If readers see a post they consider obscene or libelous, they will report it to us via an online tool. We will review the post and take the appropriate action (delete it or leave it alone). What we will NOT do is edit it. The integrity of the blog is essential to presenting the true voice of the blogger.
What will be the ad-to-content ratio in the print newspaper?
Initially, there will be much more editorial content than advertising content, but as we grow we will be anywhere from 40% advertising to 60% advertising.
Will we resell the BostonNOW original content for syndication?
We will resell our own content for syndication and we will offer bloggers the opportunity to resell their content through a content marketplace (possibly mochila.com). Before we offered blogger content for resale, however, we would reach a revenue-sharing agreement with bloggers prior to making their content available.
What will the real estate section look like?
Initially, the real estate section will focus on homes and condos for sale as well as on interior design concepts and cool examples of interior design from homes around the city.
What is the first print run number?
150,000
Will BostonNOW sponsor events?
Yes. As a matter of fact, we are the primary sponsor of the Jazz Week which runs from April 21-29 throughout the city. We have several other sponsorships on our calendar already (a BostonNOW band competition series, among others) and we will be looking for more.
Will advertisers be able to purchase print and Web advertising? What packages will be available?
Absolutely. Advertisers can purchase space in the paper, on the Web and in combination. The packages can be obtained by contacting Bev Post, our VP/Advertising, at bpost@bostonnow.com.
Libel/obscenity on the Web: How will we deal with it?
The BostonNOW online community will be self-policed. If readers see a post they consider obscene or libelous, they will report it to us via an online tool. We will review the post and take the appropriate action (delete it or leave it alone). What we will NOT do is edit it. The integrity of the blog is essential to presenting the true voice of the blogger.
What will be the ad-to-content ratio in the print newspaper?
Initially, there will be much more editorial content than advertising content, but as we grow we will be anywhere from 40% advertising to 60% advertising.
Will we resell the BostonNOW original content for syndication?
We will resell our own content for syndication and we will offer bloggers the opportunity to resell their content through a content marketplace (possibly mochila.com). Before we offered blogger content for resale, however, we would reach a revenue-sharing agreement with bloggers prior to making their content available.
What will the real estate section look like?
Initially, the real estate section will focus on homes and condos for sale as well as on interior design concepts and cool examples of interior design from homes around the city.
What is the first print run number?
150,000
Will BostonNOW sponsor events?
Yes. As a matter of fact, we are the primary sponsor of the Jazz Week which runs from April 21-29 throughout the city. We have several other sponsorships on our calendar already (a BostonNOW band competition series, among others) and we will be looking for more.
Will advertisers be able to purchase print and Web advertising? What packages will be available?
Absolutely. Advertisers can purchase space in the paper, on the Web and in combination. The packages can be obtained by contacting Bev Post, our VP/Advertising, at bpost@bostonnow.com.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Second Boston Blogger Meeting
Thanks to all the folks who came Tuesday to our second Boston blogger meeting (even when another organization was offering free drinks at their meeting down the road!).
I’m especially grateful for all the ideas the participants came up with regarding the placement and labeling of blogger stories in the paper (color coding or the use of an icon or both) as well as on how we should craft a compensation system (a mixture of cash, press passes, etc. based on the individual bloggers’ wishes).
We also talked about how to promote blogger videos and podcasts in the paper (screen shots and transcribed sentences) as well as how to handle blogger archives (they can live on our site or yours).
We answered questions about rights (you keep’em) and pointing back to your website from BostonNOW (that’s perfectly fine).
Finally, we talked about how to bring the sense of community on the Web into the paper by highlighting the interactivity within each blog, publishing comments either on the “Dialogue” page (our equivalent of the traditional editorial page) or on the appropriate page (sports page for sports bloggers, entertainment page for entertainment bloggers, etc.).
Keep an eye on this blog for future meetings and online discussions aimed at resolving the unanswered questions involved in bringing you, the creative online community of Boston, into world of 150,000 readers a day and onto our website.
Thanks again to all who attended and all who wrote to say they wished they could.
Until next time,
John
I’m especially grateful for all the ideas the participants came up with regarding the placement and labeling of blogger stories in the paper (color coding or the use of an icon or both) as well as on how we should craft a compensation system (a mixture of cash, press passes, etc. based on the individual bloggers’ wishes).
We also talked about how to promote blogger videos and podcasts in the paper (screen shots and transcribed sentences) as well as how to handle blogger archives (they can live on our site or yours).
We answered questions about rights (you keep’em) and pointing back to your website from BostonNOW (that’s perfectly fine).
Finally, we talked about how to bring the sense of community on the Web into the paper by highlighting the interactivity within each blog, publishing comments either on the “Dialogue” page (our equivalent of the traditional editorial page) or on the appropriate page (sports page for sports bloggers, entertainment page for entertainment bloggers, etc.).
Keep an eye on this blog for future meetings and online discussions aimed at resolving the unanswered questions involved in bringing you, the creative online community of Boston, into world of 150,000 readers a day and onto our website.
Thanks again to all who attended and all who wrote to say they wished they could.
Until next time,
John
Thursday, March 29, 2007
BostonNOW at the Thursday Meeting at Berkman Blog
Hi, all!
I'm scheduled to attend the weekly blogger meeting at the Berkman Center tonight to talk about BostonNOW and answer questions from the group. According to the website, "[a]nyone who wants to join us is welcome." So, if you're in the Harvard Square area (23 Everett Street!) and want to come down around 7pm to hear more about BostonNOW and share your thoughts, please do so!
Thanks to Erica George and the kind folks in the group for inviting me.
Cheers,
Regina O'Brien
Web Content Manager
I'm scheduled to attend the weekly blogger meeting at the Berkman Center tonight to talk about BostonNOW and answer questions from the group. According to the website, "[a]nyone who wants to join us is welcome." So, if you're in the Harvard Square area (23 Everett Street!) and want to come down around 7pm to hear more about BostonNOW and share your thoughts, please do so!
Thanks to Erica George and the kind folks in the group for inviting me.
Cheers,
Regina O'Brien
Web Content Manager
Getting published in BostonNOW in print and online
We've been asked by a lot of folks, "How do I contribute to BostonNOW?"
Here are our intial thoughts, which will grow and evolve over time with your input.
BostonNOW wants to encourage active participation in our online and print community, so interested contributors will only need to follow a few steps to be considered for the print publication. As soon as the BostonNOW website (bostonnow.com) goes live (scheduled for Monday, April 16; the day before our first paper is published), you would create a BostonNOW account. This account will allow you to create a profile that will allow you to contribute to the community and be considered for print publication. (Future releases of the BostonNOW online functionality may allow for RSS aggregation from your website or blog.)
Writers
Via the BostonNOW website, you will be able to post blogs or creative writing via a Wordpress interface using your BostonNOW account. All posts will automatically be considered for publication in the next day’s paper (there will be a check-off box later to be removed from print consideration). Each time you post, you will select the "Section" of the paper/website you would like your blog to be a part of (e.g., sports, entertainment, editorial, news, etc.), and then tag your article according to its content (e.g., Dice-K, Justin Timberlake, MBTA, Bush, sushi, etc.). Your post will appear immediately in the section you choose.
Photographers
Short-term: Using a third-party photosharing account (to be determined), join the BostonNOW group (the group name and location will be linked on the BostonNOW website.) and submit photos to be considered for print.
Long-term: The BostonNOW website will support uploading of photos and organization of galleries for active participation via our SnapNOW interface.
Videographers
Short-term: Using a blip.tv account, submit videos with a BostonNOW "tag" to be considered for promotion in the paper. You will also be able to cross-post your blip.tv items to your BostonNOW Wordpress blog directly. If selected, your video will be highlighted in the print publication and linked to from the main website.
Long-term: The BostonNOW website will support uploading of videos for active participation via our WatchNOW interface.
How will BostonNOW select items for the print publication? In other words, how do I get in the paper?
To put it simply: If you're good, you’ll get published (until there are so many of you that we have to come up with a more refined selection process). Blogs should be well-written and free of spelling errors. They should also be compelling and local. Photos should be in focus and of high digital quality. Videos should be steady and of high digital quality. With the exception of the “Dialogue” page (our version of an editorial page), the subject matter should be specific to Boston. However, that doesn't mean you can only post about the MBTA or take pictures of the Commons. For example, local shows of national bands would be fine as would the perspective of a Bostonian on national or world issues. BostonNOW is all about capturing what it means to grow up, go to school, go to work, or leave this city.
Do I get to keep my copyright? Can I post my stuff on my own site?
If you post to BostonNOW, you still own your content. BostonNOW will not take ownership of your blogs, stories, photos, or videos, nor will it require exclusivity. If you have your own blog and want to post your same Boston-related content to your own site, feel free! You can also point to your website from your BostonNOW post, but the body of the post should be displayed on the BostonNOW website. Also, your content will automatically archive on our site unless you want to remove it and send readers to your site for more.
Please let us know what you think by commenting with your reactions and suggestions!
Here are our intial thoughts, which will grow and evolve over time with your input.
BostonNOW wants to encourage active participation in our online and print community, so interested contributors will only need to follow a few steps to be considered for the print publication. As soon as the BostonNOW website (bostonnow.com) goes live (scheduled for Monday, April 16; the day before our first paper is published), you would create a BostonNOW account. This account will allow you to create a profile that will allow you to contribute to the community and be considered for print publication. (Future releases of the BostonNOW online functionality may allow for RSS aggregation from your website or blog.)
Writers
Via the BostonNOW website, you will be able to post blogs or creative writing via a Wordpress interface using your BostonNOW account. All posts will automatically be considered for publication in the next day’s paper (there will be a check-off box later to be removed from print consideration). Each time you post, you will select the "Section" of the paper/website you would like your blog to be a part of (e.g., sports, entertainment, editorial, news, etc.), and then tag your article according to its content (e.g., Dice-K, Justin Timberlake, MBTA, Bush, sushi, etc.). Your post will appear immediately in the section you choose.
Photographers
Short-term: Using a third-party photosharing account (to be determined), join the BostonNOW group (the group name and location will be linked on the BostonNOW website.) and submit photos to be considered for print.
Long-term: The BostonNOW website will support uploading of photos and organization of galleries for active participation via our SnapNOW interface.
Videographers
Short-term: Using a blip.tv account, submit videos with a BostonNOW "tag" to be considered for promotion in the paper. You will also be able to cross-post your blip.tv items to your BostonNOW Wordpress blog directly. If selected, your video will be highlighted in the print publication and linked to from the main website.
Long-term: The BostonNOW website will support uploading of videos for active participation via our WatchNOW interface.
How will BostonNOW select items for the print publication? In other words, how do I get in the paper?
To put it simply: If you're good, you’ll get published (until there are so many of you that we have to come up with a more refined selection process). Blogs should be well-written and free of spelling errors. They should also be compelling and local. Photos should be in focus and of high digital quality. Videos should be steady and of high digital quality. With the exception of the “Dialogue” page (our version of an editorial page), the subject matter should be specific to Boston. However, that doesn't mean you can only post about the MBTA or take pictures of the Commons. For example, local shows of national bands would be fine as would the perspective of a Bostonian on national or world issues. BostonNOW is all about capturing what it means to grow up, go to school, go to work, or leave this city.
Do I get to keep my copyright? Can I post my stuff on my own site?
If you post to BostonNOW, you still own your content. BostonNOW will not take ownership of your blogs, stories, photos, or videos, nor will it require exclusivity. If you have your own blog and want to post your same Boston-related content to your own site, feel free! You can also point to your website from your BostonNOW post, but the body of the post should be displayed on the BostonNOW website. Also, your content will automatically archive on our site unless you want to remove it and send readers to your site for more.
Please let us know what you think by commenting with your reactions and suggestions!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Magna Blogga
Sorry for the painful pun (with the Boston accent), but we smiled when our entertainment editor, John Black, coined it...and we couldn't resist.
As BostonNOW attempts to go where no other major newspaper has ever gone -- welcoming the community into the pages of our paper and our website in significant ways -- we are facing questions no one has yet answered and we are developing a master plan no one has built as we strive to return newspapers to relevancy.
We are trying to publish a newspaper and website that truly reflect our community and we will be trying several innovative measures to achieve that goal, including publishing dozens of bloggers in every section of the paper, webcasting our news meetings, and allowing reader input into our decisions via a chatroom or actual verbal participation.
And in keeping with our commitment to transparency, we are going to be asking for your help in answering the key questions and developing the plan to make the vision a reality.
The effort began at our first blogger "summit" last weekend. The gathering, attended by 40-50 folks, was both exciting and daunting. There was plenty of enthusiasm and plenty of healthy skepticism.
Serious questions need to be answered as we head toward our April 17 launch date. We need to solve concerns about:
As difficult as these questions are, I believe we not only can solve them, but in solving them, we can convert problems into opportunities for us and for Boston's bloggers. For example, if, as some people maintain, there are not enough top-quality bloggers in Boston today, the opportunity to be published, promoted and paid will go a long way toward building a market for quality work.
The most difficult question facing newspaper editors as they contemplate publishing bloggers is: how to deal with the issue of bias, attitude, or point of view, which are, of course, the heart of many if not most blogs.
There are certain standards we must adhere to and avoiding libel is the easiest. We will not publish libel or slander in the paper. Obscenity, which can be in the eyes of the beholder, is a bit tougher, but I think we’ll be able to agree with bloggers on standards most if not all of them will respect.
Bias or attitude is more difficult. Color, character and point of view are all central to most successful blogs. We will publish blogs without judging their bias. It is not a question of "if" but "where" and "how." And I don't know the answer yet.
Do we label an article a "blog" and trust that readers know the rules are different? Do we put blogs on a separate part of a page, much like newspapers put columnists (bloggers before the Internet) off to the left? Do we just ID blogs with a tag under the byline (e.g., Dorchester Blogger)? Do we shade them with a color that is a visual clue?
There is no doubt bloggers with attitude belong in the paper. They will provide the color and spark and different perspectives sorely missing in most papers today. We just need to solve the questions of "how" and "where"...and we will -- with your help.
Then there's compensation. No major newspaper in the United States is publishing, much less paying, bloggers in great numbers to appear in their papers. There is no roadmap or precedent here.
In the beginning, we will offer Boston-area bloggers what we think is an excellent bargain: We will give them exposure to 150,000-170,000 readers a day in exchange for their content. For relatively unknown bloggers, whose readership may be measured in three or even four digits today, this is an incredible opportunity to expand their "brand," spread their word, and raise their profile. The visibility opportunity is enormous: Any blogger publishing just once a week in BostonNOW will be seen by almost nine million readers in a year.
For some bloggers, however, exposure will not be the permanent and sole form of compensation. We will work with any blogger who is interested to develop a compensation plan that measures success and addresses their interests and needs as well as ours. For example, some bloggers might prefer a press pass to an event in their area of interest over a monetary payment.
Another vexing problem, cited regularly by the anti-blogger naysayers, is the quality of writing in the blog world. It can be spotty. It can be infrequent. But even discovering a single-digit fraction of talented writers among the thousands of Boston-area bloggers will serve to prime the pump. I'm not looking for hundreds of bloggers initially. I'm only looking for two to three dozen to start. We'll build from there.
We can also contribute to a rise in the quality of blog writing. Creativity and excellence are difficult to maintain in a vacuum. Like all writers, bloggers, faced with a limited audience and no compensation (either financial or spiritual), are constantly challenged to maintain their edge and production.
If we offer bloggers opportunity and reward, we give them audience and recognition and the motivation to raise the bar for themselves.
While all of the challenges are significant, so are the stakes. If newspapers fail to involve the community, the future of print journalism is grim indeed. If our experiment does work, we'll have gone beyond helping to save an industry, we'll be helping to chart its future.
That sounds a bit grandiose, but the decline of newspapers is very real and only experiments like ours can help turn it around.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-Chief
As BostonNOW attempts to go where no other major newspaper has ever gone -- welcoming the community into the pages of our paper and our website in significant ways -- we are facing questions no one has yet answered and we are developing a master plan no one has built as we strive to return newspapers to relevancy.
We are trying to publish a newspaper and website that truly reflect our community and we will be trying several innovative measures to achieve that goal, including publishing dozens of bloggers in every section of the paper, webcasting our news meetings, and allowing reader input into our decisions via a chatroom or actual verbal participation.
And in keeping with our commitment to transparency, we are going to be asking for your help in answering the key questions and developing the plan to make the vision a reality.
The effort began at our first blogger "summit" last weekend. The gathering, attended by 40-50 folks, was both exciting and daunting. There was plenty of enthusiasm and plenty of healthy skepticism.
Serious questions need to be answered as we head toward our April 17 launch date. We need to solve concerns about:
- Blog quality.
- The quantity of quality blogs.
- Compensation versus exposure and brand-building.
- Editing. Bias. Obscenity. Editorial standards.
- Selecting what to publish and what not to publish.
- Identifying blogs in the paper.
As difficult as these questions are, I believe we not only can solve them, but in solving them, we can convert problems into opportunities for us and for Boston's bloggers. For example, if, as some people maintain, there are not enough top-quality bloggers in Boston today, the opportunity to be published, promoted and paid will go a long way toward building a market for quality work.
The most difficult question facing newspaper editors as they contemplate publishing bloggers is: how to deal with the issue of bias, attitude, or point of view, which are, of course, the heart of many if not most blogs.
There are certain standards we must adhere to and avoiding libel is the easiest. We will not publish libel or slander in the paper. Obscenity, which can be in the eyes of the beholder, is a bit tougher, but I think we’ll be able to agree with bloggers on standards most if not all of them will respect.
Bias or attitude is more difficult. Color, character and point of view are all central to most successful blogs. We will publish blogs without judging their bias. It is not a question of "if" but "where" and "how." And I don't know the answer yet.
Do we label an article a "blog" and trust that readers know the rules are different? Do we put blogs on a separate part of a page, much like newspapers put columnists (bloggers before the Internet) off to the left? Do we just ID blogs with a tag under the byline (e.g., Dorchester Blogger)? Do we shade them with a color that is a visual clue?
There is no doubt bloggers with attitude belong in the paper. They will provide the color and spark and different perspectives sorely missing in most papers today. We just need to solve the questions of "how" and "where"...and we will -- with your help.
Then there's compensation. No major newspaper in the United States is publishing, much less paying, bloggers in great numbers to appear in their papers. There is no roadmap or precedent here.
In the beginning, we will offer Boston-area bloggers what we think is an excellent bargain: We will give them exposure to 150,000-170,000 readers a day in exchange for their content. For relatively unknown bloggers, whose readership may be measured in three or even four digits today, this is an incredible opportunity to expand their "brand," spread their word, and raise their profile. The visibility opportunity is enormous: Any blogger publishing just once a week in BostonNOW will be seen by almost nine million readers in a year.
For some bloggers, however, exposure will not be the permanent and sole form of compensation. We will work with any blogger who is interested to develop a compensation plan that measures success and addresses their interests and needs as well as ours. For example, some bloggers might prefer a press pass to an event in their area of interest over a monetary payment.
Another vexing problem, cited regularly by the anti-blogger naysayers, is the quality of writing in the blog world. It can be spotty. It can be infrequent. But even discovering a single-digit fraction of talented writers among the thousands of Boston-area bloggers will serve to prime the pump. I'm not looking for hundreds of bloggers initially. I'm only looking for two to three dozen to start. We'll build from there.
We can also contribute to a rise in the quality of blog writing. Creativity and excellence are difficult to maintain in a vacuum. Like all writers, bloggers, faced with a limited audience and no compensation (either financial or spiritual), are constantly challenged to maintain their edge and production.
If we offer bloggers opportunity and reward, we give them audience and recognition and the motivation to raise the bar for themselves.
While all of the challenges are significant, so are the stakes. If newspapers fail to involve the community, the future of print journalism is grim indeed. If our experiment does work, we'll have gone beyond helping to save an industry, we'll be helping to chart its future.
That sounds a bit grandiose, but the decline of newspapers is very real and only experiments like ours can help turn it around.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-Chief
Monday, March 12, 2007
Boston Bloggers' Summit (Version 2.0)
Thanks to everyone who came out to All Asia on Saturday to make our very first Boston Blogger Summit a success!
Approximately 50 people showed up over the three hours to learn more about the paper, and each other. Bloggers from all mediums and disciplines enjoyed a few hours of chatting while sampling appetizers from the All Asia kitchen and listening to DJ Anomaly spin tunes.
We talked about how bloggers from all geographic and thematic areas of Boston will be published and promoted in BostonNOW and on our website. We also talked about involving them in the process of determining how to create a compensation system that reflects success and delivers rewards that are meaningful to them (cash or tickets or merchandise or travel, etc.).
For those of you who weren't able to make it, and for those of you who want to talk to us again about the next steps toward getting published, keep your calendars clear for the night of Tuesday, March 27th. We'll be hosting a pizza-and-soda get-together after work at our new offices at 30 Winter Street in downtown Boston from 5 to 8pm. It'll be the same format as Saturday where you can drop by at any time (in other words, there is no official presentation, just lots of give and take).
RSVP at Upcoming.org.
Remember, you can always reach us at bostonnowpaper@gmail.com or comment on these posts with your questions and/or thoughts.
Thanks, again, all!
Approximately 50 people showed up over the three hours to learn more about the paper, and each other. Bloggers from all mediums and disciplines enjoyed a few hours of chatting while sampling appetizers from the All Asia kitchen and listening to DJ Anomaly spin tunes.
We talked about how bloggers from all geographic and thematic areas of Boston will be published and promoted in BostonNOW and on our website. We also talked about involving them in the process of determining how to create a compensation system that reflects success and delivers rewards that are meaningful to them (cash or tickets or merchandise or travel, etc.).
For those of you who weren't able to make it, and for those of you who want to talk to us again about the next steps toward getting published, keep your calendars clear for the night of Tuesday, March 27th. We'll be hosting a pizza-and-soda get-together after work at our new offices at 30 Winter Street in downtown Boston from 5 to 8pm. It'll be the same format as Saturday where you can drop by at any time (in other words, there is no official presentation, just lots of give and take).
RSVP at Upcoming.org.
Remember, you can always reach us at bostonnowpaper@gmail.com or comment on these posts with your questions and/or thoughts.
Thanks, again, all!
Friday, March 2, 2007
Blogger/citizen journalist compensation
Our bad!*
We didn't make it at all clear in our original posting that, with your input and participation, we will be developing a compensation plan for successful bloggers/citizen-journalists posting on the BostonNOW website. We apologize and hope this post clears up some of your questions and concerns.
Over the next several months, we will meet with as many of you as possible to discuss your thoughts about the method of determining who should get compensated, how they should be compensated, and how much.
As no one is doing this yet, we will be breaking new ground and so the more minds focused on the challenge, the better. If you’ve got an opinion about how this should work, we want to hear it. Come to our Bloggers' Summit on March 10th and speak to us in person, comment on this post with your ideas, or email us privately with your thoughts.
Together we must determine what constitutes "success." Page views? Comments? Most e-mailed? A mix? Then we must determine what various forms of compensation attach to various levels of success. There could be a rolling scale ranging from free stuff to cash.
Here are our initial thoughts. Bloggers and C-Js would post for a period of time for no compensation in exchange for the opportunity to gain massive exposure and promotion.
After that introductory period, we would use the "success" criteria and compensation scale to begin rewarding bloggers and C-Js for their work.
As we said, we’re in virgin territory here, so we’re looking for your ideas to help us craft a compensation system that is fair and workable.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-Chief, BostonNOW
* Why isn't there an up-to-date way to say "Our mistake!" that doesn't sound like bad early '90s television? – Regina
We didn't make it at all clear in our original posting that, with your input and participation, we will be developing a compensation plan for successful bloggers/citizen-journalists posting on the BostonNOW website. We apologize and hope this post clears up some of your questions and concerns.
Over the next several months, we will meet with as many of you as possible to discuss your thoughts about the method of determining who should get compensated, how they should be compensated, and how much.
As no one is doing this yet, we will be breaking new ground and so the more minds focused on the challenge, the better. If you’ve got an opinion about how this should work, we want to hear it. Come to our Bloggers' Summit on March 10th and speak to us in person, comment on this post with your ideas, or email us privately with your thoughts.
Together we must determine what constitutes "success." Page views? Comments? Most e-mailed? A mix? Then we must determine what various forms of compensation attach to various levels of success. There could be a rolling scale ranging from free stuff to cash.
Here are our initial thoughts. Bloggers and C-Js would post for a period of time for no compensation in exchange for the opportunity to gain massive exposure and promotion.
After that introductory period, we would use the "success" criteria and compensation scale to begin rewarding bloggers and C-Js for their work.
As we said, we’re in virgin territory here, so we’re looking for your ideas to help us craft a compensation system that is fair and workable.
John Wilpers
Editor-in-Chief, BostonNOW
* Why isn't there an up-to-date way to say "Our mistake!" that doesn't sound like bad early '90s television? – Regina
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Boston Bloggers' Summit
You blog. We blog. Let’s do it together...for hundreds of thousands of readers in Boston.
Boston is a diverse city with a distinct personality. Even under all the winter scarves, hats, and coats, you can tell a local from a tourist a block away. We walk quickly, we like our coffee scalding, and we have no respect for sidewalks. If we drive, it's fast and with purpose, and we're not afraid to give a little Boston Bump to squeeze into that parking space on Newbury. We know what we think, and we aren’t afraid to say so. With conviction. And, apparently, we're terrified of Lite-Brites, but what can you do? We're taking the good with the bad, here.
Unfortunately, Boston’s traditional media rarely capture this uniqueness or the voices and personalities of the folks who make Boston so appealing (to us, anyway). But that’s no surprise, is it? Mainstream media just don’t get it. Never have, probably never will.
But this has to change. For media to have any relevance or resonance in our lives, we, the media, have to give you and people like you a voice and a platform for your voices.
With your help, BostonNOW will be the first newspaper to truly reflect its community in print and online, with you playing a prominent role.
BostonNOW is a new free daily newspaper launching this year that will incorporate both traditional and citizen journalism. Your ideas about the Boston community (news, politics, sports, the arts, etc.) will appear side-by-side with the words of BostonNOW staffers and wire service journalists. We will promote your work prominently both in the paper and on the website, not in a “local blogs” or “reader photos” ghetto.
Every day, BostonNOW will direct readers to the Web, where they will find real depth and discussion. BostonNOW will become the place to learn what folks around here really think about politics, entertainment, sports, and their fellow humans. This dialogue will create a newspaper of the people, by the people, for the people.
BostonNOW will truly be your newspaper.
This is your opportunity, as a local blogger, photographer, artist, or pundit, to get in on the ground floor and contribute. You will get to share your perspective on living, surviving, and thriving in this amazing city. Participation in the BostonNOW experience will give you massive exposure to a huge reading audience -- your words in a daily newspaper going to tens of thousands of commuters and residents; your words on a website generating thousands of page views; your words syndicated worldwide with a share of any profits going to you.
The best part? You're already doing it on your blogs and websites. We want to give you the opportunity to share your insight with the entire city.
If you are interested in learning more about BostonNOW and the opportunity, please join us for free food and soft drinks:
Boston is a diverse city with a distinct personality. Even under all the winter scarves, hats, and coats, you can tell a local from a tourist a block away. We walk quickly, we like our coffee scalding, and we have no respect for sidewalks. If we drive, it's fast and with purpose, and we're not afraid to give a little Boston Bump to squeeze into that parking space on Newbury. We know what we think, and we aren’t afraid to say so. With conviction. And, apparently, we're terrified of Lite-Brites, but what can you do? We're taking the good with the bad, here.
Unfortunately, Boston’s traditional media rarely capture this uniqueness or the voices and personalities of the folks who make Boston so appealing (to us, anyway). But that’s no surprise, is it? Mainstream media just don’t get it. Never have, probably never will.
But this has to change. For media to have any relevance or resonance in our lives, we, the media, have to give you and people like you a voice and a platform for your voices.
With your help, BostonNOW will be the first newspaper to truly reflect its community in print and online, with you playing a prominent role.
BostonNOW is a new free daily newspaper launching this year that will incorporate both traditional and citizen journalism. Your ideas about the Boston community (news, politics, sports, the arts, etc.) will appear side-by-side with the words of BostonNOW staffers and wire service journalists. We will promote your work prominently both in the paper and on the website, not in a “local blogs” or “reader photos” ghetto.
Every day, BostonNOW will direct readers to the Web, where they will find real depth and discussion. BostonNOW will become the place to learn what folks around here really think about politics, entertainment, sports, and their fellow humans. This dialogue will create a newspaper of the people, by the people, for the people.
BostonNOW will truly be your newspaper.
This is your opportunity, as a local blogger, photographer, artist, or pundit, to get in on the ground floor and contribute. You will get to share your perspective on living, surviving, and thriving in this amazing city. Participation in the BostonNOW experience will give you massive exposure to a huge reading audience -- your words in a daily newspaper going to tens of thousands of commuters and residents; your words on a website generating thousands of page views; your words syndicated worldwide with a share of any profits going to you.
The best part? You're already doing it on your blogs and websites. We want to give you the opportunity to share your insight with the entire city.
If you are interested in learning more about BostonNOW and the opportunity, please join us for free food and soft drinks:
Saturday, March 10, 2007
11am to 2pm
All Asia Café
334 Mass. Ave.
Central Square
Cambridge, Mass.
11am to 2pm
All Asia Café
334 Mass. Ave.
Central Square
Cambridge, Mass.
Free appetizers and soda will be available, and tunes will be spun by a DJ. If you have any friends or compatriots you think would be interested in this opportunity, please feel free to forward this invitation and bring them along.
Please RSVP at Upcoming.org.
We want to create a newspaper that truly reflects our community, where real people get a chance to publish what matters to them.
Revolutionary, we know.
Be a part of it.
Your city will thank you for it.
Sincerely,
Regina O’Brien
Content Manager
John Wilpers
Editor-in-Chief
Please RSVP at Upcoming.org.
We want to create a newspaper that truly reflects our community, where real people get a chance to publish what matters to them.
Revolutionary, we know.
Be a part of it.
Your city will thank you for it.
Sincerely,
Regina O’Brien
Content Manager
John Wilpers
Editor-in-Chief
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