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IMHO the software should be integrated. Think of it as rather like wikipedia's articles and their attached discussion pages, etc.

There can be layers of content and not everything on the site needs to be an article with comments, though it doesn't hurt if it is. The same article and the same comments can be presented visually in different ways. In fact, each ET diary and each comment are stored separately in the database, which links them logically and allows them to be displayed on the same browser page. The possibilities are endless when it comes to content and its presentation.

Personally, I think if content (including comments) could have a revision history and multiple people able to edit it, we'd go a long way towards achieving the flexibility we need for cooperative work.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Dec 30th, 2007 at 02:50:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think a Wiki here is the right solution to the wrong problem. And I don't think the software should be integrated, because we'll probably send so much time trying to integrate it that we won't get anything else done. (qv language localisation for Scoop.)

J is right - we need a separate press arm/think-tank sending out press releases and papers.

The front page is more or less irrelevant as far as journalists are concerned. I don't see a problem with that, because reachable journalists need to be reached actively. We can't assume they'll come here just because we want them to, and I don't think we should retool a page that's doing a different job to try to attract them.

The work-in-progress Wiki idea doesn't solve the problems we need to have solved. Wikis are fine for subject-specific knowledge bases, but PR and journalist outreach has to be done differently - you can't just say 'Look at our excellent Wiki!' and expect anyone to be interested.

So the front page is not the place for sound bites. If it's there for anything it's to demonstrate the ET brand, and the rather chaotic nature of the front page is fine for that. It's no more or less coherent than a newspaper, and I think that's how it should be.

The narratives should be distilled into regular dated op-eds and formal papers and placed into a repository. When we have an interesting point to make, we turn them into a press release with one or two soundbites, attach a PDF of slightly more detailed key points, and include links to one or more papers with background information.

Papers can be Wikified, but more as a collaborative tool than as a developing database. Wikis aren't ideal for position papers or op-eds, but they're good for evolving background histories and glossaries.

Finished papers should probably be stored in fixed form as a historical record of points made and not considered a work in progress. That way we can always point to them and say 'We told you so' - which is rather harder with a straight Wiki.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Dec 30th, 2007 at 06:34:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
When a journalist needs info she uses google. If ET is in the top five, English language, she comes here.
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Sun Dec 30th, 2007 at 06:50:33 PM EST
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A key question is how we drive internet traffic to ET via google searches etc.  Wiki always seems to come up near the top whenever I google something and I generally go to it because it has a familiar format which I can navigate quickly to find what I want.  Is ET content indexed by Google and do we have any expertise in optimising our google rankings?

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sun Dec 30th, 2007 at 08:17:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ET has made Google page one on occasion.
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Mon Dec 31st, 2007 at 04:38:30 AM EST
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Now as to who will write the polished papers...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Sun Dec 30th, 2007 at 06:52:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
on your own topics of interest.  

Others have been doing it too--that is, writing articles that are at a high level of editorial quality.  

That is, if I understood this right, the idea was to gather and archive good articles into their own place on the site.  Final editing is just that.  Not rewriting.  

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Fri Jan 4th, 2008 at 05:35:10 PM EST
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but it's hard work for both drafter and editor(s)...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Fri Jan 4th, 2008 at 05:56:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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