#socialden coming to you live on 24th May - wherever you are

Anyone who still doubts that mainstream media are no longer the gatekeepers of mass communication and knowledge dissemination would do well to talk to Hosni Mubarak. Or to ‘CTB’.

With over five billion mobile phones in use, over 100 million smart phones sold per quarter (Q4 2010), 175 million Twitter accounts*, 600 million Facebook users (Jan 2011), one billion Google search queries per day (Mar 2011), news publishers (and others) are grappling with how they best to link and to leverage the power of social media.

That challenge is under the spotlight at the spring meeting of the Digital Editors Network at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston in Tuesday, 24th May 2011. Those leading the discussion on "Social Media & Publishers: mobilizing, managing, measuring and monetizing the engagement," will include executives from Facebook, The Independent and the Centre for Analytic Journalism.

The program, outlined below, will be Webcast here and also blogged live by UCLan journalism student and BlogPreston editor Joseph Stasko. You can the discussion on Twitter (#socialden) and post your comments and question to the speakers here, too.



13:00 Lunch and registration in Scholar’s Bar
13:45 DEN meeting starts with welcome and introduction – François Nel and Nick Turner
14:00 Facebook’s Karla Geci
14:40 The Independent, the I paper & Evening Standard’s Jack Riley
15:20 Break
15:30 Institute for Analytic Journalism’s Tom Johnson
16:10 Social Media consultant Paul Teague
16:40 1x1x1 session and wrap up

The Digital Editors Network aims to link media innovators, whether they work inside, outside or alongside mainstream media organisations. To keep in touch, join our LinkedIn group and follow us on Twitter @denupdates.

* The number of active Twitter accounts is thought to be much lower.

#socialden2011 Social Media and Publishers: mobilizing, managing, measuring and monetizing the engagement

As we grapple with how to grow audience engagement through social media, it's obvious that we must understand more about how to manage, measure and monetize our activities.

Our Spring 2011 meeting of the Digital Editors’ Network will give you a chance to hear from executives of Facebook, The Independent and the Institute for Analytical Journalism about the opportunities and practicalities of implementing a social media strategy during in a Chatham House Rules-discussion in Preston.

The programme will run from 1:45-5pm on May 24th, with registration & lunch from 1pm in Scholars Restaurant in Foster Building on the University of Central Lancashire's Preston City campus. A networking reception will follow until 6pm.

 Leading the discussion will be:

Karla Geci is Strategic Partner Development for Facebook and former head of marketing for Bebo. Karla works with broadcasters, media companies and content owners who want to leverage the Facebook Platform to build social applications and experiences on their owned web properties and Facebook Pages.

Jack Riley is Head of Digital Audience & Content Development for The Independent , the i paper and the Evening Standard. He has championed innovative ways to use Facebook's features, allowing readers to 'like' Independent content and follow articles from individual journalists or on certain topics such as football teams.

Tom Johnson works in the space where journalism and technology overlap. A former editor at the Scientific American, Tom is co-founder of the Institute for Analytic Journalism and professor emeritus at San Francisco State University.

Paul Teague has 20 years experience in journalism during which time he picked up a Webby award and now works in internet marketing. He'll have practical tips on creating the best Facebook pages and thoughts on how media companies should respond to their advertisers exploring social media options.

The discussion will be chaired by Nick Turner, Head of Digital Content Development for the CN Group. François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme, will lead the the final 1 X 1 X 1 session during which each meeting participant will have one minute to discuss one idea using one slide / link (if required).

The Digital Editors' Network is supported by Vision + Media and the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Central Lancashire, home to England's oldest university journalism programme.

For addtional programme details and #socialden2011 Twitter updates, contact or follow Nick Turner at @nickincumbria / Nick.Turner@Cumbrian-Newspapers.co.uk , or François Nel @francoisnel / FPNel@uclan.ac.uk


Also:

Do you have - or would you like to take - responsibility for managing multimedia projects? Then check out the Journalism Leaders Programme website for details about the Spring Seminar, Managing Multimedia Projects: delivering innovation in the Digital Age, which runs from 23rd to 27th May in Preston or download the flyer.
#djcamp2011: DEN is offering a data journalism do-shop (not another talk shop) on 19-20 May at Vision+Media at Media City UK, Salford Quays, Manchester. More details about this hands-on skills development workshop with Tom Johnson, ScraperWiki's Frances Irving and Open Data City Manchester's Julian Tait are available here.

#djcamp2011 Data+Journalism+Camp @ Vision+Media, Manchester

Recently Paul Bradshaw asked this question on The Guardian Data Blog:

“Data journalism is huge. I don't mean 'huge' as in fashionable - although it has become that in recent months - but 'huge' as in 'incomprehensibly enormous'. It represents the convergence of a number of fields which are significant in their own right - from investigative research and statisticsto design and programming. The idea of combining those skills to tell important stories is powerful - but also intimidating. Who can do all that?"

One answer: Tom Johnson can. And during this two-day workshop Tom, a former editor of the Scientific American and co-founder of the Institute for Analytic Journalism, will help you get started, too.

Organised by the Digital Editors Network's Data Taskgroup and sponsored by Vision + Media and the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLAN, this handson workshop is aimed at journalists who are new to or recently responsible for turning data into stories with impact.

Other contributors include Francis Irving, one of the forces behind ScraperWiki , Julian Tait of Open Data City Manchester and François Nel, founding director of the Journalism Leaders Programme and co-convenor of the Digital Editors Network.

What will you learn?

• Collaboration tools for the newsroom team
• Customizing search-and-retrieve data tools
• Extracting data from documents
• Data cleaning and formatting
• An elementary introduction to scraping web sites for data
• Using web “cloud” tools to clean and display data
• Most important, how to tease meaning and STORIES out of data and then tell those stories in multiple ways

When and where? The progamme runs from 9:30am to 7pm on Thursday, 19th May, and 9:30am to 5pm Friday, 20th May 2011, at Vision+Media @ Media City UK , 100 Broadway, Salford Quays, Manchester, M50 2UW.

Fees? Fifteen free places are available for freelances and small businesses (less than 250 employees) from the North West of England. An additional 15 spaces are open to journalists from outside the region, or from larger media groups (with more than 250 employees) at £200. All are available on a first-come basis.

How to enrol? Download the flyer here and enrol here.

Transport? Getting to and around Manchester is easy and Vision+Media at Media City is a short tram ride from the city centre and Piccadilly station (nearest tram stop: Broadway). Also see the Google map .

What to bring? Besides curiousity and creativity, you'll need to bring your own laptop. Wireless broadband and power outlets will be available.

Every participant will also be expected to share in the 1X1X1 session (one slide X one tip/ inspirational example X one minute) on the Thursday evening.

Questions about #djcamp2011? Contact François Nel at FPNel@uclan.ac.uk or @francoisnel to discuss this workshop further.

Also: If you're charged with managing projects - or would like to move your career in that direction - then check out the flyer of the Journalism Leaders Programme's Spring Seminar, Managing Multimedia Projects: delivering innovation in the Digital Age. The seminar runs from 24-27 May in Preston and can help you earn academic credit towards a postgraduate certificate, diploma or Master's degree.

#DEN10 iPads, PCC & ScraperWiki on the agenda for October meeting

Should newspapers be held accountable for tweets by journalists or their blogs? Where should corrections appear online and should there be some kind of standard mark for professionally produced content?

These are some of the questions about online standards that digital editors will be discussing next month when they meet in Manchester.

Will Gore of the Press Complaints Commission will tell the Digital Editors' Network why the PCC has launched a consultation to consider how its remit should extend into the online world.

Also speaking at the October 14th meeting which is being held at MADLab in Manchester is Ben Edwards of PageSuite, creators of perhaps the first regional newspaper iPad app.

He will talk about how integrating new platforms can deliver new revenues. And what publishers need to do make that happen.

And Francis Irving, one of the key forces behind MySociety and now ScraperWiki, will tell the Digital Editors' Network why he's working to build the world's biggest data repository and what opportunities that offers for news organisations.
The programme starts with registration and lunch at 1pm and concludes 5pm with a networking reception that wraps up at 6pm.

Digital Editors' Network organiser Nick Turner said: "We're pleased that we've been able to put together a programme for DEN which touches on three of the biggest issues faced by online publishers.

"The Government is promising to unleash a tsunami of data and how publishers respond to the opportunity will be crucial to the development of online journalism.

"Rumours of a new iPad subscription plan for publishers being prepard by Apple should focus minds on how we make the most of new platforms.

"Finally, we aim to consider how far the self-regulatory framework that upholds newspapers standards should extend in the online world."

There is no charge for the event, but spaces are limited so book your place at http://den10.eventbrite.com

For addtional programme details and updates, contact or follow Nick Turner at @nickincumbria / Nick.Turner@Cumbrian-Newspapers.co.uk , or François Nel @francoisnel / FPNel@uclan.ac.uk .

Follow #dendatameet live from 13:15-17:00 BST on 12 May

Can't make it to Salford Quays today? Why not join the #DENDATAMEET discussion here from 13:15. The programme is below.

• 13.15 Welcome and introductions:
• Maureen Walker, Head of Broadcast, Music and Publishing, will introduce the session and say a few words about Vision+Media.
  

• DEN's co-convenors François

Nel (UCLan) and
• Nick Turner (CN Group) will chair the discussions.
• The Speakers
• 13.30 Julian Tait is one of the organizers of the FutureEverything conference, that is working to make Manchester the UK’s first OpenData City.
• 14.00 Paul Bradshaw is the author of the Online Journalism Blog, and convenor of the HelpMeInvestigate project.
• 14.30 Martin Belam is the information architect in the Guardian’s web development team. He also blogs at Currybetdonet.
• 15.15 BREAK
• 15.45 Propublica reporter Olga Pierce and news application developer Jeff Larson will discuss the process of building layered data stories at the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative news site.
• 16.15 Are you and your organisation struggling to respond to the scope and the pace of the challenges? Oscar Westlund, a Swedish mobile researcher, suggests there are lessons to be learned from Jujitsu.
• 16.45 Wrap up

#DENDATAMEET Data Alchemy: new sources, innovative uses,

Ollie Jones might have had a point, but I think there's a case to be made that in the Digital Age it's data, not love, that makes the world go round.

How can news publishers access useful sources of data and how can they put it to use to serve users and to build revenue?

That's the theme for the next Digital Editors Network meeting on May 12th at the offices of Northwest Vision & Media at Media City in Salford Quays.

Speakers are:

• Julian Tait, an organiser of the FutureEverything conference who's working to make Manchester the UK's first OpenData City.
• Paul Bradshaw, author of the Online Journalism Blog and convenor of the HelpMeInvestigate project.
• Martin Bellam, information architect for the the Guardian.co.uk, the information architect in the Guardian's web development team. He blogs at Currybetdonet.
• Propublica reporter Olga Pierce and news application developer Jeff Larson will discuss the process of building layered data stories at the Pulitzer Prize-winninginvestigative news site.
• Finally: Are you and your organisation struggling to respond to the scope and the pace of the challenges? Oscar Westlund, a Swedish mobile researcher, suggests there are lessons to be learned from martial arts.

There is no charge for the event, but spaces are limited and must be reserved in advance.

Click to download the pdf for map and directions. To reserve a parking, space contact Northwest Vision and Media at 0844 3950385, or email: info@visionandmedia.co.uk.

The Digital Editors Network is sponsored by Northwest Vision & Media and theSchool of Journalism, Media & Communication at the University of Central Lancashire, home to England's oldest university journalism programme.

For addtional programme details and updates, contact or follow Nick Turner at @nickincumbria / Nick.Turner@Cumbrian-Newspapers.co.uk , or François Nel @francoisnel / FPNel@uclan.ac.uk .

Follow - and contribute to - our Twitter updates #dendatameet

#DEN2010 Winter Meeting: Benchmarking Your Website

As we grapple with how to create revenues with our online brands it's obvious that we must understand more about our audiences than just whether the number of unique users is increasing month on month.

How much of our audience are regular visitors or eager participants in our online comemnt forums? How many are based abroad and how many are just dipping in to follow a link to one page?

Our Winter 2010 meeting will allow you to compare notes other digital editors and see how your site measures up to industry trends.

Editors from four of the UK's leading news organisations will "lift the bonnet" on their strategies to engage audiences – and the metrics they use to measure the success of their efforts – in a Chatham House Rule-discussion in Preston.

The programme will run from 1:30-5pm on February 25^th, with registration & lunch from 1pm in the Adelphi Conference Room at the University of Central Lancashire.

The session aims to assist you in addressing some linked challenges:

(1) advertisers who seek not just large audiences, but engaged prospective customers; and

(2) executives who are seeking to plug budget shortfalls by introducing paywalls around all or some of their online content and activities.

Participating in the panel discussion will be:

• Dave Higgerson, head of multimedia of Trinity Mirror regionals
• Ian Brogden, digital editor at Cumbrian Newspapers
• Jane McFarlane, assistant news editor Northcliffe Media's Derby Evening Telegraph
• Martin Hamer, digital editor at Johnston Press' Lancashire Evening Post.

There is no charge for the event, but seating is limited and registration is required. All those attending the event are also asked to contribute to the discussion by completing this survey. Responses will remain anonymous.

The discussion will be chaired by François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme, who will also present the results of the survey and related findings from a two-year study into the online activities of newspapers in Britain’s 66 cities.

The programme will end with a discussion about ideas to cover the election online led by Nick Turner, Head of Digital Content Development for the CN Group.

The Digital Editors Network is sponsored by Northwest Vision & Media and the School of Journalism, Media & Communication at the University of Central Lancashire, home to England's oldest university journalism programme.

For addtional programme details and updates, contact or follow Nick Turner at @nickincumbria / Nick.Turner@Cumbrian-Newspapers.co.uk , or François Nel @francoisnel / FPNel@uclan.ac.uk .

Follow - and contribute to - our Twitter updates #den2010