It’s never easy to figure out what panel to attend at large conferences like the Online News Association’s confab in Washington last weekend. Programming has to be purposefully vague, enticing as well as diverse — and when it’s all said and done there’s always a few sessions you wish you had time to attend. (Not to mention the many folks who would have liked to attend, only to see the conference sell out quickly.)

But thanks to Twitter, not to mention livebloggers and streaming video, the panel experience can be recaptured and even expanded. For the second year in a row, we at the Lab thought it would be good to highlight the discussions, both from the front of the room and the audience. What follows is a tweet-by-tweet, panel-by-panel recreation of this year’s ONA, based on the online voices of those in the room.

Make sure to check out Friday’s schedule for links to presentations from the panels. We’ll recap Saturday’s panels tomorrow.

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Keynote: Starting from Scratch — TBD.com (#ONA10 #TBD)

Jim Brady, Erik Wemple, Mandy Jenkins, Steve Buttry, TBD
Moderator: Laura McGann, Nieman Journalism Lab

meg_e_martin: @jimbradysp @ #ona10 panel re: #tbd: “Our strategy was to build a regional site with local elements”

meg_e_martin: @jimbradysp re: local strategy/advertising/etc. “There’s no silver bullet, just shrapnel.” Amen, friend

emraguso: editorial vision for #tbd, 12 reporters on staff cover 5.3m people. editorial vision is “smoke and mirrors”

meg_e_martin: #ericwemple: “We want to be a place where, if you hear a siren, you go to #tbd and you find out what’s wrong.”

caitlindewey: #tbd panelists sparring: “if you’re running a website that doesn’t have something terrible on it, you’re not trying hard enough.

MiamiTheater: If you run a website where you don’t have something terrible you have #fail. Need to keep experimenting

meg_e_martin: #tbd social media prod.: “I want to make sure that we’re out there, talking to them, all the time.” Replies to every Q and critique.

emraguso: the heart of all this, still have to hire the best journalists you can. it’s not all abt gadgets, says #TBD #ona10

acarvin: Jim Brady: Twitter is the police scanner of the 21st century. There are always new stories breaking there.

emraguso: #TBD says things go thru a double filter and we don’t put up anything unconfirmed. wemple says lots of times officials get it wrong

meg_e_martin: @mjenkins: You have to treat #socialmedia like a tipline, not a source. Obvious, but: Check your sources

emraguso: why shld readers go to #tbd, not #patch #wapo? #TBD aggregates those other news media in town and has lots of blogs #ona10

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No Comment: Rethinking Online Commenting (#ONA10 #nocomment)

Alicia Shepard, NPR
Andrew Noyes, Facebook
Adam Clark Estes, Huffington Post

“With so much negativity and spam in comment sections, how are newsrooms tweaking their engagement policies? Should people be made to give their real names? Should discussions be moderated? How do we elevate the discussion without stifling it? What are we gaining with comment sections, Facebook and other platforms? Led by NPR’s ombudsman, this lively debate will help you navigate these tectonic shifts in the conversation around news.”

ianhillmedia: Good comments start with good content, followed by a clear TOS and active moderation.

JeremyLittau: Why are we so obsessed with moderating negative comments? Rather spend energy working for better comments

emraguso: how do we find editorial value in the comments? what are we hoping to get from the interaction? says #BBC

lheron: Here’s the obit sparked by a nasty comment that the St. Petersburg Times ran: bit.ly/9g12yA

assignmentdesk1: Problem with #nocomment panel is lack of solutions or ideas about how to handle web comments for news sites.

emraguso: #ona10 #nocomment failing a third-party solution, how do you get reporters to engage in comments? asks st. pete times

kimfox: Chilling effect on sources seems to be something we are all worried about at #nocomment #ona10 session

JeremyLittau: One takeaway of this session is it’s hard to engage a community if you distrust them at outset.

meg_e_martin: via #huffpo: Reward constructive commenters/frequent posters with badges. (a la vita.mn karma points, @mthomps!) #ona10 #nocomment

emraguso: rick times from charlotte observer: what do you think of crowdsourcing to get rid of the trolls?

bydanielvictor: @acarvin: We shouldn’t see commenters as “potentially evil people.” Love it.

emraguso: from shepard: #huffpost launched in april — awards badges to commenters who post frequently and moderate comments

chrisboutet: NPR’s @acarvin: By being part of the conversation, we can elevate the conversation. Mediation works better than moderation

emraguso: @acarvin we need to figure out ways of shifting away from siege mentality abt how to deal with comments

bydanielvictor: NPR’s @acarvin: We need to reward the 99% of online community members who behave. Great point..let’s give them incentive.

emraguso: tom mallory of san diego union tribute: a lot of us set up anonymous comments before: how do we close the barn door?

patbrannan2131: Following the 90-9-1 principle only 1 percent of a site’s total audience actually comments.

emraguso: @acarvin countless NPR reporters use things in comments to push reporting deeper

chrisboutet: @anoyes “Here’s the problem with Facebook’s ‘real-name’ comment culture: People lie.” Doesn’t stop trolls dead.

chrisboutet: Facebook’s @anoyes points out U.S. Army’s FB comment policy as an excellent model for all: on.fb.me/9xpVOR

jrstahl: We remind of our FB comments policy when people start to veer towards violating 1) respect 2) family-friendly 3) on topic

emraguso: 3.5m comments for #huffpo is “small potatoes” compared to what facebook gets says noyes

emraguso: Noyes: our big picture mission to make world more connected. comments are a huge part of that. real name culture is vital

notblue: Most comments are negative, attacking, cruel, “tone hijacks the conversation.” Knew a journ who called comments a cesspool

emraguso: “Real name culture” is important to create place where people are free to speak their minds more respectfully

JeremyLittau: Noyes: Real-name culture is backbone to comment system on Facebook.

meghannCIR: @NPR ombudsman says she often finds comments cruel. She asked staff if they needed comments on site.

emraguso: Shepard said NPR is having a rough time trying to keep up with comments — hired an outside moderation

kimfox: Sheaprd: Huffington Post gets 3.5 MM comments per month

emraguso: Alicia Shepard #NPR said 1% are online dominators, scare people away from wanting to comment

JeremyLittau: Shepard: Tension in online comments is between diatribe and dialogue.

emraguso: 99-1 principal — participation inequality for online — 90% are lurkers, 9% editors, 1% creators

dbronx: Shephard: Diatribe v. dialogue — guess which is winning?

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Content Sharing Through API’s (#ONA10 #apis)

Daniel Jacobson, NPR
Delyn Simons, Mashery
Daniel Choi

“More and more newsrooms are opening their vaults and sharing their content. What can you do with other organizations’ content? Should your newsroom be thinking about creating its own APIs, too? Experts explore the operations, business models and more.”

dskok: Having a NYTimes open API provides unintended benefits that drive traffic and U/X. Simons

jrue: News organizations can use APIs to track who’s using their content much better than RSS. Many are delivering RSS over an AP

tmcenroe: USA Today considering feeding RSS through API, which then would allow tracking, metrics

dskok: It seems API’s are crucial for internal dev and future platform growth. Sharing those keys publicly is just a nice addition

cyhung: good API = 1, good documentation 2, developer support 3, terms of use for your API that are generous according to Choi

DanaChinn: APIs allow “tremendous speed to mkt” for local-social-mobile but do trad media orgs have the mindset?

sarahmorayati: #APIs are another way to make news organizations flexible; example: CNN’s use of Outside.in gives it an instant local presence

adamostrow: NPR has doubled page views in 12 months (as measured across platforms — iPhone, android, iPad, etc)

tmcenroe: NPR mobile apps drive almost half of all pageviews (nearly 40 mil/month), made poss by API developemn

richgor: Jacobson: real value of API at NPR was to accelerate internal development, partnerships — not help ind’t developers

dskok: Having a NYTimes open API provides unintended benefits that drive traffic and U/X. Simon

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The New Investigative Journalism Ecosystem (#ONA10 #ecosystem)

Charles Lewis, Investigative Reporting Workshop
Lorie Hearn, Watchdog Institute
Kevin Davis, Investigative News Network
Raney Aronson-Rath, Frontline

“The number of global nonprofit reporting organizations has exploded — from three in 1990 to more than 30 today. Most have been created in the past three years. Panelists share which organizations are collaborating, which projects draw eyeballs and where this phenomenon is heading.”

RobinJP: Repeated theme at #ecosystem and #proam sessions: need to learn more about financial sustainability.

tgdavidson: Jay: Mtg crisis story was there to be spotted/collected LONG before it broke. “That’s where the real excitement lies.”

SuziSteffen: @jayrosen_nyu asks, “When will we start moving the needle on distributed reporting?”

jmestepa: Nonprofits are in competitive environment. Need to build trust for collaboration.

tgdavidson: Raney: Despite initial challenges, collab brought far more rptg to stories like Law & Disorder

tgdavidson: Davis: Among next steps for INN: Marketing and PR. Commercial syndication deals now, but ultimately want public support

jmestepa: Investigative News Network focuses on sustainability, training, back office resources, tech support, collaboration

tgdavidson: Davis: “What most of our members were doing was trapezee w/o a net. Very exciting, and very dangerous.”

digitalamysw: Investigative News Network’s membership now stands at 51 with 10 applications in process

tgdavidson: Lewis: What’s the effect of pub’ing some information earlier? His note — it builds audience. Raney: Yup.

Raney: “Law & Disorder” proj was 1st effort where used web to publish ongoing reporting, not svg all for film.

jmestepa: Lorie Hearn of Watchdog Institute: Nonprofits think they can just get grants and give content away. That’s the proble

jmestepa: Only half of nonprofit journalism organizations have ethics policies posted on their websites

tgdavidson: In aggregate, those orgs has op budgets of $80MM / yr.

digitalamysw: Ecosystem report: 23 out of 60 nonprofit news orgs are run by women

tgdavidson: 60 non-profit journo orgs with 600+ rptrs have risen from the ashes. But: Only 13 fully disclose their financial backers

wcochran: Charles Lewis: two-thirds of nonprofit news employees come from legacy medi

digitalamysw: New journalism ecosystem report — 60 nonprofit orgs comprise the ecosystem #ecosystem #ona10 bit.ly/aXbiwW

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DocumentCloud’s First Year (#ONA10 #dcloud)

Aron Pilhofer, The New York Times
Brian Boyer, Chicago Tribune
Jeremy Ashkenas, DocumentCloud

“DocumentCloud.org has impacted news stories big and small by making primary source materials easier to scour, annotate and share. A look at how the open-source project is solving journalistic and technological hurdles.”

chandlereclay: #ona10 #ona observer #dcloud wouldn’t let wikileaks in. Tries to keep the community of users focused and narrowed to newsroom docs

4GJournalist: #ona10 #dcloud will be able to tag private annotations eventually as tool for reporters working on large document piles

bydanielvictor: They want to make documents able to be publicly annotated as a crowdsourcing tool. Yes, please

jendorroh: When it comes to sharing its code, the mantra of @DocumentCloud is “release early and often.”

richgor: Phase2 Technologies about to release @DocumentCloud publishing module for Drupal.

ethanklapper: Ashkenas says you should always redact the source PDF — NOT in DcoumentCloud

chandlereclay: #ona10 #onaobserver #dcloud Document cloud is funny. Uncovered the blacked-out text in Blagojevich docs. Awesome

bydanielvictor: An expert on ballot design annotated image of a NY ballot for problem spots. No better way to tell that story.

chrisboutet: Document Cloud adds journalistic layer to open online documentation. Allows annotations. Makes docs searchable, collaborative

ethanklapper: @pilhofer: The tools reporters have used to do document-based reporting haven’t changed in forever

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Forging Pro-Am Partnerships (#ONA10 #proam)

Joe Bergantino, New England Center for Investigative Reporting
Rich Jones, New York University, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Initiative
Josh Meyer, National Security Journalism Initiative, Medill School of Journalism

With newsrooms cutting staff and journalism schools booming, it was bound to happen — the news industry is collaborating with academe for content in brave new ways. The panel explores how the partnerships work and whether the model applies to your newsroom.

UOSOJC: A: Coach them, help them, throw them out of the nest and see how they do.

akrewson: Q. followup: How are you reaching audience beyond traditional media? A. Bergantino: Using social media, planning focus groups.

UOSOJC: Q: is it fair to send students out into hostile interview situations & how do you get folks to take the students seriously?

emraguso: Medill’s Josh Meyer says he’s “not at liberty to say” who their media partners are right now

akrewson: Meyer: “You’re standing on the shoulders of traditional journalism.”

lkelley10: Possible revenue streams to sustain pro-am partnerships: paid content, custom research, training

akrewson: Bergantino: Almost 60 academic centers around the country, an explosion. If all go to same foundations for $ … not enough.

emraguso: Bergatino: You can prove how valuable you are in the setting you’re in. You draw in students with investigative reporting.

akrewson: @WillMedia I’m curious about the “am” portion that can’t afford university tuition. Haven’t seen that addressed yet.

emraguso: it’s not really abt who publishes it first, it’s a force multiplier

Twheat: Jones: Shooting for %50 of @nytlev content from community. Developing journalism workshops

akrewson: Q: Why do you need pro media partners if you don’t need printing press? A. from Josh Meyer: Build community and audience

akrewson: Jones: No money has exchanged hands between @nytlev and @NYT

akrewson: Jones: Newsroom has developed a WordPress plugin for assigning stories at @nytlev

emraguso: Local East Village: no money has changed hands between NYU and NYTimes

emraguso: Local East Village: looking at how we engage the community in posts, tips, comments

emraguso: Local East Village: we measure success by the success of our students. training students in multimedia

daileyl: Pro-am journalism partnerships: “This is a movement, this is a revolution” — Joe Bergantino

JeremyLittau: So far it seems like workload, logistics for #proam investigative journalism is made for bigger j-schools, not programs our size

emraguso: Local East Village: serves 70k people, partners with @nytimes for content, based out of NYU

emraguso: New England Ctr for Investigative Reporting: Focusing on training as a revenue generator. Esp. high school students

daileyl: Josh Meyer makes the point pro-am partnerships are not new. Many J-schools provide D.C. coverage bureaus, for example

emraguso: josh meyer: walls are crumbling between legacy media and new media, and that’s a good thing

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From Earthquakes to Coups: Tools for Crisis Reporting (#ONA10 #crisis)

Solana Larsen, Global Voices Online
Mark Frohardt, Internews
Robert Soden, Development Seed
Robert Baker, Konpa Group (Ushahidi Haiti)

“Citizen, niche and traditional media are using social media and other tools to collaborate on covering international conflicts and disasters. This has made reporting from global hot spots more effective than ever. Learn what these panelists from around the world find work best.”

dskok: Engage with first responders before the crisis hits. Explain how your information will help their response

lheron: New version of @Ushahidi will be integrated w/ Facebook, YouTube. Coming out in next 2 months

andrewjpolk: While Ushahidi Haiti took a team of 170 to produce info, developers are working on automating and expanding their services

lheron: Baker of @Ushahidi: Accountability & storytelling are major pushes. Dots on a map not good enough anymore

digitalamysw: Universities 4 Ushahidi launches in June 2011 DC bit.ly/cMsAuH

andrewjpolk: Ushahidi is releasing several new programs/platforms, such as SwiftRiver, Ushahidi 2.0 and others, look at apps.ushahidi.com

lheron: In Haiti, critical info “I’m trapped, need help” was getting routed to Coast Guard before going to Ushahidi map

internews: Frohardt: in Kenya, we’re piloting @ushahidi platform in a non-crisis situation= local media building skills & sources

lheron: Mark Frohardt of @internews: Haiti earthquake had unprecedented use of new tech. But crisis not best moment to intro meg_e_martin: Frohardt: “Double info jeopardy” exists in #crisis situ: Dramatic incr. in need for info paired w/dramatic decrease in supply of info

publicinsight: @GlobalVoices asks journos to diversify sources abroad…so it’s not just aid workers and journalists painting the #crisis picture.

meg_e_martin: @solanasaurus: Journos’ challenge in a #crisis: Find a way to engage with ppl in the forums where they already exist and communicate

internews: Larsen: local blogs can provide a diversity of opinion on the ground for MSM

digitalamysw: Solana Larsen at Global Voices Online — helps reporters connect and collaborate during crisis coverage

Placecaster: Wow. @openstreetmap blows @GoogleMaps out of the water in places like Kinshasa and Mogadishu. Important for #crisis news and relief

digitalamysw: Soden: power of openstreetmap is its functionality that goes beyond the features of Google maps

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Keynote: A Conversation with Vivian Schiller of NPR and Tim Armstrong of AOL (#ONA10 #key)

Moderator: Kara Swisher, All Things Digital

richgor: Armstrong: If you think Patch is evil, ask yourself whether the sites in your community really meet your local info needs

kimfox: Armstrong to editors: ‘Cover straight up the middle, dnt go too far left or right. The country has enough of that at the moment’

emraguso: Armstrong: It’s highly likely where we will do more partnerships with local blogs (?) and #Patch

kimfox: LOL: Armstrong: ‘Press on press, you guys write more about each other then anything I’ve ever seen’

kimfox: Armstrong: ‘Our business plan is we’re going to go with whatever works’

tgdavidson: Armstrong: unifying strategy at aol: did we give consumer a magical experience? Did we curate it well?

emraguso: Armstrong: We’re laser focused on the consumer experience at Patch. Haven’t heard anything abt a pay wall

tgdavidson: Armstrong: Avg Patch hires has 6 yrs experience, 75 pct paid as much or more than they used to make.

rickhirsch: Q to Armstrong: Is Patch evil. Armstrong: Complete 3-leg stool of what is evil.

sgoldenberg: #ona10 #key AOLs Tim Armstrong: “Brands are powerful” from niche markets to tv devices

tgdavidson: Irony alert: Schiller talking abt soc media as a powerful tool, and NPR ombud trashing comments 2 hrs ago in same room

tgdavidson: Schiller: WRONGLY hyped — soc media. It’s NOT just a distribution tool, it’s a NEWSGATHERING tool.

emraguso: Armstrong: Consumers use 20 brands a month, flip flop out of 1-2 monthly.

richgor: Armstrong: To sell ads, you must have data to tell advertisers who your audience is

tgdavidson: Armstrong: you need to ask: how good is my product? Would *I* pay for it? How can I improve it? Need to constantly ask that.

emraguso: Armstrong: On direct monetization…. people will pay for info that’s valuable for them

rickhirsch: NPR’s Schiller: Success comes where you are niche (local) and mass at the same time.

emraguso: Armstrong: If you have a web page with 17 ads on it, not gonna work. One ad to one consumer, results are net positive

boyreporter: NPR, AOL can succeed b/c it’s both mass and niche at the same time. — Vivian Schiller

tgdavidson: Armstrong: whether it’s AOL or someone else, still huge biz opptys in content.

yaelgolan: AOL’s Tim Armstrong: “users want curated experiences”

tgdavidson: Armstrong: Patch got started not bec. of grand corp. strat, but because he cldn’t find great trusted local information.

rickhirsch: NPR’s Schiller: we have member stations in every town. Most disruption is in local media. need to partner to their future

rickhirsch: NPR’s Vivian Schiller: not moving away from radio, but IP radio is where growth is. Our job is not to pick the future.

EvanstonHost: RT @richgor: Armstrong: For longterm viability of a free press, good brands will stand out. E.g., AOL’s TechCrunch acquisition

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Go Niche (#ONA10 #Niche)

Andrew Geiger, SB Nation
Jonathan Kealing, LJWorld.com/Lawrence Journal-World, 6News
Matt Thompson, Project Argo, NPR

“Crackberry. Deadspin. The latest wave of media websites have one thing in common: they cover one topic, but do it hardcore. Hear innovators from niche sites across the country discuss what’s working, what’s not — and bring your own experiences to the discussion.”

akrewson: Thompson explaining “local focus, national resonance.” Local focus can illustrate abstract concepts like climate change.

akrewson: Q: Are you going beyond advertising for revenue? Kealing: event marketing, some paid groups within WellCommons.

eyeseast: Interesting that even LJ World (birthplace of Django) struggles to balance print and web. They go web first, then paper

christopherwink: “Niche sites do best when they are part of something,” says @jwkealing

eyeseast: @lavallee likes to talk about “solved problems.” That’s why the sites are mainly WordPress, with Django as the glue.

eyeseast: The Argo model: Find the conversation, filter it, extend it.

mayerjoy: @mthomps says biggest flip when going #niche is to find the conversation first: go where people are

akrewson: “Local focus, national resonance.” That’s focus of Project Argo, Thompson says. Platforms are WordPress/Django.

akrewson: Sites mentioned so far in #niche: wellcommons.com (uses Ellington), casualhoya.com (has integrated analytics)

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Social Media Storytelling (#ONA10 #socialj)

Zach Seward, Wall Street Journal (formerly of the Nieman Journalism Lab)
Anna Robertson, Yahoo! News
Mathilde Piard, Cox Media Group

“These days the hip new job is social media editor. Learn how those in the hot seat use social media to break news, expand the brand, AND tunnel through pay walls. Insiders reveal how to balance competing strategic goals — successfully.”

andrewjpolk: Lot of localized media being discussed here today. Patch, EveryBlock, and now @WSJ w/ FourSquare to bring news where you are

megangarber: A bit of background on @WSJ’s Times Square breaking-news check-in, with smart thoughts from @zseward #ona10 #socialj bit.ly/bo6l0s

boyreporter: Adding tips to Foursquare allowed WSJ to give info at best time. i.e. knowing what to order when you check into a resto.

bydanielvictor: Here it is: The Benton Curve of Journalistic Interestingness: bit.ly/bSTir9

sarahmorayati: #socialj slide shows the “Benton Curve of Journalistic Interestingness.” Conventional reporting at bottom of parabola. Ouch.

tscurrie: Cox Media’s @MathildePiard: They’re using data from users’ social media streams to customize news content.

burtherman: Most people communicating with @wsj on Twitter point out typos and corrections, says @zseward

sarahmorayati: #socialj @zseward from Wall Street Journal: something as small as replying to tweets can make people appreciative

sarahmorayati: #socialj @MathildePiard: news organizations should both fish content out of the social-media stream and cast content into it

kimfox: @MathildePiard ‘We are focusing on where the media is going to be versus focusing on yesterday’s problems.’

boyreporter: Cox has created a “software innovation lab” based on Google’s 20% time. — @mathildepiard

andrewjpolk: “Customers now follow trusted information streams, not specific publications” Big question: what does it take to be trusted?

DigiChick: ‘If the news is that important, it will find me’ | ‘Consumers now follow trusted info streams, not specific publications

jrstahl: Create once, publish everywhere — does that limit tailoring for each platform/exploiting strengths of each platform?

emraguso: says @yahoonews future of news is creating hyper-personal social interactive news loop

kimfox: Roberston: In 6 wks over 7 MM votes and over 12 MM minutes spent on Ask America

kimfox: Robertson: Things are headed in the direction where the news story needs to be plugged into the social loop

mckennaewen: New multimedia journo name via @AnnaRobertson: Producer + Editor = Predator. Love it

burtherman: Yahoo News uses social media for distribution, voice and community, engagement and relevancy

kimfox: 230% increase in referrals since Yahoo invested in their facebook efforts

emraguso: Robertson: You can’t choose to be ignorant of social media anymore. Find users on Twitter and Facebook, don’t wait for them

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Coders Are from Mars, Designers Are from Venus (#ONA10 #marsvenus)

Tyson Evans, The New York Times
David Wright, NPR

“More than any other medium, the Web fuses together creative and technical processes. Learn strategies to inspire your right brain while exercising your left brain.”

meg_e_martin: And: When forming that common lang., learn a bit about the lang. of the other group (e.g. if a coder, learn about kerning)

meg_e_martin: More re: that relationships theme here @ #ona10: Find a proj w/ low stakes; build a common language b/w #coders & #designers.

chandlereclay: Designers attest that content is still most important. Without it you just have pretty designs

greglinch: “Code is really currency” — @davewrightjr. If you’re a design & know code, it can inform your decision and vice versa

yurivictor: Designer+coder+journalist: A good threesome. Quote of the day.

greglinch: “Create the thing itself, not the thing that represents it,” says @davewrightjr, citing principles of @37Signals & others

yurivictor: Stop talking about it (wireframes, documentation) and build it

alisonjk: designers vs. coders. appreciate each other’s OCD; know enough to criticize the other platform.

KDMCinfo: Sit together. Face time is important. Don’t be afraid to say I broke this. How do I fix it?

greglinch: “Remember that everyone is a journalist,” says @tysone. “Be willing to step back a couple of degrees.”

A_L: Literate programming! “A well-written piece of source code should read like an essay.” — Jeremy Ashkenas

greglinch: @davewrightjr: Communication vs. dismissiveness. Convert your shop into one of love and not “us vs. them”

yurivictor: When designers fail: It sucks. When programmers fail: It doesn’t work

jkandel: If the code fails, everyone’s going to know “500 Internal Server Error”

greglinch: @tysone: Coders live in a culture of FAIL. Most prog is failing, then succeeding. Then geting assigned another prob

denisereagan: Great slides & great ideas at @tysone & @davewrightjr’s #marsvenus session. Perfect metaphor for marriage of style & substance

eyeseast: What designers need to know. First, Version Control. Git, svn, Hg, whatever. Learn it. Use it. Love it.

greglinch: @davewrightjr: Since early PCs, designers have moved from aiming for a perfect design(?) to a perfect system.

jkandel: Differences between design and decoration — Punch it up a little — Can you make it pop!

yurivictor: Coders to designers: Use version control (Think photoshop history)

kev097: #marsvenus already the best session of #ONA10 so far, and that’s not just the beers they handed out talking.

alisonjk: Indeed. “Web design is 95% typography.” -@davewrightjr

boyreporter: “Great journalism is its own justification. But great j is no substitute for excellent user experience”

greglinch: From slide — Design: What you see. Code: That it works. Intersection: How it works.

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What’s Next for Traffic and Search (#ONA10 #traffic)

Dana Chinn, University of Southern California
Liana Evans, LiBeck Integrated Marketing

“New paid-content strategies and traffic-based compensation for writers have put a renewed focus on understanding audience patterns. This session will go beyond counting page views and keywords to discuss how engagement can be more directly measured across the Web, mobile devices and social media platforms and also review best practices to increase traffic.”

Jeffhidek: “There’s a difference bewteen a report and analysis.” — Dana Chinn in the #traffic panel at #ONA10

stacyannj: Embed links out in content. Provides more value to your story & the person you’re linking to. — Li Evans

kimfox: If you write an article and #traffic does well, you should write a follow up article. RESPOND to audience

kimfox: Li: News orgs ask me shld I link to other places? YES. Shows that you don’t think you are the end all and be all

emraguso: Embed videos and transcribe a bit about what’s going on, so search engines will pick it up

momiperalta: your profiles in social sites should talk about what you do (journos) , so as to be found

Kimfox: ‘It’s about being found’ (Li) True, no mater how great your content is — if it’s not found, it’s nt read

dskok: SEO: Write for your audience, do keyword research, optimize titles and content, tag and categorize, optimize digital assets.

emraguso: Don’t get hooked on Digg traffic. Digg is bad for your bounce rate. And they’re mean to marketers

marykay7: Li Evans saying that succeeding in search engines is about giving value to your audience -Content your audience wants

jeremycaplan: Live #ONA10 Notes: 7 Key Metrics News Sites Should Focus on by @DanaChinn #traffic bit.ly/ona10metrics

emraguso: slideshare.net/danachinn — find the whole presentation on analytics and traffic

kimfox: ‘Don’t just settle for PVs, look at all the places your content is. Understand right metrics are which will gv you full pic

jsabbah: Klout, measures influence on Twitter. Topsy tracks tweets, RTs, traffic about specific page/topic.

kimfox: It’s not what you like abt the design — it’s whether the audience can FIND content

emraguso: Do your old-fashioned surveys and ask folks who aren’t coming to your site WHY? It’s expensive but it’s important

emraguso: You need to know WHY people are engaging, did they find what they needed or did they leave? Usability surveys are impt

sarahmorayati: another useful one: search terms used in *internal* search engines. specifically, which ones got few or no results

Jeffhidek: Dana Chinn is excited about metrics the way that dog in the Beggin’ Strips commercial is excited about bacon. Love it.

emraguso: For hyperlocal, you need to be able to show advertisers KIND of news are users are looking at, what neighborhood

meg_e_martin: Pay attention to the search terms people use, and note what stories/pages should be coming up when they use them. Act on it

emraguso: if you can explain people WHY you’re asking them for personal info, they’re going to be more likely to share

emraguso: If you’re only gonna use one metric, it’s gotta be the visit. Percentage of new visits shld be higher than returning

emraguso: it’s not like 100k people came to your site. it’s abt what percent of your target audience did you reach?

christopherwink: Very important in local sales: @danachinn at #ona10 #traffic says give advertisers only the data they need and nothing more (traffic trends)

tmcenroe: @danachinn says Paywalls have an upside — you can capture massive data from reg forms — non-pay sites can do this, too.

patbrannan2131: Visits is Key Performance Indicator No. 1

jsabbah: Number 1 way to indicate people are going to your site is page visits (if you’re only going to use 1 metric, use visits)

sacmcdonald: From Dana Chinn at #traffic: Do you have the type of content your audience would be willing to pay any amount of money for?

emraguso: to determine engagement, look at multiple computers, mobile devices, social media — at least 7 ways people get to your site

emraguso: we need to go way beyond page views, measure all the ways users can engage w/you. now we have to ask where is the audience?

sarahmorayati: it’s not enough to pay attention to one form of metrics — there are so many ways for people to find your work