misplacedjayhawkreporter.files.wordpress.com€¦ · Web viewNow with two years of analytics about readership and on the verge of shifting from the story-driven content management

Running Head: SHOW ME A BETTER WAY

Show Me a Better Way: Rethinking Show Me the Records for the Semantic Web

Karen Miller

Kip Hill

University of Missouri

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SHOW ME A BETTER WAY

Abstract

The Missourian is headed for a new method of content management, called Junit, which

is designed to take advantage of the options available to users of the semantic web. The content-

stream structure afforded by this new system of news delivery opens up many possibilities for

non-narrative storytelling. Currently, the Missourian maintains a weekly feature known as

“Show Me the Records” which tells readers how to obtain public records at various online

destinations and what the records could be used for. This project examines the readership of the

series to date, and examines ways that the feature may be improved with the shift to Junit to

engage a greater number of readers and provide reporters with a potential goldmine for story

ideas through a look at relevant literature, analytic reports and a staff survey. The researchers

suggest a philosophical shift in the newsroom that makes regular reporting students aware of the

Show Me the Records series and thinking of public records when pitching story ideas, and

managerial changes that would encourage content to be published in a timely manner and in a

way that builds on the narrative content being offered online.

Keywords: Show Me the Records, semantic web, public records, database journalism, ethics

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Introduction

On a typical Wednesday afternoon, like any other at the Columbia Missourian, a reporter

on her general assignment shift lifts the receiver of the phone and the front desk and

automatically intones the professional greeting. After listening with a confused look on her face

for a few moments, she turns to the assistant city editor, as we all have at one time or another,

and requests assistance from the abyss the caller’s request has placed her in.

This time, the culprit is the Missourian’s running “Show Me the Records” series. The

caller, the reporter explains, wants to know if the records posted that morning are the most up-to-

date available. As the reporter hands the phone to the assistant city editor, she makes this

observation:

“I don’t know. I never read those…”

This actual exchange from March 21, 2012 is not meant to single out any one reporter in

the newsroom. Nor is it meant to prove that a nosy journalist cannot resist even from turning

their powers of eavesdropping on their colleagues (though that may certainly be true).

This project seeks to examine the readership of the Missourian’s systemic reporting series

“Show Me the Records,” begun in March 2010. Now with two years of analytics about

readership and on the verge of shifting from the story-driven content management system of

Django to the more content stream-driven Junit, the time is right to evaluate the performance of

this series and ways to make sure a larger portion of the reading audience is seeing and engaging

with the reports. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide some guidance on how to move

forward with the series, and to provide a list of best practices on how it might be transformed as

the Missourian moves to a new content management system.

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Literature Review

In this review of the existing literature, we will lay out the academic response to the

development of the semantic web in terms of storytelling and reporting ethics, emerging

newsroom philosophies on providing public records electronically, the effect of the content

stream for the reader and their engagement with the news outlet, and, finally, its effect as a useful

tool for those involved in creation of the news product.

Storytelling implications of the semantic web

In 2001, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, defined the new semantic

web in this way: “The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one,

in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to

work in cooperation” (Berners-Lee, Hendler, & Lassila, p. 35). Berners-Lee was emphasizing the

programming capabilities of the new web that would allow software agents to provide more

segues for the computer to process information available on the page to facilitate faster browsing

for the user. However, the statement also displays the desirability for the user to access

meaningful information in a more direct and time-efficient manner.

The implications for journalism, whose primary purpose, as Kovach and Rosenstiel

(2007) exhort, “is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-

governing,” of the Semantic Web are only recently being explored, though the literature shows

its implementation may be far-reaching. Castells, et al. (2004) discuss the possibility of

employing semantic strategies in the construction of newspapers’ digital archives to enable quick

browsing and grouping of content by subject.

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Brownback (2010) examines the Google Living Stories project specifically, a

collaboration between traditional newspapers and the search engine giant to create what

Washington Post deputy universal news editor R.B. Brenner called an “organic, ongoing way to

tell stories” (p. 8). The format allowed for multiple narrative, “blog-style” entries below a main

subject heading of topics such as swine flu and health care reform (Brownback, 2010). The ease

of telling the story on a single web page is more than just a response to reader preferences,

however. It was also inspired by the way traffic is now directed to a page, coming less frequently

from the home page of the publication and more often from news aggregators and social media

(Brownback, 2010). The project was a response not only to the cognitive effects of the semantic

web, but also in the fundamental way readers traversed a network that allows multiple access

points to information.

These efforts, in addition, seek to shift the digital product of a news outlet away from

print-first models. Updating a study from 2001, Barnhurst (2010) examines the online

destinations of The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Portland Oregonian in 2005

to compare the presentation to the days when online publishing was in its infancy and digitized

publications often resembled the print product in layout and interactivity (read: rigid and non-

existent). The study results reflected what Neil Chase, an editor for the New York Times, in

2006 called a “trepidation about technology among reporters and editors” about the impact it will

have in fundamentally changing the methods and tools needed for 21st Century journalism

(Chase, 2006, p. 64). Barnhurst (2010) reports that the examined news sites are moving from

topographic pages structured like the inside of a newspaper, at the expense of “burying” certain

stories on a flooded main page that enhanced the gatekeeper function of the journalist (p. 563). In

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addition, the sites’ emphasis on interactivity and navigation choices were influenced more by

producing ad revenue than by enabling free movement through content (p. 564).

That Barnhurst and Chase report resistance to change in the way news is presented at

traditional publications should not come as a surprise. However, the shifting nature of the way

information is presented on the semantic web, through social media tools and other non-

traditional media outlets, have led many to suggest adaptation and a new understanding of the

gatekeeping function of the traditional press. Bruns (2003) describes a collaborative process of

“gatewatching” rather than gatekeeping, in which editors, reporters and their readers

collaboratively produce information on the World Wide Web. Greenberg (2010) calls for a

continuation of this process with the rise of the evolving semantic web, specifically calling out

readers to serve as editors in the formation of organic narratives online like those seen in the

Google Living Stories.

Public records and database access

One of the ways in which readers, editors and reporters can collaborate to build non-

narrative, content-driven streams of information is in the presentation of primary documents and

information online to complement traditional journalism offerings. Indeed, Speckman (1994)

argues the posting of public records in online databases is an extension of the generations-old

watchdog function journalism serves for the public. This belief is echoed in the weekly prologue

to “Show Me the Records” entries on the Missourian’s web page and in print: “Open records

help people keep public institutions in check and help them better understand how government

affects their lives.”

Like the shift to a digital-based format mentioned above and the even earlier formation of

professional practices and ethics among journalists in the early 20th Century (Banning, 1999), the

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emergence of computer-assisted reporting and web tools for hosting primary sources of

information on the digital offering of newsrooms lead to a development of best practices on the

fly. Smith (1997) notes several of the issues with finding legitimate sources of information early

in the World Wide Web’s life cycle, pointing specifically to issues of currency and authority that

could be bolstered through the prestige of a news media outlet providing the information, backed

up by its established credibility (p. 9). Despite the shifting media landscape to digital platforms,

empirical evidence has shown that traditional credibility factors such as expertise and

trustworthiness attached to the body of work produced by a news outlet affect readers’

perception of content (Chung, Yoonjae, & Stefanone, 2012). Traditional media outlets, then,

have the potential to host reliable numbers and data that can bolster the credibility of their own

narrative offerings while at the same time establishing a trustworthy outlet of primary

information for readers.

Lawrence (2010) implicitly suggests another role for media outlets in establishing order

on the semantic web. She specifically turns her attention to Australian Policy Online, a web

service that provides what she terms “grey literature” on public policy initiatives related to the

island nation/continent. This literature includes data, recommendations and commentary from

experts in numerous fields for public and professional consumption. Lawrence (2010) decries the

lack of organization, pointing out that the ad hoc manner in which the data is published on the

site allows for duplicate publication, improper categorization of material and a lack of credibility

standards in selection of what is published (p. 46). Lawrence (2010) suggests several technology

and library-science based approaches to introducing what she terms a bridge of understanding

through the grey literature, but the message is instructive for any organization seeking to

establish order on the semantic web. Methods of reader evaluation, categorization and

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establishing context all go a long way in granting ways for readers of these reports to glean

meaning from the grey. News outlets can achieve this by ensuring that records and data are

paired with the narrative content that gives the databases meaning.

The advent of computer-assisted and data reporting have also led to a shift in what is

considered public and private information. As journalists navigated the proper use of new

technology to deliver primary data, so too have they grappled with the ethical treatment of

information that has come across their desk. Speckman (1994) says that, in addition to serving

the public good through the publication of records, the journalist also has an obligation to protect

the privacy of individual citizens. “Using databases for citizens’ good while protecting citizens

from another peep show into their private lives should be of concern to news organizations,”

Speckman (1994) writes, “Media need to recognize the potential for conflict between serving

justice and preserving privacy.”

While ethics in database journalism are still very much a concern (Stabe, 2007),

journalists are lobbying more and more for using records in reporting to the greatest degree

possible (Stewart, 2009; Harder, 2008). Rauhofer (2008) argues that individuals are increasingly

foregoing rights of privacy for certain advantages online, with the inherent expectation that some

political or government entity will protect them from undue invasion of privacy. This leads her to

conclude that society, as a whole, is trending toward an end to anonymity that can only be

corrected by individuals’ awareness of the decision-making process that leads to information

being released online (Rauhofer, 2008, pp. 195-196). An awareness of this decision-making

process, viewed in light of the observations of Stabe (2007) and Speckman (1994), suggest that

journalists should be cognizant of where their information was coming from and how it was

compiled before choosing to publish records for public viewing. Open Missouri, an initiative at

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MU seeking to publish otherwise inaccessible public records and improve government

transparency at the state level, makes the distinction this way on their Frequently Asked

Questions page:

We follow privacy laws that have been passed by federal and state lawmakers. However, because the purpose of Open Missouri is help you better understand state and local government, we will inform you about databases that mix public and private information, or hold completely private information. The Missouri Sunshine Law requires government agencies to redact (or remove) private data if it's mixed with public data, and release the public portion. (Open Missouri)

The implication, of course, is that trusted sources of news should publish everything legally that

they can, which requires some background in open records laws by the reporter, as well.

Reporter benefits

Before you write any story for the Missourian, the likelihood of being told to “check the

clips” hovers somewhere around 100%, depending on the crabbiness of your editor. In addition

to the clips, the semantic web and Junit form of content management provides the potential for

deeper sourcing and greater context in published offerings, like the running narrative present in

the Google Living Stories. Not only do readers benefit from the ongoing stream of information,

but so too, in theory, should be the reporters producing the information — especially in a

newsroom with the frequent beat turnover experienced at the Missourian.

Stewart (2009) argues for an exhaustive public records search before writing stories

particularly related to establishing a historical perspective, and to “think broadly” about which

documents may be useful. Reilley (2003) says journalism teachers need to respond to the

changing demands of the online newsroom, uprooting themselves from the “check the clips”

mentality to one that recognizes the numerous electronic databases available to young reporters

trying to get a lay of the land. A profile of a computer programmer-turned-journalist by Schulte

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(2011) shows how the work of compiling databases and records can be invaluable for an

investigative team trained in the skills of negotiating raw data.

The literature and the practical experiences in the Missourian newsroom demonstrate that

the Show Me the Records series of articles has major implications for the core journalistic

functions the news outlet pursues, the way we will tell stories in the upcoming shift to the Junit

content management system, the way we interact and engage our readership and in providing

reporters in the learning stages of their career with the background and context required to tackle

episodic issues in a community they may be unfamiliar with. Along with these obligations come

ethical considerations and an attention to the needs and desires of the readers that drives news

production already on a daily basis.

Before we can approach the question of best practices with the Show Me the Records

entries moving forward, however, it is important to take stock of where the series stands in its

current state as a part of the Missourian’s news offerings. The aforementioned wealth of analytic

data available after more than 2 years of Show Me the Records articles makes this a perfect time

to analyze the readership of the entries and other vital statistics about visibility and readability.

Accordingly, we have devised a list of research questions we were interested in examining about

the Show Me the Records package:

RQ1: Which stories are people reading the most? RQ2: Where are visitors coming from?RQ3: Are users actually accessing the records?RQ4: How many comments are the stories generating? What types of records generate the most comments (if any)? What types of comments are we getting on Show Me the Records entries?RQ5: How much time are people spending on the articles? RQ:6 How many people within the Missourian view these records? Do they use them in their reporting? Where would they like to see Show Me the Records coverage expanded?RQ7: Do readers stay on our site after viewing Show Me the Records, or do they move on?RQ8: What interest areas have been covered by Show me the Records entries? What areas are lacking?

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Method

We sought to answer these questions through a combination of Google Analytics data

and responses to a newsroom survey conducted from April 4 to April 17, 2012. After gaining

access to the Google analytics from the Community Outreach team at the Missourian, we created

a custom report that included a filter limiting results to pages that had the exact phrase “show-

me-the-records” in the page url. The Missourian hosts Show Me the Records entries on its

website using the following package URL: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/(date in

YYYY/MM/DD format)/show-me-records/(page title based on Django headline). A search of the

Missourian’s Show Me the Records package landing site showed that the first entry appeared on

March 2, 2010. The parameters of our search, then, included the date range March 1, 2010 to

April 3, 2012, and returned 61 unique Show Me the Records entries.

To answer the questions posed above, we structured our custom report to return the total

number of pageviews, total number of unique pageviews, from which site the page received the

most referrals, the average amount of time spent on the page, the exit rate (a calculation of the

site exits from the page divided by total pageviews), and the bounce rate (a calculation of the

number of visitors who only visited the Show Me the Records entry on the Missourian site, then

left the site, divided by the total number of unique visitors). In addition, we counted the number

of comments that appeared on each of the 61 stories by visiting each of the pages on April 8,

2012. We also classified each of the stories based on the beat the subject matter fit within. The

categories we used were: Education, Public Safety, Public Life, Sports, Health and Enterprise (a

catch-all category that included unclassifiable records). Two of the 61 stories defied simple

categorization; we included them as both Public Safety and Health records.

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http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/(date


To place the number of pageviews, exit and bounce rates into context, we collected the

analytics from a typical Missourian readership week, March 18 to March 25. This week avoided

the lull in traffic occurring during Spring Break and avoided the sports-leaning tilt of the

previous week in its coverage of the Missouri men’s basketball team competing in the NCAA

Tournament, providing a mix of stories in a number of different categories among the most-read.

To answer the questions related to newsroom use of Show Me the Records in reporting,

we had to stray from the Google Analytics data. Google Analytics reports pageviews

anonymously, making it impossible for us to accurately measure how many Missourian staffers

were accessing Show Me the Records entries. We had to resort to self-reporting, so we

developed a Google Form survey, which we emailed via the newsroom listserv to reporters, copy

editors, ACEs, news editors, the community outreach team and graphics desk reporters on April

4. We collected a total of 37 responses on April 17. Questions centered on how many Show Me

the Records entries each staffer read, how/if they used the entries and records in their reporting

and what areas they’d like to see the series expanded. In addition, an open-ended question asked

what improvements should be made to the series. A full copy of our survey and result tables are

included at the end of this paper.

Findings

Applying the analytic results to our eight RQs, we were able to answer most of our

questions. Some require further research, but all of the results showed issues with Show Me the

Records as well as some trends.

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RQ1: Which stories are people reading the most?

This table shows the top five most-read Show Me the Records stories as well as their

publication date.

Table 1

Top Show Me the Records Entries by Pageviews

Story Pageviews/unique pageviews

Publication Date

MU grade distribution 2,450/1,837 5/9/2011

Boone County jail inmates

1,878/1,510 3/28/2011

Missouri’s largest lost and found

1,755/1,102 2/7/2011

Athletic department revenue sources

1,470/1,429 1/10/2011

CPD racial profiling statistics

1,225/1,102 7/19/2010

Local area unemployment statistics

1,102/857 1/17/2011

These numbers stand in stark contrast to our control group of the most-read stories from March

18- 24. The top-read story during that week gained 1,486 pageviews. This is comparable to the

fourth most-read Show Me the Records article that has been on the website for over a year. All

of the top 5 most-read Show Me the Records entries have been on the site for nearly a year, and

in the case of the CPD racial profiling statistics, nearly two years.

RQ2: Where are visitors coming from?

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Most users are being referred to the articles from Google, which mirrors a general trend

seen in the control analytics report. Bing, Yahoo and Google are all major search engines. The

more interesting referrals are those from InsideColumbia.net, tigerboard.com and

bengal.missouri.edu. These sites may have been linking to the story.

Table 2

Top Referrals to Show Me the Records

Website Referrals

Google 25

(direct) or Columbiamissourian.com 20

Yahoo 4

Bing 3

msn.com 4

msnbc.msn.com 2

InsideColumbia.net 1

LinkedIn.com 1

tigerboard.com 1

bengal.missouri.edu 1

RQ3: Are users actually accessing the records?

While it is out of our technical ability to track visitors to other websites and their time

spent there, we can see the exit rate from Show Me the Records articles. The average exit rate for

Show Me the Records is 53.47 percent. That means about half of the users leave the articles for

another website. Because there are embedded links, it is possible that those users are accessing

the website. However, the exit rate for the Show Me the Records is very similar and actually

lower than the 54.68 percent of the top 25 most-read articles for the control week of March 18-

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24, only one of which was a Show Me the Records article, indicating fewer viewers actually left

the website from a Show Me the Records page as a percentage than traditional “story” pages.

As stated, however, this is an imperfect method of determining whether Show Me the

Records viewers were actually following links to the record. Future website code should enable

easy tracking of outbound links through the establishment of goals in Google Analytics, or the

Missourian should explore other methods of charting viewership.

RQ4: How many comments are the stories generating? What types of records

generate the most comments (if any)? What types of comments are we

getting on Show Me the Records entries?

For the most part, Show Me the Records articles do not generate many comments. In fact,

only ten stories have comments. That does not mean that readers will not engage with the

website. For the most part, there is little to engage with by commenting. The articles are laid out

to direct readers elsewhere. Because there is little writing and commentary, there is little

reaction.

RQ5: How much time are people spending on the articles?

Readers don’t spend much time on the articles, because generally they’re short. Only 15

stories have a time on page over 2 minutes. The purpose of Show Me the Records is to direct

readers to other sources. They do not function like a normal narrative story. The articles all

follow a similar, scanner-style format.

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RQ6: How many people within the Missourian view these records? Do they

use them in their reporting? Where would they like to see Show Me the

Records coverage expanded?

We explored this research question by using a staff survey. As stated previously, we

garnered 37 responses between April 4 and April 17, 2012.

Thirty-three participants said they had never used a Show Me the Records entry in the

course of their reporting. In addition, only four staff members in the survey claimed to have read

an entire article and subsequently clicked on the link to the records. Our survey also showed that

thirty members have read 3 articles or fewer.

Participants were allowed to give suggestions for improving Show Me the Records. Some

possible changes suggested by staff included:

• Including infographics with the records.• Explaining how the records can be used.• Using Show Me the Records as a way to enhance other stories by linking or embedding.• Making the articles more visible on the homepage.• Adding contact information that can be used to request records.

A suggestion that appeared more than once was changing how Show Me the Records is featured

on the website. Many staff members, and possibly readers as well, do not access Show Me the

Records because they can’t find it. For a series that runs regularly, there seems to be confusion

about its purpose and the overall goal of running the articles.

RQ7: Do readers stay on our site after viewing Show Me the Records, or do they move on?

Show Me the Records entries have a high bounce rate — 25 articles have a 100 percent

rate. Fifty stories have a bounce rate of 50 percent or higher. Generally, readers are not exploring

the website after reading Show Me the Records.

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RQ8: What interest areas have been covered by Show me the Records

entries? What areas are lacking?

For our study, we grouped the articles by beat (excluding Neighborhoods). The entries

with the highest number of pageviews are:

1. Education.2. Public Safety.3. Enterprise.4. Sports.5. Public Safety.

With two entries in the top five, Public Safety records are in high demand. The Public

Safety beat has the highest amount of Show Me the Records entries on the Missourian website.

The only beat missing is Neighborhoods, but that type of reporting doesn’t apply as well to the

style of Show Me the Records.

Public Safety drives the Show Me the Records series. These stories are often highly read

and also published the most often.

Table 3

Show Me the Records Entries by Beat

Beat Entries

Public Safety 16

Enterprise 12

Education 9

Health 9

Public Life 7

Sports 6

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Table 3

Show Me the Records Entries by Beat

Beat Entries

Health/Public Safety 2

Discussion

Our study used Google Analytics reports and an online survey to determine the current

patterns of readership and satisfaction with the Show Me the Records series produced by the

Missourian. After examining the data produced by these studies, we submit the following best

management practices recommendations moving forward with the weekly feature.

1.Timeliness

The most-read Show Me the Records entry, about MU grade distribution, was published

near graduation. This may be a factor in the number of page views the story gained. Timing the

release of Show Me the Records topics with events happening in the community.

Because the Show Me the Records articles are all written in the same week by the

Advanced Reporting class and then released one at a time, stories that may be timely are released

too late. If stories were not left in a queue, but instead assigned on a week-by-week basis, Show

Me the Records could benefit from the beat knowledge reporters have gained. An example of

this at the Missourian is Public Life’s the Watchword blog. On the blog, there is a weekly

schedule for the Daily Dish, a run-down of stories of the day. Each reporter takes his or her own

week. If Show Me the Records applied this, it could move away from a week-long document

dump into the system that is slowly parceled out, to a more fluid semester long assignment.

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There is the risk that people may not do the assignment, but it may lead to more nuanced and

impacting stories.

2.Relevance

Related to timeliness, it would be helpful to take advantage of reporter’s beat knowledge.

Show Me the Records should be a Junit that reporters have in the back of their head, like

graphics, photos and documents.

Reporters are already encouraged to upload documents with stories. Show Me the

Records could provide a place for additional documents that go with a story. Thinking of open

records as part of total narrative package can increase readership and also help inform other

reporters who may take over a story.

3.Training

Spending a bit more time in Reporting 7450 discussing Show Me the Records and data

reporting could give reporters more direction in the long run. At the very least, it is crucial to

introduce beginning reporters to the series so they know of sources for stories. We don’t propose

shifting the Show Me the Records assignment to the Reporting 4450/7450 sections, because

there simply aren’t enough Missouri-specific records out there for the series to be sustainable for

more than a few semesters (see the listing of public records at the Open Missouri site), but we do

propose taking at least one of the lectures to discuss the series, how and if it works, and how to

use it to mine for story ideas. Also, it would be wise to keep a running tabulation of the records

hosting in the section to hand out each semester, so reporters know what is available. This could

even be done during the orientation period at the beginning of the semester.

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4. Incentive

Show Me the Records needs to be more than just an assignment to get out of the way.

One way to encourage reporters is to have Show Me the Records featured more prominently on

the homepage. For the most part, the series is not well-known in the newsroom. Reporters are

more inclined to write the articles if they know the place they end up. As it is now, stories

publish long after reporters have left the newsroom. A possibility is encouraging Show Me the

Records as a component in a larger, project story for advanced reporting.

5.Interactivity

Although the series is Show “Me” the Records, it functions as Show “You” the Records.

One function that could be added to the series is a “records request” box. Readers could submit a

request for records relating to issues they see. Obviously, these requests should be vetted and

must be obtainable for our staff. The Show Me the Records should take advantage of the

Community Outreach team. Members of the Outreach team can relay requests to reporters and

also engage with submitters by telling them their request can or cannot be filled. This request

box can also lead to story ideas for reporters.

The launch of Junit is the perfect time to revamp Show Me the Records. The stories are

interactive because they contain a hyperlink, but there is more that can be done to entice readers

to engage. By including Show Me the Records in the structural design of a content-stream driven

“story” page, we can invite readers to engage with content produced in our shop while also

giving them the option of looking at the raw data, in its entirety, that helped produce a particular

story or gives context to a singular issue.

Our study had several limitations. The first has to do with response rate to our staff

survey. Over the course of a week, we were able to attract 37 unique respondents to fill out the

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Google form. A majority (N=22) of those responding were reporters. This represents less than a

third of staff reporters for the semester, counting both the regular and advanced reporting

sections. Our respondents from other newsroom positions were not evenly distributed; we had 8

responses from Copy Editors and just 1 each of News Editors, News Designers and Photo

Editors. This may have skewed the results of our survey slightly.

We depended a lot on Google for analytics reports. After about the top 25 most-read

Show Me the Records entries, exit rates, bounce rates, total pageviews and unique pageviews

seem to run together, suggesting the method of collection was far from perfect. For our in-class

presentation and in statistical analysis, we limited our entries to the top 25 most-read Show Me

the Records entries to avoid potential complications of readership collection statistics. This also

provided a nice baseline for comparison with a typical weekly analytics report — March 18 to

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The comparison, of course, is not perfect. The week was selected because of its variety of

subjects and the lack of proximity to a major community event, like the NCAA tournament, that

could shift viewership. The week was not selected randomly; therefore it is difficult to generalize

about its representation of a “standard week” at the Missourian. Still, the week does provide a

baseline to evaluate just what kind of readership Show Me the Records has received over the

long haul, and provides us with a snapshot of what kinds of numbers in future analytics reports

could point to successful branching out of the series.

Finally, there were some technical limitations to our study. As mentioned in our findings,

there is no easy method by which outbound links can currently be tracked on the Missourian’s

website through Google Analytics. This makes sense, because exit rate seems to be a more

interesting statistic. In the grand scheme of things, we may not care where readers are going after

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leaving our site — just that they’ve chosen to leave. However, the unique situation of the Show

Me the Records series (i.e. trying to make the public aware of records and other primary

documents they can access) commands some kind of mechanism to measure this in the future.

Accordingly, we propose technical consideration of this problem as the Missourian makes the

shift to the Junit content management system.

The Show Me the Records series is an integral part of the informative function of

journalism outlined by Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007). It provides an inlet into database

journalism, a growing field, and a wealth of potential story ideas and contextualizing information

to young reporters learning the ropes in Lee Hills. Accordingly, we propose that the series

continue after the shift to Junit, but with consideration of the many story-telling options the

content stream has to offer and a change in the newsroom and classroom culture that plays up the

important role the series plays in building trust with the public through our news organization. At

the very least, more education could save that poor assistant city editor from fielding another

phone call.

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References

Banning, S. (1999). The professionalization of journalism. Journalism History 24(4), 157-162.

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Appendix A

Show me the Records Missourian Staff Survey

Fellow Missourian staffers: We need your help! Kip Hill and Karen Miller are currently working on a project to determine the readership and use of the Show me the Records articles published weekly in the digital and print versions of the Columbia Missourian, and we're interested in how often you read those stories in the course of your work. Please take a few moments to fill out the Google form below. We'll include these findings in a graduate project to fulfill a component of our Advanced Reporting class, which will (hopefully!) shape our practices in producing Show me the Records entries in the future. Answers will be recorded anonymously in a secure Google spreadsheet file. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Kip at [email protected] or Karen at [email protected]. Thanks so much!

* Required

What's your role in the newsroom? * Please select one. <INPUT NAME=\ Reporting <INPUT NAME=\ Community Outreach <INPUT NAME=\ Copy Editing <INPUT NAME=\ News Editing <INPUT NAME=\ News Design <INPUT NAME=\ Other: <INPUT NAME=\

If you are a reporter, to which beat are you assigned? * Please select one (if applicable) <INPUT NAME=\ Sports <INPUT NAME=\ Public Life <INPUT NAME=\ Public Safety <INPUT NAME=\ Education <INPUT NAME=\ Health <INPUT NAME=\ I am not a reporter. <INPUT NAME=\ Other: <INPUT NAME=\

How many Show me the Records stories have you read since joining the Missourian staff? * Please select one.

<INPUT NAME=\ None <INPUT NAME=\ 1-3

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


<INPUT NAME=\ 4-6 <INPUT NAME=\ 7-9 <INPUT NAME=\ 10 or more

How many times have you used a Show me the Records article in your reporting? * Please select one.

<INPUT NAME=\ Never <INPUT NAME=\ 1-2 times <INPUT NAME=\ 3-4 times <INPUT NAME=\ 5 or more times

If you did use a Show me the Records article, how did you use it? * Please select one. <INPUT NAME=\ I read the article in its entirety, then clicked the link to the record. <INPUT NAME=\ I read the article, but did not follow the link to the record. <INPUT NAME=\ I just used the link to the record. <INPUT NAME=\ I have not used a Show me the Records article in my reporting.

In which subject area would you be most interested in seeing more Show me the Records entries? * Please select one.

<INPUT NAME=\ Sports <INPUT NAME=\ Public Safety <INPUT NAME=\ Education <INPUT NAME=\ Public Life <INPUT NAME=\ Enterprise <INPUT NAME=\ I think the Show Me the Records coverage is diverse enough. <INPUT NAME=\ No opinion <INPUT NAME=\ Other: <INPUT NAME=\

Finally, are there any specific suggestions you have about how to improve our Show me the Records coverage? (Optional, type below). <TEXTAREA NAME=\

Appendix B

All Excel tables and the .pdf analytics report from March 18-24 are attached to the email turning in this assignment.

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Documents

misplacedjayhawkreporter.files.wordpress.com€¦ · Web viewNow with two years of analytics about readership and on the verge of shifting from the story-driven content management