Reverse-engineering newsroom workflow

[mozfest-bot]

[ ID ] f078dbaa-34c3-49f1-bb02-4e56c06fc86f

[ Submitter's Name ] Douglas Arellanes [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] Sourcefabric [ Submitter's Twitter ] @dougiegyro

[ Space ] journalism [ Secondary Space ] demystify

[ Format ] learning-lab

Description

Workflow is one of the less-understood and more intangible things about a newsroom. Sure, reporters know who to send their stories to, but when the newsroom starts to grow or transform, the workflow starts to look crazier and crazier. And when a transformation of the newsroom is attempted, the workflow is one of the things that can make or break it.

This session will look at workflow in newsrooms, ways it can be first understood and then how it can be improved. We'll try a couple of exercises to make the abstract topic of newsroom workflow more real, as well as to look at various tools that can help the process move better, including the tool our team has made, Superdesk.

Agenda

We'll show some examples of newsroom workflow in different contexts (large newsroom with print, large newsroom without print, digital-only, small team) and will do some in-person exercises to try to make the intangible process of newsroom workflow more tangible to its participants, namely to attempt a 'telegraph' game exercise to physically represent the progress of an article throughout its lifespan and across the newsroom.

Participants

The more participants, the better, up to about 40. More participants can be organized into desks and teams, and their number can scale upward.

Outcome

We'd like to see participants bring their improved understanding of workflow back to their own newsrooms with ideas on how to improve their steps, as well as ways to make the process of digital transformation more effective. We'd also love to see the Mozilla community get more involved in the Superdesk project, especially with integrations into other commonly-used newsroom tools.

[ryanpitts]

Journalism accepting this session.