Results matching “the ten traits”

Helium is an online company that describes itself as, "the online spot to learn what you need to know and share what you know." It combines citizen journalism with peer rating in order to provide a plethora of articles on just about any topic.

Helium brings together a system of news and information combined with a place to submit articles. It even has a "marketplace" where publishers can post topics for people to write about - sort of like a publishers à la carte classified space.

It is a place for readers to find articles that interest them, writers to write about topics that they know and understand, publishers to find articles and non-profits to voice their issues.

It is a unique system of sharing content, ideas and knowledge. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Helium, if the current system will hold up and retain its credibility.

The Editors Weblog interviewed Peter Newton, the VP of business development at Helium.com to get a better idea of how the site works and what their goals are for the future. Newton has worked at Monster.com and The Boston Globe where he was the vice president of advertising.

EW: What is your selection process for articles and writers?

PN: Helium represents the first true meritocracy in the publishing industry. Helium welcomes anyone and everyone to join its community of writers.

We don't select writers; they naturally come to the site and write to areas in which they have an interest (in many cases, a passion) in sharing their knowledge or opinion. Once members join, their work is evaluated by other members though our peer-review rating system.  In essence, Helium brings order to the chaos of user generated content. Its patented peer review rating engine elevates the best quality articles.

After a writer submits an article, he/she is presented with two anonymous articles in the same topic area to rate in an "A versus B" comparison. Through the wisdom of the crowds, the best articles rise to the top, resulting in a rank-ordered list for every topic.

The end result is that the best writers are promoted, recognized and rewarded for their work.

New titles are introduced onto the Helium site through members, partners and directly by Helium staff.

EW: Where do you draw the line between journalist and citizen journalist?  What about between citizen journalist and blogger?

PN: Citizen Journalism is a very awkward term. Quality journalism demands its participants to be objective, ethical and methodical. Research, fact checking and skillful interviewing techniques are critical to the art. It's not obvious that what we are starting to call citizen journalism possesses any of these traits. I'm certain that the Columbia School of Journalism doesn't teach that the art of being a world class journalist is to be in the right place at the right time. Citizen Journalism seems to be migrating to each individual's "15 minutes of fame" and further and further away from journalism. It might be fun to watch - but so were the lions and Christians in the Roman Coliseum.

With that said, Helium is not really concerned with categorizing or labeling different types of writers.  We have created a platform for people to express themselves in writing across a wide variety of topics in a civilized and substantive way, and then have the community sort for quality.

Helium is a site for writers that fills a unique role in the publishing industry. In doing so, we are representing a new classification of online writers.

Our community of members includes professional writers, freelancers, subject matter experts, students and the expert next-door.

We are not attempting to replace investigative journalism or time sensitive reporting. Instead, Helium attracts and produces individuals who have the skill and insight on specific topics that they wish to share with others.

EW: Do you feel that the status of being an "expert" or a "professional journalist" is becoming less important?

PN: No, there will always be a need for professional journalists, especially in covering breaking news or conducting investigative journalism, and Helium is definitely not out to undermine established journalists or copywriters.

Instead, we are trying to expand the ranks of paid writers to include part-time talent that otherwise would be sitting fallow.

Our media solutions product offers newspapers a way for them to supplement what remains of their editorial staff, but is in effect driving down their content-creation costs. We are merely tapping into the notion of "social publishing," in which publishers ask their readership to contribute content.

EW: Do you apply any regulations for topics? style? content? etc...

PN: Yes, Helium has established regulations for topics, style, and acceptable content.

Beyond providing clarity to our members, the community is self moderating. Every new article submitted to Helium is rated by other members. The best content rises to the top. Our members often message each other with advice as to how to improve articles and items that don't fit the standards of the site are removed.

EW: Do you see a shift towards more citizen journalism in news reporting? Both online and print?  How will this affect the future of professional freelancers? Is it going to put a dent in the freelance market?

PN: When you say "news reporting", let's be clear that our focus is not breaking news or conducting investigative journalism.  With that said, there is a growing paradigm shift in content creation; publishers are increasingly sourcing content, not writers. As for how this will impact freelancers no one can say for sure but one thing is for sure-there will always be demand for quality writing.

EW: Can a person make a living from putting material on Helium the same way a freelance gains income?

PN: The short answer is no.  But with that said, there are thousands of Helium members who earn from $40-$100 each month, which is much more than chump change. In fact, some of Helium's highest earning members have made more than $3,000. It really depends on how much members use the site.

Earlier this month, Helium announced upfront payments for all new articles being written by starred writers on Helium.com. This change to Helium's Terms of Service is a move to reward the site's highest quality writers and to promote quality content at Helium.com.  In addition, the company's popular Marketplace product - used by publishers looking for top-notch content for their publications - now offers special access to the site's best writers. The move will improve content for Helium's publishing partners and help ensure that the site's best writers will be seen by those publishers.  

Many web 2.0 companies offer opportunity for incremental income. With these changes at Helium, highly-rated writers will have an opportunity to earn larger sums for sharing their expertise with the Helium community.

"Helium has grown by leaps and bounds these last two years; it has earned the respect of people and writers around the world," said Petra Newman, a 3-star writer on Helium.com "With the sky falling on our economy, Helium has again found a "pièce de résistance" for people who already have a passion for writing. Increasing the earnings for well-written articles is a win-win situation for both Helium and writers."

EW: What newspapers or websites do you work with?    

PN: Currently Helium is working with GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register(SJ-R) in Springfield, Ill. SJ-R recently begun using Helium's "Media Solutions" product to source writers for its op ed section-there are currently over 700 additional papers in the active funnel.

We also provide content for a wide a variety of other newspapers, magazines, online-only sites, etc.

EW: What about your competition? Who are they?

PN: As a producer of content and as a publisher of content, we compete with thousands of companies, yet in most ways, we have no competition.

That said, we really don't see anyone that directly competes with us, in terms of delivering a scalable solution to engage a community to produce high quality content.  

EW: Where do you see yourself in relation to news organizations such as the AP or the New York Times?

PN: The New York Times is the New York Times. Helium is not attempting to create a competitor to breaking news.  

EW: Where does a site like Helium envision itself in the future? How do you grow / expand ?

PN: Helium is rapidly building the world's largest community of writers. We plan to grow and expand the business in a number of ways over the next five years:

• Become the partner of choice to the publishing, non profit and broadcast industries for generating quality content at a low cost, while helping engage their audience in the process.

• Become the content source for any entity needing quality content.

• Expand internationally; international business represents 60% additional market opportunity

• Create a community of micro publishers

The Hindustan Times (HT) has been gradually integrating its print and online operations since last summer, when new managing editor Pankaj Paul stepped in (background here). By now, the sports desk is integrated (it served as “a model for excellence” for others) and the business team is to shortly follow in the same path.

(More) process-oriented workflows

Back in September 2007, Paul was discovering the HT’s organization and workflows – many of which were informal.

Since then, workflows have been changed to become more process-oriented. But there was no reason to fundamentally change the working culture. In the absence of a centralized content management system (CMS), Paul implemented processes that mimic a CMS: for example, Sports stories are edited and laid out only once across the newspaper, and are then dispatched to all regional editions (since they don’t typically differ from one region to the other).

Integration: video, once again

As has been the case for many, if not most, newspapers this past year, one of the main traits of newsroom integration – and the expansion of multimedia capacities – was the explosive development of video production.

In the last four months, the HT has already produced about 300 videos. Nearly another 100 are already assigned, so the total should be close to 400 by the end of the month.

Content ranges across the news spectrum, from interviews and profiles to simple news events and features. Most of these are short form (one to three minutes), but the paper is looking into longer pieces (seven to twelve minutes).

Did it take a team of a dozen fulltime journalists in order to achieve this? It actually took one dedicated fulltime multimedia editor (picked from the reporter staff due to his prior experience: he also produces slideshows and other interactive projects), and three part-time staffers. Paul is seeking to hire 2 more editors specifically for multimedia and video, as well as outsource three freelance editors. 10 more reporters are soon to follow the HT’s three-day, hands-on, in-house multimedia training.



Training top-down – more work for editors

Considering how much multimedia work the HT has produced, few staffers have gone through formal training. Only about 10 reporters have been trained – out of 750. Another 10 are on the way, and the next training session is only scheduled for mid-March.

The HT’s integration and formation has thus mostly happened at an editorial level so far, top-down. “Editors are the ones to bear the brunt of this,” said Paul, who at the beginning of the process straightforwardly told them, “I m asking you to do more work.” Paul held meetings with his editors during which he showed them best practices of other online newspapers he knew from working in the US.

Editors then walked reporters through the multimedia process, teaching them how to think multi-platform and encouraging them to file video and audio. Journalists now go out and look for multimedia opportunities. Photographers now take plenty extra pictures that can be used for online slideshows. “Those conversations are happening every single day, even for smaller stories.”

Importantly, Paul didn’t adopt a coercive approach in this process – although he acknowledges this may eventually come. “We need to let them experiment a little bit.”

By the end of next summer, about 50-60 reporters are to be trained videographers and editors.

Newsroom Design – hub and clusters

The HT was supposed to move into new premises and integrate its newsroom design, but this won’t happen until the end of May. Since last September, a few significant changes have occurred though: the online team now sits with the print staff. The newsroom design will probably emulate a hub-and-spokes model, with all top editors sitting together centrally – this doesn’t necessarily mean their respective departments will be behind them. More important is the verbal communication enabled at an editorial level.


In light of the HT’s experience, integration doesn’t necessarily have to follow an overwhelming, company-wide, scenario, as was the case for the Daily Telegraph, or Fairfax. Instead, integration can also happen gradually, through verbal communication and changes in habits, starting at the top and cascading down to the journalist level.

Source: Pankaj Paul, managing editor Hindustan Times

Zero Hora, flagship title of the RBS media group in Brazil, has had an integrated newsroom since last September, which was officially inaugurated in December 2007. In Part 2, Zero Hora’s editors, Marcelo Rech and Marta Gleich, and RBS’ CEO Nelson Sirotsky, explain how the newspaper and other outlets coordinate their efforts across the platforms. Also discussed: does integration lead journalists to increasingly take on ‘editorial’ roles?

Reuters has partnered with technology firm Attributor. The latter will help track Reuters content online.

At the beginning of March, USA Today, US’ largest newspaper, launched its redesigned website with much emphasis on reader interactivity, user-generated content, and providing social networking tools such as reader and reporter profiles. Executive editor Kinsey Wilson, who has led USAToday.com’s development, explains how the online edition is embracing social trends while sticking to the paper’s journalistic heritage.

The rise and prospects of hyperlocal journalism.

Citizen journalism media and local news websites offering user-generated content influence their communities and are here to stay, according to a report released by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism. Traditional Media companies are coming up against these citizen journalism sites so it’s imperative to understand how to set them up, the secrets to success and how they can work hand in hand with newspapers.

This isn’t news anymore: it’s an injunction. Newspapers must transition into the digital revolution, primarily through online, for their own sake. The New York Times Co.’s chairman, Arthur Sulzberger, reaffirmed the immediacy of this necessity: he doesn’t care about print anymore.