Digital content production start-up Contently has launched the free version of its editorial management platform today.

Born in Manhattan in December 2010 to childhood friends and self-professed “internet dorks” Shane Snow and Joe Coleman with co-founder Dave Goldberg, Contently is an online matchmaker that connects experienced freelancers seeking a regular paycheck with publishers and companies seeking high-quality writing. It is also a digital Virgil that guides all parties through the editorial obstacle course, from pitch to publication and payment.

While access to the Contently Network of 3,500 hand-selected freelance journalists and bloggers remains a paid service (known as Platform Plus), Contently has opened up its cloud-based workflow organizer to anyone wishing to produce high-quality written content. This includes a colour-coded assignment calendar, a Facebook-like messaging system for writers and editors, and a Google docs-like text editor that allows people to collaborate on stories.

“Software like this wants to be free,” says Snow (pictured) on the phone from New York. “We developed it, so we may as well share it.”

Gwen Lister, co-founder of The Namibian, will speak at the joint World Newspaper Congress/World Editors Forum session titled "Winners shaping the future - How some newspaper companies are succeeding and leading the way."

Lister started her career at the Windhoek [Namibia] Advertiser in 1975 and later co-founded the weekly Windhoek Observer. Following numerous run-ins with the authorities because of her hard-hitting political reporting and outspoken criticism of government policies, she led a mass resignation from that paper. In 1985  she co-founded The Namibian; it became a daily a few years later. The paper, started as a donor-funded publication, is now established as a non-profit trust. Lister recently stepped down as Editor and now holds the position of Executive Director on the Board, responsible for new business development, and is also the Chairperson of the Namibia Media Trust, which owns the company.

Clay Shirky for Nieman Lab on Gawker's method of managing comments to make sure the best ones rise to the surface.

The evolution of WordPress from a simple blogging platform and open source project to a content management system, and finally to a Paas (Platform as a Service), according to Adii Pienaar, the CEO and co-founder of WooThemes, one of the largest theme and infrastructure providers for WordPress sites, for GigaOM.

The Independent’s publisher is considering locating all of its titles (the Independent, i, the Independent on Sunday and the Evening Standard) on a single floor in its current base in London’s Kensignton, which is already “bulging at the seams,” and encouraging journalists to work from home, as radical cost-cutting measures. Roy Greenslade reports for the Guardian.

To tweet or not to tweet – that is not the question facing publishers these days; rather, the issues are what to tweet and when to tweet it. Publishing houses that have mastered the issues and gained large followings on Twitter, Facebook, or on other social media platforms are invited to enter the XMA Cross Media Awards.

“XMA 2012: Social Media Stars” will honour news publishers that are successfully connecting with their communities on the social web, by offering appealing content, engaging readers through word-of-mouth campaigns, and implementing social media tools in innovative ways.

The XMA Cross Media Awards, an annual contest held by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, will honor companies that have:

•    built relationships with their audience;
•    determined what type of content to offer on different social media platforms;
•    pushed content through different social media channels;
•    empowered their audience to help create their own content and products;
•    fostered customer engagement;
•    maximised brand recognition; and
•    measured the impact of social media products.

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