I’ve been paying a lot more attention to database-driven maps and G-Map mash-ups in the past few weeks, and looking at how newspaper.coms can best use them to relay information.

The Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune last week both put heavy resources into updating fire maps to help residents track the wildfires in Southern California. The quick changes in the direction and status of fires made keeping these maps truly up to date, despite the newspapers’ best efforts. Despite this difficultly, the maps were very useful to thousands of people.

Yesterday, the Online Journalism Review released an article on the maps on the Union-Tribune, L.A. Times and KPBS Web sites, noting those maps accounted for more than 3.5 million page views last week, according to Google Maps Product Manager Jessica Lee.

In an e-mail to OJR, Phil Malavenda, online operations/production manager for SignOnSanDiego.com, wrote, “It doesn't take much technical expertise to create a map through Google's site and share it. You just have to put points/areas on the map and make it public. It did take some programming expertise to host the map on our site like we did. “

The OJR article also includes a list of some interesting Google Map mash-ups from the past.

There are a few we know about that are not on that list from OJR, including a database-driven map of bicycle accidents from the Oregonian released this month. Portland is one of the heaviest bike-commuting metro areas, and collisions between bicycles and cars – accidental or intentional – are sadly common. The map project came after two bicyclists died in October there. The purpose of the map from the Oregonian is very different from that of the fire maps, but it’s still extremely useful for that community. And, considering my husband bike-commutes here in D.C. and is originally from Portland, it was interesting for us, too.

A few others not on the OJR list worth checking out:

• ChicagoCrime.org
• Boston.com’s Mapping the Money (Digital Edge Award finalist 2007)
• The Bakersfield Californian's Pothole Map 

Last week, I spoke at the Inter-State Circulation Managers' Association meeting in Gettysburg, Penn. The main focus was on how the Web, including site registration and e-mail marketing, e-editions, etc., could help drive print readership.

Here's the link to the PowerPoint from my presentation, through the I-SCMA Web site: http://www.iscma.org/oct07conf/index.html.

Let me know what you think, and I'll make adjustments for next time..

This fall, NAA asked more than 20 digital media and newspaper industry leaders to write perspectives on what the industry will look like in the future. A preview of this project, with three of the perspectives (and a list of those to come), is available now at www.naa.org/blog/futureofnewspapers. NAA will put all 20+ perspectives into a blog format with commenting functionality in the coming weeks, and we look forward to the conversation. The following is the introduction, by Randy Bennett, to NAA's Imagining the Future of Newspapers project....

The following is the Executive Summary from the "Newspapers' Online Operations: Performance Report 2006," released today by the Newspaper Association of America....  

While looking up information on the Spire in Toronto, I stumbled across the Web site for real estate company Context Development, Inc. (The company has expensive condos near downtown.)  What popped up fourth on Google was the page below: Not Context Development’s home page, but rather a page “designed to assist search engines.”

I did a little bit less blogging today because I kept getting into those super-valuable hallway conversations. On the plus side, I'm leaving with lots of ideas for case studies, the Digital Edge Awards (which you only have one week left to enter!) and more. This has been a very worthwhile two days, and I encourage more newspaper digital media people to attend.

Recap

• Conference coverage from the Online News Association Student Newsroom.
• Audio of the keynote address from Michael Oreskes, Executive Editor of the International Herald Tribune.
• Interviews with conference attendees (including me!) on BlogTalk Radio.
• Finalists for tonight's Online Journalism Awards.

Blog Coverage

• Digital Edge Blog (Beth Lawton)
• MyDigiMedia (Amy Webb)
• PressThink (Jay Rosen)
• Reportr.net (Alfred Hermida)
• Lost Remote (Steve Safran)

 * If you know of more bloggers who have posted at least a few entries about the ONA 2007 conference, please add them in the comments!

Sometimes it’s quite helpful to look outside the newspaper industry at closely related fields for tips and lessons. It was with that in mind that I attended “Broadcaster Strategies for the Web” this afternoon. The panelists for the session were Pat Stiegman from ESPN.com, Steve Safran of AR&D consulting and blogger for LostRemote.com, and Manuel Perez of CNN.com.

“’I’ve been to many journalism conferences in recent years, and quite honestly, a lot of them are like attending a wake for someone who’s not quite dead yet,” said Michael Oreskes at the top of his keynote address to Online News Association Conference attendees. Oreskes noted that this conference is different. Panic and crisis were certainly not the focus of Oreskes keynote address, though he mentioned this tendency in the news industry. Instead, Oreskes quickly delved into the the future of journalism and how it relates to the future of democracy.

This morning, I had the fun experience of sitting down with John C. Havens of BlogTalk Radio. John is interviewing Online News Association conference attendees, including Ken Sands of Congressional Quarterly, Paul Maidment and Dan Bigman of Forbes.com, and Kathy Best of The Seattle Times. And me.

  The United States is in the unique position of having a very open media as it relates to elections – most countries are much more restrictive in what political news the media (both independent and mainstream) can cover.   The freedom is a blessing and a curse.   Josh Tyrangiel of Time Magazine, Wendy Warren, A.M.E. of the Philadelphia Daily News and Kevin Rooney of OpenSecrets.org spoke on a content and design panel called "Covering Elections." Steve Schifferes of BBC News moderated.  

I wanted to point out two more sessions from the Online News Association events today.  The first is a panel on covering tragedies, which included a student from Virginia Tech and people from Poynter, The Washington Post and SignOnSanDiego.  The second is a blogging ethics workgroup meeting later today.  

 The description for session called “Becoming a Community Evangelist” at the Online News Association Conference was, in part, “Learn how to harness the passion and creativity of our community to become a local sensation and a meaningful online gathering place.”  Dan Gillmor took issue with one word in that description: "Harness." The word seemed limiting, he suggested. Gillmor, author of “We, the Media” and director of the Center for Citizen Media joined Jay Rosen of NewAssignment.net and the blog PressThink and Rob Curley, V.P. of Product Development for WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive. J.D. Lasica moderated.

Purchasing inexpensive equipment instead of high-priced, high-tech toys can keep newsroom costs low, which generally means happy publishers and shareholders. But, sometimes buying cheap gear can cost you more in the long run.   “There are some things you can do cheaply, but other things you absolutely have to spend money on,” said Katharine Fong of the San Jose Mercury News at the beginning of the Online News Association Conference session, “Running a Digi-Newsroom on the Cheap.” One of those things, Fong said, is a quality, high-capacity server. The Mercury News learned that the hard way when a blog generated so much traffic that the servers crashed.

Greetings from Toronto! 

I'm at the Online News Association conference through late Friday. Pre-conference events started yesterday, including presentations and updates from the Knight Foundation News Challenge grant winners, a citizen media summit similar to the one I attended in D.C. earlier this month and two receptions. 

Though the sessions are always a great learning experience, I learn just as much sometimes in those hallway conversations in between.  I’ve so far caught up with numerous Digital Media Federation members, and some of my former bosses and co-workers from Milwaukee and Lawrence, Kan.

And the conference hotel has free, working wi-fi! (Hooray for that!)

The official sessions are starting this morning – Yahoo’s Hilary Schneider is speaking on local engagement now.

(Update 11:26 a.m. ET: The student newsroom posted their story about Hilary Schneider's talk.)

To start with, I wanted to point you to some resources:

ONA’s Student Newsroom is producing conference coverage that is available on the conference Web site. They’ll include reports from all of the conference sessions, interviews and more. Since the students are doing so much coverage, I’m going to focus more on the take-aways for newspaper digital media people today and tomorrow in the blogs tagged "ona2007".  

Your first take-away: The group blog from the Knight Foundation News Challenge grantees launched earlier this week, and it’s available at www.pbs.org/idealab.  Mark Glaser, of MediaShift, is editing. The blog includes numerous entries and good debates from some of the smartest people in digital journalism.

I spoke earlier today at the Inter-State Circulation Managers' Association (I-SCMA) conference in Gettysburg, Penn. My focus was on using the Web to grow audience as a whole, with a special emphasis on print circulation.

I went to the Medill School at Northwestern University for graduate school in journalism and new media studies. Even though I was a working print reporter before heading to Northwestern, I still had to go through Medill's "Journalism Methods," quarter, which is basically a really difficult version of Reporting 101. I thought about that experience this morning when I read a quote from Len Downie, part of his presentation at the Society of Professional Journalists Convention last week in D.C. Downie said, "It doesn't matter how Webbie you are -- if you can't report, it doesn't matter."

After more than 50 years of closed-door editorial board interviews with presidential candidates, The Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph opened the process by partnering with a local high school to feature streaming live video of the events on the newspaper’s Web site. The first of 18 editorial board candidate interviews took place at Nashua High School South September 24. Students in the two-year video production and broadcast class recorded the interview in the school’s television studio, and streamed it live over the Web. The live stream was accessible through the Nashua newspaper’s Web site.

Invariably, I send the Online Publishing Update to our Web department around 9 a.m., and then I find something online that I should have included. It’s pretty frustrating.

So here are a few from this morning:

eBay Adds Social Networking with Neighborhoods Feature (CNet’s News.com): “In an effort to create a greater sense of community, eBay on Wednesday plans to add a social-networking environment intended to bring together buyers and sellers with similar interests,” CNet reported.

Football Still Rules Online Sports (Poynter.org): Yahoo!’s summer acquisition of Rivals.com seems to have boosted Yahoo! Sports traffic quite nicely. Poynter.org’s Steve Klein reported, “According to Nielsen/Net Ratings, Yahoo Sports is now the most-visited online sports destination with 18.4 unique visitors in August -- edging out ESPN by about 200,000 unique visitors.” 

The Web Gets Religion (Forbes.com): Social networking and video Web sites focusing on religion, such as GodTube, MyChurch and Muxlim, are some of the fastest growing new entries to the Web 2.0 environment, Forbes reported.

MySpace Platform to Launch Next Week (TechCrunch): MySpace Platform, which will allow third-parties to develop MySpace applications for members, may launch next week, TechCrunch reported.

(Oh, and if you’re not getting the Online Publishing Update in your e-mail three times each week – you should be! Join the Digital Media Federation and get connected.)

Update, Oct. 10: When I first wrote this entry two days ago, the headline had a question mark at the end of it. I took that off this morning, having spent the past two days looking into successful programs that do actually drive print readership with Web-based programs.

I have a wide range of examples to share at the I-SCMA Conference, including successful e-mail-based subscription sales drives that target based in part on site registration data. The programs from the Sacramento Bee and the (St. Joseph, Mich.) Herald-Palladium are especially relevant there.  I'm looking into reverse publishing (Bluffton Today, for example). Also, even though I'm a PostPoints member, I never really appreciated how cool (and involved!) that program is until this week.

I'll see what I can do to post the PDF of my presentation after the conference next week. Thanks to those who sent ideas!

I've said this before -- I'm one of those digital media people who grew up with print and still, quite honestly, like it.

I love the digital stuff -- the storytelling capabilities, the projects, the technology -- but you'll still find me on the couch with my dog, a blanket and the (print!) newspaper every weekend. I guard that time fiercely and I'm quite unhappy when I don't get to flop with the newspaper Saturday and Sunday mornings. I'd do that every morning if I could get up early enough.

Well, now it's time to step up to the plate. I'm speaking next week at the Inter-State Circulation Managers' Association (ISCMA) Conference in Pennsylvania. My focus is on Web-print interplay and how they can support each other for the betterment of both products. I'm planning to talk about some successful programs, like The Washington Post's PostPoints, that effectively use the Web to promote and reward print circulation and subscriptions. Also, I'm offering statistics on Web vs. print readership and the overlap between the two, and I may excerpt some quotes from the 'Future of Newspapers' essay project we have going.

Suggestions are really, really welcome. Please (please!) comment below or e-mail me with ideas you have about how to tackle this big, important subject area.

More worthwhile reading: The latest issue of PRESSTIME Magazine is up online now. Be sure to check out Susan Clark-Johnson's piece, "Tapping the Potential of Online," and the cover story, "Spanning the Globe."

And finally:

Have you entered the Digital Edge Awards yet? The clock is ticking...

The Friday Online Publishing Update was already getting too long, so I thought I would point to some interesting, thoughful blog posts from here. These are all from the last two weeks. Smart people, interesting ideas. Here goes:

Howard Owens of GateHouse Media wrote “Twelve Things Journalists Can Do to Save Journalism” earlier this week. Owens wrote, “We have decades and decades invested in doing things based on old rules. Now, the rules have changed, and newsrooms need to change as well. We need new attitudes and new cultures. This will only happen if individual journalists put forward the effort to change their minds about what their jobs are and how they do them.” His 12 items included becoming an “avid consumer of digital content,” “become a producer” and “buy mobile devices.” (Maybe you can get your company to reimburse you for that last one.)

While you’re over on his blog, read this one, too: “It’s a message to the average newspaper.com, and the message is simple: Stop posting all of your newspaper content online,” Owens wrote. (The idea is interesting, but I'm not sure about how  practical it is from a consumer standpoint.)

MediaShift blogger Marc Glaser posted a “Your Take Roundup” entry focusing on whether people will pay for niche content or for advertising-free newspaper Web sites. The request for comments came just after The New York Times opened content that was behind the TimesSelect paid content wall. The comments in Glasers’ entry showcased “a mix of answers relating to niche content, special formats and a version without ads that they’d be willing to pay for.”

Glaser also pointed to an entry from Bill Densmore that summarized opinions about the end of TimesSelect. In that post, Densmore wrote, “The challenge is to develop an approach which preserves open linking but yet creates a basis to sustain quality content, whether by advertising or direct user support. Suppose The Times were able to get paid as its users are served demographically-targetted ads from third-party sites? Then it could "monetize" the demographics of its quality-journalism-seeking audience.”

A number of community journalism sites are using creative (and/or just plain sensible) means to attract volunteers, traffic and content. Mainstream newspaper sites should listen up… I spent most of Tuesday at the Citizen Media Summit III, sponsored by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism. The event included panel discussions from several community journalism Web site editors and managers as well as numerous legacy newspaper companies that have successfully increased audience through community contributions.

Greetings from The Digital Edge Awards! I wanted to bring your attention to few rapidly approaching deadlines. You have about three weeks left to enter the Digital Edge Awards, which are now part of the larger NAA Media Innovations Awards, and submit nominations for the Online Innovator Award.

Perhaps it’s because I read all these essays about the future of newspaper companies within a few days of each other, but the themes and messages contained in the essays are especially powerful because a lot of people are individually saying the same thing at the same time.  As an acquaintance of mine wrote recently, “When the same [idea] comes up in different circles, I pay attention.”