Weekly, now through the end of summer, I’ll be posting one of the winning Digital Edge Award entries from the 2008 awards. All the entries are available in the report “Behind the Winning Entries,” but posting them here over time may make them more digestible and spark ideas in your newsroom as different issues come up in your communities. Here’s our third installment:
Best Overall News Web Site (circulation less than 75,000): LJWorld.com
Lawrence Journal-World
Entry submitted by:Daniel Cox
Director of Mediaphormedia
The World Co.
(785) 843-1000
LJWorld.com is dedicated to providing Lawrence, Kan., with round-the-clock local news and information and to giving residents a platform for participating in community dialogue.
Our “Today’s News” allows for easy browsing of all the content published on a particular day, from developing stories to blog entries; obituaries, births, and anniversaries; audio and video clips and more. Since launching this feature in April 2007, it has become the second-most visited page on our site second only to the front page. We invite readers to step into the stream of ongoing local news wherever they choose.
Content sections take advantage of our relational data platformto automatically present readers with related photo galleries, podcasts, blog entries, special features and more, making it easy to explore interesting topics and to discover associated content that deepens their appreciation and understanding of the stories of the day.
LJWorld.com makes extensive use of mapping technologies, wedded to our local coverage, to enhance readers’ perception of news and information around them: for example, as an interface to Lawrence ArtWalk 2007, a local arts experience; as a means of richly communicating the state of local roadwork and street construction projects; and for in-depth reporting features, like our exploration of underage drinking in local bars. Stories routinely use Google maps for added context.
Our reliance on storing all our news content as well-structured data separated from presentationin any medium allows us to deliver the news and information readers want, in the manner they want it, when they want it: on the Web, via automatic section e-mail editions, via RSS, or on our mobile edition. For our 2006 election coverage, the very same information powering our Flash election results feature scrolled across the screen of our TV news channel.
LJWorld.com is committed to exploring the possibilities of re-imagining journalism in the context of an interactive online medium. Reader comments often drive our coverage of a topic by providing news sources and community perspectives.