Building better topic pages with aggregation and curation
What are some ideas for using aggregation and curation to make your news site's topic pages stronger?
Here's what we've already done:
-- Education topic page: We created a Twitter list composed entirely of local schools and embedded a widget for that list in the sidebar.
A few things I'd like to do (or at least consider):
-- Politics landing page: Use Publish2 to gather links from other sources about races of local interest. (We could also embed these widgets in sidebars, which in our system are objects in their own right, and include those sidebars in all stories about the appropriate race.) Due to volume, this might be a feature to add sometime in mid-year, then remove when the election is over.
-- Also on the politics page: What do you think about a widget pulling in a Twitter list made up entirely of candidates for office? Is this risky? Does it run the risk of making us seem to favor the candidates whose names and faces pop up more than others, or would people understand what it was?
Any other ideas we could try? What other topic pages lend themselves well to doing this kind of thing?
Here's what we've already done:
-- Education topic page: We created a Twitter list composed entirely of local schools and embedded a widget for that list in the sidebar.
A few things I'd like to do (or at least consider):
-- Politics landing page: Use Publish2 to gather links from other sources about races of local interest. (We could also embed these widgets in sidebars, which in our system are objects in their own right, and include those sidebars in all stories about the appropriate race.) Due to volume, this might be a feature to add sometime in mid-year, then remove when the election is over.
-- Also on the politics page: What do you think about a widget pulling in a Twitter list made up entirely of candidates for office? Is this risky? Does it run the risk of making us seem to favor the candidates whose names and faces pop up more than others, or would people understand what it was?
Any other ideas we could try? What other topic pages lend themselves well to doing this kind of thing?
Tags: aggregation, curation, pages, topic
Views: 33
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Morisy on -
I think you've got the right idea on a lot of these. I'm working on developing a plan for our own monthly topic pages for IT subjects.
For Twitter lists, I worry that it selectively "endorses" candidates and people who choose to use Twitter: I feel strongly that nobody should be "punished" for not signing up for a for-profit company's service, just like candidates shouldn't be judged by the news media on who their internet service provider is, whether or not they use Microsoft Word vs. Open Office, or if they drink Coke and Pepsi, but the reality is Twitter is easy, accessible and useful. For candidates who don't use Twitter, maybe you could substitute an RSS feed into your widget that has their news releases and statements?
One other piece of advice is that, above the news stream on your topics, you include some introductory text, context, or background explaining the sources and maybe a general summary: "This past summer, the school board took on contentious leader John Doe, who promised to cut costs while improving education. Critics charge he eats babies to make this happen. Follow along as the Daily Staff picks out the most important news from around Yellowbelly Creek County below from our own reports and those from other local media outlets."
That provides some context for the reader as well as really boosts search engine value for readers looking for just this kind of resource.
An idea I've had is to create a editorially-written landing page that "curates" various sources of user comments:
http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/IT-watch-blog/guide-to-it...
That page includes top Twitter users on a topic, for example, which I've pulled from a wiki page I created that asked for user submissions.
It's kind of like the mullet strategy for user generated content: Clean up front, party in the back.
I'm looking for similar suggestions on how to craft a good landing/topic page.
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Permalink Reply by Craig Stone on -
Erik, i think your idea of "a widget pulling in a Twitter list made up entirely of candidates for office" is a great one. As long as most candidates are represented, it is up to them to do the Twittering.
I think it's a great idea.
Cheers
Craig Stone
edweek.org
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