Internet en el periódico

Para los que ya estáis acostumbrados a leer en Internet, ya os suena el término “tag” o etiqueta: palabras asociadas con una noticia o un post, para facilitar su búsqueda. Algo así como los términos que pondríamos en negrita para resaltar lo más importante del texto.

Y para los que os interesa el periodismo y la influencia de la Red, también sabréis que cada vez son más los medios impresos que hacen referencia en el papel a sus ediciones digitales: anuncian contenido multimedia como videos o galerías de fotos que los lectores sólo pueden encontrar en la Web.

Pues bien, la convención Demócrata en Estados Unidos, como lo será la semana que viene la Republicana, es un gran ejemplo de cómo Internet invade poco a poco los medios impresos. Además de suplementos especiales todos los días, como en el caso del Washington Post, sus páginas incluyen elementos originales de la Web.

Lo siquiente es la imagen de un “tag cloud” o nube de etiquetas, utilizado para mostrar los términos más utilizados por Hillary Clinton en su discurso de anoche. La foto ha aparecido, y a un tamaño importante, en la edición en papel de esta mañana.

Las palabras que más veces pronunció Hillary Clinton en su discurso. Cuanto más grande el tamaño de la palabra, más veces la dijo. Pincha en la imagen para ver la comparación original en Washingtonpost.com

Aquí los medios impresos ya han aprendido la lección de “renovarse o morir”. Es decir, el que antes sepa incorporar lo mejor de la Web en el papel, sobrevivirá a la crisis.

Organizando las noticias

Acabo de descubrir la página Daily Life, en la que puedes buscar información relacionada con personas que sean noticia. Introduce un nombre y podrás navegar entre fotografías, artículos que mencionan a esa persona, entradas de blog, frases que se han dicho sobre ellos, o que hayan pronunciado recientemente.

Daily Life se autodefine como “organizador de las noticias del mundo”, y lo hace para ti así:

Imagen de la página Daily Life con frases pronunciadas sobre Barack Obama

Esperando al visitante 5.000 :)

Quién me lo iba a decir…

Para celebrar que el número se acerca, os invito a ver la página Web que he creado para una de mis clases: Communities Around the District.

Se trata de una recopilación de todos los artículos que hicimos para localizar y describir las comunidades de inmigrantes y sus medios de comunicación en Washington, D.C. y alrededores.

Si estais en Facebook, también podéis pasar por aquí.

Espero que la disfrutéis!

–

Waiting for visitor #5,000

To celebrate that this moment is now close, I invite you to see the Web site I created for one of my clases: Communities Around the District.

It’s a compilation of all the stories and research we did to map, feature and identify the immigrant communities and ethnic media in Washington D.C. metro area.

If you are on Facebook, you can also come visit us here.

Hope you like it!

Entrevista en Second Life

Todavía no se si es por la hora del día a la que accedí a Second Life, o que los lugares que estaba visitando no son demasiado populares, pero no pude encontrar muchos avatares a los que entrevistar para mi ultimo ejercicio. Después de pasar por sitios como BBC World o BBC.co.uk, que tienen unos edificios impresionantes, acabe en la sección de periodismo ciudadano de CNN, iReport, y pude entrevistar a una de las reporteras.

Encuentro con Rekka Berchot antes de ir hacia el mundo Futuro, donde hablamos sobre iReport

Rekka Berchot fue una de las primeras reporteras ciudadanas de CNN. Empezo a enviar contenido a la cadena incluso antes de que lanzaran el programa. Sin embargo, al cabo de un tiempo y según empezó a pensar que sus reportajes se convertían en anuncios o que el contenido era manipulado, decidió enviar contenido a través de y sobre Second Life.

Mi llegada a la sección iReport de CNN

Sus contactos en el mundo de la música, empleados de CNN, otros periodistas ciudadanos y gente del campo de la educación le ayudan a encontrar eventos a los que ir e informar después. Cuando le pregunté como encuentra las noticias, me contestó: “no encuentro las noticias, me encuentran a mí”. Igual que en la vida real.

Extracto de la conversación con Rekka Berchot

En esta entrevista aprendí que CNN emite los reportajes que periodistas ciudadanos hacen en Second Life. Berchot dice que CNN, sin embargo, muestra mas interés en historias que unen los dos “mundos”.

Y fue precisamente siguiendo uno de los links que ella me proporciono como ejemplo de uno de estos reportajes como descubrí lo que quería decir con “unir los dos mundos”. El siguiente vídeo fue producido por Raveon y Miles Obrien, quienes cubrieron un concierto de Space Junky en Second Life.

Sin embargo, la historia no queda aquí. El siguiente vídeo es parte de un reportaje de CNN sobre Sapce Junky: una banda con tres músicos, cada uno de ellos en un país diferente, y que tocan en directo en Second Life.

Después de encontrar estas historias, tengo más y más curiosidad por Second Life y saber como lo utilizan los medios internacionales, igual que lo hace CNN.

*English version

Segundo día en Second Life

Mi segundo día en Second Life me ha traído mas sorpresas que el primero.

Como parte de los deberes, esta semana tengo que acudir a un evento en Second Life, hacer una foto (un snapshot) con el ordenador y publicarla en Facebook.

Simplemente el hecho de buscar un evento en Second Life puede convertirse en parte de la “diversión”. El sistema de búsqueda por defecto no me estaba dando ningún resultado que me interesara: me fui a Google después de encontrarme con unos cuantos personajes desnudos que se acercaban a hablar conmigo y otros estaban ahí simplemente bailando. Para qué, no lo sé.

Volví al mundo “real” y busqué en Google los eventos del día en Second Life. Para mi sorpresa, encontré que una persona (en realidad hay más de uno, y de dos) que escribe en su blog todos los eventos de Second Life. Todos los días. Aún así, no había nada que me interesase y cuando lo había, tuve demasiados problemas para averiguar si mi hora “real” estaba por delante o llegaba tarde a la hora en Second Life.

La exhibición de Arthur Rimbaud
en Second Life

Siguiente paso: ir a casa. A mi casa de la Primera Vida. Escribí Madrid en el campo de búsqueda pero lo único que apareció fue La Casa Encendida, un sitio de exposiciones, conciertos y hasta con restaurante.

La Casa Encendida en Second Life

Después de dar un paseo por la exhibición de Arthur Rimbaud, me impresionó que había anuncios -anuncios reales de la compañía que lo patrocina en Madrid- y lo parecido que es La Casa Encendida en Second Life a la que yo conozco en Madrid.

Ahora publicaré las fotos en Facebook y me iré a la cama a tener unas cuantos sueños sobre Second Life. Todavía me da un poco de grima, pero me voy acostumbrando.

Todavía me resulta demasiado grande y nuevo como para manejarme cómodamente y segura de que voy a llegar al sitio donde quiero ir. Todavía me intriga qué hace la gente en Second Life, cómo se sienten, por qué quieren estar ahí “bailando” o comprar cosas cuando podrían ir a la calle a dar un paseo. Quiero saber por qué la gente “compra” casas en Second Life. Por qué juegan con videojuegos dentro de Second Life (poniendo a su personaje a jugar, en vez de jugar ellos mismos). Quiero saber las respuestas.

—

My Second day in Second Life brought more surprises than the first one.

As part of my homework this week, I have to go to a Second Life event, take a picture –or snapshot- and then post it on Facebook.

Just trying to find an event became part of the Second Life amusement. The default search wasn’t giving me any results that I liked: I went to Google search after running into a few dancing room where some naked people walked into me and others were just there, dancing. What for, I don’t know.

I went back to the “real” world, and searched on Google for Second Life day events. To my surprise, I found a someone (though there are many people) who posts all the Second Life events, everyday, on his blog. But still, none of those were of my interest or I had too much trouble trying to find out if my First Life hour was ahead or behind Second Life’s.

Next step: I went home. My First Life home. I typed in Madrid on my search bar and only one thing showed up: La Casa Encendida, a place where you can visit exhibits, go to concerts or have dinner.

After walking around the Arthur Rimbaud exhibit for a while, I was shocked by the advertisements on the walls –real advertisements from the same company that sponsors the center- and how similar it looks to the Casa Encendida that I know from Madrid.

I will post the snapshots today and then I’ll go to bed and dream of Second Life hallways. It still creeps me out a little, but I’m getting used to it.

It’s still too big, too broad and new to me as to navigate through it comfortably and expect to get to the places that I want to see. It still intrigues me what people do on Second Life, how they feel, why do they want to stay there “dancing” sometimes or maybe go shopping when you could just take a walk outside. I want to know why people “buy” houses in Second Life. Why do they play videogames in Second Life? I want those answers.

Mi Primer Día en Second Life

Como parte de la clase New Media Practices and Techniques, estoy participando en Second Life, un mundo virtual en Internet en el que puedes crear un perfil y chatear con otras personas, ir a conciertos (Suzane Vega dio un concierto en Second Life), comprar ropa o leer el periodico -con noticias del mundo viertual, claro. En los proximos dias ire escribiendo sobre mi experiencia en mi blog sobre New Media Practices, y tambien lo pondre aqui.

Nunca me he sentido más perdida en toda mi vida. ¿O deberia decir en mi “primera vida”? Me sentí desorientada y confundida en un ambiente al que no estoy acostumbrada. No me gustan los videojuegos y para que os hagáis una idea de lo bien que se me dan, soy una de esas personas que cuando juega a las carreras de coches tengo problemas en llegar a la meta, me choco todo el rato y a veces hasta voy en dirección contraria. Si, esa soy yo.

Sintiéndome un poco mareada por mirar a todas las cosas en la pantalla, me sorprendió encontrar a un personaje desnudo nada mas entrar en el “mundo virtual”. Al fin y al cabo asi es como venimos al mundo, no? Después hice mi primera visita al Newseum (el museo de las noticias en Washington, donde no habia NADIE) y trate de encontrar a otra persona de mi clase en una “localización” distinta. (Second Life te proporciona localizaciones basadas en coordenadas). A partir de ahí el programa se quedo colgado.

Mi objetivo es navegar por el mundo virtual, sentirme cómoda en el, hablar con algunas personas y encontrar medios de comunicación en Second Life. Pero medios que conozco de mi “primera vida”. Ayer esto me resultó un poco difícil. Si no lo consigo, pasaré a analizar y leer medios de comunciación de Second Life, dado que es parte de mi proyecto estudiar como los medios de comuncación están utilizando Internet para conseguir nuevas audiencias.

Mientras tanto, compartiré aqui mis experiencias y reflexiones sobre mi vida en un mundo virtual en el que algunos están haciendo auténticas fortunas –algo que no tengo intención de hacer. Todavía :)


Jack Myers dijo que entrar en Second Live es “el equivalente a un anfibio dando sus primeros pasos fuera del agua y aprendiendo a respirar”.



Asi me sentí yo ayer.

—

I’ve never been more lost in my entire life. Or I should say in my first life… I felt disoriented and absolutely confused in an environment that I’m not used to at all. I don’t like video games and just so you get an idea of how good I am at them, I’m one of those who play car races on video games and never makes it to the end because I crash my car so many times I might even end up going backwards. Yes, that’s me.
Feeling dizzy in front of the computer, with my avatar going round and round looking at everything on the screen, I was surprised by a naked avatar as soon as I entered the “new world.” But that’s how we enter the “real world” too, or not? I lately made my first trip to the Newseum (where I found NO ONE) and tried to find a classmate in a different location. Then Second Life crashed.

My goal is to navigate the virtual world, get confident with it, talk to some people and find media outlets on it. The ones I know from my first life. But that seemed difficult yesterday. If I can’t find them, I will then read and watch Second Life outlets and analyze them as it is part of my project is to study how international media are using Internet applications to reach new audiences.

In the meantime, I will post here daily to let you know my experiences and thoughts about my life in a virtual world where some are making real world fortunes –which I have no intent in doing. Yet :)
Jack Myers said that entering Second Life is “the equivalent of an amphibian taking its first tentative steps out of water and discovering how to breathe.”

Well,  I felt like that yesterday.

El País uses Web site to turn readers into journalists

By Cristina Fernández Pereda 

El País, one of Spain’s major newspapers, shows after its last redesign how citizen journalism is changing the way news outlets present news both in print and digital format.

ELPAIS.com is an example of how citizen journalism, a community of blogs and crowdsourcing techniques can expand the newspaper’s content through the interaction with readers.

ELPAIS.com editors have worked on
the Web site’s redesign with consultants
Ally Palmer and Terry Watson.
Palmer & Watson were also in charge of
changes in news sites such as Le Monde,
in France; The Scotsman, in Scotland;
and Politiken, in Denmark.

El País published its first edition in 1976 and 31 years later, on Oct. 21, 2007, presented a major renovation that has changed its design, added different ways of gathering the news and modified its content. All the changes were reported by the newspaper’s editors through a blog named “Querer Comprender,” (Willing to Understand).

“We are betting on exclusive information, critical analysis of major topics and in-depth interviews, leaving on the side the routine and news conferences-journalism, and taking an important step towards the interaction of print and digital newsrooms,” Lydia Aguirre, director of ELPAIS.com, posted on the blog the Web site published to describe the changes.

The editors of ELPAIS.com have made significant efforts to provide readers with information updated every minute.

“We are incorporating more exclusive online content, with multimedia elements and the print and digital newsrooms working together 24 hours to provide better content in both formats,” Aguirre said.

The best example of how the digital edition is providing content to the print edition is the citizen journalism section Yo, Periodista (I, Journalist), a space created entirely by readers who send news with videos, pictures and audio. The section “where readers become journalists,” as it states on its front page, was launched on Nov. 20, 2006. In one year, the section became the best Interactive Emergent Project on the Internet, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau in Spain, which cited the paper’s efforts for its originality and vision.

When it started, Yo, Periodista originated 5 percent of the online news site’s users. One year later, 15 percent of the news site’s readers start their visit to ELPAIS.com through the citizen journalism section.

“People not only want to read online, they also want to create and share information. And information through readers’ integration in the creative process is a trend that will not stop,” Javier Moya, coordinator of the participative sections, said.

The content from Yo, Periodista affects both the digital and print editions of the paper. Moya recalls the case of the Virginia Tech shootings, when a Spanish student sent updates from the campus and provided first-hand information of what was happening there.

When a citizen journalist sent pictures from the chaos resulting from
eight days of strikes in the metro of Paris, El País had the chance to
continue their coverage by adding different angles.

In a more recent case, a reader sent pictures from the chaos in the Paris metro caused by eight days of strikes. El País had already reported about the strikes, “but the testimony of this reader gave us an opportunity to cover the workers’ negotiations with the government, something we wouldn’t have published without the pictures,” said Fernando Navarro, reporter for the digital edition.

“The content created by readers complements the news with a reader’s views on the event. It is good because this allows us to get to information the newspaper cannot reach any other way,” Moya said.

ELPAIS.com also launched a “Community” five months ago, allowing readers to publish blogs within the news site. So far, readers have created 6,000 blogs and some of their content also jumps to the different news sections.

“Sometimes we detect a post that could easily become a news story. We contact the blogger and suggest the possibility of using it in Yo, Periodista. If the story is more significant, it can even have a link from the main story written by one of El País’ reporters,” Moya said.

ELPAIS.com has developed the crowdsourcing strategy through the online news site: a link asks readers if they have been affected by a particular situation, from blackouts to train delays to a strike. The readers become sources providing the information the agencies cannot get: testimonies, images, videos and audio describing what the situation is like on the streets.

“This gives us data and suggests different angles to cover a story. It creates a feedback between the print edition, the online edition and the readers complementing the final product we give: information,” Moya said.

This information can come from all over the world. Appealing to its international audience (25 percent of the readers are outside of Spain), ELPAIS.com has created a Global online edition. “It’s a project for Spanish speakers outside of Spain who want to know what’s happening in the world: They all have their newspaper at the Global edition of El País,” Navarro said.

The editors of ELPAIS.com are conscious of their reader’s involvement with the newspaper. Last September, El País released the transcript of the interview between Spain’s former president, Jose Maria Aznar (1996-2004) and U.S. President George W. Bush on Feb. 22, 2003, in which the Bush admitted he would be in Iraq even if he didn’t have the United Nations’ support.

The story was widely reported and even prompted coverage in international newspapers, such as The Washington Post and USATODAY.com, when reporters asked the White House Press Secretary Dana Perinoabout the conversation. On Oct. 10, ELPAIS.com then announced a chat between Ernesto Ekaizer, the reporter who released the transcript, and readers.

“Ekaizer talked to readers in English and Spanish. In less than one hour, we had 600 questions from readers,” Aguirre said.

ELPAIS.com has introduced changes that engage the readers through multimedia content, improving the Video section and adding a television service, ELPAISTV with three channels.

“The impact has been immediate and significant, with a 20 percent increase of videos downloaded by our readers,” Aguirre said.

All the changes, such as participation tools, the blogs community and applications to customize the front page that allow readers to change the header style or the font size, type and color, appeal to an audience of both traditional readers and young people familiar with the digital technology.

“We are facing these challenges to offer a better product and engage younger readers who are starting to get involved in our society; we have to count on them for the next 10 or 15 years,” Javier Moreno, Director of El País, said according to EFE news agency.

His adjunct director, Juan Cruz, posted on the blog how Moreno has conceived the changes.

“The change is not over once it’s done. The change has just started.”

This story was published on the American Observer Dec. 4, 2007.

Café Babel: Innovative Web site bridges language, builds European culture

By Cristina Fernández Pereda 

Ask anyone in the streets of Paris what they are first: French or European? It is more likely that they consider themselves French. But if the person you run into happens to be an Erasmus student, it is more likely he or she will tell you they are first European, then French.

The European Union is now expanding but the evolution of a European identity has just started. Cafebabel.com has become a forum where Europeans can share, reflect and analyze current affairs across borders, with different views, in different languages. The site encourages readers to think as Europeans, and use Café Babel as a means to build European identity and public opinion.

The online magazine Cafe Babel.
Photo provided by Cafebabel.com

Italian Adriano Farano spent one year in Strasbourg as an Erasmus student. Erasmus, the European university exchange program, took him to study political science in the city where the European Parliament congregates. The Erasmus experience is believed to be building the first eurogeneration: the first group of young people from the old continent who consider themselves European.

Friends from different European countries, their views on current affairs, conversations in different languages and a common interest in journalism inspired Farano to found Café Babel. He is now editor-in-chief and executive manager of this online magazine that has become the first pan-European media.

“A café is where people meet. Babel is what separated them,” said Farano. With his friends from the Erasmus experience, he decided to take the conversations from cafes across Europe to a forum online.

The Cafe Babel community across Europe,
with local offices from Lisbon, Portugal;
to Istanbul, Turkey; to Stockholm, Sweden.
Photo provided by Cafebabel.com

In contrast to the Bible version of Babel, where languages divide people, Café Babel is “a cafe where you can speak, read and write in the language you want, but you are understood. We are, at Café Babel, all together in a cozy cafe, speaking all our different languages, but we can understand each other, we communicate and we debate,” said Monika Oelz, project manager and communication chief at Café Babel.

The project, now seven years old, involves more than 1,000 citizen journalists and translators from different countries, 22 local offices in 14 European countries, and 400,000 people visiting the site every month.

“We play the card of originality by addressing a specific audience (the eurogeneration) with a specific content that is general (society, culture, politics), but analyzed with a European perspective. We try to gather stories from all around Europe and also find transnational tendencies in the fields of art, immigration, education, etc.,” Farano said.

Last week, Café Babel’s creator joined American University’s International Communication students during his visit to the school. He was invited to the United States by the International Visitor Exchange Program, which brings youth from all over the world to the U.S. During a three-week trip, he is meeting with leaders from Google, Facebook and Wikipedia.

Image from the interview with
Café Babel’s creator, Adriano Farano.
Photo provided by Adriano Farano.

“What I learned from International Communication Prof. Shalini Venturelli in her speech is that national mass media were needed by the U.S. in order to build a sense of community,” Farano said. “The problem is that we don’t have, as was the Anglo-Saxon for the U.S., a dominant culture. That is why a pan-European media needs to respect the different cultures and languages of the Old Continent.”

One of the magazine’s goals is to break down the barriers created by national media to create that sense of European identity. Café Babel is published in six different languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Catalan), and makes it possible for journalists and bloggers in the community to have their posts translated, so the readers can chose the language. No other online community includes this feature.

Café Babel is another example of participatory media, as writers and journalists contribute to the site. Translators then edit the articles in different languages for each of the different editions of the online magazine. Editors encourage contributors to share different opinions to show current affairs from a transnational perspective. The only requirement is quality.

When you go to Café Babel, you find articles about the immigration to Europe; how Muslim women “cover their hair, but not their mouth“;” the Eurodyssey: scholarships to work in Europe for Erasmus students; and the European Reform Treaty to be signed next December in Lisbon. The readers’ favorite: Tower of Babel where Europeans laugh comparing idioms and expressions in different languages.

This story was published on the American Observer Nov. 6, 2007.

Fraud Crackdown

By Cristina Fernández Pereda 

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Wednesday launched a new consumer education campaign to increase public awareness of fraud. Investigators in different countries have since January arrested 77 people and intercepted more than $2.1 billion in fake checks bound for Americans in a global fraud crackdown.

“The best thing our citizens can do to protect themselves is learn how to avoid these scams,” U.S. Postal Service CEO John Potter said. The campaign is launched by the Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness (ACFA) and includes advertisements on the Internet, television programs, magazines and educational spots.

All the advertisements explain how the fraud is changing because scammers now avoid face-to-face contact with their victims and prefer the Internet. They also share the same slogan: “Scams like these don’t work as well in person, that’’ why they are done online.”

During the news conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., officials described the scope of the fraud committed against Americans, sometimes from abroad, to emphasize the need of the public awareness initiative. During the first seven months of the year, there has been a 60 percent increase of reports of fraud compared to 2006.

The United States has worked along with officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Nigeria to stop the flow of fraudulent checks and other financial documents into the country, Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., said.

Seven people have been accused in the Netherlands, where 100 suspects were found in connection with West African criminal networks, and more than $13 million have been intercepted in Canada as part of this global initiative. In a 21-day operation in Nigeria, the police oversaw more than 15,000 fake checks. Other countries like Spain are beginning to work now along with the FBI to fight the fraud.

Greg Campbell, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service explained that all the countries involved in the crackdown have a large population of West African citizens. “In all of the partner countries that have participated in this initiative, including the U.S., including Canada, including the United Kingdom, including Netherlands, that is a common thread in the fraud scheme,” he said.

“The checks are not real, but the problem is that there are real victims,” said Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice Alice Fisher. The U.S. Department of justice has been focused on this for some time with other countries and have scammers extradited to the U.S. “They might be abroad, but they are targeting victims here in the United States,” Fisher said.

The use of the Internet has changed the way the fraud is committed. The scammers “can now reach, directly across the world, Americans who are in their homes,” Vice President of American Express Lauren Kamen said. “They are innovative, constantly shifting their story, changing their point of contact, their delivery method and favorite fake check,” she added.
“Anyone who gets mail or has an e-mail address is a potential victim,” Potter said. The process is regularly very similar.

First, the scammer contacts the victim, usually by email, and later sends a fake check on the mail. Then the victim deposits the check and wires a portion of the money back to the scammer to cover fees, overpayments or any other excuse. “That’s when the scammer disappears, leaving the victim financially liable when the check bounces,” Campbell said.

Fake checks are hurting consumers all over the U.S. and they are the second Internet fraud reported to the National Consumers League, according to her Vice President Susan Grant. She also revealed that a survey by this organization found that 35 percent of the participants had been reached by someone asking them to send money. Only 28 percent said they had actually sent it, but that result could represent 21 million Americans.