Who, what, when, where and why

Brasil 247 embracing digital journalism through online community

Leonardo Attuch decided to bring a new form of journalism to Brazil two years ago with an online publication called Brasil 247. The publication has a small team of under 20 journalists working throughout Brasil, but with over 55 million page views per month it is now the largest online news publication in Brazil today.

Working online means the team has no central office, but this allows them to move around fluidly, respond to their audience and meet and work together easier. Brazil, a place where Attuch states many people spend hours driving to work, saves time by working online which also means more time for themselves at the end of the day.

Adopting new ways to work with technology

As early adopters of technological practices they have a very open policy for reporting and community feedback that is in opposition to traditional newspapers. Each reporter has full control to post their articles, putting journalists in direct contact with the editor interface. They can also respond to the community faster than their competitors, by cutting through the hierarchies of traditional papers. Many articles receive lengthy comments back and forth between community members and this healthy debate keeps readers and journalists in a constant dialog. Unlike print publications, the readers can see their feedback instantly and thus feel part of the debate.

Their openness to technology has been a major asset in developing their community and Brasil 247 tries to embrace as many outlets and conversations as possible. They do not moderate comments, preferring to keep both the positive and negative. Readers can even become writers for the publication. By encouraging a fluid line between writer and reader, Brasil 247 takes advantage of how news circulates through media today. Spreading onto social media like Facebook and Twitter, the publication now has 95,000 Facebook likes and 82,000 Twitter followers. To a small and new online publication in Brazil these numbers threaten to compete with much larger organizations. Their online newsroom has made them more efficient journalists, as well as entrepreneurs in a burgeoning market of digital journalism.

Using The Daily and Huffington Post as inspiration

Back in 2010 Brazil was a hot spot for digital investments, Leonardo Attuch, a journalist at the time took reference from The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's venture to bring news to the iPad and reinvent this formula for Brazil. Halfway down the line they decided to also offer a website version and were inspired by the Huffington Post's aesthetic and tone. Using a responsive design their content is scalable to any size screen and they have realized that there is a benefit to both mediums and the different habits of these readers. The publication covers a variety of topics including economics, culture, media, sports and ecology and offers regional focuses that highlight stories reflective of their geographic area.

Brasil 247 have been working with the open source software, Newscoop, from the very beginning. However, it was not until May this year that Leonardo contacted Sourcefabric to discuss using Sourcefabric's support and design services for the publication. In a near perfect launch, it was a mere four months before the sight was live with a new design.

• Stay tuned for a full case study by Ana Nedic, the project lead, with a detailed report of what it was like to work with Brasil 247 and getting this project through to its live version.
• You can hear the interview with Leonardo Attuch on Sourcefabric's Soundcloud page here.