The future of journalism? newscafe.ge multi-platform news organisation in Georgia
Newscafe.ge is a multi-platform news website operated by students of Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. They are based in the capital Tbilisi, the largest city in Georgia. Student editors and reporters are responsible for producing material for both newscafe.ge and Radio GIPA in a converged newsroom setting, with the supervision of professional Student Media Manager and Student Media Advisor.
Sourcefabric technology is at the heart of the ambitious project which monitored the Georgian elections and is leading the way for news in the region with a socially-focused output, local issue remit and bilingual site in Georgian and English. "Sourcefabric is helping us to create a user-friendly news website that is easy to manage," say Tamila Varshalomidze, media manager at newscafe.ge. "The simplicity of the content management system is very important to us as the website is being managed by student journalists."
Sourcefabric worked to provide them with training alongside the technology, hosting and support to maintain and manage the CMS. Believing in a similar mentality for news and how it should be presented helps integrate the technology to suit the needs of the media organisation. "The Sourcefabric team shares our vision and makes our lives easier by providing fresh ideas," states Varshalomidze.
Benefits:
- Bilingual website and journalist interface increases access
- Converged workflow includes audio and streams on the site
- Seamless social media integration builds community
- Large format video page design create visual, modern design
- Google Maps and Facebook comments socialise engagement
- Newscoop 4.1 featuring new search functionality with Solr will be released on January 29th 2013. Check here for more information.