Introducing Karel, our new product developer
September is the month of new starts. The launch of first public version of Superdesk is approaching and a new team member, Karel Petrák joined the Sourcefabric team. Karel will work as a product developer and will mainly focus on building Superdesk applications like Live Blog, making Superdesk the true new code base for journalism.
Karel, welcome to Sourcefabric. How did you get in touch with Sourcefabric?
My first contact was about two years ago when I worked as the head of the online services department at Czech News Agency (ČTK). We were scoping the market for live blogging solutions and we came across Sourcefabric Live Blog which was one of the candidates at the time. A year later, our colleagues from the Australian Associated Press (AAP) announced they started to develop their editorial system jointly with Sourcefabric. That was the moment I got really interested.
Your work at Sourcefabric will focus on building applications on top of Superdesk. What do you think should be the dream stack of tools for any journalist today?
When I started as a journalist apprentice in the 1990s, I had to learn the basics of HTML code and photo editing in the very first days. We used proprietary software on our PCs and published our online newspaper by uploading the files to FTP server, each image had to be resized to a ridiculously small size to save our readers' dial-up bandwidth and you had to make sure that all the links were valid because you had to type them in manually.
I believe that today's ”dream stack“ should be easy to use, web or cloud-based, mobile-friendly, and (most of all) variable. It should also be open – allowing new tools to be easily integrated and used. As Forrest Gump's mum says: ”Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.“ And that’s what I like about these days – you cannot tell which tools will be around next year and sometimes even next month.
Superdesk’s public launch is approaching. Can you tell us something more about your future plans for reaching the full potential of Superdesk?
The full potential of Superdesk can be reached only by close cooperation with our customers. We need to listen to their needs carefully and act accordingly. None of us has a crystal ball or a silver bullet up our sleeve. I am quite sure that a customer-centric approach is the only way for us to go.
You’ve been working in a news agency for more than 15 years and you know the environment very well. Why do you think news agencies should embrace an open source solution for their systems?
In my opinion, one of the strongest aspect of open source is that it gives newsrooms more freedom. They are not dependent on the ability of the software provider to deliver new features as the need for them arises. Because there is no one-size-fits-all newsroom software and the industry is changing rapidly, being able to get involved in shaping the system is crucial. There is a great article by Vince Ryan which elaborates on the open source in the newsroom concept: Newsrooms see the light of open source. There are two main ways I believe we can be a good fit for news agencies. We can help them improve their own editorial operations by providing tools they can use to produce content. It doesn't necessarily have to be the whole editorial system, we have other ”smaller“ tools like Live Blog that some of them have already been using and we can come up with the new ones. Another option would be to help them provide IT-related services based on our solutions to their customers.
Finally, let’s get personal. What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I feel like I need to compensate for my sedentary office job so I try to move as much as I can by switching between aikido, beach volleyball, squash, or running and biking. I also like all the tech toys so you can often find me with a GPS playing geocaching or fiddling with an outdoors action camera to get the best takes from a ski ride.
Do you want to know more about Superdesk or Live Blog? Visit Superdesk.org or sign up for Superdesk or Live Blog newsletter.
Would you like to join Karel and be part of the Sourcefabric team? You can help us build open source tools for journalists! Have a look at our open jobs.