Who, what, when, where and why

Programming language for news: Newscoop's templates

Newscoop's templating language is called $gimme. $gimme lets you list and arrange articles, display text and multimedia, prepare content for third-party services and include external content. It allows editors total design freedom and doesn't push them into a single way of presenting their stories. We like to refer to Newscoop's template language as a programming language for news.

Airtime 1.8.1 manual for broadcasters published.

The Airtime 1.8.1 manual for broadcasters has been published. Airtime (formerly known as Campcaster) is an open radio software for scheduling and remote station management. Users can now view up to date documentation online with Floss Manuals, as an epub, or download as a pdf.

Combining Newscoop and SoundCloud - a developer's guide.

A developer's guide to combining Newscoop and SoundCloud, taken from the Newscoop 3 Cookbook - Developer's Guide - a free resource available online, in print, as pdf and as epub via the Sourcefabric website.

Cloud formations: Integrating Newscoop, Airtime and SoundCloud.

For a couple of weeks in March and April 2011, the world's eyes were turned towards West Africa. One media outlet delivered exceptional coverage throughout, keeping West Africa and its diaspora informed, whilst at the same time making some news of its own by launching an new, innovative news platform. That organisation was West Africa Democracy Radio. Their new platform is founded on Sourcefabric's open source software Newscoop and Airtime, and uses SoundCloud, an web-based audio hosting service, to get the word out to the subregion and beyond, allowing listeners to hear, share and react to developments as they happen.

Sourcefabric run Prague Marathon for Cystic Fibrosis Club

Sourcefabric team members will be donning their running shoes and limbering up this weekend as we prepare to take part in the Prague Marathon on Sunday 8th May. Four of us will be attempting the relay, where four people run a section of the marathon each, and Newscoop team leader Holman "Ironman" Romero will be running the full distance. Our designated charity is the Cystic Fibrosis Club in the Czech Republic. Please consider helping Sourcefabric and Cystic Fibrosis Club help improve the lives of CF sufferers, by sponsoring our run. Donations can be sent directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Club with the following banking details:

Klub nemocných cystickou fibrozou, o.s.

Bank account no: 1921101329 / 0800 
Bank: Česká spořitelna, a.s.

IBAN: CZ 430 800 0000 00 1921 10 13 29
SWIFT code: GIBACZPX

Powered by Newscoop. Three sites to watch.

Katerina Michailidis is Sourcefabric's Projects Coordinator. One of her tasks is to keep track of the multitude of new sites appearing all over the web that are powered by Newscoop, Sourcefabric's CMS made by journalists, for journalists. Here she highlights three of the latest organisations to build their business on the Newscoop platform: ElPeriódico Deportivo, Media Development Loan Fund and West Africa Democracy Radio.

Google Video dead! Long live your archive!

Google Video is removing all the remaining hosted content on May the 13th. For every online publication there is an important lesson to be learned: value your content, protect your archive and don’t trust others to do it for you. Not even the big players. This post might provide some help to develop a future proof strategy for your media archives.

Ushahidi Cooker for Newscoop - New Template Pack

Newspapers and platforms in Latin America.

Sourcefabric representative Claudia Cruz attended the WAN-IFRA América Latina conferences that took place for the first time in Bogotá, Colombia on March 9th and 10th. Offering a summary of the key talking points, she also shares some fascinating insights into the Latin American market including mobile news delivery, cross-platform projects, and a new market of journalism-hungry consumers.

Newsroom convergence in Belarus and beyond.

Consumers of internet news in Belarus are becoming younger and more active. Publishers and chief editors within the Belarusian print media grow daily more conscious of the necessity to produce rich, multimedia content to attract these users. It’s all part of the migration to what Marina Klinova and Natalia Afanasjeva see as the East European ‘convergent newsroom’.

Digital manuals for a digital media.

There's been a huge amount of furious scribbling and typing going on in the Sourcefabric team. With two new product manuals, a new online manual library and platform, new printed manuals, two extensive Newscoop developers guides and a booksprint in the planning, no wonder. So, without further ado, here's the official field guide to Sourcefabric documentation.

Promoting Dialogue in West Africa.

Launched in 2005, West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) promotes democratic and open societies. This article highlights a pioneering new project in Dakar, illustrates the political environment WADR works in, and outlines open source organisation Sourcefabric’s contribution in the form of open source technology, training and consultancy.