Tuesday, 08, Jun 2010 09:31
Online news publishers should take greater care to include relevant information in each article that can aid readers new to a particular story, it has been suggested.
Speaking to the American Journalism Review, associate professor and director of digital innovation at Medill at Northwestern University Rich Gordon claimed that few online news sites offer relevant contextual information in their news articles to help orient those who may not know much about previous developments in a story.
He recommended that online news writers identify readers' assumptions and answers to their questions so they can write their content in a way that engages those who are not necessarily "news junkies".
"We do a really good job of publishing the latest breaking news on online news sites, but if you're not the kind of person who follows every twist and turn, what we offer you on most online news sites is unsatisfying," Mr Gordon commented.
Last year, Google launched its Living Stories tool to allow online news publishers to present their articles and related information in a more engaging way to users.
It conducted a two-month trial with the New York Times and the Washington Post before open-sourcing the code for the application so that more publishers could use it.
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