News Library News Online
Vol. 23, No. 2/Winter 2001

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Intranet Q&A...

By Jalyn Kelly
With Michael Jesse, Library Director, The Indianapolis Star

 

See images of FactFiles:
Indianapolis Star Library FactFiles main page.
Indianapolis Star Library FactFiles timeline of major news events.

 

Q. How and when was the intranet launched?

A. We began work on it around April 2000 and launched at the beginning of June. This was timed in part to coincide with a final wave of conversions in the newsroom from ATEX to PC. So beginning in June all the reporters in the newsroom began going through training on the new CCI front end. All reporters went through two days of training on the new system and part of that training was on the library and its intranet. Librarians taught that portion of the class, leading the reporters through the intranet and how to use it in conjunction with the library archive itself.

Q. Is the intranet a newsroom-only intranet or part of a corporate intranet?

A. Other departments within the company were also interested in the notion of an intranet, but few people had the skill set to make one. Our online news department developed a fundamental structure for a parent intranet site with navigation among the different departments. In the library we were pretty independent and had the skills needed to do what we wanted, so the imposed structure and style were a bit of an annoyance to us at first. Our portion launched and the other departmental sites followed. Everyone in the company has access to any of the pages, and the structure which the online news team imposed turned out to be a good format.

Q. What areas of the intranet do reporters and editors find most useful?

A. We haven't done any formal use tracking, but from comments we've received the most popular portion is the public FactFile section (more on that below). The web site lists also get used and we have help pages guiding people to the use of both the in-house archive and Nexis.com, which is available to all reporters. Most recently, we've added a searchable book catalog.

Q. How has the intranet changed the way people in your newsroom perform their daily jobs?

There have been so many changes in how reporters do their jobs and interact electronically, and I would not say the intranet by itself is a huge part of it. But it does provide some structure in the organization for all the new information and instructions and access that reporters now have. And the library does not have a monopoly on that structure. The newsroom itself has its own page on the intranet and uses it for tips on using CCI, submitting photo requests, etc.

Q. Recently, the Star made most of its intranet content available to the public on its web site. Please discuss what went in to making this decision.

A. When we began work on the intranet we knew from the start that the meatiest part of it - the FactFiles giving background on news events and newsmakers - was more appropriate for dissemination to the general public than just to the newsroom. We used the intranet as a quiet place to incubate these files until we had enough of them to represent a solid body of work. The head of our online news department watched this content build and quickly agreed we should spin it off to the public site. In December 2000 we launched a site at www.starnews.com/library/factfiles. I believe the potential benefit is considerable, because this may be an ideal model for how we will organize and present our archives in the future. It strikes a good balance between free and paid information, and it pursues a journalistic role in continuing to tell these important stories long after they have faded from the current front page.

Q. Describe the information that is available to the public. Is there a fee?

A. The FactFiles themselves are free. The links within each FactFile go to specific stories in the archive, which are retrieved in the form of a brief citation and lead paragraph. A link at the end of the lead says "purchase this article." So the user does not incur any cost just by following the story links on the page. The only time a transaction takes place is when the visitor clicks on "purchase this article."

Q. Describe the news library's role in the development and maintenance of both the intranet and the public site.

A. The library has complete authority over this site. Library staff write the summaries, select the articles, design the pages and post them to the site. We do, however, submit a printout of each prepared FactFile to a newsroom editor for proofreading before we post it. I wanted that final layer of editing because we need to treat all original copy in a manner similar to the way we handle it in the paper itself, with two or three layers of editing.

Q. What insights would you share with someone developing an intranet?

A. Don't be afraid of how to do it. Intranets are very easy to make and generally require virtually no investment. The network is there and space is generally readily available. Don't be afraid to learn how to design web pages. You can learn basic HTML tagging in a couple hours and you don't need fancy software. But do be concerned with why you do it. Don't run off and do something just because you can or because it seems like the trendy thing to do. Think about what you would use it for and who you are trying to help. What does the newsroom really need from your intranet? Will they bother using it? Can you build into your routine the time and discipline to maintain it? An intranet is not something you need to change every day. It is best used for useful information that stays relevant for a long period of time, but you do need to maintain it.


If you would like to spotlight your newsroom's intranet in the next News Library News, please contact Jalyn Kelley at jkelley4@csc.com. Jalyn Kelley is a researcher at CSC Consulting.