Essential Editorial Workflow Tools For Multi-Platform Publishing - a talk given at AAN Web Conference 2012

1. Hi.
I
am
Irakli
from
NPR.
I
work
on
NPR
website,
NPR’s
API
and
NPR’s
mobile
applica<ons.
Recently
we
have
also
entered
the
Connected
Cars
space
with
the
launch
of
Ford
Sync
support
in
NPR
mobile
apps,
announced
at
CES.
2011
has
been
an
incredible
year
for
the
web
in
general
and
for
online
publishing,
in
par<cular.
A
lot
of
new,
interes<ng
technologies
have
emerged
and/or
reached
the
state
of
maturity
at
which
they
can
be
used
on
live
websites.
Today
I
would
like
to
share
with
you
some
insights
about
the
most
interes<ng
web
technologies
and
how
they
relate
to
news
and
media
publishing,
plus
what
we
see
as
the
trends
in
2012.
1

2. We
are
in
content
business:
crea<ng,
aggrega<ng,
edi<ng,
publishing
and
distribu<ng
content.
Content
is
the
king,
the
queen
and
a
herd
of
unruly
heirs
running
around,
making
a
mess.
It’s
the
alpha
and
omega
of
our
business.
When
we
discuss
technology,
we
mostly
care
about
the
part
of
the
technology
that
makes
produc<on
and
distribu<on
of
content
easier
or
more
effec<ve.
2

3. Let’s
start
with
the
technology
behind
content
produc<on.
Most
of
you
probably
use
some
sort
of
content
management
system.
Unfortunately,
unless
you
are
using
a
handful
of
modern
(mostly
open-­‐source)
CMSes,
chances
are
your
CMS’s
editorial
screens
look
something
like
the
screenshot
on
the
slide:
a
nightmare
of
user-­‐experience,
flashback
from
the
horror
of
‘90s
desktop
publishing.
3

4. Or
it
may
look
like
this:
the
same
frightening
interface
decisions
now
implemented
on
the
web.
4

5. Meanwhile,
life
on
the
web,
outside
of
the
monstrous
“enterprise”
CMSes
is
beau<ful
and
peaceful.
All
over
the
web,
we
are
spoiled
by
simple,
light
user
interfaces
that
are
both
powerful,
as
well
as
zen.
Interfaces
that
allow
us
to
author
and
publish
content
from
an
iPhone
or
Android
just
as
easily
as
from
a
tablet
or
a
large-­‐screen
computer.
But
all
of
that
is
outside
the
old-­‐school
CMSes
and
is
in
stark
contrast
with
what
we
have
to
deal
with
when
we
need
to
create
the
most
valuable
content:
the
one
we
are
paid
for.
When
we
need
to
do
that,
more
oaen
than
not
we
have
to
deal
with
clumsy
user
interface,
<ed
to
a
single
browser.
And
as
for
content
crea<on
from
a
mobile
phone
or
even
a
tablet
–
forget
about
it.
Not
only
it’s
important
to
make
content-­‐entry
mobile-­‐friendly,
but
even
more
importantly:
when
you
publish
content,
a
big
part
of
your
audience
will
access
that
content
on
a
mobile
devices.
We
need
to
make
sure
our
content
is
op<mized
for
being
consumed
on
a
mobile
device.
5

6. The
days
of
publishing
content
op<mized
for
the
1024
pixels
of
an
average
computer
screen
width
are
GONE!
Ever
since
Steve
Jobs
got
on
that
stage
and
unveiled
iPhone
to
the
world,
mobile
web
traffic
has
been
experiencing
explosive
growth.
If
you
look
at
sta<s<cal
data
from
Cisco
and
other
companies
who
make
such
data
available,
you
will
see
that
the
trend
of
mobile
growth
will
only
con<nue.
Some
of
the
challenges
with
mobile
content
publishing
are
that
a)
mobile
devices
(smartphones
as
well
as
tablets)
have
limited
screen
size
which
your
conven<onal
website
looks
prehy
horrible
on
b)
modern
mobile
phones
employ
touch
interfaces
to
interact
with
the
user,
which
your
conven<onal
website
is
probably
not
op<mized
for.
c)
There
is
huge
market
fragmenta<on
in
the
mobile
space.
Mobile
devices
come
in
all
kinds
of
shapes,
sizes
and
capabili<es
making
it
hard
to
target
individual
ones.
We
are
not
even
talking
yet
about
various
kinds
of
connected
devices
like:
cars,
TVs,
entertainment
boxes
and
other
digital
equipment
that
will
all
become
content
delivery
vehicles
if
they
are
not
already.
Revenue
sources
for
publishers
follow
the
mobile
trend,
as
well.
Mashable
has
declared
2012
the
year
of
Mobile
Adver<sing
(hhp://mashable.com/2012/01/20/
mobile-­‐marke<ng-­‐2012/)
and
I
think
they
are
onto
something
there.
6

7. In
order
to
reach
the
wide
variety
of
plakorms
NPR
has
long
employed
a
concept
we
call
COPE
–
Create
Once,
Publish
Everywhere.
It
was
coined,
number
of
years
ago,
by
Dan
Jacobson,
my
predecessor
at
NPR,
now
the
director
of
API
at
Neklix.
The
basic
idea
behind
COPE
is
that
content
should
be
authored
in
a
re-­‐usable
manner
and
then
delivered
in
a
uniform
way
to
all
target
devices/plakorms.
7

8. There
are
two
main
technological
tools
for
achieving
the
promise
of
“Create
Once,
Publish
Everywhere”,
currently
popular
on
the
web:
1) Content
APIs
2) Responsive
Web
Design
Let’s
start
with
Responsive
Web
Design.
8

9. You
have
probably
already
heard
of
HTML5,
possibly
the
biggest
technological
advancement
on
the
web,
since
web’s
crea<on.
What
you
know
as
“HTML5”
is
actually
a
collec<on
of
various
new
technologies
that
modern
browsers
implemented
per
the
W3C
specifica<ons.
One
such
important
technology
is
called
CSS3
Media
Queries.
Media
Queries
allow
websites
to
customize
the
look-­‐and-­‐feel,
using
style-­‐sheets,
depending
on
the
capabili<es
of
the
device
that
the
site
is
displayed
on.
9

10. Using
HTML5
a
very
smart
dude
called
Ethan
Marcohe
created
something
called
Responsive
Web
Design.
RWD
is
a
novel
design
methodology
to
create
web
user
interfaces
that
adapt
themselves
depending
on
the
device
they
are
displayed
on
and
work
equally
well
on
all
screen
sizes
and
devices,
from
your
iPhone
to
your
iPad
to
your
laptop.
10

11. One
of
the
first
and
most
iconic
examples
of
Responsive
Web
Design
is
the
new
Boston
Globe
website.
It
was
built
by
a
team
led
by
Ethan
Marcohe,
the
father
of
RWD,
and
Miranda
Mulligan,
director
of
digital
design
at
Boston
Globe.
At
the
top
you
can
see
how
the
website
looks
on
a
large
desktop
screen.
On
the
bohom
lea
is
the
same
page
on
a
tablet
screen
and
last,
but
not
least:
bohom
right
is
how
you
would
see
the
page
when
displayed
on
a
small-­‐screen
smartphone.
It’s
very
important
to
note
that
this
is
the
same
web-­‐page,
not:
an
“iPad
version”
of
the
page
or
“iPhone
version”
of
the
page
and
the
design
is
extremely
resilient
to
wide
range
of
screen
sizes
and
capabili<es
across
many
different
devices.
Without
Responsive
Web
Design
you
would
have
to
target
individual
flavors
of
devices,
would
have
to
create
iPad
version,
iPhone
version,
Galaxy
S
version,
Kindle
Fire
version
the
list
goes
on
and
is
very
long.
Targe<ng
individual
devices
is
an
extremely
expensive
and
wasteful
proposi<on.
Responsive
Web
approach
allows
targe<ng
a
wide
variety
of
devices
in
a
unified
and
a
very
cost-­‐effec<ve
manner.
11

12. Responsive
Web
Design
is
a
powerful
tool
that,
depending
on
your
needs,
can
solve
from
70-­‐100%
of
your
needs
in
reaching
various
plakorms
and
devices
with
your
content.
However,
it
does
have
some
limita<ons.
Firstly,
RWD
is
a
web
methodology
that
strongly
depends
on
underlying
technologies
behind
HTML5.
While
HTML5
is
definitely
on
the
curve
of
becoming
Lingua
Franca
of
the
Internet,
there
are
s<ll
some
devices
that
require
na<ve
applica<ons
(e.g.
car
computer
systems,
entertainment
boxes,
TVs
etc.).
Furthermore,
some
of
the
advanced
features
of
even
the
devices
that
do
support
HTML5
are
not
yet
fully
available
to
web
applica<ons.
These
include:
full
support
of
device
capabili<es
like:
camera,
voice
and
so
on.
If
you
are
building
an
advanced
app
for
a
device
that
does
not
support
HTML5
or
if
you
need
to
tap
into
advanced
capabili<es
of
a
device,
you
may
need
to
build
a
na<ve
applica<on
for
that
device.
This
is
where
content
APIs
come
into
the
play.
12

13. API
stands
for:
Applica<on
Programming
Interface.
APIs
are
how
computers
communicate
on
the
web.
Content
APIs
are
a
way
for
electronic
devices
to
exchange
content
in
a
standard
way.
Following
the
Create
Once,
Publish
Everywhere
principle,
you
want
to
create
content
once
in
a
re-­‐usable,
digital
format
and
disseminate
it
to
all
your
target
devices,
through
the
web.
Similarly,
when
suppor<ng
things
like
ci<zen
journalism,
you
want
to
be
able
to
collect
and
aggregate
content
in
a
unified
way
via
any
available
device.
All
of
these
is
made
possible
with
the
use
of
content
APIs.
Some<mes
people
make
a
mistake
of
thinking
of
an
API
as
a
way
to
“give
away
your
content”.
As
a
communica<on
tool
between
computer
systems,
APIs
definitely
enables
this
use-­‐case,
but
that’s
not
necessarily
the
only
purpose.
NPR’s
API
is
one
of
the
most
used
APIs
on
the
web.
While
we
make
tons
of
content
available
through
our
API,
for
free,
you
may
be
surprised
to
learns
that
the
majority
of
NPR
API
usage
comes
from
NPR
itself.
We
use
API
to
reach
the
wide
variety
of
devices
and
plakorms
where
we
publish
our
content
and
to
exchange
content
with
many
local
NPR
sta<ons.
Publishing
content
through
APIs
is
the
main
technological
tool
with
which
we
enable
the
Create
Once,
Publish
Everywhere
principle.
13

14. So
how
do
we
make
all
of
these
happen?
NPR,
much
like
probably
most
of
you
in
the
audience,
has
limited
resources
and
dispropor<onally
larger
mo<va<on
to
deliver
the
best
possible
content
experience
to
its
audiences.
At
NPR
we
call
it:
constantly
punching
above
our
weight.
Cost
reduc<ons
are
very
important
in
this
effort.
Even
more
important
is:
being
able
to
leverage
the
technological
space
that
provides
the
most
innova<on;
being
at
the
forefront
of
the
technology
curve.
In
many
cases
the
pursuit
of
innova<on
has
lead
us
to
open
source
soaware.
14

15. What
is
“open-­‐source”?
There’re
many
(some<mes
even
somewhat
contradictory)
defini<ons
of
Open
Source.
At
the
basic
level
it’s
a
collabora<ve
way
to
create
soaware.
On
a
philosophical
level,
open-­‐source
follows
scien<fic
method
of
knowledge
crea<on:
through
sharing.
The
thing
is:
knowledge
is
not
like
material
goods.
If
I
have
one
apple
and
I
give
it
to
you,
I
don’t
have
an
apple,
anymore.
But
if
I
know
something
and
I
tell
all
of
you
about
it
–
now
all
of
us
know
it,
we
have
increased
the
amount
of
knowledge!
This
is
what
open-­‐source
tries
to
leverage
and
how
it
approaches
tackling
hard
programming
problems
–
through
collabora<on!
On
a
prac<cal
level,
open-­‐source
is
a
number
of
soaware
licenses
that
enable
and
encourage
collabora<on.
In
a
typical,
successful
open-­‐source
project,
a
large
amount
of
soaware
developers,
from
all
around
the
world,
join
forces
online
on
developing
a
complex
system.
The
key
to
open
collabora<on
is
a
soaware
license
that
allows
free
modifica<ons
to
the
soaware
and
free
distribu<on,
that’s
where
the
name
“open
source”
comes
from.
15

16. Let
me
explain
why
we
love
open-­‐source
at
NPR.
It’s
not
just
because
it’s
“free”
as
in
“no
charge”.
Sure,
there
are
some
cost
savings.
Soaware
licenses
can
be
costly.
However,
when
thinking
of
soaware
costs,
it’s
prudent
to
consider
Total
Cost
of
Ownership,
over
the
life-­‐<me
of
the
soaware.
In
many
cases,
ini<al
investment
costs
(such
as
licensing
ones)
can
be
far
outweighed
by
the
costs
of
the
con<nued
development
and
maintenance.
So
cost
is
not
the
#1
reason.
What
about
other
benefits
of
open-­‐source?
Let’s
say:
vendor-­‐independence
and
freedom
to
modify
and
customize
ini<al
code.
These
are
truly
important
benefits.
However,
they
are
s<ll
not
the
main
factor
for
us.
The
most
important
thing
to
remember
is
that
open-­‐source
is
HUGE.
If
open-­‐source
were
a
company
it
would
have
more
developers
than
all
major
commercial
soaware
companies
combined.
That’s
par<ally
because
a
lot
of
developers
at
the
commercial
companies
contribute
heavily
to
open-­‐source.
Fact
is:
due
to
the
huge
size
of
open-­‐source,
the
amount
of
cumula<ve
innova<on
in
open-­‐source
soaware
is
unmatched
by
any
single
soaware
vendor.
Sure,
there
are
some
niche
problems
that,
currently,
only
have
commercial
solu<ons,
but
overall,
if
you
look
at
the
wide
breadth
of
the
problems,
the
power
of
crowds
that
open-­‐source
possesses
has
huge
win
over
isolated
efforts
typically
found
in
proprietary
models.
16

17. To
summarize,
if
there
are
only
three
things
you
will
take
away
from
this
talk
today,
I
would
like
them
to
be
the
following:
1) Mobile
is
huge.
Responsive
Web
Design
is
a
ubiquitous
and
cost-­‐effec<ve
way
of
delivering
your
content
to
a
wide
variety
of
devices.
2) For
the
cases
when
you
need
to
target
non-­‐HTML5
devices;
or
if
you
need
na<ve
mobile
applica<ons
so
you
can
leverage
some
of
the
more
advanced
features
of
the
devices,
or
to
exchange
content
with
your
partners
–
Content
APIs
provide
a
standard
way
of
implemen<ng
the
Create
Once,
Publish
Everywhere
principle.
3) Open
Source
is
huge.
Not
only
it’s
a
real
way
of
saving
cost,
but
it’s
also
where
a
lot
of
innova<on,
on
the
web,
is
born
at.
Pay
ahen<on
to
open-­‐source.
17

18. Thank
you
for
your
ahen<on.
18