Spreading the word about QR codes and The Oklahoman’s digital products
A newspaper reader called me the other day. He was a pleasant fellow who wanted to know if I could help him figure out how to use the QR codes that we print in The Oklahoman.
He was wanting to connect to our multimedia videos and photos that we often refer to from these QR codes. He was willing to learn something new. Strike that … he was wanting to learn something new and enhance his daily newspaper reading experience.
What a nice conversation that was.
It took just a couple of minutes to show him that the best way to scan these QR codes was to download The Oklahoman’s iPhone app. That was easy. It took just about two minutes for him to download the app.
While we waited for him to retrieve the app from the store, we chatted about how this application would allow him to download an edition of the newspaper every day for free. As a subscriber, he gets that service free of charge. That was news to him. And I stressed that he doesn’t have to read the newspaper on his iPhone; we want him to read the newspaper if he prefers. But he does have that platform available to him if/when he needs it or wants it.
But more importantly, that app can make his printed newspaper even better.
Once he had the application, I showed him the SCAN button in the main navigation of the app. That’s available to any iPhone user — subscriber or not. He pushed that button, then we both pointed the camera at a scan code on the front page of that day’s newspaper.That’s when he said it:
“Well, there it is! How ’bout that!”
He was watching a NewsOK video within a handful of minutes of dialing me up. His newspaper content jumped from the printed page onto his digital device and started talking to him.
And he became a more connected, more informed reader of our newspaper. That made him a happy customer.
And it made my day.
Feature on NewsOK articles aims to offer another interesting read
We added a new feature last week to our articles.
Hopefully, you noticed — especially since the feature only makes an appearance when you reach the bottom of an article.
We added a ‘slideout’ feature that appears on the right side of your screen when you scroll to the bottom of an article. Technically, it slides in to your screen, but we’re still calling it a ‘slideout’ for now.
If you look at the photo on the right, you can see a screen shot of what of the slideout feature showing an additional OU sports article at the bottom of the article I was reading about Brent Venables.
The slideout offers a a popular headline in the same category of the story you are reading, so hopefully it’s a useful tool that will give you a suggested headline that you haven’t read before.
We’re not always looking to have stuff move around on the screen, but we’re always open to giving our readers something they might find useful. The early feedback has been positive, and the traffic numbers indicated a strong rate of clicks for those items. So I finally decided to introduce it on The Digital Desk blog.
I think it’s a keeper. Other individual might think otherwise. But ultimately, the way our users interact with the feature will determine its eventual fate.
Week in review: OU football news leads most-viewed items on NewsOK
It’s time again to review the most popular items on NewsOK in the past week. Enjoy …
Most-viewed article
Ryan Aber’s recruiting piece on Tuesday about OU’s focus on wide receiver prospect Dorial Green-Beckham led the way. That surprised me, actually. I know recruiting news is big, but I fully expected one of our OU coaching turnover stories to lead the pack. But the Mike Stoops story was edged by a wide receiver story. It just goes to show that OU football off-season news is sometime more interesting that in-season.
Most-viewed blog post
Breaking news about Mike Stoops did lead the way for our most-viewed blog post this week. Reporter Travis Haney shared the news that was breaking on several outlets on Wednesday. As he reported: “The announcement is coming – and coming soon. Just doesn’t sound as if it’ll be today.” And now … here it is Friday, and we’re still waiting for that announcement (strike that — the announcement just came)
Most-viewed photo
We get a break from OU football with our most-viewed image from the week. What that means is … this was the image our readers clicked on more than any other this week. It was a reader-provided photo of an accident on I-35 and 122nd last Friday.
(click for larger image)
Most-viewed video
Tuesday’s video about the return of OU quarterback Landry Jones was our most-viewed video of the week. Jenni Carlson and Travis Haney discussed OU football way back when the quarterback was the big story (not the defensive coordinator). That makes for a dominant week of OU football on NewsOK in the second week of January.
Claiming victory over a friendly 12-year-old debate with Berry Tramel
I learned two things about Berry Tramel this past week.
One of those items didn’t surprise me. The other floored me.
Sportswriter of the year
First, I learned that Berry was named Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. That news did not surprise me. It’s the fourth time Berry has won the honor from the group.
There are a lot of really talented reporters and writers covering sports in Oklahoma — all around the state for a variety of news sources — but they’re all playing for second place when it comes to this award. It would be pretty easy for him to be named the winner of this award every year.
A playoff proponent
Second, I learned that Berry supports an 11-team college football playoff system that would only include the conference champions. His point is that making only conferece champions eligible would take all the guesswork out of the system. I was very surprised by this opinion, but pleased nonetheless.
I have vivid memories of working in The Oklahoman sports department in 1999, when Berry served as assistant sports editor, and discussing the college football playoff possibilities. I supported a 16-team playoff, using 11 conference champions and five at-large bids. I remember arguing over a lot of the system with Berry, but my memory was that he believed it was far too bloated. In the end, I worked with Jenni Carlson on a piece she wrote on Dec. 28, 1999 supporting a 16-team playoff. We even designed a full page showcasing the system we came up with.
I confronted Berry about my memory, and he still says 16 is too bloated because it still includes five at large bids. I see his point and will wholly support the 11-team system with the same logic I had in 1999 — the regular season would remain critical and that teams might even schedule better non-conference games, because the conference championship (not an undefeated season) will get them into the playoff.
But my point is this … in 12 years, Berry moved his opinion from a two-team playoff system all the way to an 11-team system (the way I remember it). And I only moved my opinion from a16-team system to an 11-team system.
After 12-plus years, I claim victory.
Another story about amazing uses for today’s technology
I’ve written quite a bit about the iPad I use on a daily basis. I bought it last year — I think it was in May.
It’s the absolute truth that this device has changed my day-to-day life as much as any device or tool I’ve purchased in years (the fancy washer and dryer from about five years ago is a close second). I mean, the washer and dryer didn’t effectively replace my heavy laptop or my large portfolio notebook I always carried around.
So we know I like my iPad. That much is clear.
Azon Meyers presses on the screen to show he understand the letter “D” is for dolphin. Special education teachers at the Children’s Center in Bethany are using iPads in therapy sessions with children. PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN
But then I read Sonya Colberg’s story on Sunday about how iPads are being used to help improve the communication skills of children with disabilities at The Children’s Center in Bethany.
It was a great story that helps us see how people in all aspects of our community are using technological tools to make their lives and other lives around them better.
Scribbling helps children learn to communicate, she explained. But that early step is often lost to children like Abbagale who can’t hold a crayon or tap a keyboard.
Yet with her wrists in slings, Abbagale can draw or “turn” the pages of an alphabet book by lightly sliding a fingertip across the iPad screen.
Her teacher asked if she wanted to draw. The child turned those big eyes upward, meaning yes.
I shared those three paragraphs because it made me stop and shake my head. … And I thought my iPad changed my life.
Closing the book on 2011 end-of-year interactive projects
Opening the first full week of a new year, I thought it would be good to offer a shotgun approach to some of the items you might have missed in recent weeks. So here goes …
- The 2011 Year in Review page was released. We take a simple approach to this page. It’s simply the 25 most-viewed articles of the year. In 2011, our readers liked conference realignment articles a lot. It shows in our Top 25.
If you enjoy reviewing a year by looking a lot of photos, you could do a lot worse the our photographers’ end-of-year galleries for a variety of topics — Sports, News, Features and my personal favorite — Portraits. Seriously, the gallery of portraits is just really good photography.- Angi Bruss has a new A-List that was released this week. she does a great job as she explores local merchants each month and what they provide to improve the lifestyles of Oklahomans.
- George Lang’s Static unveiled another holiday special in late December. Static X-Mas was shot at Deep Deuce Grill in Oklahoma City. Stay in the holiday spirit — even if it’s January — by letting Static X-Mas play while you work.
At the end of the year in 2010, we revised and enhanced our Ongoing Coverage page for Oklahoma DHS. If you’ve read The Oklahoman or NewsOK, you know that reporters Nolan Clay and Randy Ellis have shine a bright light on DHS in recent years. The updated page now has a page devoted to Child Welfare, detailing the controversial cases in recent years. The timeline that’s on these pages is very deep and descriptive. Check it out.
We will have plenty more interactive elements in 2012. NewsOK will do its best to inform, entertain and enlighten with whatever tools we can find.
A detailed picture of DOC and prison escapees
Last week, we launched a pretty cool project that paints a detailed picture of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and prison escapees from Oklahoma.
Reporters Tiffany Gibson and Matt Patterson worked closely with web editor Nick Tankersley and Art Director Todd Pendleton to create an online presentation that has the combination of content depth and digestible presentation.
There are a lot of stories, a handful of videos, photo galleries and an interactive informational graphic that provide the overview of the coverage.
But it goes much deeper than that. The Oklahomans at Large page shows profiles of 96 inmates who remain at large. It even displays the eight that are the considered the most wanted.
The Prisons page maps and profile the medium- and maximum-security prisons, including my favorite part of the series — three panoramic views of a death-row cell, a maximum-security rotunda and the death chamber.
It’s chilling. It’s informational. It’s interactive.
The Department of Corrections online presentation is just good journalism.
The well-told story of Freckles Brown and Tornado
We put together another nDepth – Stories of the Ages piece for Sunday. It’s called, “The Ride,” and it focuses on the most famous “Eight Seconds in Rodeo History” when Freckles Brown stayed atop Tornado in 1967.
The story appeared on the front page of The Oklahoman on Sunday and was featured prominently on NewsOK.
I’m no rodeo aficionado, but I really enjoyed this piece by contributor Ron J. Jackson Jr.
I spoke on the phone this morning with a true rodeo fan who said he was there that night in 1967. He said that Jackson had “everything right” in his accounts and that it was a “great article.”
I agree. Reading the story of Freckles Brown and Tornado is worth the time. If you haven’t read it yet, do so today.
And make darn sure you take the handful of minutes to watch the great video, narrated by Bryan Painter and Doug Sauter.
The Buckles family takes on the digital transition
Local Editor Rick Green doesn’t just organize the news coverage every day while constantly juggling conversations and opinions of news reporters and managing editors.
Local Editor Rick Green (and resident Buckles reader)
No, even though he has one of the toughest jobs in the OPUBCO building, Rick apparently still finds time to read the paper cover to cover — literally — every day. I know this because the comics are on the back page of our Life section or Classifieds section each day, and Rick is a a reader of those comics.
How do I know he reads the comics? I know this, because he shared a series that was in Buckles last week. It was all about the newspaper transition to digital. Some of the conversations in the panels are similar to conversations I’ve had with friends and family members in recent years as OPUBCO has begun to offer enhanced digital subscriptions while continuing to offer an outstanding printed product. Buckles creator David Gilbert did a fine job capturing the challenges of the digital transition.
It’s always interesting to listen to the passion that people have about the way they like to read our news. The six-day series was fun to follow. Check out the Buckles for those six days below (click on the images to go to LOOKatOKC’s Comics Kingdom page, where you can see these images larger).
By the way, it shouldn’t go without noting that Rick showed me these comics by handing me a stack of newspapers.
Oh, and to be perfectly clear … there’s no shame in reading the comics. I read some every day in The Oklahoman, as well. I just happen to read them on The Oklahoman’s iPad edition instead of the printed newspaper.
Hearing praise from a fan of the NewsOK app & a fan of the Barons
Sports writer/columnist/reporter/expert/personality Berry Tramel shared this email with me last week:
Can’t thank you enough for the newsok app. Living in South Carolina, it brings me in touch with what’s happening in news and sports (mostly sports for me) back home. I was hoping you could pass it along to the necessary powers to maybe add a button for The Barons news. I’m a hockey fan and would like to read any articles written by the sports staff. Thanks for the time.
The customer was referring to the NewsOK iPhone app. We’ve had it for about a year and a half, and it’s definitely an experience meant for our NewsOK enthusiasts. It’s a steady stream of news headlines separated by many different topics.
Here’s just a bit of background on that topic. The constant stream of headlines on the NewsOK app is a departure from our app for The Oklahoman — those are meant for edition-based prioritized headlines that a reader of The Oklahoman might enjoy.
Two different apps. Two different experiences.
Regardless of all that, this reader really likes the NewsOK app, and that’s good. And I appreciated his feedback about the Barons headlines. That was a simple oversight. It’s there now.
Continue to enjoy the NewsOK app … or the mobile website … or The Oklahoman app … or NewsOK.com … or The Oklahoman Print Replica. It doesn’t really matter to us. We just want to find the best way to deliver news and information to you.
