Running Head: SHOW ME A BETTER WAY
Show Me a Better Way: Rethinking Show Me the Records for the Semantic Web
Karen Miller
Kip Hill
University of Missouri
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Abstract
The Missourian is headed for a new method of content management, called Junit, which
is designed to take advantage of the options available to users of the semantic web. The content-
stream structure afforded by this new system of news delivery opens up many possibilities for
non-narrative storytelling. Currently, the Missourian maintains a weekly feature known as
“Show Me the Records” which tells readers how to obtain public records at various online
destinations and what the records could be used for. This project examines the readership of the
series to date, and examines ways that the feature may be improved with the shift to Junit to
engage a greater number of readers and provide reporters with a potential goldmine for story
ideas through a look at relevant literature, analytic reports and a staff survey. The researchers
suggest a philosophical shift in the newsroom that makes regular reporting students aware of the
Show Me the Records series and thinking of public records when pitching story ideas, and
managerial changes that would encourage content to be published in a timely manner and in a
way that builds on the narrative content being offered online.
Keywords: Show Me the Records, semantic web, public records, database journalism, ethics
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Introduction
On a typical Wednesday afternoon, like any other at the Columbia Missourian, a reporter
on her general assignment shift lifts the receiver of the phone and the front desk and
automatically intones the professional greeting. After listening with a confused look on her face
for a few moments, she turns to the assistant city editor, as we all have at one time or another,
and requests assistance from the abyss the caller’s request has placed her in.
This time, the culprit is the Missourian’s running “Show Me the Records” series. The
caller, the reporter explains, wants to know if the records posted that morning are the most up-to-
date available. As the reporter hands the phone to the assistant city editor, she makes this
observation:
“I don’t know. I never read those…”
This actual exchange from March 21, 2012 is not meant to single out any one reporter in
the newsroom. Nor is it meant to prove that a nosy journalist cannot resist even from turning
their powers of eavesdropping on their colleagues (though that may certainly be true).
This project seeks to examine the readership of the Missourian’s systemic reporting series
“Show Me the Records,” begun in March 2010. Now with two years of analytics about
readership and on the verge of shifting from the story-driven content management system of
Django to the more content stream-driven Junit, the time is right to evaluate the performance of
this series and ways to make sure a larger portion of the reading audience is seeing and engaging
with the reports. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide some guidance on how to move
forward with the series, and to provide a list of best practices on how it might be transformed as
the Missourian moves to a new content management system.
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Literature Review
In this review of the existing literature, we will lay out the academic response to the
development of the semantic web in terms of storytelling and reporting ethics, emerging
newsroom philosophies on providing public records electronically, the effect of the content
stream for the reader and their engagement with the news outlet, and, finally, its effect as a useful
tool for those involved in creation of the news product.
Storytelling implications of the semantic web
In 2001, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, defined the new semantic
web in this way: “The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one,
in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to
work in cooperation” (Berners-Lee, Hendler, & Lassila, p. 35). Berners-Lee was emphasizing the
programming capabilities of the new web that would allow software agents to provide more
segues for the computer to process information available on the page to facilitate faster browsing
for the user. However, the statement also displays the desirability for the user to access
meaningful information in a more direct and time-efficient manner.
The implications for journalism, whose primary purpose, as Kovach and Rosenstiel
(2007) exhort, “is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-
governing,” of the Semantic Web are only recently being explored, though the literature shows
its implementation may be far-reaching. Castells, et al. (2004) discuss the possibility of
employing semantic strategies in the construction of newspapers’ digital archives to enable quick
browsing and grouping of content by subject.
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Brownback (2010) examines the Google Living Stories project specifically, a
collaboration between traditional newspapers and the search engine giant to create what
Washington Post deputy universal news editor R.B. Brenner called an “organic, ongoing way to
tell stories” (p. 8). The format allowed for multiple narrative, “blog-style” entries below a main
subject heading of topics such as swine flu and health care reform (Brownback, 2010). The ease
of telling the story on a single web page is more than just a response to reader preferences,
however. It was also inspired by the way traffic is now directed to a page, coming less frequently
from the home page of the publication and more often from news aggregators and social media
(Brownback, 2010). The project was a response not only to the cognitive effects of the semantic
web, but also in the fundamental way readers traversed a network that allows multiple access
points to information.
These efforts, in addition, seek to shift the digital product of a news outlet away from
print-first models. Updating a study from 2001, Barnhurst (2010) examines the online
destinations of The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Portland Oregonian in 2005
to compare the presentation to the days when online publishing was in its infancy and digitized
publications often resembled the print product in layout and interactivity (read: rigid and non-
existent). The study results reflected what Neil Chase, an editor for the New York Times, in
2006 called a “trepidation about technology among reporters and editors” about the impact it will
have in fundamentally changing the methods and tools needed for 21st Century journalism
(Chase, 2006, p. 64). Barnhurst (2010) reports that the examined news sites are moving from
topographic pages structured like the inside of a newspaper, at the expense of “burying” certain
stories on a flooded main page that enhanced the gatekeeper function of the journalist (p. 563). In
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addition, the sites’ emphasis on interactivity and navigation choices were influenced more by
producing ad revenue than by enabling free movement through content (p. 564).
That Barnhurst and Chase report resistance to change in the way news is presented at
traditional publications should not come as a surprise. However, the shifting nature of the way
information is presented on the semantic web, through social media tools and other non-
traditional media outlets, have led many to suggest adaptation and a new understanding of the
gatekeeping function of the traditional press. Bruns (2003) describes a collaborative process of
“gatewatching” rather than gatekeeping, in which editors, reporters and their readers
collaboratively produce information on the World Wide Web. Greenberg (2010) calls for a
continuation of this process with the rise of the evolving semantic web, specifically calling out
readers to serve as editors in the formation of organic narratives online like those seen in the
Google Living Stories.
Public records and database access
One of the ways in which readers, editors and reporters can collaborate to build non-
narrative, content-driven streams of information is in the presentation of primary documents and
information online to complement traditional journalism offerings. Indeed, Speckman (1994)
argues the posting of public records in online databases is an extension of the generations-old
watchdog function journalism serves for the public. This belief is echoed in the weekly prologue
to “Show Me the Records” entries on the Missourian’s web page and in print: “Open records
help people keep public institutions in check and help them better understand how government
affects their lives.”
Like the shift to a digital-based format mentioned above and the even earlier formation of
professional practices and ethics among journalists in the early 20th Century (Banning, 1999), the
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emergence of computer-assisted reporting and web tools for hosting primary sources of
information on the digital offering of newsrooms lead to a development of best practices on the
fly. Smith (1997) notes several of the issues with finding legitimate sources of information early
in the World Wide Web’s life cycle, pointing specifically to issues of currency and authority that
could be bolstered through the prestige of a news media outlet providing the information, backed
up by its established credibility (p. 9). Despite the shifting media landscape to digital platforms,
empirical evidence has shown that traditional credibility factors such as expertise and
trustworthiness attached to the body of work produced by a news outlet affect readers’
perception of content (Chung, Yoonjae, & Stefanone, 2012). Traditional media outlets, then,
have the potential to host reliable numbers and data that can bolster the credibility of their own
narrative offerings while at the same time establishing a trustworthy outlet of primary
information for readers.
Lawrence (2010) implicitly suggests another role for media outlets in establishing order
on the semantic web. She specifically turns her attention to Australian Policy Online, a web
service that provides what she terms “grey literature” on public policy initiatives related to the
island nation/continent. This literature includes data, recommendations and commentary from
experts in numerous fields for public and professional consumption. Lawrence (2010) decries the
lack of organization, pointing out that the ad hoc manner in which the data is published on the
site allows for duplicate publication, improper categorization of material and a lack of credibility
standards in selection of what is published (p. 46). Lawrence (2010) suggests several technology
and library-science based approaches to introducing what she terms a bridge of understanding
through the grey literature, but the message is instructive for any organization seeking to
establish order on the semantic web. Methods of reader evaluation, categorization and
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establishing context all go a long way in granting ways for readers of these reports to glean
meaning from the grey. News outlets can achieve this by ensuring that records and data are
paired with the narrative content that gives the databases meaning.
The advent of computer-assisted and data reporting have also led to a shift in what is
considered public and private information. As journalists navigated the proper use of new
technology to deliver primary data, so too have they grappled with the ethical treatment of
information that has come across their desk. Speckman (1994) says that, in addition to serving
the public good through the publication of records, the journalist also has an obligation to protect
the privacy of individual citizens. “Using databases for citizens’ good while protecting citizens
from another peep show into their private lives should be of concern to news organizations,”
Speckman (1994) writes, “Media need to recognize the potential for conflict between serving
justice and preserving privacy.”
While ethics in database journalism are still very much a concern (Stabe, 2007),
journalists are lobbying more and more for using records in reporting to the greatest degree
possible (Stewart, 2009; Harder, 2008). Rauhofer (2008) argues that individuals are increasingly
foregoing rights of privacy for certain advantages online, with the inherent expectation that some
political or government entity will protect them from undue invasion of privacy. This leads her to
conclude that society, as a whole, is trending toward an end to anonymity that can only be
corrected by individuals’ awareness of the decision-making process that leads to information
being released online (Rauhofer, 2008, pp. 195-196). An awareness of this decision-making
process, viewed in light of the observations of Stabe (2007) and Speckman (1994), suggest that
journalists should be cognizant of where their information was coming from and how it was
compiled before choosing to publish records for public viewing. Open Missouri, an initiative at
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MU seeking to publish otherwise inaccessible public records and improve government
transparency at the state level, makes the distinction this way on their Frequently Asked
Questions page:
We follow privacy laws that have been passed by federal and state lawmakers. However, because the purpose of Open Missouri is help you better understand state and local government, we will inform you about databases that mix public and private information, or hold completely private information. The Missouri Sunshine Law requires government agencies to redact (or remove) private data if it's mixed with public data, and release the public portion. (Open Missouri)
The implication, of course, is that trusted sources of news should publish everything legally that
they can, which requires some background in open records laws by the reporter, as well.
Reporter benefits
Before you write any story for the Missourian, the likelihood of being told to “check the
clips” hovers somewhere around 100%, depending on the crabbiness of your editor. In addition
to the clips, the semantic web and Junit form of content management provides the potential for
deeper sourcing and greater context in published offerings, like the running narrative present in
the Google Living Stories. Not only do readers benefit from the ongoing stream of information,
but so too, in theory, should be the reporters producing the information — especially in a
newsroom with the frequent beat turnover experienced at the Missourian.
Stewart (2009) argues for an exhaustive public records search before writing stories
particularly related to establishing a historical perspective, and to “think broadly” about which
documents may be useful. Reilley (2003) says journalism teachers need to respond to the
changing demands of the online newsroom, uprooting themselves from the “check the clips”
mentality to one that recognizes the numerous electronic databases available to young reporters
trying to get a lay of the land. A profile of a computer programmer-turned-journalist by Schulte
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(2011) shows how the work of compiling databases and records can be invaluable for an
investigative team trained in the skills of negotiating raw data.
The literature and the practical experiences in the Missourian newsroom demonstrate that
the Show Me the Records series of articles has major implications for the core journalistic
functions the news outlet pursues, the way we will tell stories in the upcoming shift to the Junit
content management system, the way we interact and engage our readership and in providing
reporters in the learning stages of their career with the background and context required to tackle
episodic issues in a community they may be unfamiliar with. Along with these obligations come
ethical considerations and an attention to the needs and desires of the readers that drives news
production already on a daily basis.
Before we can approach the question of best practices with the Show Me the Records
entries moving forward, however, it is important to take stock of where the series stands in its
current state as a part of the Missourian’s news offerings. The aforementioned wealth of analytic
data available after more than 2 years of Show Me the Records articles makes this a perfect time
to analyze the readership of the entries and other vital statistics about visibility and readability.
Accordingly, we have devised a list of research questions we were interested in examining about
the Show Me the Records package:
RQ1: Which stories are people reading the most? RQ2: Where are visitors coming from?RQ3: Are users actually accessing the records?RQ4: How many comments are the stories generating? What types of records generate the most comments (if any)? What types of comments are we getting on Show Me the Records entries?RQ5: How much time are people spending on the articles? RQ:6 How many people within the Missourian view these records? Do they use them in their reporting? Where would they like to see Show Me the Records coverage expanded?RQ7: Do readers stay on our site after viewing Show Me the Records, or do they move on?RQ8: What interest areas have been covered by Show me the Records entries? What areas are lacking?
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Method
We sought to answer these questions through a combination of Google Analytics data
and responses to a newsroom survey conducted from April 4 to April 17, 2012. After gaining
access to the Google analytics from the Community Outreach team at the Missourian, we created
a custom report that included a filter limiting results to pages that had the exact phrase “show-
me-the-records” in the page url. The Missourian hosts Show Me the Records entries on its
website using the following package URL: http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/(date in
YYYY/MM/DD format)/show-me-records/(page title based on Django headline). A search of the
Missourian’s Show Me the Records package landing site showed that the first entry appeared on
March 2, 2010. The parameters of our search, then, included the date range March 1, 2010 to
April 3, 2012, and returned 61 unique Show Me the Records entries.
To answer the questions posed above, we structured our custom report to return the total
number of pageviews, total number of unique pageviews, from which site the page received the
most referrals, the average amount of time spent on the page, the exit rate (a calculation of the
site exits from the page divided by total pageviews), and the bounce rate (a calculation of the
number of visitors who only visited the Show Me the Records entry on the Missourian site, then
left the site, divided by the total number of unique visitors). In addition, we counted the number
of comments that appeared on each of the 61 stories by visiting each of the pages on April 8,
2012. We also classified each of the stories based on the beat the subject matter fit within. The
categories we used were: Education, Public Safety, Public Life, Sports, Health and Enterprise (a
catch-all category that included unclassifiable records). Two of the 61 stories defied simple
categorization; we included them as both Public Safety and Health records.
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To place the number of pageviews, exit and bounce rates into context, we collected the
analytics from a typical Missourian readership week, March 18 to March 25. This week avoided
the lull in traffic occurring during Spring Break and avoided the sports-leaning tilt of the
previous week in its coverage of the Missouri men’s basketball team competing in the NCAA
Tournament, providing a mix of stories in a number of different categories among the most-read.
To answer the questions related to newsroom use of Show Me the Records in reporting,
we had to stray from the Google Analytics data. Google Analytics reports pageviews
anonymously, making it impossible for us to accurately measure how many Missourian staffers
were accessing Show Me the Records entries. We had to resort to self-reporting, so we
developed a Google Form survey, which we emailed via the newsroom listserv to reporters, copy
editors, ACEs, news editors, the community outreach team and graphics desk reporters on April
4. We collected a total of 37 responses on April 17. Questions centered on how many Show Me
the Records entries each staffer read, how/if they used the entries and records in their reporting
and what areas they’d like to see the series expanded. In addition, an open-ended question asked
what improvements should be made to the series. A full copy of our survey and result tables are
included at the end of this paper.
Findings
Applying the analytic results to our eight RQs, we were able to answer most of our
questions. Some require further research, but all of the results showed issues with Show Me the
Records as well as some trends.
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RQ1: Which stories are people reading the most?
This table shows the top five most-read Show Me the Records stories as well as their
publication date.
Table 1
Top Show Me the Records Entries by Pageviews
Story Pageviews/unique pageviews
Publication Date
MU grade distribution 2,450/1,837 5/9/2011
Boone County jail inmates
1,878/1,510 3/28/2011
Missouri’s largest lost and found
1,755/1,102 2/7/2011
Athletic department revenue sources
1,470/1,429 1/10/2011
CPD racial profiling statistics
1,225/1,102 7/19/2010
Local area unemployment statistics
1,102/857 1/17/2011
These numbers stand in stark contrast to our control group of the most-read stories from March
18- 24. The top-read story during that week gained 1,486 pageviews. This is comparable to the
fourth most-read Show Me the Records article that has been on the website for over a year. All
of the top 5 most-read Show Me the Records entries have been on the site for nearly a year, and
in the case of the CPD racial profiling statistics, nearly two years.
RQ2: Where are visitors coming from?
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Most users are being referred to the articles from Google, which mirrors a general trend
seen in the control analytics report. Bing, Yahoo and Google are all major search engines. The
more interesting referrals are those from InsideColumbia.net, tigerboard.com and
bengal.missouri.edu. These sites may have been linking to the story.
Table 2
Top Referrals to Show Me the Records
Website Referrals
Google 25
(direct) or Columbiamissourian.com 20
Yahoo 4
Bing 3
msn.com 4
msnbc.msn.com 2
InsideColumbia.net 1
LinkedIn.com 1
tigerboard.com 1
bengal.missouri.edu 1
RQ3: Are users actually accessing the records?
While it is out of our technical ability to track visitors to other websites and their time
spent there, we can see the exit rate from Show Me the Records articles. The average exit rate for
Show Me the Records is 53.47 percent. That means about half of the users leave the articles for
another website. Because there are embedded links, it is possible that those users are accessing
the website. However, the exit rate for the Show Me the Records is very similar and actually
lower than the 54.68 percent of the top 25 most-read articles for the control week of March 18-
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24, only one of which was a Show Me the Records article, indicating fewer viewers actually left
the website from a Show Me the Records page as a percentage than traditional “story” pages.
As stated, however, this is an imperfect method of determining whether Show Me the
Records viewers were actually following links to the record. Future website code should enable
easy tracking of outbound links through the establishment of goals in Google Analytics, or the
Missourian should explore other methods of charting viewership.
RQ4: How many comments are the stories generating? What types of records
generate the most comments (if any)? What types of comments are we
getting on Show Me the Records entries?
For the most part, Show Me the Records articles do not generate many comments. In fact,
only ten stories have comments. That does not mean that readers will not engage with the
website. For the most part, there is little to engage with by commenting. The articles are laid out
to direct readers elsewhere. Because there is little writing and commentary, there is little
reaction.
RQ5: How much time are people spending on the articles?
Readers don’t spend much time on the articles, because generally they’re short. Only 15
stories have a time on page over 2 minutes. The purpose of Show Me the Records is to direct
readers to other sources. They do not function like a normal narrative story. The articles all
follow a similar, scanner-style format.
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RQ6: How many people within the Missourian view these records? Do they
use them in their reporting? Where would they like to see Show Me the
Records coverage expanded?
We explored this research question by using a staff survey. As stated previously, we
garnered 37 responses between April 4 and April 17, 2012.
Thirty-three participants said they had never used a Show Me the Records entry in the
course of their reporting. In addition, only four staff members in the survey claimed to have read
an entire article and subsequently clicked on the link to the records. Our survey also showed that
thirty members have read 3 articles or fewer.
Participants were allowed to give suggestions for improving Show Me the Records. Some
possible changes suggested by staff included:
• Including infographics with the records.• Explaining how the records can be used.• Using Show Me the Records as a way to enhance other stories by linking or embedding.• Making the articles more visible on the homepage.• Adding contact information that can be used to request records.
A suggestion that appeared more than once was changing how Show Me the Records is featured
on the website. Many staff members, and possibly readers as well, do not access Show Me the
Records because they can’t find it. For a series that runs regularly, there seems to be confusion
about its purpose and the overall goal of running the articles.
RQ7: Do readers stay on our site after viewing Show Me the Records, or do they move on?
Show Me the Records entries have a high bounce rate — 25 articles have a 100 percent
rate. Fifty stories have a bounce rate of 50 percent or higher. Generally, readers are not exploring
the website after reading Show Me the Records.
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RQ8: What interest areas have been covered by Show me the Records
entries? What areas are lacking?
For our study, we grouped the articles by beat (excluding Neighborhoods). The entries
with the highest number of pageviews are:
1. Education.2. Public Safety.3. Enterprise.4. Sports.5. Public Safety.
With two entries in the top five, Public Safety records are in high demand. The Public
Safety beat has the highest amount of Show Me the Records entries on the Missourian website.
The only beat missing is Neighborhoods, but that type of reporting doesn’t apply as well to the
style of Show Me the Records.
Public Safety drives the Show Me the Records series. These stories are often highly read
and also published the most often.
Table 3
Show Me the Records Entries by Beat
Beat Entries
Public Safety 16
Enterprise 12
Education 9
Health 9
Public Life 7
Sports 6
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Table 3
Show Me the Records Entries by Beat
Beat Entries
Health/Public Safety 2
Discussion
Our study used Google Analytics reports and an online survey to determine the current
patterns of readership and satisfaction with the Show Me the Records series produced by the
Missourian. After examining the data produced by these studies, we submit the following best
management practices recommendations moving forward with the weekly feature.
1.Timeliness
The most-read Show Me the Records entry, about MU grade distribution, was published
near graduation. This may be a factor in the number of page views the story gained. Timing the
release of Show Me the Records topics with events happening in the community.
Because the Show Me the Records articles are all written in the same week by the
Advanced Reporting class and then released one at a time, stories that may be timely are released
too late. If stories were not left in a queue, but instead assigned on a week-by-week basis, Show
Me the Records could benefit from the beat knowledge reporters have gained. An example of
this at the Missourian is Public Life’s the Watchword blog. On the blog, there is a weekly
schedule for the Daily Dish, a run-down of stories of the day. Each reporter takes his or her own
week. If Show Me the Records applied this, it could move away from a week-long document
dump into the system that is slowly parceled out, to a more fluid semester long assignment.
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There is the risk that people may not do the assignment, but it may lead to more nuanced and
impacting stories.
2.Relevance
Related to timeliness, it would be helpful to take advantage of reporter’s beat knowledge.
Show Me the Records should be a Junit that reporters have in the back of their head, like
graphics, photos and documents.
Reporters are already encouraged to upload documents with stories. Show Me the
Records could provide a place for additional documents that go with a story. Thinking of open
records as part of total narrative package can increase readership and also help inform other
reporters who may take over a story.
3.Training
Spending a bit more time in Reporting 7450 discussing Show Me the Records and data
reporting could give reporters more direction in the long run. At the very least, it is crucial to
introduce beginning reporters to the series so they know of sources for stories. We don’t propose
shifting the Show Me the Records assignment to the Reporting 4450/7450 sections, because
there simply aren’t enough Missouri-specific records out there for the series to be sustainable for
more than a few semesters (see the listing of public records at the Open Missouri site), but we do
propose taking at least one of the lectures to discuss the series, how and if it works, and how to
use it to mine for story ideas. Also, it would be wise to keep a running tabulation of the records
hosting in the section to hand out each semester, so reporters know what is available. This could
even be done during the orientation period at the beginning of the semester.
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4. Incentive
Show Me the Records needs to be more than just an assignment to get out of the way.
One way to encourage reporters is to have Show Me the Records featured more prominently on
the homepage. For the most part, the series is not well-known in the newsroom. Reporters are
more inclined to write the articles if they know the place they end up. As it is now, stories
publish long after reporters have left the newsroom. A possibility is encouraging Show Me the
Records as a component in a larger, project story for advanced reporting.
5.Interactivity
Although the series is Show “Me” the Records, it functions as Show “You” the Records.
One function that could be added to the series is a “records request” box. Readers could submit a
request for records relating to issues they see. Obviously, these requests should be vetted and
must be obtainable for our staff. The Show Me the Records should take advantage of the
Community Outreach team. Members of the Outreach team can relay requests to reporters and
also engage with submitters by telling them their request can or cannot be filled. This request
box can also lead to story ideas for reporters.
The launch of Junit is the perfect time to revamp Show Me the Records. The stories are
interactive because they contain a hyperlink, but there is more that can be done to entice readers
to engage. By including Show Me the Records in the structural design of a content-stream driven
“story” page, we can invite readers to engage with content produced in our shop while also
giving them the option of looking at the raw data, in its entirety, that helped produce a particular
story or gives context to a singular issue.
Our study had several limitations. The first has to do with response rate to our staff
survey. Over the course of a week, we were able to attract 37 unique respondents to fill out the
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Google form. A majority (N=22) of those responding were reporters. This represents less than a
third of staff reporters for the semester, counting both the regular and advanced reporting
sections. Our respondents from other newsroom positions were not evenly distributed; we had 8
responses from Copy Editors and just 1 each of News Editors, News Designers and Photo
Editors. This may have skewed the results of our survey slightly.
We depended a lot on Google for analytics reports. After about the top 25 most-read
Show Me the Records entries, exit rates, bounce rates, total pageviews and unique pageviews
seem to run together, suggesting the method of collection was far from perfect. For our in-class
presentation and in statistical analysis, we limited our entries to the top 25 most-read Show Me
the Records entries to avoid potential complications of readership collection statistics. This also
provided a nice baseline for comparison with a typical weekly analytics report — March 18 to
24.
The comparison, of course, is not perfect. The week was selected because of its variety of
subjects and the lack of proximity to a major community event, like the NCAA tournament, that
could shift viewership. The week was not selected randomly; therefore it is difficult to generalize
about its representation of a “standard week” at the Missourian. Still, the week does provide a
baseline to evaluate just what kind of readership Show Me the Records has received over the
long haul, and provides us with a snapshot of what kinds of numbers in future analytics reports
could point to successful branching out of the series.
Finally, there were some technical limitations to our study. As mentioned in our findings,
there is no easy method by which outbound links can currently be tracked on the Missourian’s
website through Google Analytics. This makes sense, because exit rate seems to be a more
interesting statistic. In the grand scheme of things, we may not care where readers are going after
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leaving our site — just that they’ve chosen to leave. However, the unique situation of the Show
Me the Records series (i.e. trying to make the public aware of records and other primary
documents they can access) commands some kind of mechanism to measure this in the future.
Accordingly, we propose technical consideration of this problem as the Missourian makes the
shift to the Junit content management system.
The Show Me the Records series is an integral part of the informative function of
journalism outlined by Kovach and Rosenstiel (2007). It provides an inlet into database
journalism, a growing field, and a wealth of potential story ideas and contextualizing information
to young reporters learning the ropes in Lee Hills. Accordingly, we propose that the series
continue after the shift to Junit, but with consideration of the many story-telling options the
content stream has to offer and a change in the newsroom and classroom culture that plays up the
important role the series plays in building trust with the public through our news organization. At
the very least, more education could save that poor assistant city editor from fielding another
phone call.
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References
Banning, S. (1999). The professionalization of journalism. Journalism History 24(4), 157-162.
Barnhurst, K.G. (2010). The form of reports on U.S. newspaper internet sites, an update.
Journalism Studies 11(4), 555-566. d.o.i. 10.1080/14616701003638426.
Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J., & Lassila, O. (2001). The semantic web. Scientific American, p. 29-
37.
Brownback, A. (2010). A web-centric approach to traditional journalism. American Journalism
Review 32(2): 8-9.
Bruns, A. (2003). Gatewatching, not gatekeeping: Collaborative online news. Media
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Castells, P., Perdix, F., Pulido, E., Rico, M., Benjamins, R., Contreras, J., & Lores, J. (2004).
Neptuno: Semantic web technologies for a digital newspaper archive. Lecture Notes in
Computer Science 3053: 445-458. d.o.i. 10.1007/978-3-540-25956-5_31.
Chase, N. (2006). Feeding the web while reporting the story. Nieman Reports 60(4), 64-66.
Retrieved from: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/100303/Feeding-the-
Web-While-Reporting-the-Story.aspx.
Chung, J.C.; Yoonjae, N.; Stefanone, M.A. (2012). Exploring online news credibility: The
relative influence of traditional and technological factors. Journal of Computer-Mediated
Communication 17(2), 171-186. d.o.i. 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2011.01565.
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Greenberg, S. (2010). When the editor disappears, does editing disappear? Convergence: The
Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 16(1), 7-21. d.o.i.
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Harder, A. (2008). On the electronic beat. The News Media & The Law 32(2), 18-20. Retrieved
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Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2007). The elements of journalism. New York: Crown Publishing
Group.
Lawrence, A. (2010). A bridge over grey waters: Collecting and preserving public policy
research. 3CM Media: Journal of Community, Citizen’s & Third Sector Media &
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Stabe, M. (2007, Jan. 2). Sarah’s law and the ethics of database journalism. Retrieved from
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Appendix A
Show me the Records Missourian Staff Survey
Fellow Missourian staffers: We need your help! Kip Hill and Karen Miller are currently working on a project to determine the readership and use of the Show me the Records articles published weekly in the digital and print versions of the Columbia Missourian, and we're interested in how often you read those stories in the course of your work. Please take a few moments to fill out the Google form below. We'll include these findings in a graduate project to fulfill a component of our Advanced Reporting class, which will (hopefully!) shape our practices in producing Show me the Records entries in the future. Answers will be recorded anonymously in a secure Google spreadsheet file. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Kip at [email protected] or Karen at [email protected]. Thanks so much!
* Required
What's your role in the newsroom? * Please select one. <INPUT NAME=\ Reporting <INPUT NAME=\ Community Outreach <INPUT NAME=\ Copy Editing <INPUT NAME=\ News Editing <INPUT NAME=\ News Design <INPUT NAME=\ Other: <INPUT NAME=\
If you are a reporter, to which beat are you assigned? * Please select one (if applicable) <INPUT NAME=\ Sports <INPUT NAME=\ Public Life <INPUT NAME=\ Public Safety <INPUT NAME=\ Education <INPUT NAME=\ Health <INPUT NAME=\ I am not a reporter. <INPUT NAME=\ Other: <INPUT NAME=\
How many Show me the Records stories have you read since joining the Missourian staff? * Please select one.
<INPUT NAME=\ None <INPUT NAME=\ 1-3
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<INPUT NAME=\ 4-6 <INPUT NAME=\ 7-9 <INPUT NAME=\ 10 or more
How many times have you used a Show me the Records article in your reporting? * Please select one.
<INPUT NAME=\ Never <INPUT NAME=\ 1-2 times <INPUT NAME=\ 3-4 times <INPUT NAME=\ 5 or more times
If you did use a Show me the Records article, how did you use it? * Please select one. <INPUT NAME=\ I read the article in its entirety, then clicked the link to the record. <INPUT NAME=\ I read the article, but did not follow the link to the record. <INPUT NAME=\ I just used the link to the record. <INPUT NAME=\ I have not used a Show me the Records article in my reporting.
In which subject area would you be most interested in seeing more Show me the Records entries? * Please select one.
<INPUT NAME=\ Sports <INPUT NAME=\ Public Safety <INPUT NAME=\ Education <INPUT NAME=\ Public Life <INPUT NAME=\ Enterprise <INPUT NAME=\ I think the Show Me the Records coverage is diverse enough. <INPUT NAME=\ No opinion <INPUT NAME=\ Other: <INPUT NAME=\
Finally, are there any specific suggestions you have about how to improve our Show me the Records coverage? (Optional, type below). <TEXTAREA NAME=\
Appendix B
All Excel tables and the .pdf analytics report from March 18-24 are attached to the email turning in this assignment.
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