ONA Issues

New to ONA12 this year - the Midway! Check out new tools, dive deeper into current platforms and have your mind blown by the industry’s innovators. Plus a hack space and social media lounges. 

Follow the Midway tumblr for more updates.

themidway:

The Midway is an exposition of innovation, happening at the Online News Association’s annual conference (#ONA12) Sept. 21-22 in San Francisco.

Last year we heard from many attendees that you wanted both a space to connect with your peers and more time to interact with the tools you’re using—and want to use—in the newsroom and in the field. In the spirit of the West Coast and Silicon Valley, we saw an opportunity for this space and have spent the summer iterating on what we hope will be a new and exciting experience. Join us in the Midway, an arena full of tools, journalism innovators, social lounges, and more. This is the space for you to explore new tech, get hands-on trainings with new and familiar colleagues, and be inspired by some of the leading innovators in the field.

What can I expect at The Midway?
There’s a whole circus of events happening in this space. Here’s a quick overview:

• The Midway stage: See demos, presentations and short talks given by journalists, technologists, program managers, investors and entrepreneurs in 15-minute bursts.

• Social lounges: Join Google, Twitter and Tumblr in one of their social lounges! Get advice during office hours with leaders in digital journalism or talk collaboration in ad-hoc discussions with startup project leads. Whether a scheduled workshop, a hands-on training or an opportunity to talk with a new connection, these lounges will play host to your key moments at ONA12.

• Participant tables: Stroll through more than 30 tables featuring tools, start-ups and journalism projects.

• Innovator’s table: Think of this as a community table of journalism innovators. To accommodate those attending the rest of the conference, we created a common space for innovators who want to schedule time in the Midway to share their projects or to pop in during free time. Look for the Midway calendar, where we will house, and update daily, a schedule of participants.

• Hack space: Powered by Soundcloud, this is an open work space for all conference attendees. Come get some work done or develop a new idea. We’ve also invited projects from Wednesday’s Techraking II: Gaming the News and Thursday’s Hacks/Hackers Hacking at ONA12 to continue working in the Midway, leveraging the assistance of the many on-site tools. Select projects will be featured on the Midway stage!

• Interactive projects: Nonny de la Peña brings us her moving presentation, “Hunger in LA,” in which she recreates an eyewitness account of an actual crisis in a food-bank line using game-development tools, Unity 3-D, a body-tracking system, and a head-mounted goggle display, along with live audio she collected during the incident. Experience first-hand the power of immersive news reporting. A sign-up sheet for the experience will be available next week.

Who is participating?
The full list of participants can be found here. Be sure to keep checking back, as we’ll be adding new names as they come in.

How do I keep track of everything happening in the Midway?
A full schedule of events can be found here.

When and where is this happening?
The Midway takes place Friday, Sept. 21, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 22, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

How should I tweet about it?
Use #ONA12MW for any tweets about the space.

Can I still get involved?
Yes! We still have a handful of tables if you have a tool or project you’d like to showcase, and there’s plenty of room at the Innovator’s table. Just let us know so we can add you to the calendar and promote your work. But this space isn’t just for exhibitors: we encourage you to utilize this space to the its capacity or take a break from the conference and come to see what’s being produced at the intersection of journalism, technology and innovation. To get involved contact Jeanne Brooks at jeanne@journalists.org.

ilovecharts:

Who Owns What You Are Watching?

From The Guardian: 

The Reuters news agency has fallen victim to computer hackers for the third time in a fortnight, with the latest incident involving an article that falsely claimed Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister had died. Reuters said unknown hackers illegally gained access to one of its journalist’s blogs on Wednesday. The hackers then published a hoax story claiming the death of Saudi prince Saud al-Faisal. 

Read more: Reuters faces fresh hacker attack | Media | guardian.co.uk