In Transit

Making a transit at New York City before continuing the journey to create and innovate great things.

[kuangkeng]

Should every business use content marketing?

After teaching myself more advanced Wordpress publishing skills, I managed to abandon the idiot-proof but expensive landing page builder Instapage, and rebuild the landing page of DataN on Wordpress with exactly the same design and layout. It saves me more than $200 a year. Yes, I’m an entrepreneur on a shoestring who bootstraps everything. Wordpress also allows me to add more features to the website in the future. 

Now comes the hard part. I need to market my website to my target customers and get them into the purchase funnel through inbound marketing (yes, I have picked up all these jargons in the past two months). I was told by a media consultant, who came to Tow-Knight Center to teach the fellows how to do online marketing, that content marketing combined with email newsletter is the most effective and cheapest marketing approach. Online ads have lost its magic for quite a long time. To attract attention, we need to produce and distribute quality content that is helpful to our target customers. If it is done right, the customers will not only know but trust your product or brand.

So I proceeded to understand the buyer’s journey of my product, and planned a detailed content strategy down to the specific issues to write on data journalism and newsroom training. However, just before I sat down to work on them, I talked to my mentor Ranjan Roy, a Tow-Knight alumni who is also developing his own startup Informerly, and the whole plan took another direction.

Roy reminded me that although content marketing has become a buzzword in the online advertising space, it is not a one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses. He saw DataN as a B2B service that does not rely heavily on content marketing to attract customers, and my target customers are in a niche market - media executives and senior editors of small and medium newsrooms operating in countries where data journalism is relatively new. It is very unlikely that my potential customers will google about data journalism training or click on a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn ads to find training resources for their newsrooms.

Hence the marketing strategy for DataN should be a traditional one. He advised me to focus my resources on high-touch personalized marketing effort - create a list of potential customers and contact them through my existing network or leverage on Tow-Knight’s network to pitch my products.

However, it doesn’t mean content marketing has no value in my marketing plan. It helps to build my credibility and brand when my potential customers travel further down the purchase funnel after hearing about DataN from colleagues or my emails. They would google about DataN and me, and perhaps visit DataN website. This is when I should let them encounter content that demonstrate my expertise and track record in the field.

Content marketing is an important element to move potential customers towards purchase decision but I should not mistake it as the prime tool to promote my products.

This view was later reaffirmed in a social media marketing workshop conducted by Stéphane Lagrange from Revsquare, a consultant firm working with Tow-Knight Center. According to him, the question that must be asked before deciding your online marketing strategy is “Where do your potential customers hang out (digitally)?” For DataN, I modified that question into “Where do your potential customers hang out and check out services/tools for their newsrooms?” The answer obviously is not social media but most likely journalism events, online forums, email listserv and journalism websites/newsletters. LinkedIn could be an exception as its users are usually in a “business state of mind” while using the platform.

With these assumptions (anything not tested remains as assumption), my next step is to create more content in DataN website, among others, a product sheet that explains more about the training packages and data tool tutorials/tipsheets for free download but users would have to submit their basic personal details before downloading. I need the information to expand my potential customer list. Then I will individually contact my potential customers - those who have downloaded my content and also those I found through my market research - with my pitch.

So, what’s the lesson?

The trendiest thing may not be the thing that fits your business.

Make sure you know your market and product.

Sometimes a simple and straightforward insight may be shrouded by buzzwords and hype.

[kuangkeng]

What My First User Has Taught Me

DataN, the affordable, customized training program in data journalism for small newsrooms that I have been developing since January, has found its first user: Malaysiakini.com, the most visited news website in Malaysia and my former employer.

Its training program consists of: 1. Pre-training survey and interviews to understand what the newsroom needs and how it operates. 2. Two days of training at Malaysiakini’s office on March 7 and 8. 3. Post-training support, currently underway, that provides consultation and collaboration on data projects.

Outcomes:

Based on feedback from the 10 participating journalists and the data and graphical components they produced in the first two weeks after the training, I would say the program has kickstarted a positive beginning.

[ Please visit my launch page for updates and early access. ]

From our post-training communication, 6 of the 10 participants have produced at least seven data/graphical components in their stories during the first two weeks after training. The components include charts, maps and interactive graphics.

I’m in the midst of measuring the performance, especially the time spent on stories that include these components against the average numbers to further quantify the impact of training. But it could be tricky, as Malaysiakini does not analyze the web analytics it collects.

To my surprise, the participants started to brainstorm on data journalism project right after the training and came up with seven ideas, several of which are under discussion.

On a qualitative measurement, here are some testimonials from the participants:

“We are often impressed by the informative, interactive and sleek features on international news sites, but it never comes to mind that Malaysian news sites can do the same, simply because that is not the norm here. Hardly anybody, if any, is using this methods. The training was eye-opening in that it provided exposure to modern technique in journalism that can be applied in any kind of newsroom. It also breaks the traditional perspective that the role of producing journalism content is only for journalists. Clearly, modern content requires close collaboration with those having different skill sets, including programming and web design.”

“Although I felt the two-day course was a little too tight to cram in all things at once, it has been an enlightening lesson using and incorporating current technology and tools to convey our stories. It was an eye-opener for many of us who are still in the conventional and conservative method of reporting through text and images. Worth every minute spent attending the course. Highly commendable to fellow journalists.”

“The course opened up my mind to all sorts of manageable ways to make our stories stand out. Manageable, meaning something even technobimbos like me can adopt in our work.”

“It's a fruitful session for me and I really enjoyed learning what had been put forward to me. It inspire me to learn more about data journalism, no joke!”

Another important qualitative measurement of training outcomes would be whether the training has changed the culture of the newsroom to be more proactive and creative in exploring different ways of storytelling. I plan to conduct another survey with the participants and other members of their newsrooms next month to gauge this information.

The preliminary outcomes, both quantitative and qualitative, have proven my fundamental assumption that DataN is something that small newsrooms like Malaysiakini, need.

The next question is, how can I use the experience with Malaysiakini to improve my products and business plan?

What does Malaysiakini want and do?

In design thinking, we are told that what users do (and don’t do) is more important than what they say they want (and don’t want). In the case of Malaysiakini, I found that journalists’ answers and behavior were pretty consistent, and they have a profound impact on my products.

Before the training, they told me they didn’t want to learn data journalism per se; they wanted their journalists to be more creative in storytelling and realize there are different ways to tell different stories.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to differentiate their products from competitors’ and to increase their web analytics (page views, time spent, recirculation etc.). As Malaysiakini’s business model is essentially based on subscription and advertising, producing engaging and high-quality content is key to the company’s bottom line.

However, from my previous experience as a journalist at Malaysiakini from 2005 to 2013 and communication with the participants, I know the journalists’ plates are full with daily breaking news, a norm in many small newsrooms. It has hindered their capacity to explore and experiment with new storytelling tools and approaches.

In short, “we want to be creative but we have no time.” How does this situation affect my products?

The demand for creative storytelling, not just data journalism, struck me. Hence I adjusted the training content to include non-data storytelling tools such as TimelineJS, StoryMapJS and the network visualizer tool KUMU. The post-training feedback showed that I had made the right decision. The participants said the possibility of using these tools in their stories was high.

Another tool that received positive feedback in term of likely use is the mapping tool CartoDB.

Data journalism tools like Tabula, Import.io, OpenRefine and Datawrapper, which I thought were critical, performed slightly less well.

This insight should be read together with another finding. Compared to data visualization and other theoretical parts, more participants said data scraping (Import.io and Tabula) and cleaning (OpenRefine) are harder to learn. This came no surprise, as their learning curve is steeper.

The findings in summary:

User demands and behavior:

Journalists want to learn creative storytelling, not data journalism per se.

Journalists don't have time to practice or use more sophisticated tools.

After the training, participants started using simple tools to produce quick-hit interactive components.

Training feedback:

Two-day training is too short to learn so many tools (12 in total).

Data scraping and cleaning skills are harder to learn.

Data scraping and cleaning tools are less likely to be used. 

The above findings may warrant some adjustments to my product offerings:

Remove data scraping and cleaning (OpenRefine, Tabula, Import.io) from the training and group them as another training package: an Advanced Data Journalism course. The basic training can still include a brief introduction of these skills.

Provide data scraping and cleaning as an outsource service to newsrooms since they don't need it frequently and those skills require time and effort to master.

Break the two-day training into different flexible training packages – interactive storytelling, data visualization, data scraping and cleaning.

However, I would have to work with more newsrooms to find a broader pattern before making any significant changes to my products.

Other technical lessons from the training:

Do not assume participants’ Internet skills. Ask them through your survey. A few participants were not familiar with Google Drive, which I used to share files and datasets. Google Drive issues slowed down the training.

Participants have different levels of Internet skills. Some took longer to follow the training.

Expect the unexpected. Many unusual technical issues cropped up during the training: slow Internet connection, incompatibility with browser or Javascript, and issues with OS when installing tools.

Participants wanted more time to practice tools and less time in explaining theory/concepts.

They also wanted a session to brainstorm story ideas and work on real data projects. The three-hour Data Expedition, scheduled for the last session, was canceled because of time constraint.

Make sure the tools that need to be installed in newsroom’s server (Datawrapper) is working properly before training the participants to use it.

Too overwhelming for some participants because so many tools were introduced – 12 in total.

Solutions:

Make sure all participants know how to use Google Drive before the training, perhaps by pairing them up so they can teach each other.

Allocate more time to each hands-on session. Almost every such session took longer time than I expected.

Reduce the number of tools and theoretical sessions, and allocate more time to real projects.

Pair less tech-savvy participants with fast learners during training.

Assign a coordinator to make sure everybody has all necessary tools installed and functioning before training.

[ Please visit my launch page for updates and early access. ]

[kuangkeng]

Interview with Tow-Knight fellow Keng: Part I

kuangkeng: Hi Keng, can you share with us how you end up as a fellow at Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism?

Keng: Sure. During my final semester in NYU’s Studio 20 graduate program, I partnered with Foreign Policy to develop a training program for its journalists to integrate data journalism into their daily reporting. At the end of the semester, Studio 20 organized this event where students took turn to present their project to NYC journalism community. It was there that Tow-Knight Center Education Director Jeremy Caplan saw my presentation and approached me to join the 4-month fellowship. I always wanted to understand the business side of media. I see it as a must-have skill if I want to transform myself from a journalist to a media innovator or entrepreneur. So I said yes to him.

  kuangkeng: How different is the business side from the journalistic side?

Keng: First, I don’t think it is in the best interest of a publisher to draw a fine line between journalism and business. As Jay Rosen, my professor at Studio 20, said in his recent blog post, how can journalists make a good product, which can be either content or service or both, if they don’t understand how their colleagues are selling the product? This becomes more crucial when the traditional media business model that relies completely on advertisement is falling apart. Without advertisement to subsidize the journalism, publishers are struggling to figure out different models to monetize their journalistic products. It makes total sense for people who make the products to be a part of this struggle, right?

I guess the biggest difference between those two is the position of users in their product thinking. Journalists used to see the product as what they think is worth publishing, or in their language “agenda setting”, but entrepreneurs see it as what the users really want. In other words, they are more "user-centric”. The idea of putting users at the center, and delivering what they want through the channels they prefer, really struck me. 

When I was a reporter with Malaysiakini, my colleagues and I liked to say "we are serving the people”. But looking back, did we ever interact with our users to understand what they want, who are they, and why they read our stories? Did we ever collect their data and analyze it although we have the ability to do so? Not really. We were obsessed with metrics like the numbers of share and like, but we don’t see them as real human being. 

The concept of user-centric has started to grow on me when I was in Studio 20. The fellowship however illustrates the concept in a more concrete way - how other entrepreneurs put the concept to work, and practical techniques to approach users and carry out user testing.

kuangkeng: You sound like you have learned quite a lot from the fellowship although you are only in the fourth week. Maybe give us a summary of your takeaways?

Keng: Definitely. The best thing about such a fellowship is that it creates an environment for you to really geek out on the thing you want to build. You are surrounded with people who are equally passionate about their projects, great gurus who are sincere to transfer their knowledge, and real entrepreneurs who share their experience and ready to answer your doubts. Of course there’s information overload and you need to grasp many business terms and concepts in a very short time, but I enjoy it very much.

In the past 3 weeks, not only I was thinking hard about my own project, DataN, I was also wrapping my head around all the challenges faced by Malaysiakini. As I have spent 8 years with Malaysiakini, it serves as a good study case for me to think about how the recommendations and best practices shared by the speakers and gurus can be applied. While I’m training myself to be an entrepreneur, I guess I’m also preparing myself to be an intrapreneur.

DataN - Big Data, Small Newsroom (by NYU's Studio 20) from Kuang Keng Kuek Ser on Vimeo.

kuangkeng: Great, but I don’t think you have answered my question. 

Keng: Oh, right. Sorry about that. Well, I find many of the systematic approaches to problem-solving very helpful such as the project management framework provided by Jeff Mignon and Nancy Wang of Revsquare, as well as the business model canvas and Lean Business Model Canvas given by Jeremy. They provided me a framework to think through many issues around my project. If you really sit down and fill up the canvas carefully, it forces you to think really hard about all the details that you previously overlooked or avoided.

Other related events that I attended in the past one month, although not directly related to my project, exposed me to many provoking ideas. Many of those can be experimented in Malaysiakini to innovate the ways stories are told.

I still remember the short presentation by futurist Amy Webb during the IWMF’s Cracking the Code conference. She explored different ways to deliver news to user’s smartphone based on location, time, routine and activities of the user. That’s totally doable and very very cool.

Another thing that struck me was her view on the word “scale”

Scale doesn’t imply impact or attention. It implies “bigness.” What real good is that? #Code15

— Amy Webb (@webbmedia)

January 29, 2015

That makes a lot of sense on my project because DataN is more like a consultancy service, and my focus is not on scaling to become another multi-million startup but how to create value and impact for my clients. The number of clients that I can serve might be small but done properly it could lead to significant impact in the regions where the clients are operating.

During my time in Studio 20, I have been exposed to many ideas and concepts raised by Jeff Jarvis, but still he helped to refresh them. 

kuangkeng: Last question, can you update us the progress of DataN? 

Keng: There was some progress made in the past one month, but everything is still in a very early stage. I’m talking to a media VC which is interested to use DataN with 2 of their clients which are news outlet in eastern Europe. I also scheduled a training with Malaysiakini in early March. In the coming month, I need to prepare the training modules and tools customization and integration for Malaysiakini. 

I have more or less built a hypothesis for my business model, so the next step will be recruiting potential users, in this case small newsrooms in developing regions, and interview them to validate my hypothesis.

[kuangkeng]

Why not get a winter shelter for the feral cats around your neighborhood? #CUNYJSnow15 The image is "touchable"

[kuangkeng]

Top 2 photos: Jan 26, 4:25pm - Elmhurst, Queens (76th St and 46th Ave) The streets around my apartment are not plowed at all!

Update: Map: Jan 26, 9:12pm - NYC Snow Plow Map shows that the street in front of my apartment has not been plowed at all (white). It is classified as a tertiary road, the lowest priority category.

I'm gonna make a snowman in the middle of the street tomorrow morning. #CUNYjSnow15

[kuangkeng]

Jan 26, 2015, 4:00pm, Times Square (7th Ave and 41st) Snowing strong at Times Square. Batman, Spiderman, Spongebob or even Queen Elsa is nowhere to be seen. 

[kuangkeng]

The Curious Case of Maria Sanchez

by Kuang Keng Kuek Ser

A strong sense of curiosity in a wide range of fields have made journalism a perfect career choice for Maria Sanchez.

If I study biology, I would only focus on science, but if I become a journalist, I could write about science and politics and others. It is a profession that involves a little bit of everything.

Born and grew up in Madrid, Spain, Maria however started her journalism career in Mexico. After graduated from a journalism program in University Carlos III of Madrid, she was awarded an unexpected fellowship to intern at El Mundo de Tehuacán, a newspaper based in Puebla, Mexico.

She was immediately fascinated by “the political situation, corruption, poverty and inequality” in Mexico and realized that being a journalist can really make a difference to a society. There Maria also understood that stories written in Spanish can have a wide reach and impact in a long list of Latin American countries.

Following the short stint at El Mundo de Tehuacán, Maria returned home and joined Soitu.es as a reporter, helping the Spanish news startup to win the ONA excellence award, twice. The news website pioneered several bold innovations which Maria described as “ahead of its time” such as allowing journalists and communities to curate content on the website. It was also where Maria acquired all the valuable skills on multimedia storytelling, social media, live blogging and collaborative journalism.

Unfortunately, the startup was forced to fold up when Spain was hit hard by the 2008 global financial which led to a media advertising crisis. Taking a break, Maria, who was once a guitarist in a post-rock band, embarked on a three-month road trip travelling the US, from New York to Los Angeles, Seattle to New Orleans, to investigate the roots of American music. The journey and findings were later published as a blog called ‘Motel Americana’ in El País, Spain’s largest newspaper.

She then worked as a social media consultant and strategist for a company that produces cultural publications, managed an online shorts documentary festival called Notodofilmfest, and later assumed the position of digital editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveler based in Madrid. After successfully launching digital versions of the travel magazine, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship by the US government to pursue a masters degree in CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, followed by the Tow-Knight Center fellowship in entrepreneurial journalism.

I want to learn how media do things in the U.S. in order to apply to future projects. I learnt my lesson (from Soitu.es), I don’t want that to happen again.

I want to make sure high quality journalism is sustainable not just in big companies.

[kuangkeng]

It's been clear since the political ads started airing in August: New York City is in a 'fromance with Democratic mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio. And with a 54-point lead in the latest poll, the Public Advocate is slated to be our next mayor. If the winner seems to be in the bag, will people still turn up ...

After several sleepless nights, I published my first data visualization in New York! This is an election polls project done by Studio 20 on the NYC mayoral election. We polled people on streets and mapped their responses in google maps.

I was responsible of transferring the data to the maps, and overlapped 2 layers of data in the same map (the neighborhood profile and individual profile).

For someone who has never done any data vis or coding, the process was tough but also rewarding.

I have figured out how to create map using Google Fusion Table and how to overlap layers using Fusion Table Layer API.

Next semester I’m taking Data Journalism as electives and now I’m working on 2 data journalism projects now, so, the best has yet to come!

Stay tuned!

[kuangkeng]

My first mini-documentary about a cult that worships the Holy Death or Santa Muerte in New York City. It was co-produced with my classmate Maria Simpson.

[kuangkeng]

"Love Conquers All" This is another assignment in NYU's Studio20 program. It was inspired from a discussion with my wife about the predicament faced by the spouses of international students (she is one of them) after they leave behind everything to follow their partners to an overseas city full of uncertainties. While their partners enroll in academic programs and build their social network in the school, the spouses, while taking care of most of the house chores, have to find ways to rebuild their lives. This video is a tribute to those spouses who have sacrificed for their loved ones.

[kuangkeng]

My first video news story produced in NYU's Studio20 program. It is a complement to a text news story about residents in Hollis, a predominantly African American neighborhood in Queens, New York City, demanded a local bank to scrap its plan to relocate a branch in the neighborhood. The text story was also published in a local newspaper Queens Gazette.

[kuangkeng]

My first experiment with video after enrolling in NYU's Studio20 program. It is an assignment called "oldest of the old". Instead of showing the huge structure of this historical building, like what many other people do, this video focuses on tiny parts of the structure which not many people notice.