This week in "Behind The Citizen Journalist", I am taking a look at the questions that some of you want answered about the goings on behind the scenes of DJ.
Where you ever curious what the qualifications for an upvote are from Chris Hogg? Ever wonder what David Silverberg does to relax at night? What about Alex? Is there horseplay at the DJ offices? Do you sit side by side browsing through the stories and suddenly say, "Dave, you gotta read what Muse said this time." (These are my own questions. Feel free to answer.)
So we will focus on just a few Citizen Journalists this time and their questions to the powers that be. When it is all over DJ staff are invited to hang out for the after-party and answer MORE, so have your questions ready. Make them good. Now is your chance.
Russcam asks: "About how much of the readership is from Canadian sources and how much is from elsewhere? Knowing the answer helps in selecting stories -- no point writing about Canada-only topics if less than 10% of readers are Canadian.
Chris Hogg: Being online means our stats change from day to day, month to month, but the Canadian readership is usually around 15-20 per cent of our total readership per month (the second largest demographic on our site). The largest portion of readers are U.S.-based, while the U.K. and Australia are in third and fourth respectively. An interesting fact: Canadians actually look at more pages on DigitalJournal.com, and spend more time on the site compared to others from around the world.
Ahhh. A very good question. The Hogg man handled it brilliantly as usual, providing a much broader scope with his answer. BUT, what are the demographics of registered users?
Permafrog: How does Dj decide that a story is a good find?
Alex Chumak: The stories in the "Good Finds" box used to be hand-picked by DJ Staff. However we changed the layout in early June to include 3 rotating Good Finds that are tailored to your specific custom news settings, or depending on what category you are in. This would have been impossible to oversee manually.
To answer your question permafrog, computers select the articles that make it into the Good Finds box. We guide its selections with such things as recency and rating, and make sure that only news a first-time visitor would find news-worthy are up in the box (hence no "Digital Journal" department articles appear in the Good Find spot on the front page).
Perhaps it should be called "Good computer generated based on a set of guidelines Find". On to our next question.
pbrite: Will there be any small incentives or bonuses to those who are selected for special Top Find awards? I don't think there should be cash involved, but I really would have liked some ice cream for being selected a couple of months ago.
Chris Hogg: You must have read our minds pbrite; we've actually been looking for a manufacturer to build and ship PCs for us that make and dispense ice cream from a new kind of USB port. But we got sidelined after a fitness group protested outside our office, shouting and raising signs saying "DJ wants me to have a fat ass." With all the bad press we killed the idea. We're working on other ideas, however, and your journalistic nose must have picked up a trail somewhere. We'll have to look for a mole inside now, and I'm betting its Dave. He likes ice cream and he will talk when bribed with it.
whew!...Dave will take the fall. I'm out of the mole business anyway. There's only so many nights you can wear a trench coat and meet someone in a darkened parking garage to swap info. At 14 cents an hour, it's not cutting it!
Patxxoo: hummm dj questions ... um yeah as a matter of fact ...about when are they gonna spring the next change on us, and where are they headed with these changes...now I know very few of us on DJ think of ourselves as pro-journalists but to read the posts and compare them side by side with people who do claim to be journalists it's damn near impossible to tell who is the pro and who isn't ...for example the post about the 9 people who have been mistreated and handcuffed i wrote a few days ago took whew alot of research and time and I was shocked at how many times I ran across things stated as facts in news sites that were blatantly false (the young girl for instance the whole thing started with was repeatedly said to be a young male on many of the news sites, hell i may be dyslexic but even i could get the sex right ....ignore me i'm ranting....
David Silverberg: When it comes to changes at DJ, we're a big fan of surprising our users with any kind of tweaks as opposed to hinting when they'll be launched. We listen to constant feedback and before making changes, Alex, Chris and I engage in lengthy debate and a very serious game of rock-paper-scissors to determine the direction we should take (Chris is easy to beat, BTW, as he always goes for paper). When we do updates for the site for usability or aesthetic, it's a sign that we constantly want to make the site intriguing and usable for readers and members, new and old. These changes allow us to gauge what the community enjoys from DJ. So, sorry Patxxoo, but Alex and I are still in the middle of a rock-paper-scissors competition so I can't say when the next update is coming. And if I leaked the info, they would have to kill me.
Also, I know what you mean about pro journalists making mistakes in articles (it happens to everyone). You raise an interesting point, as citizen journalists often do just a good job as the pros. That's the beauty of a site like DJ, where solid writers can flex their journalistic muscle and commit themselves to the craft. When someone is passionate about a task, it shows in the end result. And anyone with passion is already a pro in Digital Journal's eyes.
Bravo to David. I have never seen such a long essay devoted entirely to avoiding the question. That means there must be changes coming. We can wear him down people. For God's sake, somebody explain Rock, Paper scissors to Chris!
wanderlaugh: I'd be interested to hear where DJ is hoping to go. I can see quite a few possibilities for DJ the broader entity, because of the sheer range it's able to cover, and the variety of ways it can do that. In marketspeak, DJ has the distinct advantage of not being "themed", and therefore being unpredictable in terms of content. The question is what to do with that ability.
Chris Hogg: Every step we make along the way has a bigger purpose in mind, and nothing is done accidentally Wanderlaugh. The unpredictability of a citizen journalist community is the most rewarding aspect of the site, and in all honestly we did not anticipate the degree to which this would actually play-out on the site. We love it.
Digital Journal plans to evolve content and features to cater to this unpredictability (read: excitement) and we have gone to great lengths to avoid being "themed" or lumped-in and tagged as just another social networking site. Everything from content to feature development takes this into account, and we have held back the implementation of 2.0 widgets or certain social networking tools because we're not MySpace or Facebook. We really think about what we want to implement and choose features that have a purpose for our site -- we don't put in a widget just because someone big is doing it.
We are a news site that is evolving into a content company powered by people, and since day one we embraced whatever our community wanted and listened. We will grow with our eyes open and continue the collaboration, where content will be key. It's not far fetched to think that DJ could become the hub for any news, advice, alternative opinions, reviews, media, etc. With such a wide range of personalities on the site, and with news and current events analysis at our heart, DJ is a virtual water cooler, an online school, a religion, a debate and a hearty laugh all in one. That is very rarely found in one spot, and we celebrate this uniqueness.
Well said Chris. Your passion is clearly through the roof.(Let's just hope that's not the viagra talking) I myself agree with everything that you said and your answer shows the dedication, comittment and brilliant thinking that has brought DJ this far. But seriously buddy, you should have mastered the Rock, paper scissors game by now. On a side note, I want you and Alex to arm wrestle right now and let us know who wins.
Planet janet: One thing that annoys me sometimes is when I'm working on something and I then find I've spent too much time on it as when I come to post it, I have to sign in again. I then have to cut and paste my article and sign in to paste it back on. Is there any chance of lengthening the time we have on writing an article on the draft page? It just doesn't seem long enough... Thats my gripe, but apart from that, I enjoy this site immensely and find Chris and David very easy to approach and very much a part of the site. Many other websites don't have the same contact between reporters and staff. It is what makes me stay even though I earn half as much as every one else because of the exchange rate! I also like the fact that everyone is nice here and loyal to the site, what a friendly bunch!
Alex Chumak: We were thinking about this being a possible problem and had it on the back burners Planet Janet. Good news though: A behind-the-scenes site update happened a couple of days ago that fixed this very problem. As long as you keep typing away or changing anything on the edit page you will stay logged in. However, if you just open an edit screen and sit there for 30 minutes, it will timeout (as it should).
And there you see the brilliance of the DJ team. A problem was fixed BEFORE they got the question. Or perhaps they are watching PJ a little too closely? Be scared PJ...Be very scared.
What's that? *the blaring of trumpets as if from a royal court.* I now proclaim that the DJ "Mum" has a very serious question and will now address the staff.
Picasso: I am curious about the Digital Journal staff. How many are there? Are they all men, well it least one kinda looks like a boy LOL. Please no offence meant as you have to remember my age. When you get an up vote by "Digital Journal staff" how many decide or is it just one that gives that . Thank-you when I do get an up vote from them or any others that I consider staff. Or by anyone else for that matter. Is there always some one who is "staff" there 24/7?
David Silverberg: Digital Journal staff is made up of a core of 7 people (you can see a list of name on our Contact Us page). We vary in age (I'll admit I'm 27, and Chris is the baby at 25 even though he looks 17) and professional backgrounds, and we have a number of outside regular contributors who wrote for our printed edition for years and continue to work with us on a regular basis. The DJ family has since grown to include all of our Citizens and Citizen Journalists, so remembering all the people to send birthday cards to is insane at our office.
As for the mysterious DJ Staff account: That account is used by whichever member of our staff is on duty at the time. Alex, Chris and I tend to be the more public faces, but we have five others who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep DJ running. And to answer your question about gender Picasso: Two of our staff members are women including our Chief Executive Officer (Grace Krigstin) and our admin manager (Cheng Tan).
We use our own names for votes when it's us on duty, so that's where you will recognize me, Alex, Chris or DJ publisher Janusz Überall (DJ's most passionate and addicted user). The four of us and others keep the site moderated 24/7.
And so wraps up another edition of "Behind The CJ". I hope that you have learned something about the inner workings of DJ. Keep the questions coming below. Let's make this a party.
And Scoop....Your question scared them....That's all I'm permitted to say...Please don't ask again or it could cost me my job...Some things are better left alone...Oh my God, they are coming for me...I have so much to tell....Have to make this fast. The answer to the mystery is....
Silence....
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