By Isabel Esterman<\/p>\n
ONA Conference workshops have focused almost exclusively on North American issues and trends.\u00a0 But one session, \u201cThe State of Global Innovation,\u201d brought an international perspective. Editors from Spain, Germany, Mexico and Brazil converged to discuss how they are keeping their publications fresh and relevant.\u00a0 \u201cUnique conditions in each of these countries produce unique responses,\u201d said moderator James Brinier, director of Universidad de Guadalajara\u2019s center for digital journalism.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a sample of what they had to offer:<\/p>\n
From Brazil: Going mobile<\/strong><\/p>\n There are only 180 million mobile subscribers in Brazil, said O Globo<\/a> Executive Editor Raquel Almeida, but she believes the technology is about to take off.\u00a0 \u201cSomething huge is coming,\u201d she said, and O Globo is trying to stay ahead of the curve by offering news on every available platform and keeping up communication with its readers.<\/p>\n For O Globo, this has meant building a mobile Web site that allows readers to vote and comment and creating a mobile app that lets readers submit stories and photos directly to the newsroom.\u00a0 \u201cWe gave this to our readers, then suddenly people were sending reports from all over the city,\u201d said Almeida.\u00a0 \u201cWe had eyes and ears all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n Spain: Innovating Social Content<\/strong><\/p>\n Newsrooms across America are scrambling to integrate Twitter into reporting, but Madrid-based news site soitu.es<\/a> is heading in the opposite direction.\u00a0 Twitter can be a great source of information, said soitu Director Borja Echevarria. \u201cBut we believe it shouldn\u2019t be the only one.\u201d<\/p>\n Twitter crashes, it doesn\u2019t allow users to post photos in a stream, and it can\u2019t be used to post an interview anyone can follow, Echevarria said.\u00a0 So instead of building a Twitter application, soitu built its own social network, utoi, and devoted the top right column of its homepage to displaying utoi content.\u00a0\u00a0 The feed has text, links and photos contributed by both community members and soitu reporters.\u00a0 Controlling its own social network has allowed soitu to benefit from user engagement but still allows editorial staff to filter and prioritize what makes it onto the site. Utoi launched just 15 days ago, Echevarria said, and they\u2019re working to develop utoi widgets and other tools to keep the network spreading. \u201cIt\u2019s very important for us to experiment, to innovate.\u201d<\/p>\n