WaPo wiki site to focus on US politicians and government officials

The Washington Post has launched a new beta site Whorunsgov.com to build profiles of US politicians, law makers and government officials using a specially created Post editorial team.

The site and its news blog will also feature contributions from external experts, a release from the paper said, and will be expanded into a moderated wiki later this year.

At this stage users will be encouraged to edit and add to profiles on the site with submissions moderated by the editorial team.

Interactivity – in particular allowing users to discuss profiles on the site – is a key part of the project:

“This is the first phase of a new venture to create a uniquely collaborative and rich information resource that demystifies the individuals behind Washington’s policy-making process,” said Rachel Van Dongen, editor of WhoRunsGov.com, in the release, adding that the site is intended as a free-for-all resource.

Those featured on the site will also grow to include think tank members and state officials.

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Australian National Library opens newspaper archive

Australia’s National Library has launched an archive of images and articles from Australian newspapers between 1803 and 1954.

The beta site currently features scanned pictures and text from 11 titles.

Content is easily navigable thanks to a panning tool and zoom controls, and can be searched by date, title, state or article keyword.

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Sky News new beta site

Sky News has launched a beta version of its new website, to run in parallel with its existing news site.

It has adopted a top story carousel for the homepage that displays the latest breaking news in video and pictures.

It has also added a story tracker in the right column, which lets you follow a story as it develops, and in the left column a See Your News personalisation feature.

“What you are visiting is very much work in progress. We are testing and trialling new features and a very different design,” Steve Bennedik, editor of Sky News Networked Media, wrote on his blog.

“At the same time we are still offering our existing site. When we are ready, we will switch off the old site and this will be our public face.”

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