Who? Duncan Hooper

Where? Duncan is managing editor of news and sport at MSN UK

Twitter? @duncanhooper

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips, we are recommending journalists to follow online too. Recommended journalists can be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to rachel at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

• #followjourn – @NateLanxon Nate Lanxon/Editor
• #followjourn – @bydanielvictor Daniel Victor/social media editor
• #followjourn @zseward – Zach Seward/social media editor
• #followjourn – @Maid_Marianne Marianne Bouchart/editor
• #followjourn – @benfenton Ben Fenton/head of ‘live news desk’

MSN UK will now feature its own version of PressDisplay.com, which provides an archive of digital editions of newspapers and magazines, according to a press release from earlier in the week.

PressDisplay, which is owned by newspaper distribution firm NewspaperDirect, features e-editions of titles including the Times, Guardian, Washington Post and the Australian.

The new feature on the web portal will be branded as MSN PressDisplay and will give users free access to the front page and two stories from any publication on the day of print. To access more stories and back issues, users will be required to register with PressDisplay and offered subscription offers, starting at 79p to buy a credit to view another article.

The service offers different packages for personal and corporate use including greater access to archived editions, for example, the £79.95 ‘Corporate Unlimited’ lets subscribers go back up to 60 days in the archive.

Titles can be searched by country, language or browsed alphabetically, and search preferences can be saved by individual users.

The service is compatible with iPhones, Blackberry and eReaders, the release said and also offers interactive features – such as the ability to comment on articles and share them via social networks or email.

“Together we have been able to deliver innovative features which give consumers access to a huge number of publications on the great NewspaperDirect interface. At a time when the survival of newspapers is being questioned we see this as a great outlet for newspaper content,” said Peter Bale, MSN executive producer, in the release.

MSN UK also recently launched its local news and information site MSN Local.

• Die Zeit newspaper opens free archive of 250,000 articles
• Times opens up 200-year digital archive
• Newspaper image recognition app Paperboy launches for UK titles
• Paperboy app: Take a photo of newspaper article to find the digital edition
• paidContent:UK: Times to charge for online archive

Microsoft has been very chatty this week – see its long-awaited announcement of a search partnership with Yahoo.

On top of this and following the launch of the data-rich MSN Local, MSN executive producer Peter Bale told the Telegraph that the site was hoping to take feeds from local newspapers and map the content.

“Hyperlocal news online has never been more important and we think this is a really interesting growth area,” he said.

Payment for the feeds is a possibility or a linking/traffic driving arrangement could be made, he added.

Full post at this link…

• LGEO Research: Where do local authorities fit in the hyperlocal media landscape?
• Journal Local: Birmingham journalism students launch hyperlocal news agency
• Towards a hyperlocal business model?
• Lost Remote: ‘Hyperlocal’ is not everything local
• Digital Strategy: Why Camden council is moving into hyperlocal websites

MSN has created a heat map of MPs’ expenses claims between April 2007 and March 2008 – see screengrab below.

Full map at this link…

• Telegraph.co.uk: Guide to the full MP expenses database
• BBC Trustees’ expenses: all online for your enjoyment (links and summary)
• FT.com: BBC Trust expenses cover Sky subscriptions
• ABC continues to verify airline copies for national newspaper circulation audit
• App of the week for journalists: ExpenseMagic

MSN has created two new mapping tools using content from its blogging and entertainment channels.

The SpacesVision map displays updates from bloggers on the site’s Live Spaces platform in almost real-time.

It describes itself as the latest stage in the ‘vision map genre’ following established mapping services FlickrVision and TwitterVision.

Meanwhile the Celebrity Spotter tool mashes up a feed of events with a live map to pinpoint where celebrities will be in the UK over the next four weeks.

Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN.co.uk, said the two creations were ‘just the start’ of the site’s experiments with mash ups.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use ‘if this then that’ for story alerts
• Tool of the week for journalists – Dipity timelines
• Nieman Journalism Lab: How Ushahidi can be use by media organisations
• Tool of the week for journalists – Batchgeo, for mapping data
• Storify stories now on news reader app Pulse