Wikinews talk:Print edition/sponsorship

Template upload/download

Can we get the ability to put the OpenOffice .OTT templates on Wikinews? I don't think it will be too difficult to make an alternate template with a space for a sponsor's message; the question there is do we want the sponsors creating the print edition with their advert? --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:54, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

On the tech IRC channel I got told it is hard to verify the .OTT files are 'safe'. As an alternative I can manage them on http://www.wikinewsie.org. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:57, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Sponsorship is a two-way street

There is money set aside in the WMF budget to support volunteer efforts to further the reach of projects, the most obvious application of this is getting things like large size posters printed. It would be great to see people or companies who are using the print edition to get their advert in front of people helping further this idea. If we can get back to reliable production of the print edition I do not see why we cannot get the WMF to fund a modest Adsense budget as a kick-off. I personally would be happy to tailor a copy of the print edition with a handful of adverts in it if the advertisers were putting money into a pot to further the reach of Wikinews. Needless to say, they'd also be expected to foot their own printing costs. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:09, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

"Sales pitch"

If we're going down the road of having sponsors get their message in print editions we need to push our own message too. The print edition is more valuable to readers if we have more articles - and thus more valuable to the advertisers. So, there needs to be a more up-front/challenging invitation to contribute in the print edition. And, assuming the only Wikinews URL in the document is http://en.wikinews.org, the main page needs a prominent link to invite people to contribute. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:18, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Automation

Having spoke to Craig about the creation of the print edition, 90+% is automated. Integration of pictures into leads is essentially the only manual part, everything else is just straight cut-n-paste. Can we get to 100% automated, stick this on the toolserver, and do versions with embedded ads for distributors? --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:02, 25 April 2009 (UTC)