Nov 15, 2012

Registration opens for DJCamp2013 in Istanbul

[Update 08/01/2012: All the places for this workshop have now been taken. However, if you are interested in attending, please add your name to the waiting list and we'll let you know if any additional places become available]

Registration is now open for the much-anticipated DJCAMP2013 Istanbul – a two-day workshop designed to inspire and equip journalists with the skills they need to find and shape data into stories with impact.

Presented by internationally-recognised digital journalism thought leaders and experienced data journalism trainers Sarah Hartley and Megan Knight, this hands-on workshop will run over the weekend of 26th and 27th January 2013 at Istanbul Bilgi University's Santral Campus. DJCamp2013 is part of the series of activities of the MADE project, which aims to support innovative news entrepreneurs in Turkey  and the UK.

In addition to spaces reserved for those who participated in the recent MADE: Turkey Weekend for Startups, 15 additional spaces are available to professional journalists and  journalism  academics.

You'll find more information about the workshop and alshow you can reserve your place available here.

Sep 26, 2012

Investing in Media Innovation: a conversation with MADE: Turkey coach Fuat Sami of Lab-X

Also follow @fuatsami
Fuat Sami is an entrepreneur to his very core.

After finsihing up his secondary education at Eton College, Fuat followed his passion for business by enrolling at Tanaka Business School at  Imperial College where he earned both a BSc and  a Master’s degree. That opened up the doors at Helix Management Consultants, where he went on to lead business strategy for both local and international companies in Turkey, Europe and the Middle East.  His wealth of business consulting experience motivated Fuat in 20056 to set up his own company: the entrepreneur and investment consultancy firm, LabX ,  where he continues to engage with businesses of all kinds -  and not only helps them survive, but thrive.
Fuat is part of an international team of inspirational speakers and coaches contributing to the first 48-hour MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Startups which kicks off on Oct 5 at Istanbul Bilgi University.  

At the end of the weekend, participants will get a chance to present their projects for possible further support from Lab-X and the GirişimFabrikasi (Startup Factory) at Özyeğin University.

Q1 - Turkey remains a challenging place for independent journalism. What role do you think digital news entrepreneurs have to play in an increasingly connected country?

 Digital news entrepreneurs need to take practical steps to help ordinary citizens have access to information about what is happening in he world and show them how to specially create safe online spaces for the exchange of ideas.

Entrepreneurs should remain to be the advocates of democracy and keep promoting social media platforms that enable people to catch up with the rest of the world. They should represent the leading mechanisim of freedom of speech as a civil right for the people.

Q2 - Like in most of Europe, Turkey's mainstream media is dominated by a few cross-media conglomerates. What opportunities do you think there are for grassroots media startups to challenge the status quo?

Grassroots media can compete with the conglomerates on every level. They have to offer a quality product and focus on innovation.

Q3 - Is it wise for entrepreneurs to take risks with digital innovations at time when many in the traditional media are struggling with it?

It is very important for entrepreneurs to be innovative. In today’s media market, traditional ways are getting boring and creative ones are now much popular. Thus entrepreneurs should be creative inorder to be able to generate pofits.

Q4 - What’s the single most important advice you can give to someone wanting to start a digital media enterprise?
The immediate action because digital media is on the rise and will definetly be a replacement for the convential methods.

Q5 - The MADE project is, so far, operating in the UK and soon in Turkey. How do you expect the project activities to differ in the various locations, particularly given the different economic and socio-political factors in the two countries?

Both countries will probably face similar challenges. However, the way the approach them may differ because people have different outlooks on life.


  • News entrepreneurs  can also join the conversation in the MADE Network Facebook Group  and follow @uclanmade on Twitter  for updates.

Sep 21, 2012

Media entrepreneurs get set for the first MADE: Turkey Weekend for News Startups

This much is clear: the participants selected for the MADE: Turkey Weekend for News Startups aren't cowards.
Launching a new business is never easy. But starting up a new media enterprise in the country which, according to the International Press Institute, has what appears to be the highest number of imprisoned journalists in the world takes real chutzpah.

"That courage shone through all of the more than 50 expressions of interest that came from throughout Turkey," said MADE founding director François Nel."Choosing amongst them was certainly not straightforward. But in the in end, we whittled the number down to 20. And they are all particularly talented. And diverse."

Here are some of the key numbers:
  • 66 is the percentage who have journalistic experience in the mainstream media

  • 44 is the percentage of women

  • 29 to 0 is the range of years of work experience in fields that include IT, film making, tourism management, art curating, public relations, marketing and education

  • 5 is the average years that the professional journalists have plied their trade 
 
At the end of the weekend hosted by Istanbul Bilgi University, the entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch for a place in the Startup Factory at Özyeğin University and for support from Lab X .

In addition, the MADE:Turkey participants will also have the opportunity to take part in DJCamp2012, a two-day data journalism workshop in November, that will be led by Megan Knight from the School of Journalism and Digital Communication at UCLan, home to the UK's oldest school of journalism.  "If there are some extra spaces available, we'll open up the workshop to others," said Nel.

While the discussions during MADE Startup Weekend will be subject to the Chatham House Rule ("We need to have a safe space for entrepreneurs to share sensitive information in confidence," said Nel), participants are being encouraged to share their own stories.

Throughout, the project activities are also be researched and, in the end, the team aim to share their findings in a series of MADE Insight Reports, said Nel. "We're doing our best to use the grant we got from winning the International Press Institute's inaugural News Innovation Contest to help as many news startup as we can to stay up." 

The MADE: Turkey Weekend for News Startup 2012 participants are:

Gökşen Çalışkan
Sevgi Demirkale
Mine Toker
Ahmet Vural
Halime Özçelik
Sabri Küstür
Efe Cakiroglu
Engin Onder
Arda Süar
Pinar Dag
Ali Bolu
Omer Denizer
Elvan Ozkaya
Hasan Şek
Okan Tansu


The MADE Project is a winner of the International Press Institute's News Innovation Contest sponsored by Google. The MADE: Turkey programme has been developed in collaboration with partners at Millyet newspaper and  Istanbul Bilgi University with contributions by the Startup Factory at Özyeğin University, Lab-X, Talk About Local and the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Henley Business School.

Sep 12, 2012

Find out exactly what will be happening at #DJCamp2012 with Megan Knight


Follow @meganknight
Earlier this month we spoke to the #DJCamp2012 co-host Megan Knight to find out the kind of invaluable data journalism skills will be on show when UCLan plays host the event on the 21st and 22nd of September. With a far spanning data journalism  career, Senior lecturer Megan Knight is no stranger to the art of scraping, scouring and churning out data to produce compelling stories and engaging visuals. She talks about her experience in the field and what will be on offer at #DJCamp2012.

What can we expect at DJCamp2012?
"The workshop covers the basic 'whys and wherefores' of data journalism, from why it's an important part of journalism to finding information in data form by looking at sources of data. On the second day, we will be looking at representation and actually working with data that has been found, to develop publishable data journalism material in whatever form it may take. We’re going to be focusing specifically on Google fusion tables, which is a publically available tool from Google, and in particular, mapping, which is invaluable in terms of developing things like interactive feautres where you can gather data from your readers and then represent it. So the workshop goes from a kind of conceptual workshop with discussions about what data journalism is and why it’s important, throught to practical hands on projects."

Are there optional workshops?
"There will also be a free optional workshop with ScraperWiki, which will look at the process of scraping data. This is essentially the process of finding and analysing data, cleaning it and reworking it in order to put it into the right forms and the right formats."

What do aim for participants to achieve by the end of the workshops?
"We aim that participants will be able to find and present data by the end of the workshop, not just in an abstract sence of 'here’s a sample of what you would do', but in a concrete sence of actually finding something that’s relevant to what it is they're currently working on, and then working through the workshop with that data. So the real goal at the end is to have projects that people can return to newsrooms with to develop it further and actually publish. So the idea is to really make it very hands on, very practical."

So before you entered the world of academia, you were a data journalist?

"I think I’ve been doing data journalism since before we called it that. One of my previous jobs was working on election coverage and census coverage in South Africa. We worked with scientists and programmers to showcase election results and look for correlations and changes between voting patterns, changes in the demographics, and development issues. We were working with these massive data sets of information to present stories about South Africa and stories about the country beyond the simple, 'Thabo Mbeki is going to be president' which was the case in 1999, to patterns in peoples voting, and fundamentally, stories about change. I looked at how we could correlate that what we knew about demographics, about income, about education, about language, facilities and services and so on with voting behaviour.
"That’s really, to my mind, an important part of journalism because it gives you a way into stories that weren’t necessarily the stories people wanted us to tell. Data is to me, not about numbers, but about the hidden patterns that numbers can make visible. To me, that was really interesting and since then I’ve always been very interested in data and information. Now I'm also interested in social media, the kind of information that’s available on the internet and also in collaborative data (projects where people tell you, as a news organization what is going on in their environment and you then map that). I recently finished a book on the impact of social media in journalism which incorporates a lot of information about data journalism, about crowdsourcing and things like that. So this workshop really fits in with my interests which I'm hoping to develop further and do more with."

The Digtial Editors Network (DEN) has combined forced with the MADE Project at UCLan to present two linked data journalism workshops on 21 and 22 September at the Media Factory in Preston.
DJCAMP2012 is a two-day workshop hosted with Paul Bradshaw and Megan Knight. The workshops will cover the key stages of data journalism, from spotting leads for data stories, to finding the data in the first place, interrogating it, and visualising it.
Over two days, aside from gaining practical advice, participants will have the chance to apply their learning through hands-on exercises with the help of international-recognised digital journalism leaders and trainers provided by the Digital Editors Network and the MADE project.
Scraping Master class is a four-hour workshop with ScraperWiki founder Julian Todd, 9:30-13:30 on Saturday, September 22 and will cover a range of topics from creating data extraction programmes to analysing existing datasets.
MADE blog followers can recieve a 30% registration discount by using the code DENdata

For more information and to register, visit: http://djcamp2012.eventbrite.com

Aug 22, 2012

Mehveş Evin on why it's a good time to be a digital news entrepreneur in Turkey


Follow @mehvesevin
After almost two decades in the industry, Millyet columnist Mehveş Evin knows journalism. And with wide experience at senior level - she's held editorial roles at several news and lifestyle magazines, weekly newspaper editions, as well as being the managing editor of a leading Turkish daily newspaper and its website - she understands the challenges of the business of journalism in the Digital Age.

And of this she has little doubt: providing a platform for strong, independent voices is not only valuable for Turkish society, but is also critical for the long term success of any media enterprise. 

Mehveş is amongst the international team of inspirational speakers and coaches contributing to the first 48-hour MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Startups that kicks off at 6pm on Friday, Oct 5 at the Energy Museum on IBU's Santral Campus. The deadline for application is 5pm on September 5th.
Q1 - Turkey remains a challenging place for independent journalism. What role do you think digital news entrepreneurs have to play in an increasingly connected country? 
The fact that Turkey is a challenging place for independent journalism is actually a bonus for digital news entrepreneurs. In countries where freedom of expression is still a problem, where the traditional media is too slow or unwilling to report news, digital journalism is a perfect tool to reach more people and even more efectively. The question is, how should we use digital tools? And perhaps the most challenging question for entrepreneurs: How can we make independent news and earn money at the same time? I think digital entrepreneurs should look for new, innovative ways. 
    
Q2 - Like in most of Europe, Turkey's mainstream media is dominated by a few cross-media conglomerates. What opportunities do you think there are for grassroots media startups to challenge the status quo?
It’s not easy, we know it. But at the same time, everybody talks about digital news and social media growing very fast… Young people are getting more and more digitized. Even a small spark can challenge the status quo. “Good journalism” is a must, however not enough by itself. Grassroots media startups should keep in mind that “digital journalism” does not mean “to digitize news” but to deliver news in different ways. 
Q3 - Is it wise for entrepreneurs to take risks with digital innovations at time when many in the traditional media are struggling with it?
Entrepreneurship by definition means taking a risk! Yes, the traditional media has the power, finance and resources. But usually, they lack to catch up with innovations and fastly changing world. They “digitize news”, put a few social media buttons on the side. Or try to generate traffic by using cheesy photos. None of them is encouraging local news, citizen journalism nor is fast enough to grasp technological opportunities. Newcomers have the advantage to overcome these weaknesses.    

Q4- The MADE project is, so far, operating in the UK and soon in Turkey. How do you expect the project activities to differ in the various locations, particularly given the different economic and socio-political factors in the two countries?
Economically, it might be even easier for a media startup in Turkey. People are keen to use the internet, but the quality and depth of news making is not necessarily the same as in the UK… If we look at the socio-political factors, the traditional media is lagging behind even when reporting about a fierce fighting in our country- 10 days behind! This is the case not only hard news. People lack the knowledge of whats going on in their own city, neighborhood or street. We lack transparency in every single governmental or private decision and/or attempt. This is why I’m expecting many new, exciting and fresh ideas flourish at the MADE activities in Turkey.   

APPLICATIONS for one of the 20 places on the MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Startups are being accepted until 5pm on the September 5th. For regular updates, follow us on Twitter and join the conversation in the MADE Network group on Facebook.

Aug 6, 2012

Catching up with MADE: Turkey Coach Itir Erhardt

Follow @itirerhart
Itir Erhart is a social entrepreneur on the move. Literally.

Itir found a way to turn her personal passion of running into a public good by co-founding the Adim Adim Initiative, which since 2008 has brought amateur athletes together and helped them prepare for sports events in return for their undertaking to raise cash for charities. AAI has grown to more 1200 members and, to date, raised more than a million USD for groups such as the Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG), Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV) and Paraplegia Foundation of Turkey (TOFD). The money bought 194 battery powered wheelchairs for paraplegics, 940 children received educational support and 53 ecological farms were added to the TaTuTa Network (Eco-Agro Tourism and Voluntary Exchange) of Buğday Association(Buğday).

Itir, who is also Vice Dean of the Faculty of Communication at Istanbul Bilgi University, is amongst the international team of inspirational speakers and coaches contributing to the first 48-hour MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Strartups that kicks off at 6pm on Friday, Oct 5 at the Energy Museum on IBU's Santral Campus.

Q1 - Turkey remains a challenging place for independent journalism. What
role do you think digital news entrepreneurs have to play in an increasingly
connected country?


Being an independent journalist is not easy in Turkey. Yet from day one we
encourage our media students to start their own blogs and connect their
social media accounts to these blogs and comment on each other’s posts.
Once they get a taste of expressing their ideas and sharing their stories
freely, without any pressure from an editor or a “boss” they start realizing
that their options are not limited to working for one of the mainstream TV
networks, print journals or newspapers.

We strongly encourage them to become digital entrepreneurs and practice
independent journalism. I think that’s what we need most in Turkish media
at the moment.


Q2 - Like in most of Europe, Turkey's mainstream media is dominated by a
few cross-media conglomerates. What opportunities do you think there are
for grassroots media startups to challenge the status quo?


I think they are the only ones who can challenge the status quo. It is no
secret that mainstream Turkish media is becoming increasingly more pro
government and more conformist. That is why more and more the readers
and viewers turn to independent sources to get their news. They read
blogs, follow columnists on twitter, listen to Acik Radyo (Open Radio) and
subscribe to updates from BIA (Independent Communication Network). I
see the future of Turkish media in independent media startups.


Q3 - Is it wise for entrepreneurs to take risks with digital innovations at time
when many in the traditional media are struggling with it?


It is harder for traditional media to “digitalize” itself. When you decide to
replace your print newspaper with an Ipad version of it you risk losing a
customer who has been reading your print newspaper for the past 30 years.

You may lose them just because they are used to seeing ink stains on their
hands after they read the paper. Entrepreneurs don’t carry this baggage.
They can be as innovative as they want without the fear of upsetting/
disappointing their royal readers/viewers.


Q4 - The MADE project is, so far, operating in the UK and soon in Turkey.
How do you expect the project activities to differ in the various locations,
particularly given the different economic and socio-political factors in the
two countries?


Turkey ranked 148th in the 2011/12 Press Freedom Index. Most of us are
watching the arrests of journalists with concern. Not one day passes by
before another “outspoken”, “non-conformist” journalist loses his/her job. In
this media climate everyone is looking for an independent outlet to work for
or follow. Some are very eager to create one if only they knew how to. That
is why, I think, the motivations of the participants may be different in the two
countries.


APPLICATIONS for one of the 20 places on the MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Startups are being accepted until 5pm on the September 5th. For regular updates, follow us on Twitter and join the conversation in the MADE Network group on Facebook.


Jul 26, 2012

A Conversation with MADE:Turkey Speaker and Coach Stuart Morris

Follow @stuartlmorris
Stuart Morris is a serial entrepreneur.

Over the past 19 years, he's learned how to grow ideas into successful technology businesses in developed and developing countries. He's also learned how to pick himself up and try again when things don't go to plan. Now he's passionate about helping other entrepreneurs start and build their businesses, too. He does that as a lecturer at the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Henley Business School,UK, as a mentor in The Family Business, and through the Transformational Business Network, of which he is a co-founder.  

Stuart is also part of an international team of inspirational speakers and coaches contributing to the first 48-hour MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Startups that kicks off at 6pm on Friday, Oct 5 at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Q1 - Turkey remains a challenging place for independent journalism. What role do you think digital news entrepreneurs have to play in an increasingly connected country?  

Digital journalism doesn't have to rely on the physical infrastructure of print journalism. The journalist, and their message, can remain mobile and therefore respond to stories more quickly but they're also less vulnerable to the risks inherent in having to have physical resources in a fixed place.

Q2 - Like in most of Europe, Turkey's mainstream media is dominated by a few cross-media conglomerates. What opportunities do you think there are for grassroots media startups to challenge the status quo?

I think the opportunity is huge. Many of the old conglomerates are dying but are so big that they don't know it yet. Grassroots media can compete with them on every level by offering a quality product in an accessible way.

Q3 - Is it wise for entrepreneurs to take risks with digital innovations at time when many in the traditional media are struggling with it?

It isn't wise! It is essential! Whilst the traditional media struggle, the opportunity is there for the entrepreneurs to create something new, vibrant and profitable. The old business models are broken and it is time to find new ones.

Q4 - What’s the single most important advice you can give to someone wanting to start a digital media enterprise?

Don't keep talking about it... do it. If you keep waiting for the 'perfect moment' the circumstances will have changed and the opportunity will be lost.

Q5 - The MADE project is, so far, operating in the UK and soon in Turkey. How do  you expect the project activities to  differ in the various locations, particularly given the different economic and socio-political factors in the  two countries?

That's a huge question. The UK and Turkey are very different nations with incredibly diverse cultural, political and economic backgrounds. The challenges will be similar in nature but express themselves differently. Some of the solutions will be similar but in many ways the detail will be very different if only because the people solving them will have different outlooks on life, different backgrounds and different resources to call upon.

APPLICATIONS for one of the 20 places on the MADE:Turkey Weekend for Media Startups are being accepted until 5pm on the September 5th. For regular updates, follow us on Twitter and join the conversation in the MADE Network group on Facebook.


Jul 23, 2012

Application now open for the first MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Entrepreneurs

Are you thinking about starting up a digital news site or a publication in Turkey?
Or have you recently done something like that? Need some help?

Then the MADE project might be just what you're looking for. 

Our international team of experienced news entrepreneurs and business experts are working to help news startups in Turkey and the UK stay up through cutting-edge workshops, networking and creative business support programmes that will help you develop innovative content, commerce, communities and connections.

Applications are now being accpeted HERE for the first 48-hour MADE: Turkey Startup Weekend from 6pm Friday, 5 October to 6pm on Sunday, 7 October, at Istanbul Bilgi University, Santral Campus, Energy Museum. Application deadline: 5pm 5 September.


Drawing on the latest research into news online, on mobile and on tablet - and a track-record of mentoring successful digital start-ups - the MADE team will help
participants develop business strategies that consider a variety of direct and indirect revenue streams, in addition to advice on managing teams and resources effectively
and efficiently.

Participants will also be invited to #DJCamp2012, a two-day workshop on how to use cutting-edge data journalism tools and techniques in order to create compelling content in
highly efficient ways, hosted by IBU from 8-9 November (More details to follow).

Linking into the MADE Network will give you the chance to continue to learn and share with experienced mentors and an international network of creative media entrepreneurs just like you!

Suitable projects and teams may be offered a place on Özyeğin University’s Startup Factory’s entrepreneurs bootcamp and incubation programme – starting immediately
(from Oct 8th) or in January 2013.

Learn more here. For updates, follow this blog and join the conversation on Twitter @uclanMADE. You can also contract us directly at MADEturkey@gmail.com

Jul 2, 2012

Six finalists have been chosen for MADE project’s ‘Hothouse’

Over last weekend the Media And Digital Enterprise project (MADE) ran an intensive 48-hourr event for a select group of 30 media entrepreneurs. At the end of the MADE: UK Startup Weekend, the entrepreneurs pitched a panel of judges and MADE partners for a chance to proceed through to the MADE Hothouse.

The MADE Hothouse is a 12-week mentorship and business development scheme run in conjunction with UCLan’s Northern Lights business support unit. Winners will have access to a number of coaches and resources to further help their fledgling entreprises.
 

Today we are delighted to announce that those selected to participate in the MADE Hothouse are: Alison Smith, Pesky People Anthony Beswick and Scott Heslop, Fruit + Gemma Collins, 3VTV James Oldfield, Hand Pumped Michael Niskin, Entrepreneur Quarterly Stuart Goulden, One&Other Our judges felt these projects showed real dedication to the aims of the MADE project and would be able to benefit from the support and access to resources we can give them going forward. 
All the projects that were pitched were of a high standard and choosing among them was not easy. One of the judges Arthur Porter, publisher of The Business Journal said, “It was a very difficult decision due to the abundance of talent and excellent projects on show.

“The MADE: UK Weekend for Media Startups churned out an array of amazing journalistic entrepreneurs who somehow very quickly showed their enthusiasm for each other’s ideas and the problems they faced. They were looking for help and guidance from the coaches and their peers. None went home disappointed.”

Judge and MADE partner Sarah Hartley, managing director of Talk About Local said: "With all the doom and gloom around the industry at the moment it was inspiring to meet so many news entrepreneurs, people with a real passion to make a difference and I'm looking forward to working with many of them over the coming weeks."

The project’s director François Nel of UCLan’s school of Journalism, Media and Communications said: “We are very excited about what our MADE Hothouse winners will achieve and what we can learn from their journeys in entrepreneurship. What we want to establish is a network of lean media startups who can rely on us, and each other, for support and guidance.”

MADE will continue with further training events with a DJCAMP2012, a data journalism workshop being held on September 21-22 in Preston. In the Autumn, the MADE Project also moves to Turkey, kicking off with the 48-hour MADE: Turkey Weekend for Media Entrepreneurs from 5 to 7 October.

Jun 21, 2012

The MADE UK Weekend for Media Entrepreneurs

The Northern Lights business incubation unit


We have just finished winding up the first MADE UK Weekend for Media Entrepreneurs and the only word that feels appropriate is, Wow.

Forty keen entrepreneurs and coaches descended on UCLan’s Media Factory campus for an intensive 48 hours discussing their own projects and the things we can do to create sustainable journalism businesses. Being in Preston we couldn’t promise great weather but we created a great space where our entrepreneurs could speak freely about their projects and the challenges they face.

We had several top notch coaches to guide participants on the finer points of cash flow, innovation, content strategies, advertising models, community engagement and new technologies.

The days were long and intensive. This was no breezy day conference and networking event. Participants were expected to work, engage and contribute and they certainly rose to the challenge. One of the weekend’s coaches, MADE partner Aine McGuire of Scraperwiki said:

“It’s been amazing. I certainly feel I learnt more from the participants than I was able to give back.”

We were delighted by how much participants shared with each other: WordPress tips and tricks, social media advice, advertising methods. Everyone recognised that the secret to achieving sustainable new media enterprises is by conversation and knowledge transfer. At the end of the weekend when our entrepreneurs gave a five minute pitch of their businesses they invited constructive criticism from our judges and other participants. They got plenty of this but also, overwhelmingly, they were offered advice and suggestions on funding, technology, contacts. The generosity participants showed each other was humbling.

MADE initiator François Nel kicked off the UK’s first weekend workshop aimed specifically at news entrepreneurs by asking: “Why are we here? “

“The short answer, “ he told the 32 nascent and new media entrepreneurs who had come from throughout the UK and as far afield as Italy and Lagos, “is to help you” you. And to learn.”

“How will we know if the Media And Digital Enterprise project has been successful? “
“In the longer term, we would know if the news entrepreneurs manage to not only startup
news enterprise in the public interest, but succeed in creating sustainable thriving enterprises – whether for social, educational or commercial purposes. Or all three.

“Of more immediate focus is you and your experiences over this weekend. For us, success would be measured in a number of ways:
If you manage to test and confirm your strategy against all the Why? What If? What Else? questions we’re going to be asking this weekend. Or if you manage to test your ideas and redirect or pivot your focus. Or if you decide to refocus on an entirely different opportunity – either on your own or in partnership with one or more of the people in this room.”

On Friday evening we kicked off with the intriguing story of Preston’s newspaper wars from UCLan’s Dr Andrew Hobbs followed by Nick Jaspan of How-Do media on his successes, failures and battle stories from media entrepreneurship. Then the ice-breaker task, the point in so many conferences and events when people cringe and get uncomfortable. But under the stewardship of Stuart and Gillian Morris our MADE participants threw themselves into it and created brand new companies, ideas and business models in under an hour.

MADE’s François Nel started off Saturday with a look at what the make-up of a news media start-up is. What makes them different to the established media? Where are the opportunities? What must they do differently? 

Rick Waghorn of Addiply and Arthur Porter of the Business Journals talked about how news start-ups can get their hands on cold, hard cash before fascinating round-table discussions on marketing, money, community and technology.

Aine McGuire and scraping maestro Julian Todd of Scraperwiki looked at how news start-ups can get a competitive advantage on their mainstream rivals by the means of open data. Traditional print media has long monopolised the dissemination of data but through government initiatives and tools like Scraperwiki, news start-ups can get a unique slice of the pie.

Community is vital to any new media company. Whether it’s a community defined by geography or one defined by interests it is important that publishers recognise who their community is and how best they can serve them. This is what Sarah Hartley of Guardian Media Group’s n0tice project shared with us before demonstrating how our participants can use the n0tice journalism toolbox and APIs to create great community content.



The MADE Exchange


In the afternoon our MADE entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to sit down with our coaches and discuss their business ideas and call on their invaluable advice. Of course we ran out of time for these fantastic conversations but rest assured they continued on into the night.

Saturday was a day of ideas and inspiration but Sunday was a day of realities. Peter Rawling of the Northern Lights business incubation unit based at UCLan walked our entrepreneurs step by step through creating a business plan and cash-flow forecast. He was then joined by François Nel to talk about where funding opportunities are and how entrepreneurs can get their hands on some much needed cash.

Taking this on board participants began to craft their final presentations to deliver to the group in the afternoon.

What was delivered were pitches, that while hastily done, were brimming with enthusiasm and optimism. The range of ideas and business on show was truly remarkable. Business and projects tackled issues such as local, environment, travel, black lifestyle, business, niche industries and so many more. We can’t share the details of these businesses but we can share this: if MADE participants can capture the enthusiasm and creativity they demonstrated this weekend and put it into their businesses then we have no doubt of their success.

François Nel quizzes the MADE entrepreneurs


Nel said: “We’ve certainly delighted that we achieved what we set out to do. We’ve also seeded what I certainly hope will become a strong network of entrepreneurs. We’ve even seen some flirting amongst the entrepreneurs. I suspect there’ll be a few co-founder dates over the coming weeks and we may even be able to announce partnership or two.”

Next: The five candidates invited to join the MADE Hothouse, a 12-week business support
programme will be announced on 21 June.

All the participants have been invited to join the MADE Network and to participate in a two-day data journalism camp in September.

The MADE Project will also run in Turkey this autumn

May 30, 2012

And they're off! News entrepreneurs nominated for the (first) MADE:UK Startup Weekend

This much is clear: the participants selected for the MADE: UK Startup Weekend aren't cowards. 

Starting up a new business is never easy. But starting up a new media enterprise in the midst of what is some argue is the most severe economic downturn in recent memory takes real chutzpah

"That shone through all of the more than 90 expressions of interest that came from around the UK and as far afield as Eastern Europe, Africa, US and the Middle East," said MADE director  François Nel."Choosing amongst them was certainly not straightforward. But in the in end, we whittled the number down to 30. And they are all particularly talented. And diverse." 

Here are some of the key numbers:
  • 50 is percentage who have journalistic experience in the mainstream media
  • 42 is the percentage of women
  • 38 to 1 is the range of years of work experience in fields that include IT, film making, tourism management, art curating, public relations, marketing and education
  • 21 is the average years that the professional journalists have plied their trade 
  • 8 is the percentage of participants from outside the UK
  • 100 is the number of exceptionally creative individuals who plan to meet up from June 15-17 to spend 48 (or so) hours in the Media Factory in Preston with the express aim of working together to find innovative ways to build sustainable news enterprises.
At the end of the weekend, three to five projects will be selected for the MADE Hothouse, a 12-week business incubation support programme. 

In addition, the MADE participants will also have the opportunity to take part in DJCamp2012, a two-day data journalism workshop in September, that will be led by Paul Bradshaw  and the team from Scraperwiki. "If there are some extra spaces available, we'll open up the workshop to others," said Nel. 

While the discussions during MADE Startup Weekend will be subject to the Chatham House Rule ("We need to have a safe space for entrepreneurs to share sensitive information in confidence," said Nel), participants are being encouraged to share their own stories.

Throughout, the project activities are also be researched and, in the end, the team aim to share their findings in a series of MADE Insight Reports, said Nel. "We're doing our best to use the grant we got from winning the International Press Institute's inaugural News Innovation Contest to help as many news startup as we can to stay up."
 

The MADE: UK  2012 Project Participants are: 


Rachel Matthews
Stuart Goulden
Alan Qualtrough
Isah Momoh
Gemma Collins
James Oldfield
Jenny Shepherd
Angie Sammons
Paul Brotherton
Chris McCormack
Michael Niskin
Anne Gould
Claire Miller
Mary Ann Sieghart
Glenn McMahon
Melissa Allison-Forbes
Phil Creighton
Christopher Litherland
Michael Brightman
Alison Smith
Anthony Beswick
Scott Heslop
Simon Perry
Jonathan Frost
Mary-Ann  Horley
Rebecca Stasko
John Baron

The first call for participation in the MADE:Turkey Startup Weekend is expected to go out in the coming month.