TRENDS FOR EDITORIAL FORMATS

BLOGS:
A “blog” is a Web-log. It’s a time-stamped format for first person narrative content, typically on one niche topic or area of interest or expertise. “Tags” on blogs are like keywords, signifying the most popular topics on the blog. A blog may contain text, images, video and audio content.

Crackdowns On Bloggers Increasing, Survey Finds, By Nora Boustany, Washington Post Foreign Service, Wednesday, October 17, 2007; Page A14. Government repression in some countries has shifted from journalists to bloggers, with the vitality of the Internet triggering a more focused crackdown as blogs increasingly take the place of mainstream news media, according to Lucie Morillon, Washington director of the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

Blogs to check out:
Gawker;
BuzzMachine;
NYTimesCityRoom
Technorati, blog aggregator
Regret the Error, about errors in the media
How to start your own free blog:
WordPress is the leading blog authoring tool, free. Also see Google-owned Blogger.


WIKI’S:
A wiki is a website than can be edited by anyone visiting the site. Everyone can enter, edit or delete content. See Wikipedia, the giant cooperative, self-censuring encyclopedia. Wiki’s are also used by any dispersed group of people working together, for eg. work teams, classrooms or special interest groups.


CONTENT FEEDS / RSS (Real Simple Syndication): RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS "feed” is either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking them manually. The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into an RSS reader, or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the subscription process.

CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS:
Template-based input screens for text headlines, articles, photo labels, etc. that output on site in a pre-structured manner, with no technical knowledge required.

PODCASTS:
Podcasts may be scripted by writers for inclusion on web sites from iTunes to corporate sites to niche-interest blogs.