Sourcefabric

Sourcefabric [1] is a not-for-profit organisation based in Prague, Czech Republic, with branches in Berlin, Germany and Toronto, Canada. Sourcefabric was spun off from the Media Development Loan Fund's Campware project in May 2010.[2]

Contents

Software

It develops open source software for independent news media organisations. Its software products formerly included Campsite and Campcaster. On January 17th 2011, Sourcefabric announced the renaming of Campsite to Newscoop and Campcaster to Airtime, plus the launch of a new product Superdesk. [3] On November 10th 2011, Sourcefabric officially announced the development of Superdesk, a newsroom tool to manage the entire journalistic process. [4]

Training

Sourcefabric also provides training for journalism students as well as professional journalists on how to use new media tools. It has had training and consulting activities in Africa (Senegal, Zimbabwe), various EU countries and in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.[5]

Implementations

In April 2011, Sourcefabric worked alongside West Africa Democracy Radio to build a news platform for the station using Airtime, Newscoop and Soundcloud integration. [6] TagesWoche, a Swiss online and print newspaper, launched in October 2011 on a new version of the Newscoop platform with the new features Print Desk and Feed Ingest. [7]

Awards

The West Africa Democracy Radio project was named as a special distinction winner in the 2011 Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism. [8][9] Airtime was nominated a finalist in the Packt Open Source Multimedia Software Awards 2011. [10]

Superdesk was nominated for the 2011 Ashoka Google Citizen Media Global Innovation Competition in November 2011. [11]

References

  1. ^ Sourcefabric homepage http://www.sourcefabric.org/.
  2. ^ "CAMP begins new life as ‘Sourcefabric’". http://www.mdlf.org/en/main/newsroom/189/CAMP-begins-new-life-as-%E2%80%98Sourcefabric%E2%80%99.htm. 
  3. ^ "New open source organization is dedicated to quality journalism". http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Headlines/new-open-source-organisation-dedicated-is-to-quality-journalism-63920-.aspx. 
  4. ^ "Superdesk is an open-source newsroom for citizen media". http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-11/10/sourcefabric-superdesk. 
  5. ^ "New open source company aimed at journalists". http://jonslattery.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-open-source-company-aimed-at.html. 
  6. ^ "WADR launches new website". http://www.wadr.org/en/site/news_en/194/WADR-launches-new-website.htm. 
  7. ^ "TagesWoche Portrays New Future for Swiss Media Landscape". http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Technology/Article/TagesWoche-Portrays-New-Future-for-Swiss-Media-Landscape. 
  8. ^ "Storify Wins $10000 Knight-Batten Award". http://www.j-lab.org/about/press-releases/storify-wins-10000-knight-batten-award/. 
  9. ^ "2011 Knight-Batten Winners Include Storify, Andy Carvin". http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/09/2011-knight-batten-winners-include-storify-andy-carvin272.html. 
  10. ^ "Open Source Radio Station Management Software Airtime Sees New Release". http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/10/open-source-radio-station-management-software-airtime-sees-release/. 
  11. ^ "Superdesk Brings Digital Newsroom to Independent Media Organisations". http://www.changemakers.com/citizenmedia/entries/newscoop?breadcrumb_type=finalists.