17:33:19 <decause> #startmeeting
17:33:19 <zodbot> Meeting started Tue Sep  1 17:33:19 2015 UTC.  The chair is decause. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
17:33:19 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic.
17:33:30 <decause> #chair shibby rikki stickster
17:33:30 <zodbot> Current chairs: decause rikki shibby stickster
17:33:35 <decause> #topic Agenda
17:33:49 <decause> #link http://etherpad.osuosl.org/fedora-magazine-osdc-braindump-090115
17:34:02 <decause> #topic braindump
17:34:12 <decause> so, Thank you Rikki/Shibby for attending
17:34:17 <JenWike> im here as well
17:34:23 <stickster> #link https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Magazine/Editorial_meetings -- a very skeletal draft we started for Fedora Magazine
17:34:36 <decause> during FLOCK, we had a session about magazine/marketing and moving forward
17:34:45 <decause> from that session, we finally landed a weekly editorial meeting
17:34:48 <decause> and during the first one
17:34:51 <shibby> stickster, just to be clear, do you want us to chat here or update the etherpad, or both?
17:35:07 <decause> we came up with a few questions we'd like to ask you folks at Opensource.com about the way you handle the things
17:35:18 <decause> shibby: I can update the etherpad later
17:35:20 <stickster> shibby: chat here. We'll take the action of transcribing or moving over other things. You guys are doing us the favor
17:35:24 <decause> it is there mostly so you konw what is coming
17:35:28 <shibby> Deciding When to Publish Posts - we played around with this for a long time
17:35:28 <decause> stickster++
17:35:29 <decause> exactly
17:35:41 <decause> #topic when to publish posts
17:35:54 <decause> I know you have some "science" you used to determine what time of day and how many is best
17:36:04 <stickster> yes ^ that
17:36:13 <decause> I'm sure the answer will be slightly different depending on audience/calendar, but any general rules?
17:36:20 <shibby> right now, we set all content to publish in the morning hours, usually between 3-6 am.
17:36:27 <rikki> decause: how about I send you a blank template that would work for you all?
17:36:43 <decause> rikki: any templates/guides/how-tos would be *wonderful* resources
17:36:45 <shibby> We do this because we want content on the site and in people's RSS by the time Europe is waking up / starting their day
17:36:45 <stickster> shibby: That's good to know, because ryanlerch has been pushing stories around that time when we publish
17:37:07 <decause> cool cool
17:37:13 <rikki> I'll get a spreadsheet template knocked out  with tabs for scheduling, editing, metrics, etc
17:37:28 <shibby> by the tiem we get into the office, we know which content is popular that day
17:37:30 <shibby> time
17:37:33 <stickster> rikki: We've been using a plugin that's part of our WordPress site -- it gives us a calendar output
17:37:47 <decause> solid
17:37:53 <shibby> but, we are publishing 3-4 articles a day, the answer for you may be different depending on volume and audience.
17:38:21 <stickster> rikki: But it's not AFAIK integrated with any metrics; we can use story fields to show who's the editor, the status (pitch, draft, waiting for review, etc.)
17:38:26 <shibby> even though there is a lot of chatter about RSS being dead, it's not.
17:38:30 <decause> shibby: nod nod nod. Imagine OSDC "in the beginning" if you can remember. We're at the point where we are starting to need an editorial board and calendar, but progress is coming along
17:38:32 <rikki> stickster: you might be able to use some of our spreadsheets or get ideas from our process that fits into your plugins, etc. too
17:38:35 <stickster> shibby: We're more like 3-4/week currently (when we're at our best)
17:38:38 <stickster> rikki: For sure
17:38:55 <stickster> shibby: Would we do more if we could keep the pace up? Perhaps
17:39:07 <shibby> for a publishing cadence, the best advice I could it to be consistant
17:39:19 <decause> having process in place helps to get contributing authors on board (that is what helped me in the early days)
17:39:21 <rikki> agreed
17:39:22 <shibby> in the beginning of OSDC, we committed to publishing one new article a day
17:40:01 <decause> nod nod nod
17:40:01 <decause> ok
17:40:03 <decause> next item
17:40:06 <shibby> and over the years, have grown it from there, with obvious dependencies around dedicated staff and volunteers (moderators)
17:40:10 <stickster> *nod
17:40:14 <decause> #topic Tracking/Analytics
17:40:28 <shibby> we use omniture to track web analytics
17:40:29 <decause> So, we're in the process of getting piwik, and wordpress has some built in analytics
17:40:41 <decause> shibby: and sprout?
17:40:45 <shibby> but we also have Google Analytics plugged in
17:41:00 <shibby> for social media, we use booth Hootsuite and Sprout Social
17:41:06 <decause> shibby: gotcha
17:41:14 <stickster> Wordpress "analytics" (Jetpack) are kind of rudimentary in the console... but ryanlerch reminded me there's an API we might be able to pull other things from. Piwik is *much* more full featured
17:41:24 * decause just got the greenlight for Fedora SM account creds today, so will have some more thoughts on that in the near future
17:41:32 <shibby> to take a step back, you need to know what your goals are and what you want to track. Before we do anything new, we ask ourselves 2 things
17:41:37 <shibby> 1) what does success look like
17:41:43 <shibby> 2) how are we going to track this
17:41:48 <decause> shibby++
17:41:48 <zodbot> decause: Karma for shibby changed to 1 (for the f22 release cycle):  https://badges.fedoraproject.org/tags/cookie/any
17:41:54 <shibby> big picture/metric for us is page views
17:42:19 <decause> what about reporting?
17:42:32 <shibby> reporting, we do a bunch
17:42:36 <decause> I know we get the "daily digest" but is that hand-generated or machine generated?
17:42:42 <shibby> we have a daily heartbeat that goes out
17:42:43 * stickster has a couple goals in mind: (1) increase avg page views by at least 25% YoY; (2) decrease bounce rate, not sure of margin yet
17:42:55 <stickster> shibby: Did you have any contact/concerns/research around doing a tracking code for analytics on OSDC?
17:43:06 <shibby> we roll that up into a weekly report which we send to osdc-list and internal to memo-list
17:43:28 <shibby> also weekly, JenWike does a top 5 video for YouTube that's not technically a report, but could be
17:43:29 <decause> shibby: does the daily heartbeat come from a machine, or is it hand-compiled?
17:43:59 <shibby> and we have a monthly report where we consolidate all of our metrics. We can show you the google doc we use, but we can't post it publicly
17:44:21 <shibby> stickster, we use salesforce campaign codes in our weekly emails
17:44:30 * stickster 's question about tracking code is to address the inevitable privacy concerns
17:44:48 <shibby> stickster, on the enterprisers project, we have integrated both SFDC campaign codes and eloqua cookie tracking
17:44:53 <decause> stickster: less of a concern for OSDC readers than our audience for sure
17:44:59 <rikki> the monthly report google doc will be part of the template I send over
17:45:06 <decause> rikki++
17:45:08 <decause> thank you
17:45:11 <stickster> IMHO analytics are a required business function for this site, and as such I don't think they fall into the bin of needing to provide an opt-out. If we don't measure I don't see a point in doing the Magazine
17:45:26 <stickster> Anyway, not to rathole here. shibby, just wanted to know if you guys discussed that topic from privacy POV
17:45:35 <decause> nod nod nod
17:45:37 <decause> ok
17:45:37 <JenWike> the Top 5 is being treated as a report to some readers -- i got an email last week asking why an article that had been popular didn't make it on the list
17:45:40 <shibby> stickster, we rely on the marketing ops team to help us with privacy compliance and adhere to whatever legal advices us on
17:45:43 <stickster> er, s/opt-out/opt-in/
17:45:45 <JenWike> a good sign / thing
17:45:54 <decause> #topic Tracking Pitches/Ideas for Stories
17:46:06 <stickster> shibby: If you have a contact person for that, please feel free to send me a name offline
17:46:31 <decause> how does OSDC handle story ideas? I know there is a spreadsheet of ideas/stories that is a bread-and-butter doc for OSDC I've seen a few times
17:46:31 <shibby> decause, daily report is half and half, we have a template and pull the numbers from omniture / other sources
17:46:38 <decause> shibby: nod nod, thanks
17:47:09 <rikki> pitches/ideas: also part of the template
17:47:19 <decause> rikki: kk, then we can keep moving then
17:47:21 <shibby> stickster, for trackign stuff, I would recommend you start with Kyle Phelps (not the famous swimmer one)
17:47:28 <stickster> :-) thanks shibby
17:47:39 <decause> #topic Tracking/Editing Pitches
17:47:45 <decause> #topic Tracking/Editing Stories
17:47:50 <shibby> pitches - we recently moved to a sweet google form that Rikki can tell you all about
17:47:56 <stickster> #action stickster Contact marketing ops regarding tracking details
17:48:10 <decause> shibby: nice
17:48:18 <shibby> long story short, we have an email address for people to send stuff, but we found that we kept asking the same questions
17:48:51 <shibby> so we push people to the form for 2 reasons, it gets us the info we need up front and it crufts out the riff raff of most of the content farms
17:49:08 <rikki> here's the google form: http://opensource.com/how-submit-article
17:49:21 <stickster> nice
17:49:25 <shibby> JenWike, can talk more about that process they use to go through submission
17:49:28 <rikki> it dumps into our spreadsheet
17:49:41 <shibby> we basically move ideas from the form to a Google Doc (spreadsheet)
17:49:50 <stickster> Currently we have http://fedoramagazine.org/submit-an-idea-or-tip/ but it doesn't feed directly IIRC
17:49:51 <decause> nod nod nod
17:49:58 <shibby> we were using etherpad, but outgrew it with volume and needed to be able to move ideas from tab to tab
17:50:13 <rikki> the form automatically puts the submissions into the spreadsheet because I linked them
17:51:15 <decause> I like the workflow on that, we'd maybe have to use slightly different pipes, but the concept is solid
17:51:24 <decause> pitches should include certain info up front
17:51:38 <shibby> also, for pitches, we have a public facing editorial calendar
17:52:04 <JenWike> the main idea is we need some sort of understanding of not only what the topic is but what the outline for the article is, so we can really judge if it's a good fit
17:52:05 <shibby> and this is a huge help. partly on the next topic, is one way we attract new contributors
17:52:19 <shibby> for ex, we just started back to school with open source this week
17:52:21 <stickster> decause: Our form apparently feeds https://lists.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fedoramagazine-tips
17:52:26 <shibby> that's been in the work for like 4-6 weeks.
17:52:45 <JenWike> right. with the editorial calendar in place we can easily call for new contributors and link to the ed cal for upcoming topics of interest to the site
17:52:54 <shibby> JenWike, will put a call out to our osdc-writers list (more on that in a moment) and to our voluneteer moderators
17:53:07 <shibby> sometimes people will submit using the form
17:53:20 <JenWike> we've been doing monthly themes on certain topics for 2-3 years now, which was our original idea/way to call for writers
17:53:24 <shibby> ed cal: http://opensource.com/resources/editorial-calendar
17:53:43 <shibby> one thing I wish we did earlier was the writers list
17:53:54 <shibby> we have 700+ people on the now, JenWike can confirm
17:54:00 <stickster> shibby: How often do you update that calendar?
17:54:00 <decause> wow!
17:54:15 <JenWike> wel...
17:54:16 <JenWike> 217
17:54:20 <JenWike> but on our way
17:54:23 <shibby> we basically invite any one that have written for us since 2014 to be part of that list
17:54:30 <shibby> oops, i was way off, thanks JenWike
17:54:38 <shibby> stickster, big updates, twice a year
17:54:48 <JenWike> we plan out 6 months in advance
17:54:57 <decause> stickster: we brainstorm at AllThingsOpen Moderator Summit
17:54:58 <shibby> stickster, minor updates when needed (ie, we add a new conference interview series)
17:54:59 <stickster> shibby: JenWike: Thanks, that was what I was looking fro
17:55:01 <stickster> *for even
17:55:18 <shibby> stickster, we want to give people the roadmap, just like OSS projects
17:55:44 <stickster> #info editorial calendar for topical weeks/months is populated 2x/year, and 6 months in advance
17:56:06 <decause> stickster: it works well for soliciting particular articles
17:56:22 <decause> stickster: and, OSDC does a great job of pre/post conference interview coverage
17:56:24 <JenWike> we also have a "contact list" where we place all names and email addresses of writers we work with, as soon as they write their first piece -- in that row in the spreadsheet we list what topic they wrote about so that we can use it to track info as well as use when looking for a writer for a topic
17:56:39 <shibby> +1 JenWike I wish we started that years ago
17:57:05 <shibby> we have a weekly task for everyone on the team to update that with new contacts. we love our roladex
17:57:19 <decause> osdc++
17:57:35 <rikki> (all of this is in the template I'm prepping now) :)
17:57:47 <decause> so, we're almost done here if you folks wanna get out with 30 mins
17:57:48 <JenWike> agreed. it's been hard to get all the great info out of our first few years of writers as we have for writers now, but one step at a time right? we've been moving a million miles an hour since day 1
17:58:08 <JenWike> thanks rikki
17:58:37 <shibby> for editing drafts.... JenWike has a  whole process for that mapped out that we can share, it's on Mojo I think
17:58:41 <JenWike> decause: my big takeaway would be track your writers and what they write about from day 1
17:58:52 <JenWike> update that when they write new stuff
17:59:00 <stickster> The great thing is we should be able to do much of this from existing WP dataq
17:59:03 <stickster> er, data.
17:59:03 <JenWike> it is, i can paste here?
17:59:39 <decause> one thing on my plate that has come up is the possibility of regular content from the Magazine cross-pollinating over to OSDC when it makes sense to (and the RHT community blog for that matter)
17:59:43 <decause> JenWike: yes please
17:59:44 <shibby> as with anything community, find ways to reward your contributors
17:59:47 <stickster> JenWike: Send to us in email
17:59:56 <JenWike> ok, done
17:59:57 <stickster> decause: InfoSec isn't keen on publishing internal URLs
18:00:01 <shibby> for new authors, jen will send them their stats on day one after publication
18:00:11 <decause> lol, my bad
18:00:16 <stickster> decause: no worries
18:00:21 <shibby> for returning authors we do the same thing
18:00:30 <shibby> and lots of mentions on social media when possible
18:00:49 <shibby> we give out community awards each January to recognize efforts
18:00:57 <shibby> decause, might have gotten an award or two :)
18:01:08 <decause> :)
18:01:15 <stickster> we haz badges ;-)
18:01:19 <decause> we have some badges, yep :)
18:01:24 <shibby> people love badges
18:01:37 <JenWike> just sent: "Opensource.com Content Management & Strategy"
18:01:40 <shibby> I saw the note about fedora column for OSDC - yes
18:01:47 <stickster> Thanks JenWike
18:02:02 <JenWike> it's a beast... and also nerdy publishing fun :)
18:02:16 <shibby> we have an interesting way to approach that and have had some success in what we call "collaborative columns" where we have authors sign-up for future publishing slots
18:02:24 <decause> shibby: yeah, as we formalize the editorial process, i"m hoping to drive more contributing authors via commops team (also in progress) where we can start curating a pipeline
18:02:55 <shibby> it worked great for 4-6 months, but then lost momentum because I don't think people understood we wanted them to keep contributing and help us find new contributors
18:02:58 <rikki> One perk writers might like is to get a free conference "press pass"
18:03:01 <rikki> but
18:03:15 <rikki> they have to have article samples already to be considered for this by conferences
18:03:27 <rikki> so that's a nice perk for regular writers who show that they can cover event news
18:03:38 <rikki> for example, Nicole Engard on our site
18:03:49 <decause> who did *amazing* coverage for OSCON this year, btw
18:03:52 <rikki> you can't even apply for a press pass without writing samples though
18:03:56 <rikki> I know, right?!
18:03:58 <rikki> she's awesome
18:03:59 <JenWike> :)
18:04:06 <shibby> that's all i've got today, great questions stickster decause - we're happy to share want we've learned
18:04:07 <rikki> so I didn't have any problem getting her a pass to SXSW
18:04:17 <stickster> thanks shibby for being here!
18:04:25 <shibby> come to my talk at ATO and I go into more details about alot of this stuff
18:04:27 <decause> shibby: rikki: JenWike: Thanks much for making the time :)
18:04:30 <rikki> that's a pretty sweet perk for her, and great content for us, and great coverage for the events
18:04:34 <JenWike> notw: nengard is a moderator, but we also have "regular contributors" do coverage too
18:04:37 <JenWike> *notw
18:04:39 <JenWike> note
18:04:41 * decause will be at ATO, and showing up for some time at the Tower too
18:04:51 <rikki> decause: let us know if you have other questions
18:04:59 <rikki> i'll get that template over to you either today or tomorrow
18:05:03 <decause> rikki: I'll follow up after the Editorial Meeting on Thursday
18:05:06 <JenWike> would be happy to do another 30 min sesh going forward too
18:05:07 <decause> rikki: great
18:05:11 <JenWike> once you get going and have more questions
18:05:21 <decause> JenWike: I'll schedule them sparingly, I konw you folks have full plates :)
18:05:30 <decause> JenWike++
18:05:31 <decause> shibby++
18:05:33 <decause> rikki++
18:05:42 <decause> stickster++
18:05:46 <decause> thanks everyone!
18:05:48 <decause> #endmeeting