Who we are, what we did, how it mattered
We are the fusion journalists of Western iMedia, a multiplatform editorial startup operated out of Western Kentucky University. We combine the ethics, mission and professionalism of quality editorial work with an atypical range of expertise in making that work more visual, more tangible, more accessible to a contemporary audience. We don't just tell stories but produce the environments in which people engage those stories across multiple media and technologies. We are entrepreneurial journalists primed to work in the start-ups, NGOs, non-profits, social networks and corporate activities that are becoming the new mainstream media, as well as reinvigorating traditional mainstream media.
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The way we work is all about the story first, the medium second. Or rather, the media – plural. We integrate multiple formats and platforms to produce the most effective story connected to the most significant audience. Our job is to inform. Our goal is journalism that gets noticed, because if it doesn’t, what’s the point?
The editorial plan
Western iMedia’s approach to covering the 2011 INMA World Congress was to treat the entire event as one big story with many moving parts developing over several days around a couple of different topics with a strongly involved audience. We therefore built the editorial plan around publishing a video-rich multiblog, in which each post is a piece of microjournalism capturing one aspect of the discussion but combining into a comprehensive report, plus heavily engaging the local and worldwide audience in a running conversation through social media. 
Story cards (see sample) distributed to all participants encapsulated the entire editorial program from blog to Twitter hashtag to mobile QR code. We provided basic training on social media for that portion of the participants not already engaged online. We also outlined a series of summary articles for INMA’s follow-on digital magazine pulling content from the multiblog and quotes from the Twitterstream.
The results
Over 78 hours, we produced 58 full-length media-enhanced posts including 18 that embedded Twitter Blackbird Pie and Storify; we also generated 27 finished videos and 236 tweets. At one point during the coverage, our social network conversation was engaging more than 100,000 people, according to data from TweetReach. Over the period of the conference, INMA’s Klout online influence ranking jumped 42 percent and its Total Reach rose nearly 20 percent. INMA’s blog analytics showed roughly double the number of eyeballs on its website during the congress versus the previous year and triple the year before. Site traffic on the second day of the conference set a record and on the third day smashed that record by another 30 percent.
INMA editor Bob Ogle provided this evaluation:
Thanks to you and to your team for taking what might well have been a weak spot for World Congress and instead turning it into something we can really be proud of… I have worked on so many journalism-driven projects over the years that I no longer care to keep count. But I can say in all honesty that your group performed with energy and dedication that matched any team I have been a part of. To me, the highest compliment you can pay a journalist is simply to say that he or she is a "pro." Your people performed, and carried themselves, like professionals. Each of you should be proud.
The iMedia team
Ky Bright
project lead; video lead; video/imaging journalist
Studying broadcast news at Western Kentucky University with a minor in Latin American studies, graduating in May 2012. Will intern at WLKY-TV in Louisville this summer. Plans to work at a television station upon graduation with an ultimate goal of working for ESPN.
Michelle Child
writer/audience lead
Studying public relations and French at Western Kentucky University, graduating in May 2012. Will intern at WKU's on campus PR/ad agency Imagewest starting in September. Aspires to join the Peace Corps or work abroad in the non-profit sector.
Julie Crabtree
writer/editor/content lead
Recent graduate of WKU School of Journalism & Broadcasting with an additional folk studies concentration. Currently a legal assistant with intentions to get her graduate degree in library science and become a librarian. No matter what her career, Julie’s love for writing will keep her busy with freelance work.
Katie Gibbs
video/imaging journalist
Studying broadcast TV/film production and creative writing in the nationally recognized WKU School of Journalism & Broadcasting with aspirations to be a documentary filmmaker. Director/technical producer at WKYU-TV PBS station. Katie will graduate in May 2012.
Chelsea Haynes
writer/editor/digital operations lead
Seeking a bachelor's degree in news/editorial journalism with a minor in geography. Aspires to be a web producer working in multimedia, with an ultimate goal of working for Circle of Blue reporting on the global freshwater crisis. Chelsea will graduate in December 2011.
Ali Kresslein
video/imaging journalist
Studying broadcast news and marketing at Western Kentucky University. Hopes to work in the TV news industry as a reporter. Ali will graduate in May 2012.
Laurel Mallory
video/imaging journalist
Seeking a dual bachelor's degree in broadcast TV/film production and dance, with additional study in criminology. Aspires to incorporate international travel into her future career. Laurel will graduate in December 2011, and plans to do freelance production work in Bowling Green, Ky., before continuing her career abroad in 2012.
Jake Ryle
video/imaging journalist
Studying broadcast news at the WKU School of Journalism & Broadcasting, with a minor in geography. Received a National Scripps Howard Scholarship and will be a sports intern at Channel 9-WCPO in Cincinnati this summer. Co-anchor of the "Extra Point" Sports Show and anchor/reporter for WKU's NewsChannel 12. Jake will graduate in May 2012.
Mary Beth Wimsatt
writer/designer/audience specialist
Seeking degrees in mass communication and environmental health science at Western Kentucky University. Plans to obtain her master's in environmental law and policy and eventually a degree in environmental land use and policy law. Mary Beth will graduate in December 2011.
Kerry J. Northrup
iMedia director
Creator of the US$2.5 million Newsplex prototype convergent newsroom-studio for demonstration and training in cross-format editorial techniques, now working with media organizations worldwide designing tech-savvy multiplatform newshandling operations from the journalism up. Holds the Turner Multimedia Professorship at Western Kentucky University. He is also a board member of the Global Editors Network. Until 2009, he was a director at the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) based in Europe. Prior, his career encompassed two decades as an award-winning journalist, editor and executive for a variety of newspapers, magazines and broadcasters, including a corporate position at Gannett. He has consulted for 34 newsrooms in 22 countries as a recognized expert in media innovation, editorial technologies and newsroom management.
For more information about Western iMedia, email iMedia@wku.edu.
