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The Washington Times Engages Inform Technologies to Enhance Online Experience in Major Website Redesign

Posted on: Thursday, 2 October 2008, 12:03 CDT

The Washington Times has engaged Inform Technologies to help it enhance the content and user experience at its redesigned Website, www.WashingtonTimes.com.

Inform is a "journalistic" technology solution for media companies that works as an extra editor, intelligently mining and linking content from sites, archives and the Web overall. The solution automatically creates links within content, as well as new, topic-specific Web pages. The result is that media-company Websites become deeper and richer, encouraging readers to spend more time and view more pages. This gives the media companies opportunities for additional revenue.

The Washington Times Website is one of the world's leading news sites and is ranked among the top 30 U.S. newspaper Websites by industry magazine Editor and Publisher. The Washington Times newspaper, founded in 1982, is one of the most often-quoted newspapers in the nation. It is known for its investigative reporting and in-depth political coverage.

The Times relies on Inform to create "Themes" - topic-specific pages about significant news and newsmakers. Each Theme page is automatically updated with relevant Washington Times stories and photographs, as well as articles, pictures, video and blog posts from select Websites chosen by Washington Times editors. Each article includes a link to related Themes (there are 400,000 potential Themes on topics ranging from John McCain to the Washington Redskins to video games.)

Leveraging The Semantic Web

Inform acts as an extra team of editors, using the power of the Semantic Web to search, organize and link millions of pages of content. Proprietary rules and algorithms identify topics and articles that are similar and relevant to each other. The technology then creates links between articles, as well as dynamic topic-specific pages that pull together articles, blogs, webcasts and videos on a given subject. Links and topic pages are automatically updated, as the software continuously learns how particular words - such as "Barack Obama" and "energy policy" - are related to each other. The client decides how far the links will reach - within a single site, to other sites the company owns, or to editorially selected portions of the Web.

"Dig Deeper" Features

Inform's solution also drives The Washington Times' "Dig Deeper" feature - a clickable, cube-shaped graphic that appears in the lead story and allows readers to find related themes and related stories. A "Dig Deeper" module in a June 26 story on the Supreme Court's D.C. handgun ban decision calls up Themes such as "Justice Antonin Scalia,""U.S. Court of Appeals" and stories on other recent Court decisions.

Inform's technology is also responsible for linking The Washington Times' repository of video and multimedia content to articles throughout the site.

Said John Solomon, executive editor of The Washington Times, "Our goal in this comprehensive Website redesign was to use the full potential of the Web - with its capacity for rich links and rich content - to give our readers extreme utility and a highly compelling experience. We want them to be able to explore a story in its full breadth and depth, and enjoy themselves while they do it. And we need to be able to maintain editorial quality and control. Inform's technology helps us do that: We can provide rich content automatically and cost-effectively, control the outside content that's linked to our site and keep our editors free to do what they do best - shape our coverage and exercise high-level news judgment."

Said James Satloff, CEO of Inform Technologies, "Media companies everywhere need to create compelling online experiences that attract and retain readers. The Washington Times Website is a great example of how to do that - they understand that the best Web experience is highly interactive and lets readers dig deep into a topic. They're working hard to expand their reach on a national stage; we're excited that we can leverage the Semantic Web to help them succeed."

The Washington Times joins close to 100 major media and business properties, including Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, NBC, Cox Newspapers, Ziff Davis and Conde Nast, who use Inform's solution to enrich their Websites in ways that have both a direct impact on the user's experience - and the bottom line.

About Inform Technologies

Inform Technologies is a Semantic Web solution for established media brands that automatically searches, organizes and links content to provide a rich, compelling experience that attracts and retains readers. Inform's journalistic technology platform does the work necessary to support an editorial team, continually teaching itself how information is related and automatically updating links and topics as the context changes. Inform-powered semantic relationships form the foundation of a definitive content destination that can more effectively compete with search engines and other sites for traffic.

About The Washington Times

The Washington Times LLC is a multimedia company in the nation's capital that publishes The Washington Times, a full-service, general interest daily newspaper, and other media products. Founded in 1982, The Washington Times is one of the most-often-quoted newspapers in the U.S. with a reputation for hard-hitting investigative reporting and thorough coverage of politics, policy and culture. The WashingtonTimes.com web site includes all of the original content from the daily printed newspaper plus original content produced for online users in print, audio, visual and interactive formats.

To learn more about Inform Technologies or to schedule an interview, please contact Adria Greenberg of Sommerfield Communications at 212-255-8386 or adria@sommerfield.com

Source: Business Wire

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