Online Journalism News

BBC signposts rival sites

BBC News Online has introduced a new, automated system which will display context-specific links to external news sites.

The Newstracker tool uses search technology to select relevant links from more than 4,000 international news sites. The feature is being added to stories throughout the site over the next few weeks.

Produced by Moreover Technologies, the Newstracker allows readers to compare BBC coverage with that of other news organisations around the world.

"We know that audiences, particularly younger audiences, want and seek out a wider range of news sources," said Richard Deverell, head of BBC news interactive.

"We hope this emphasis on choice will increase media literacy among our users, as well as affirming BBC.co.uk's reputation as a trusted guide to the web."

• The BBC also launched a new open-source video compression tool this week. 'Dirac' is just one of a series of open-source coding tools being developed by the corporation.

"You could use it for desktop video production, you could use it for streaming, or you could use it for movies - anyplace where you need compression," said lead developer Dr Thomas Davies.

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See also:
BBC Newstracker: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3676692.stm

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
richard deverell | opensource video compression tool | opensource coding tools | media literacy | thomas davies |

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