Wikileads

Comment from James Edwards
Time: April 28, 2008, 3:48 am

I have to admit that before reading this blog I had not heard of wikileaks, which is a sad admission from a journalism student.

You provide strong analysis and resources. Between reading the posts and digging through the links provided, I came away feeling like I’ve been reading about wikileaks for awhile. The coverage of wikileaks vs. the Church of Scientology is very strong in the way you follow updates on the story and provide enough background and balance to make the reader informed on both sides –so informed I’m still going through the 612-page Scientology bible. Not sure if you tried, but contacting the Chicago branch of the Church of Scientology might add another layer to future reporting on this story.

If there is one thing I wanted to see more of it is original reporting, in particular seeing if people are using sites like wikileaks at the local level. I think in a city like Chicago, which has seen its share of government scandal and corruption, it is worth looking into.

Comment from Jennifer Freeman
Time: April 28, 2008, 2:08 pm

I love the ideas you cover in your blog, and even though I had heard of wikileaks before, your coverage and obvious passion for the topic pulled me into reading more about wikileaks.

I really like the links within your text. You link to relevant web sites and topics that enhance the reading of your post. One thing to be careful of, make sure you identify where you’re linking to. You do have the alttext (which is great for screenreaders!) but it might be nice to identify the organization or web site within the text.

I like your visuals; I think the pictures and videos go along with your posts perfectly and enhance the storytelling. But be careful with your sourcing. Youtube videos are obvious that they’re from Youtube, but I wanted to know where the chart and picture were from without having to click on them.

Big fan of the site design! Clean, easy to read and serves your topic well. I like your header a lot. It adds a feeling of “reporter digging through dusty old files to find the truth” to the techiness of wikileaks.

I like your “blogroll, groups that care and sites for leakers” links. If your blog is someone’s first exposure to wikileaks, they’re definitely going to want more, and you redirect them to the right place.

One suggestion for navigation: use categories to your advantage. I noticed that the post “Top secret bibles? Not once they’re on the Internet” used lots of category topics, but for most of your posts they were just categorized as “wikileaks.” I think breaking down your categories and including a widget like a topic cloud or something could help navigation for someone interested in a certain topic.

I think you do a good job of coverage on what’s going on with wikileaks. I like the news roundup. Maybe you could expand on that and have a weekly top leaks or something?

I do wonder about the original reporting. I think it’s very strong when you do it and adds another layer to the coverage of the leak. But it starts to move your blog from coverage of wikileaks.org, to your own version of wikileaks. I agree with James, this could be something worth pursuing to establish at the local level.