Innovation Toolkit

AP is working to increase value for members, finding ways to innovate and helping them do it. We’ve rolled out innovative tools, products and services to ensure you have fast, easy and reliable access to the news you want. Together, we’re exploring new products and platforms that create new revenue opportunities and capitalize on the value of the cooperative.

>>IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS

Member Choice Innovation Toolkit
To jump-start your innovation efforts, we’ve collected early examples of members making use of expanded Member Choice content to build new newspaper sections, niche Web pages and streamline editing and production work. We’ve compiled a step-by-step outline, complete with screen grabs, PDFs and member comments on each of the Member Choice/Exchange innovations we’ve seen so far.

>Download the Product guide (Updated 09/2010, PDF 1.8 MB)
>Download the toolkit (Update 11/12, PDF 2.77 MB)
>Share your best examples, e-mail digitalcooperative@ap.org

>>RESEARCH TOOLS

Outsell research
AP is offering newspaper members free access to research and news about the digital transformation of the media from Outsell Inc., a leading research firm in the news and information industry. The new information service will provide AP newspaper members with a series of quarterly major reports over the next year, as well as a continuing stream of news and analysis from Outsell. The company, based in California, tracks news and developments across a wide spectrum of the industry, from search engines and aggregators to news companies and vertical information providers. The service is available at no charge to newspaper members who have joined the AP Digital Cooperative, the consortium of newspapers who have enrolled in AP’s content enrichment program.

> Press release:AP to provide Outsell research to members
> Outsell's service for AP members:Outsell FAQ (PDF 32K)
> On the Net: http://www.outsellinc.com/

A New Model for News Consumption – Research Report
The study from AP and Context-Based Research Group, an ethnographic research firm with a global network of cultural anthropologists, examines news consumption patterns of young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 in Britain, India and the United States.  The key findings and proposed model will help news organizations better meet the needs of today’s media consumers.

> Press Release:Younger Consumers Struggle with News Fatigue
> Download the complete report (PDF 3.4 MB)

>>TRAINING TOOLS

TUESDAYS: AP Member Marketplace (30 minutes)
1:00 p.m. Eastern | 12:00 noon |
Central | 11:00 a.m. Mountain | 10:00 a.m. Pacific
Sharing regionally relevant content is an area of great interest for newspapers and AP Member Marketplace is the fastest and most efficient way to share news. The AP Member Marketplace offers the ability for members to share stories, photos and graphics with critical
features such as embargo, corrections, kills and updates. Members can upload one item at a time or put in place an automatic feed of items with full editorial control over what gets published. The AP Member Marketplace is available at no cost to AP members.

WEDNESDAYS: AP WebFeeds and WebFeeds Manager (60 minutes)
1:00 p.m. Eastern | 12:00 noon Central | 11:00 a.m. Mountain | 10:00 a.m. Pacific
AP WebFeeds and the AP WebFeeds Manager delivers AP content into your editorial system over the Web in an enhanced digital format that allows great flexibility for storing and publishing. AP WebFeeds not only deliver text, photos, graphics, video and audio, but also contain rich metadata, which allows automatic sorting of news into hundreds of topics demanded by readers and advertisers. Plus, production teams can configure AP WebFeeds to save on bandwidth and storage.

THURSDAYS: AP Exchange (30 minutes – morning or afternoon option)
4:30 p.m. Eastern | 3:30 p.m.
Central | 2:30 p.m. Mountain |1:30 p.m. Pacific
AP Exchange is a powerful online tool offering
access to AP’s vast database of content. Knowing how to run effective searches will help you find news that is most meaningful to your beat, audiences, story or market. AP’s School of Search training session offers search tips and tricks, many of which can be used in any search engine, not just AP Exchange. The session also covers how you can build a custom feed and get e-mail alerts from AP Exchange. Join us to learn how to become a search expert and find relevant news more quickly.

TUESDAYS, WEDNESDAYS AND THURSDAYS: APCustom News (60 minutes)
2:00 p.m. Eastern | 1:00 p.m. Central | 12:00 noon Mountain | 11:00 a.m. PacificAP Custom News is a powerful online platform
offering access to AP’s vast database of content and allowing you to seamlessly integrate automatically-updating modules into your website on many diverse topics. This session will give you an overview of the capabilities of the platform, including how to get started by uploading a template and customizing the style of content to match your site, creating custom searches based on criteria you define and applying that content to many different modules that can be embedded within your website or used in custom sections updated around the clock by AP editors. Join us to learn how to create new areas of content including headline packages,
photo galleries, interactive modules and scrolling headline tickers.

>Download the AP Exchange Search (PDF 200k)
>Download the AP Exchange Saved Search (PDF 209k)
>Download the AP Exchange Cheat Sheet (PDF42k)

To participate in any of the training sessions:

Go to https://ap.webex.com/ap/j.php?ED=137471422&UID=0&PW=3161be7163

Enter your name and e-mail address.
Enter the meeting password:
AP (case sensitive)
Click “Join Now.”
Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Call-in toll-free number (U.S./Canada):1-866-699-3239
Call-in toll number (U.S./Canada):1-408-792-6300


>Download more information about online training