NEWSLINK 2.0 : MAJOR ISSUES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPH MULTIMEDIA NEWS ARCHIVES

Singapore Press Holdings, SPH, publishes 12 newspapers in Singapore. Since 1990, the text archives of these newspapers have been available for public access from SPH's commercial database, Newslink. News articles from its selected papers are also available from aggregators like Lexis Nexis, Factiva and Newsbank. Although the archive is a useful reference database, it does not allow users to view the accompanying images and the play of the story in the context of the full page. The contextual information is important for researchers who need to study the way information is presented in the media. SPH recently developed a multimedia archive enabling users to access the full page of the newspaper content including the display advertisements. Users will be able to search the respective information objects like text, photos and infographics, advertisements and full page PDF files from a single search interface. This paper attempts to highlight the rationale for the multimedia newspaper archives and the opportunities it offers for future development. It will also discuss the flow of the information from the time they are created in newsrooms until they are finally archived. The information flow, which is determined by the editorial workflow, has great impact on the architecture of the archive, the way it organises the search and access rights. This paper discusses the major issues faced by the development team, comprising representatives from major stakeholders, namely the library, the business unit and the information technology division such as incorporating the varied responsibilities and interests of each of the stakeholders in the selection and application of technology, the organisation of the information and business model in serving the needs of their clients.