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At Times, Web Geeks Grab at Future, Keep Grip on Past

Team aims to keep it the organization 'of record' even as print product sees its obits

By Sarah Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 12, 2009 11:17 AM CST

(Newser) – There’s a quiet revolution going on at the New York Times, hiding behind all the print-journalism doom and gloom, New York reports. Since 2007, a team of “developers-slash-journalists” has been collaborating with reporters and editors to create interactive web features—like the trippy Election Day Word Train, which lets users pick a word to describe their mood, and the database-driven Casualties of War project.

“We were ready,” Times columnist David Carr said. “And it also validated what we had all been thinking, which was, These guys are Timesmen. They have a different skill set, but they share objectives, standards.” Times higher-ups were quick to OK the new group, but there’s a still a generation gap, an older breed that likes “the way paper feels,” one techie scoffs. “This isn’t a storm. This isn’t something that’s going to pass.”

The Jan. 5 edition of the New York Times was the first to have an ad on the front page.
The Jan. 5 edition of the New York Times was the first to have an ad on the front page.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The New York Times' new headquarters allows print and online journalists to work side by side, where previously they were in different buildings entirely.
The New York Times' new headquarters allows print and online journalists to work side by side, where previously they were in different buildings entirely.   (AP Photo)
Content from the New York Times' mobile site is seen on a Verizon Wireless phone.
Content from the New York Times' mobile site is seen on a Verizon Wireless phone.   (PRNewsFoto)
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One of the New York Times’ roles in this new world is authority—and that’s probably the rarest commodity on the Web.
- Aron Pilhofer, Times’ Interactive
Newsroom Technologies group

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