WAN-Ifra adds NYT, BBC to French summer university and takes to to India

Fiona Spruill, web newsroom editor at the 'New York Times' and Matthew Eltringham – assistant editor of interactivity at the BBC – have joined the programme for the WAN-Ifra's 'summer university' seminar from July 5-7 in St. Paul de Vence on the French Riviera. Spruill will share her experience as manager of The Times’s Web Newsroom, a team of 80 producers and editors for NYTimes.com. Her staff is focused on taking full advantage of the digital medium by creating original multimedia materials, encouraging reader participation and packaging the news in smart ways. Eltringham has been a senior editorial figure at the BBC for more than 15 years and is responsible for the innovative and award-winning team that provides editorial engagement with social media and 'user generated content'. The User Generated Content Hub is now a core of the BBC's newsgathering operation and has been involved in reporting every major domestic and international story over the last five years. At the WAN-Ifra summer university,he will speak about "social newsgathering" and the techniques and tools used for obtaining quality content from audiences and managing that content. This three-day seminar, limited to 25 people, will examine the changing media landscape and how news organisations can adapt by developing new organisations and new multi-platform editorial strategies, interacting with readers, and making efficient use of new technologies. Newspaper professionals and WAN-IFRA media experts complete the speaker’s list: - Randy Covington, training director of the WAN-IFRA Newsplex Training Centre at the University of South Carolina, USA; - Madeline Finnerty, president of Finnerty International, USA, which provides training and organisation development services; - Jonathan Halls, principal of Jonathan Halls & Associates, USA, which provides training programmes in leadership, multimedia communication, professional success skills and corporate learning solutions. - Gregorz Piechota, special projects editor, Gazeta Wyborcza (Agora group), Poland; - Denis Teyssou, head of Medialab, the Research and Development Division of Agence France Presse. WAN-Ifra says the 'summer university' concept has become so successful it is launching an Asian version, a week-long residential programme to be held in Hyderabad, India, from July 7-13. The leadership development programme, a first-of-its kind on the Indian sub-continent, will be conducted in association with the Indian School of Business and 9.9 School of Convergence. Full details can be found at www.wan-ifra.org/southasia