Workflow
Methode Swing breaks new ground in mobile content management
Tuesday 11. August 2015 - The mobile workspace for EidosMedia's digital publishing platform gets powerful new multichannel capabilities.
Launched last year as a Web-based alternative for users of EidosMedias Méthode digital publishing platform, Swing has now been released with a number of powerful new features that bring its functionality even closer to that of Méthode Prime, its Windows-based elder brother.
Swing, which works in any modern Web browser, allows authors and coordinators to take part in the newsroom workflow from any location. Authors create stories and add media before filing to the newsroom, while coordinators check progress and monitor publication data using customized workspaces.
With the new release, authors can directly introduce channel variants into their story. They insert alternative headlines, text and media for different publication destinations. When released, the story is already ready for multichannel publication to Web, print or mobile, reducing editorial workload and speeding publication.
Swing now supports multi-document editing, with each document opened in a browser tab. This also allows keeping the dashboard active while editing, in order to monitor, for example, incoming news feeds.
Another new feature is the availability of alert queries within the Swing dashboard. These are queries that continuously monitor the editorial environment, informing a journalist, for example, that a newswire or picture on a subject she or he is following has entered the resource base, or flagging a coordinator that there is an article to be approved. Once set up, these queries allow staff in the field to keep a constant watch on developments in the newsroom.
“These are just some examples of a range of new extensions to Swings functionality,” said Massimo Barsotti, EidosMedia CMO. “Swing is now an extremely sophisticated platform for creating and managing digital content in the field. Méthode users are taking it up enthusiastically because they love its combination of powerful functionality with a simple, easy-to-use interface.”
As well as bringing new freedom to journalists and coordinators working outside the newsroom, Swing also allows external contributors and free-lancers to take part in the workflow, while maintaining full control over their access and actions. “Outside contributors can log in to Swing to receive assignments and deliver their work without the usual emailing and telephoning involved,” said Barsotti. “At the same time, what they can access and what they can do is strictly limited by the permissions that have been configured for them.”