Networks: A PRX Service

John posted on Friday, February 17th, 2012 | Blog, PRX, PRX Projects

Here’s a little known secret: There’s a part of PRX you most likely have never seen.

It’s called PRX Networks, and it works like a ‘private PRX.org’ for archiving, exchanging, tracking, previewing and the downloading of digital text, audio and images for use on both digital and broadcast platforms. It is also contains a collaborative editing and notes tool so teams in various locations can edit, share and comment on content in progress.

PRX is proud that Networks has become the backbone for a handful of Local Journalism Centers (LJCs) and other regional collaborations (see below). Thanks to the pioneering cooperation and guidance of the Northwest News Network (N3), PRX was able to refine Networks into a fast, versatile and customizable tool that works for busy producers in a high production environment.

All content can be searched and tagged for easy and quick access.

There’s lots of detail below. If you or your team want a demo or if you just have further questions, please drop me a line at john-at-prx-dot-org! This thing really works.

Feature Summary:

Speedy processing for producers on deadline
Lean and clear UI
Search
Accepts all audio formats common to public radio
Batch processing and upload
Transaction reports
Broadcast and digital content
Export to NPR API
Low cost
Collaborative feature improvements
Customization of content tags, content types and branding
Private note fields for editors and producers
One step audio conversion to both broadcast and digital files
Audio and image previews
Unlimited storage for one annual fee
Training and support

Station Usage

PRX Networks launched in 2010 after collaborative design and testing with the regional N3 network. Since then, 33 core stations and producer groups have been using it to share over 4,500 items, and are finding Networks to be a reliable and streamlined backbone for daily broadcast and digital content exchange.

Networks

OPB
KUOW
KLCC
KWSO
KCUW-LP
Jefferson Public Radio
Spokane Public Radio
Boise State Public Radio
Northwest Public Radio
KPLU
KMUN
N3 staff

Chicago Public Radio
Front and Center staff/producers

Local Journalism Centers (LJCs)

Chicago Public Radio
WCPN/Ideastream
Michigan Radio

KCUR
KBIA
NET Radio- Nebraska
Iowa Public Radio
High Plains Public Radio
Kansas Public Radio

WQCS
WMFE
WUWF
WGCU
WJCT
WUSF
WLRN

KUOW
Boise State Public Radio
Northwest Public Radio
Oregon Public Broadcasting

Content

Each element on Networks is called an ITEM – that can be text copy, audio, audio with copy, images, graphics or any combination of all of these.

Here’s the distribution of the total 4,711 items on Networks (Feb 2012):

N3 – 3,211
Front and Center – 42
Changing Gears – 196
Harvest Public Media – 226
Florida News Exchange – 921
EarthFix – 119

Audio and Digital Elements

Networks makes it easy to upload audio and all digital elements. The audio uploader and transcoding accepts source audio files in any format – WAV, MP2, MP3, AIFF.

All digital files can be batch uploaded for speed and efficiency.

All audio files can be previewed as streams before downloading.

Video

The PRX Networks infrastructure can support video, the increased storage required to support large video assets necessitates additional costs to networks wanting video.

Downloading files triggers a transaction record for both Activity reports (productivity by station, reporter and type of item) and Carriage reports (by station, reporter and station license). Both can be exported as .csv files.