Digital Modus and journals: a chance for more timely and responsive content

For me, one of the most exciting things about the launch of a new and improved digital platform for Modus and the journals is the ability it will give us to provide relevant, useful content in a timelier manner. It’s something we as an editorial team had been discussing for a while, but it became even more pressing as the events of this year unfolded.

A couple of weeks into the UK COVID-19 lockdown, I met digitally with the Construction Journal editorial advisory group. We spoke about the challenges facing the construction industry worldwide as a result of the pandemic, and asked how the journal could be of use for professionals trying to navigate these challenges.

We came up with a list of topics we should explore to provide assistance for readers but there was one problem: all articles that went into the journal had to be planned at least four months in advance if they were to fit in with production and publication schedules. Anything we wrote about the HSE guidance around construction sites, for example, would be completely irrelevant and likely obsolete by the time it was published.

In these exceptional circumstances we found a workaround and produced content that was uploaded directly to the news and insights section of rics.org. This model worked well: the content went through the same quality checks as always – including review by an editor, a sub-editor and the editorial advisory group – yet in a much shorter timeframe that usual.

The new Modus and journals platform will allow us to employ this model on a permanent basis. In the case of the Construction Journal, that may see us publishing information about changes to legislation and how that will affect projects, reacting to significant legal cases, or having more real-time conversations about industry issues.

It’s not to say that we will be approaching all articles in this manner; other, more in-depth pieces which take longer to put together are still a key part of our content plan, but the flexibility to do both will empower us to provide our readers with the best service.

As life continues to change at speed, impacting your industries and professions, the new Modus and journals platform will allow for a stream of high quality, timely, and responsive content to help you along the way.