[Section redacted -- irrelevant]... Here are some things that have been loitering around for the past week...
- The Beeb is using technology to crawl for external links to put into their stories, complete with algorithms that help set rules as to what makes the cut. There is, however, no censorship.
? - Potential partner: using contextual advertising and RSS.
? - The new Life debuted this weekend, which is interesting primarily in that it's available in the Startlegram, but not the DMN; and that it is yet another example of nontraditional distribution (which is a fair descriptor of our distribution model.)
? - The inimitable Tim Porter has some musings on distinctions between "news media" and "journalism." This is a rare occasion in which I think he slightly misses the mark (although he says a lot that's right on), primarily because he (like many) is thinking of newspapers as a valid entity unto themselves. They're not-- they are but one medium in a local news company's arsenal to deliver news and information.
? - However, Tim is dead-on in his discussion of editorial pages. It's a small point in his piece, but I'll say it now and take it to my grave-- there will never be an unsigned editorial or?endorsement?in our product. They smack of an institutionalism and paternalism that alienate the reader. They have no place.
? - More importantly, his analysis holds some clues as to why the "newspaper for nonreaders" isn't the answer; and why we are:
A 2003 Newspaper Association of America study on newspaper section readership shows that not even one in four readers younger than 25 bothers with the editorial pages. .. Worse, says Mary Nesbitt, director of the Readership Institute at Northwestern University, those older readers are not happy. Nesbitt's latest research found that "for older people, editorials are highly important to them, but their satisfaction tends to be lower." In other words, Baby Boomers-plus want to read engaging opinion, but what they find in the newspaper is leaving them hungry for more - more they are likely finding on the Internet or television.
? - This USA Today piece made me feel good -- everyone I talk to out out there senses we're on the verge of a sea change in how people communicate. The question is what will make the cut in that next major evolution. The "web as servant" metaphor rings true with a lot of things we're going to do. Even if the technology isn't there yet, we can provide a lot of the services using [gasp] people.
? - PaidContent is always chock full of great stuff. The best thing this week has been the ongoing discussion with Audible's Don Katz.
? - BuzzMachine talks about worries that publishers would stop?allowing GoogleNews to pull content if it took advertising. Those worries are so emblematic of old media thinking.
? - One of HughMacleod's readers pointed me to a great definition of our audience: "Generation C."
? - And finally, Hugh offers a marketing parable that we should all take to heart. Our compass will always be tuned to "reverence," even (especially) when we're being irreverent.
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