The practical side of local life

Submitted by yelvington on January 3, 2006 - 2:15pm

Here's something offered by too few local websites: a solid primer on "the basics" of local life from the Pocono Record in Pennsylvania.

Managing Editor Bill Watson announced the website's relaunch in an email to Northwestern University's readership mailing list. "'The basics' is a compilation of things we noticed newcomers don't 'get' when they move from the city to the Poconos," he wrote. "Like a survival guide. This, like so much else, is interactive and pretty much begs people to let us know what else they want included."

Most of the effort that goes into producing news websites turns to vapor the next day. This is a good example of work that has lasting value.

The daily paper of tomorrow (the future is already here)

Submitted by yelvington on January 3, 2006 - 1:35pm

Writing for the Jan. 9 issue of Business Week, media columnist Jon Fine has a five-point plan for "the daily paper of tomorrow." Four of his initiatives already are in operation at a number of daily newspapers, but then, as William Gibson said, the future is already here -- it's just unevenly distributed. The other one -- "cut off your rivals' oxygen" -- is a good way to earn yourself a federal antitrust intervention, if we still have a government that cares about enforcing business laws. Don't miss the feedback on Fine's blog.

I liked Fine's reference to Reiman Publications, a remarkable Wisconsin-based group of glossy "rural life" magazines that are packed with contributions from readers and supported entirely through subscription fees (no ads). Reading a Reiman publication is like joining a neighborhood club, and the magazines have a fiercely loyal following that would be the envy of any beleaguered newspaper circulation director. Participative journalism, pre-web.

It's list time

Submitted by yelvington on December 29, 2005 - 2:49pm

On the whatevereth day of Christmas, my browser gave to me:

... and a cranky blogger who really hates lists.

Happy New Year, everybody.

Women become the online majority

Submitted by yelvington on December 29, 2005 - 7:39am

If your website's message boards read like a men's locker room, here's a clue that you're out of sync with society. A new report from the Pew Internet and American Life project points out that women now outnumber men online in the United States, and that's especially true in the troublesome (for newspapers) 18-29 age bracket.

Are they showing up on your site? Women tend to use the Internet somewhat differently than men. While there's not a lot of difference in many utility applications, women seem more focused on using the net to connect with other people, the report says.

But women are highly sensitive to "worrisome behavior in chat rooms," the report points out. This should highlight the importance of strong leadership and controls on message boards. Bad behavior will drive away good people if you let it happen.

Words from the 20th Century, on paper

Submitted by yelvington on December 28, 2005 - 3:12pm

Have I been stuck on a message for this long? Steve Rubel's post on how to read books for free using Google reminded me I haven't looked very closely at Google Books since it got fat with content. I searched for my own name (doesn't everybody?) and found myself quoted in Christopher Harper's 1999 "And That's the Way It Will Be:"

"You want to know who understands community building? Pastors. Neighborhood bartenders. ... Set up an online environment in which users can meet, interact with one another, share their thoughts informally ... get people talking. Ask questions. Provoke disagreement. Seed the system with some colorful personalities. Talk about the news but also talk about coffee, stupid drivers, and religion. Add formal and informal programs. Maybe even sponsor a get-together so these virtual neighbors can meet in person. It'll work."

Moving pictures from newspapers?

Submitted by yelvington on December 27, 2005 - 1:13pm

I received some thoughtful email feedback to my best-case scenario, five years out item. Here's one point that I'd like to focus on: "Video and audio content generation will become a normal product of the papers. Non-printable media must become more prominent in the future."

I agree wholeheartedly. I'm just not sure what form it should or will take:

  • More "multimedia" on general newspaper websites? I was an early supporter in Minneapolis, where we added videographer-producer Regina McCombs to the online staff about nine years ago. I love her stuff, as well as the great work from the Washington Post and the New York Times. But I'm still searching for good evidence of a business case -- that it measurably contributes to building a strong, loyal audience, and that the contribution is so significant that smaller newspapers can justify the (significant) investment. And can we find (or make) enough qualified people? The New York Times has open, unfilled positions for multimedia wizards.
  • Separate Web experiences? HamptonRoads.tv is an early attempt that attempts to mingle original content with AP TV news and -- theoretically at least -- user-provided video. Will it hold an audience's interest?
  • Local/regional cable channels? There are three or four dozen of these around the United States, many involving some degree of newspaper ownership. The Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, and Sarasota Herald-Tribune were significant pioneers in this field. Should every newspaper be pursuing that angle?
  • Vlogging away? Vlogs (video blogs)are just beginning to get a buzz on the net, and vodcasts (video podcasts) are showing up in iTunes. As Chuck Olsen notes, Tivo has signed a deal to syndicate Rocketboom. Is there a role for newspapers to play in helping this revolution along?
  • Completely new ideas? There have to be lots of possibilities being overlooked. What kind of video experience could you create on the ultra-cheap, using tools like Flash, RSS feeds and $100 video cameras? How about a low-budget local cable TV channel designed for channel-flippers to watch while avoiding the commercial breaks on other channels?
  • All of the above? Could be.

I think we need to keep a close eye on the evolution of video photography among the people we mistakenly continue to call "consumers." Every Windows XP computer has video editing software (usually hidden in the "Accessories" folder). We gave my youngest daughter, who's in 5th grade, a fairly inexpensive Aiptek video camera for Christmas. The video is a bit jerky (the framerate is low) but the image quality is surprisingly high. Video editing is still a pain in the neck but watch this space.

The best-case scenario, five years out

Submitted by yelvington on December 22, 2005 - 11:58am

I was asked to write 250 words encompassing an "ideal vision of what a newspaper business unit will look like, five years from now." I can't hold it to 250, but here's a 488-word look into a best-case scenario:

The website will no longer be an "online edition." Print and online products will have evolved significantly apart, each focusing on the unique characteristics of its medium, but operating as a team to serve the community.

In larger markets, the metro newspaper is becoming a high-end specialty product, operating in parallel with a network of free-circulation, highly targeted, hyperlocal print products that are tightly coupled with a new generation of websites.

The website has become the community's primary tool for connecting with itself, supporting both social and commercial networking. It is a participative, conversational environment that has become everyone's first choice for solving practical local-life problems.

Half the local community visits the website at least once a week. Community-generated content dominates the online experience. The entire print product is not necessarily available online.

20 percent of news staff time will be devoted to web operations, especially web interactions. Reporters and editors will be an integral part of the online community.

20 percent of advertising revenue is attributable to the Internet.

Five times as many commercial accounts do business with the newspaper, online and offline, as in 2005. The Internet has become a key tool in this expansion by facilitating low-cost advertising services to small, entrepreneurial businesses that traditionally have been unserved by the daily newspaper. Much of this growth is in prepaid, credit-card, self-serve advertising including pay-for-performance online models.

50 percent of the content of the printed newspaper will be traceable to the website. This includes commentary and contributions directly repurposed from web to print, but also professional journalism that is better grounded and better informed because reporters are connected to a broad-based, participative community.

The newspaper is physically smaller – in both page count and dimensions -- but more powerful as a reader experience. It demands to be read for 20 minutes a day, because everyone is talking about what's in it.

The newspaper has given up its pretense of being the "primary connector" on nonlocal issues, and focuses overwhelmingly on local life. Space devoted to wire copy has been markedly reduced; it no longer is used to keep ads from bumping into one another. World and national news is carefully selected and heavily edited -- rewritten if necessary -- to spell out the local impact of nonlocal stories. The newspaper also provides a concise, synoptic "catch-me-up" overview of world and national events.

The stuffy old editorial page is gone, replaced by a greatly expanded community-engagement section that draws heavily from the website. The newspaper has realized its role as a convener and facilitator of community, and everyone on the staff is comfortable taking an activist role in building social capital.

The “new media department” is gone, its Internet mission having been eagerly adopted by the broader organization. A “new products development team” is hard at work on projects that center on mobility, audio services and video services.

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