Results matching “lessons learned”

As outlined in the first entry of this series, consumers will start using mobile electronic reading devices routinely. But will these versatile tools also become the preferred display for news and current affairs? Publishers' ability to inhabit this uncharted territory will matter greatly, but even more important is the decision of media consumers that news offered in this way best fits today's lifestyle and nicely blends in with their expectations and routines.
 
The readers' view is currently being explored and tested in several prototyping and/or pilot initiatives, although this effort is modest compared to the involvement of hardware and software engineers. Nevertheless, first results reveal the contours of what in the eyes of the digital reader will be the ideal form of electronic information delivery. Based on four recent research actions, this contribution will sketch the preconditions for successful deployment of e-readers and services, seen from the users perspective.

The eNews project, set up by Ifra, explored the consumer readiness for e-readers. Via focus groups in European and Japanese locations it was found that the use setting is different: more lean backward compared to the lean forward use of PC and print. This finding will have consequences for the kind of content that can be offered. Surprisingly, the consulted test persons appreciated the daylight readability of the e-readers, but by no means hyped it as heavily as the manufacturers themselves always do. The love for the device stems much more from its environment-friendly image.

Microsoft, partner in the design of the New York Times News Reader, has evaluated the user appreciation of this application in a field study. A selected group of readers worked for weeks with the NYTReader, especially while commuting, and was interviewed afterwards. Overall assessment was very positive: two-thirds, especially the serious travellers, would stick to the service. The kind of use however depended much on personal reading style: the news junkies appreciated the amount of detail, the skimmers the quickness of updates while the fun-seekers enjoyed the sophisticated layout. The synchronisation feature for permanent updating was less popular: too time-consuming and difficult to understand.
Conclusion: newspapers will have to bear in mind all these different use categories, and with an improved product.

In the Dutch MePaper project, the five participating newspapers are exploring novel journalistic formats for two types of e-readers: the e-ink devices and the mini laptops (UMPCs). New content models for mobile reading are developed in a joint design studio and these prototypes are tested in lab-based proof reading sessions. Here, it shows that there is a difference between what journalists think is important, for instance the addition of time frames to story overviews, and what the public wants (don't bother us with release hours). Also in this R&D effort, the variety of user demands is apparent. Many want both local (often hyper local) news, without loosing the global perspective. The preference can change from day to day, depending on personal circumstances and the attraction of news on offer. A definite outcome is the demand for customisation of the e-paper, ideally composed of sections, even editors from a range of different media. This result is in fact a cry-out for joint ventures between titles and across newspaper groups. Thus, e-reading will provoke unconventional business practices.
If the newspaper world manages to respond to these user requirements, there certainly is scope for a quick roll-out of the e-reading technology. In a Swedish large scale online survey (part of the UbiMedia project), 42 percent of the 3600 readers indicated to be ready for it now, and another 19 percent in the next five years.  Would these people want to change their trusted print edition for an electronic version? Two-thirds said yes, only one-third would be faithful to newsprint. The e-service however is expected to be considerably cheaper (says 58 percent), with a meagre 8 percent willing to pay extra for premium content.

The conclusion is obvious, the adoption potential for mobile electronic reading is certainly high, but it is a medium in its own right, not just another print or online edition spin-off. It needs to be well designed, fully user-driven, with convincing personalisation options. Valuable lessons in this respect are being learned by a Dutch paper, NRC. The e-reader service it launched last year based itself on simple copy streaming, and it obviously doesn't work. Disappointed users created an open forum in wiki format to voice their concerns, criticism and improvement suggestions. The company hasn't been able to respond to it adequately yet. E-reading clearly asks for special content formats, a different type of navigation architecture and innovative forms of news organisation. In the next entry, first design principles will be reviewed.

Director of the Euorpean Centre for Digital Communications and long-time journalist, Jan Bierhoff is currently conducting studies on e-reader technology and the consumer trends that will define their use. 
 

PaidContent covered the second annual Future of Business conference, which focused on the business and trade media industry, and the changes brought along by consolidation and digital media.

Here are some highlights from the conference:

Lunchtime Q&A with Neil Cavuto: 'Content Still is King'

The Business of TV and Video News; Still Trying To Find Online Video's 'Sweet Spot'

WSJ.com's Subscribers Reach 1 Million Mark; How Much Longer?

Dow Jones Editor-In-Chief Robert Thomson Says Premium Content Continues To Play A Role

Reporters Deny Talking World Into Recession, Say They Learned Dot.com Lessons

Bloomberg's Norman Pearlstine: Acquisitions Won't Grab Headlines

Source: PaidContent

A recent article by Russell Adams in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) attempts to identify the failures of the Washington Post's hyperlocal experiment, LoudounExtra.com, namely the failure to engage the community and the writers inability to cater to different audiences.

Loudounextra.com is one of the local sites that the WP offers, providing news, blogs, information about local events, a local guide and various deals. The site is also available for downloading onto mobile phones and iPods.

"LoudonExtra.com remains little more than a skeleton of the site its architects pledged to build," wrote Adams.

Adams discusses that the site deems local events like "high school proms" and "Little League" games as more newsworthy than events such as "where to build a hospital."

Tim Richardson, LoudounExtra.com's editor argued that they did immerse themselves in the community, but that more could have been done to promote the site and to link it to the Post.

Rob Curley, the site's architect, said that the "biggest problems with LoudounExtra.com were poor integration of the site with washingtonpost.com and not enough outreach into the community" and that both were his "fault".

See also: US: Poynter: Lessons to be learnt from Loudounextra.com

Source: robcurley.com through David Black

In a posting Friday on Poynter Online, Michelle Ferrier writes about the Washington Post's floundering hyperlocal community site, LoudounExtra.com, pinning its struggles on a lack of "high-touch" activity.

Ferrier says that a hyperlocal site is "not about technology, but rather about what technology enables: community building."

Community building, according to Ferrier, constitutes personal, face-to-face interaction between site moderators and their users. She claims that Rob Curley, designer of LoudonExra.com, failed to do enough to build rapport with his users.  

"I think perhaps [Curley] lost track of the value of being in the community while focusing on building widgets and messaging technology.

"Building on my rural experience, at MyTopiaCafe.com, I regularly do what I consider to be the online equivalent of waving to my neighbors...I publicly acknowledge their participation," Ferrier writes.

She insists that hyperlocal editors must connect with their users "in the real world - at field trips, photographing school dance troupes...in K-12 classrooms and higher education lectures."

A successful hyperlocal website, in other words, is an engaged one.

"Ventures like this need a 'community weaver' - a local native who is passionate both about the community and about fostering community relationships online - and face to face," Ferrier writes.

Source: Poynter Online

An article yesterday from AdAge.com reflects on USA Today's evolution from outcast startup to mainstream success, and explores the paper's divisiveness among readers. The author, Nat Ives, attributes USA Today's success to its aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly design, and an increasing quality of journalism.

"Twenty-five years after USA Today zigged while everyone else zagged...the industry has learned to imitate its earliest editorial priorities - color, brevity, sports, pop and dialogue with readers," writes Ives.

USA Today's critics complain that the paper has cheapened journalism by pulling in readers through snappy visuals - a television-style format, extensive pop culture and entertainment coverage, brazen front-page advertisements - rather than content.

Ives, however, argues that USA Today - dubbed "McPaper" by its critics - has improved the quality of its journalism, citing the paper's reporting on the war in Iraq as an example of its "serious journalism."

Alex Jones agrees. Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard, says USA Today's balance between its entertainment news and its serious journalism is the key to its success.

"The lesson of USA Today is that style and trying to cater to people's interest in distraction will only take you so far. The thing that has made USA Today a success is making it a serious news organization but in a form and a style that is appealing," Jones said.

Can USA Today maintain a serious level of journalism in an entertainment-friendly medium? Editor Ken Paulson articulates the paper's ongoing balancing act.

"As committed as we are to covering American foreign policy," Paulson said, "We're also deeply committed to covering 'American Idol.'"

Source: AdAge.com through I Want Media

The Los Angeles Times has removed the March 17 article and related materials on Sean "P. Diddy" Comb's alleged involvement in rapper Tupac Shakur's death.

The Times has concluded that the FBI sources on which the story was based were fabricated. The paper is retracting all statements in the article that suggest that James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, a talent manager, Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant, and James Sabatino, supposedly one of Combs' associates and the provider of the false FBI documents, had arranged the assault on Shakur.

Some journalists have listed some lessons that could be learned from this misstep here.

Source: The LA Times

The Project for Excellence in Journalism report on newspapers in 2007 stated, "Newspapers are still far from dead, but the language of obituaries is creeping in." Although there is a problem with declining revenues, there is also a crisis of morale in newsrooms, according to Peter Osnos, Senior Fellow for Media at The Century Foundation. He senses that reporters feel that no matter how good, thoroughly reported, and influential their work is, it isn't going protect the paper.

Osnos believes that reporters are unique in turning what they write about into news and determining how people are informed, a power that bloggers do not have.

According to PEJ, in 2007, the industry had its sharpest drop in advertising revenue since 195 -- 9.4%. On the other hand, on-line revenues are up: representing 7.5% of newspaper ad revenue.

If newspapers do not receive support from advertisers or circulation, they should find other ways. For example, the radio no longer is dependent on the federal government because of underwriting and individual contributors.

PEJ reports that there are a variety of locally based startups emphasizing community news, for example ProPublica and Global News Enterprises, a Boston based Web start-up.

Read more about PEJ's reports:
- Robert Niles' key lessons learned from State of the Media Report
- Journalists cite financial problems as top concern
- Internet is changing journalism

Source: The Century Foundation

In light of the recent LA Times' publication of an article on Tupac Shakur's death from now-discredited FBI documents, Slate writer Jack Shafer offers precautions for newsrooms to avoid similar situations:

- "Avoid confirmation bias" Though finding evidence that confirms your existing views is obviously better than finding ones that contradict, don't let that blind you. LA Times's journalist Chuck Philips "said in an interview that he had believed the documents were legitimate because, in the reporting he had already done on the story, he had heard many of the same details."

- Know your document's origins. "Until proved otherwise, every document should be assumed to be fake."  In the Times case, though the documents had been filed in court, they were filed by James Sabatino, who is currently doing time on fraud charges.

- "Don't trust documents, trust evidence. A document is only a piece of paper with writing on it" and is not necessarily true.

- "Enlist outside experts."  Newspapers shouldn't allow the leakage of information overshadow larger investigations. "The less a stake an outside source has in a story, the better his critique will likely be."

- Always question why evidence appears "now" and why it hasn't appeared before. "Is it because the source of the evidence stands to gain financially by its publication?" or is the source a "notorious liar"?

Bob Steele of Poynter Online also offers some questions that might be asked in Times's internal investigation.
- "What process was used by the reporter and editor to scrutinize the source of the documents as well as the source(s) for other key pieces of information in the story?
- How did they verify and cross-check the documents?
- Were other editors brought into the process to judge
 He also believes that journalists at other news organizations should ask questions about the "quality control process in their newsrooms."

For a list of all of Shafer's questions, click here and Steele's questions, click here.

Sources: Slate and Poynter Online 

In a Q&A with the Online Journalism Review, USC Annenberg professor Marc Cooper reviews his experience with Off The Bus so far. One of the main lessons “is that both sides of the debate over old and new media have been right, and you have to find the right hybrid.”

Steve Outing, a columnist for Editor & Publisher decided to talk about his failed company, the Enthusiast Group, which was an experiment in grassroots media and social networking, to teach the lessons he learned and to save others from the same failure he experienced.

The Economist’s ten-month web R&D project to “create an innovative and web-based product, service, or business model by July 2007” ended without success and didn’t bring any output to the market. However, the publisher is now taking what is left from that project to possibly create an online-only publishing venture.

Khoi Vinh, design director of nytimes.com, wrote a posting about how print designers can adapt to web design, with both some practical tips and general lessons.

In an excellent article, Editor & Publisher’s (E&P) Joe Strupp gathers 12 important lessons learned from online flops and failures, such as…