John,

My Guvnor asked me to havea look at the article so I've translated and then given it a bit of a reworking to make it flow better.

Charlie

Alerts Vs. RSS

How is it possible that a digital newspaper that doubles it's page impressions in two months only increases their unique users by 20%, And how has the average duration of the visits altered over those two months?

The solution seems to be in the application of alerts that allow the users to automatically receive news from their preferred sites without having to visit the site. This type of system has been implemented by the sport newspaper Ace in the last two months with their news service called 'News', a similar service is also offered by ElPaís.es called Extra!

The effect of the new alerts service, from publishers Del, has meant that the page impressions of Ace have gone from 128.6 million, in September, to 257.2 million in November, according to the last data of OJD. Disproportionably unique users have only grown of 1.78 million to 2.24million, and the number visits to the site has gone from 18.1 million in September to 16.9 in November. The formula of the alert increases advertising impressions while maintaining a faithful user group, two objectives much sought after by digital advertisers. For that reason another important Internet publisher, Business Week, has recently announced a new alert applications to catch the users who do not use their RSS syndication service.

RSS is seen as an alternative model for personalisation of the information chosen by the their readers. Open, configurable RSS examples include elmundo.es, in French, Alertinfo or in the UK, The Guardian (that has relaunched their Newspoint). These RSS applications are based on the social-networks and treat information as conversations, offering open, cross-sectional opportunities to create readers, but often only between the 'super-users', who are most capable of using the technology.

But this does not mean publishers are resigned to losing their authoritative, leading, position in the 'informative-diet' of the 'non-expert'. The publisher wishes to 'hook' users to a certain type of information via regular updates and alert technology is designed specifically to highlight the evolving contents of a site. Alert technology is further aided by it's adoption by applications such as Google Desktop or My Yahoo, showing that system that push content to the user are viable and acceptable within the marketplace.

To receive contents (subscriptions, electronic mails, instantaneous messages...) in your computer, while it performs other tasks, generates a sensation of authentic multitasking in many users. While, it is still not clear how to make RSS a paying business, in spite of all the publicity in feeds, an alerts systems means reader's return to the site of origin allowing the site to increase ad revenue via better segmentation.

The Alive World-wide Network has not ended the passive reception and the battle between the old Internet and Web 2.0, human or semantic is not determined as yet. But this does raise the question are these new technologies going further broaden the gab between existing users and new breed of super-users?

Alerts are more likely to be picked up by readers with an existing loyal following of the publisher. While regular info served to the desktop (not just summary hooks) may drive an audience into less frequently visited sections of the site, they are also likely to push unwanted content (eg opted to receive, but ultimately unwanted, marketing info) to the desktop.

RSS feeds, by the nature of the unbranded reader/browser, are less brand associated and can invoke a feeling of brand freedom and choice in the mind of the end reader, that a desktop alert never could. The majority also pull readers back to site, saving the need to saturate the feed with contextual ads.

It is the pick and choose nature of RSS that gives the reader the flanuerie of web surfing. Desktop alerts bring a dependable subscriber that bit closer to the areas publishers would like them to visit, and their fave brands a little closer to them.

Desktop Alert Inc. is the true essence of desktop alert technology. One military client just used a desktop alert when the exchange email servers were down to distribute critical information. So, there are many other logistical features and benefits to consider.

http://www.desktopalert.net

At the heart of this debate resides a tension between how some people define photojournalism as a professional occupation, and how others define it has an art and self-expression. The problem is that people confuse making pictures with making money. For the average consumer of images questions of aesthetics take second-place to content, especially if the subject is recognizable. How else can anyone explain why a fuzzy and overblown picture of Angelina and Brad on a beach in Africa can command millions of dollars from an agency, while freelance photojournalists risking life and limb in Iraq make barely a living wage.

In many cases, people don't even notice compositional flubs such as a telephone pole growing out of a subject's head. The average image consumer just looks through or over looks such annoyances. What the average image consumer sees is the center of focus, even with all the imperfections. At the same time, people aren't idiots. People do recognize quality and photojournalism offers a lot of it. The conventions developed in photojournalism such as the decisive moment, framing, and layering have helped to make the craft into an art form, even in the eyes of the elite. The average image consumer, armed with a camera phone,will be hard pressed to replicate a picture made by a trained photojournalist. Unfortunately, the professional photojournalist is being outgunned in terms of the increasing numbers of people willing to send in images for publication.

There may be a day, when the average Joe or Jan with a camera phone will start to think beyond the snap shot and produce images that are not only of-the-moment. People have the capacity to learn and put knowledge into action. What we may see, then, are people making images not just of breaking news or spot news scenes of train wrecks and police beatings but also images that have aesthetic appeals as well.

This day may not be too far off, and it is this fear that is troubling many professionals. As one photojournalist argues on the National Press Photographer Association list-serve, "Hire them, and get garbage images with trees sticking out of back of heads." Another more rational professional observes, "Eventually, I want to believe, the public and marketplace will again respect that good cameras don't make good pictures. Good photographers do. And good photographers aren't necessarily good photojournalists."

What remains important to the profession as well as to democracy is the authenticity of the frame and the credibility of the individual who produced the image. As Gillmor argues, "What does matter is the utter authenticity of the image, made so by the fact that the man was there at the right time with the right media-creation gear."

A similar battle is raging in the newswriting world as well -- one in which bloggers continue to encroach on the domain of the so-called establishment press. But just because someone can blog doesn't mean they have all the facts.

If the citizen shutterbug movement does take hold, as Gillmor predicts, it is reasonable to assume that photojournalism as an art form will continue to thrive, while photojournalism as an occupational group will suffer.

As an educator, this issue raises a lot of questions. Why continue to train photojournalists in a world where just about everyone can claim they are photojournalists? What does getting a degree in photojournalism mean when the credibility of the field continues to be attacked as it did last summer during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. What does getting a degree in photojournalism mean when opportunities for employment seem so dismal?

The best answer to this question is reconciled by the fact that photojournalism teaches us to experience and see the world in ways that few other disciplines can match. Photojournalism is the practice of being engaged in capturing and fixing moments so that we can learn and grow from those moments. What philosophy seeks to do for helping students to think more critically and ethically, photojournalism does in helping students to see, feel, and act in the world. Photojournalism is a visual response to light and life -- one that seeks to render, explain, interrogate, expose, and discover what it means to be human.

If more people, with camera phones, come to understand and appreciate the complexities of our times so be it. At issue is not the need for more people with cameras. What is needed are more people with cameras that know and appreciate the device as a tool for illuminating and edifying, connecting and communicating with the richness of our universal human condition.

Citizen shutterbugs cannot replace photojournalists entirely, but this newly created stream of images does present a few challenges to the profession. Chief among the problems with a citizen-centered influx of images for news publication is the question of credibility and authenticity. Editors seem to be having their hands full these days just making sure their own professionals are playing by the rules without the burden of checking on the veracity of Uncle Jim Bo’s pictures from the county fair. From this perspective, Gillmor's argument appears overly simplistic and reductive.
In reality, more attention must be paid to other more systemic issues facing news operations in general, and photojournalism specifically.

If photojournalism is truly dying the slow death so many seem to be predicting then we must look at the economics of an entrenched media industry that is finding it hard to adapt and cope in a faster, leaner digital world.

In the end, what appears to be happening now is that far too much energy is being expended on fretting over the loss of a professional occupation and not enough energy is being spent on creating a more informed and visually literate citizenry.