New media: the year ahead

Posted: December 20, 2010 in internet, iPad, media, Technology
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Some thoughts on the fast-changing news media landscape from Mashable:

In 2011, the focus on mobile will continue to grow with the launch of mobile- and iPad-only news products, but the greater focus for news media in 2011 will be on re-imagining its approach to the open social web. The focus will shift from searchable news to social and share-able news, as social media referrals close the gap on search traffic for more news organizations. In the coming year, news media’s focus will be affected by the personalization of news consumption andsocial media’s influence on journalism.

Wikiwacking

Posted: December 15, 2010 in internet, linked data
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Like a lot of people, I’m finding a lot more grey in the whole WikiLeaks saga than black or white.

Here’s couple of recent pieces I’ve come across that offer food for thought. Veteran Internet commentator Clay Shirky, in  piece called Wikileaks and the long haul, argues that the hounding of Wikileaks poses a very real threat to the freedom of the internet itself:

If it’s OK for a democracy to just decide to run someone off the internet for doing something they wouldn’t prosecute a newspaper for doing, the idea of an internet that further democratizes the public sphere will have taken a mortal blow.

In Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government”, Aaron Bady makes a fascinating analysis of Assange’s motives and how the point of Wikileaks “is simply to make Wikileaks unnecessary”.

 

A tale of two papers

Posted: December 15, 2010 in Bermuda, internet, iPad, media, Technology
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It’s been interesting week for online news junkies.  Here in Bermuda, The Royal Gazette gave its website a much-needed makeover on Tusday while in London, The Sunday Times launched what is arguably the most impressive iPad version yet of a major newspaper.

Of course we’re comparing apples and oranges here in terms of resources and readership but I think it’s interesting to see how two newspapers, both established in the 1820s, are trying to figure how how to stay viable and relevant in a rapidly-changing media landscape.

The Gazette site really couldn’t have got any worse – although at the time of writing a poll on the site embarrassingly showed that 38% thought the new version was either “worse” or “much worse” (57% said it was improved or much improved).

At first glance, the site certainly looks cleaner, more readable and better organised but it doesn’t take long to realise that the changes are little more than cosmetic and that the Gazette still doesn’t really get the internet, digital publishing and just how disruptive and game-changing the technology will continue to be to the media business as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »

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