Comments on: Death of the Newspaper: Birth of the Lifestream? http://scattergather.razorfish.com/597/2009/05/08/death-of-the-newspaper-birth-of-the-lifestream/ ideas + opinions from content strategists at Razorfish Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:42:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: The Relational Sphere of Stories” « Predicate, LLC | Editorial + Content Strategy http://scattergather.razorfish.com/597/2009/05/08/death-of-the-newspaper-birth-of-the-lifestream/comment-page-1/#comment-496 The Relational Sphere of Stories” « Predicate, LLC | Editorial + Content Strategy Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:46:25 +0000 http://scattergather.razorfish.com/?p=597#comment-496 [...] In fact, content strategy has long been interested in the relational sphere of stories. via Death of the Newspaper: Birth of the Lifestream? [...] [...] In fact, content strategy has long been interested in the relational sphere of stories. via Death of the Newspaper: Birth of the Lifestream? [...]

]]> By: michael barnwell http://scattergather.razorfish.com/597/2009/05/08/death-of-the-newspaper-birth-of-the-lifestream/comment-page-1/#comment-207 michael barnwell Tue, 26 May 2009 18:17:20 +0000 http://scattergather.razorfish.com/?p=597#comment-207 I value journalism. I favor reading more, not less. Sadly, ironic tones in blog posts (long or otherwise) are often missed. (I hope you weren’t skimming.) The point of the post was to imagine how technology might enhance the daily experience of keeping up with the news. I imagine that readers and journalists, too, would welcome such enhancements, not to mention media organizations that can’t afford to stand still in the face of declining revenues. p.s. Full disclosure: I’ve been a subscriber to the print edition of the NY Times for many years. Far from being distracted, I’m an atypical reader who spends far in excess of the average 17 ½ hours per month reading news (even without Sudoku!). Call me instead one of the “attracted digerati,” who is interested in the evolution of news reporting and delivery. I value journalism. I favor reading more, not less. Sadly, ironic tones in blog posts (long or otherwise) are often missed. (I hope you weren’t skimming.) The point of the post was to imagine how technology might enhance the daily experience of keeping up with the news. I imagine that readers and journalists, too, would welcome such enhancements, not to mention media organizations that can’t afford to stand still in the face of declining revenues.

p.s. Full disclosure: I’ve been a subscriber to the print edition of the NY Times for many years. Far from being distracted, I’m an atypical reader who spends far in excess of the average 17 ½ hours per month reading news (even without Sudoku!). Call me instead one of the “attracted digerati,” who is interested in the evolution of news reporting and delivery.

]]> By: Ben Thompson http://scattergather.razorfish.com/597/2009/05/08/death-of-the-newspaper-birth-of-the-lifestream/comment-page-1/#comment-189 Ben Thompson Sun, 24 May 2009 03:49:01 +0000 http://scattergather.razorfish.com/?p=597#comment-189 You write: "That puts the monthly average for the print reader at 17 ½ hours. What in the world are they doing all that time? Sudoku?" It's called reading the newspaper. A pleasure that the distracted digerati don't seem to understand or value. Sadly, true reading, as opposed to skimming bulleted text (and entirely too long blog entries) is dying along with newspapers. You write:

“That puts the monthly average for the print reader at 17 ½ hours. What in the world are they doing all that time? Sudoku?”

It’s called reading the newspaper. A pleasure that the distracted digerati don’t seem to understand or value.

Sadly, true reading, as opposed to skimming bulleted text (and entirely too long blog entries) is dying along with newspapers.

]]> By: michael barnwell http://scattergather.razorfish.com/597/2009/05/08/death-of-the-newspaper-birth-of-the-lifestream/comment-page-1/#comment-158 michael barnwell Fri, 15 May 2009 18:12:16 +0000 http://scattergather.razorfish.com/?p=597#comment-158 While the concept of the lifestream and the evolved notion of newspaper accessibility, from microfilm to digital file, do have common traits, the experience of the lifestream is fundamentally different from what’s currently available at the public library and therefore worthy of the label “new.” What’s missing in the library model is the intervention of an editor who curates the news (often up to the minute), the participation of users who comment upon the news stories and even add their own, and, not least, the implementation of software that tracks usage, extracts less obvious relations to suggest further reading, and pinpoints the prime stories through such criteria as relevancy and popularity. The lifestream also offers the benefit of illustrating the entire ecosystem of a news story in engaging, graphic form. Taken together, these extra traits have the potential to offer a compelling experience for readers. Finding funding for a compelling experience that has multitudes of engaged readers doesn’t strike me as daunting challenge. In what ways advertisers might fund this experience is yet to be seen, but if the lifestream could be realized most of the heavy lifting would be done. While the concept of the lifestream and the evolved notion of newspaper accessibility, from microfilm to digital file, do have common traits, the experience of the lifestream is fundamentally different from what’s currently available at the public library and therefore worthy of the label “new.”

What’s missing in the library model is the intervention of an editor who curates the news (often up to the minute), the participation of users who comment upon the news stories and even add their own, and, not least, the implementation of software that tracks usage, extracts less obvious relations to suggest further reading, and pinpoints the prime stories through such criteria as relevancy and popularity. The lifestream also offers the benefit of illustrating the entire ecosystem of a news story in engaging, graphic form. Taken together, these extra traits have the potential to offer a compelling experience for readers.

Finding funding for a compelling experience that has multitudes of engaged readers doesn’t strike me as daunting challenge. In what ways advertisers might fund this experience is yet to be seen, but if the lifestream could be realized most of the heavy lifting would be done.

]]> By: Kirk Cheyfitz http://scattergather.razorfish.com/597/2009/05/08/death-of-the-newspaper-birth-of-the-lifestream/comment-page-1/#comment-125 Kirk Cheyfitz Tue, 12 May 2009 01:23:52 +0000 http://scattergather.razorfish.com/?p=597#comment-125 It's always interesting to encounter people who are just discovering journalism but think they've discovered something new. Because everything described in the so-called "lifestream" has been available for about 100 years at something called "the public library." For a century or more (since Eugene Power perfected the use of microfilm for storage in the publishing business), microfilmed book and newspaper archives have served this purpose. More recently, thank goodness, it's all gotten a lot more convenient through the magic of digital. Now, the library comes to you. Tracing a story back through the archives and then forward in time (and sideways through links to related topics) is easier on the web, but not materially different. What still needs fixing—in print and on the web—is the way all this is funded, which is something we currently call advertising. As we're fond of pointing out at postadvertising.com, journalism isn't broken, advertising is. Better to devote attention to fixing the funding. It’s always interesting to encounter people who are just discovering journalism but think they’ve discovered something new. Because everything described in the so-called “lifestream” has been available for about 100 years at something called “the public library.” For a century or more (since Eugene Power perfected the use of microfilm for storage in the publishing business), microfilmed book and newspaper archives have served this purpose. More recently, thank goodness, it’s all gotten a lot more convenient through the magic of digital. Now, the library comes to you. Tracing a story back through the archives and then forward in time (and sideways through links to related topics) is easier on the web, but not materially different. What still needs fixing—in print and on the web—is the way all this is funded, which is something we currently call advertising. As we’re fond of pointing out at postadvertising.com, journalism isn’t broken, advertising is. Better to devote attention to fixing the funding.

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