Archive for November 2009
Solving Filter Failure
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Publishers are increasingly concerned about “information overload,” and some believe that technology has made this worse. In an Economist.com debate, Richard Szafranski argued that technology has created “over-choice,” which he described as a “human response to alternatives and variations so numerous, so potentially satisfying and so complex that humans can no longer decide easily.” Our time is limited and the more choices we have, the more time it takes to choose.
However, Clay Shirky claims that information overload has been a problem long before the digital age, as anyone has experienced entering a library or bookshop. Ever since the amount of available books exceeded a person’s ability to read them, the central problem has been filter failure. “We had a set of filters that we were used to, but are now broken,” Shirky points out. The media organizations that help solve filter failure by making information more relevant will control the new decentralized online distribution channels. Independent media has more power to solve this problem by sharing data and working together. (more…)
Weekly Diaspora: Autumn Holiday Edition
By Nezua, Media Consortium Blogger
Ed. Note: This week’s Diaspora is short because of the holidays. We’ll be back to full-length next week.
Last Tuesday, Amy Traub dismantled a few harmful myths about immigrants for The Nation. Traub takes on the old ‘immigrants steal our jobs’ myth, saying it “holds no water.” Immigrants of both documented and undocumented status help the economy, and their energy and efforts create jobs that would not exist without their participation. Traub makes a crucial connection clear: Immigrants are a boon to the economy, and “U.S. natives gain $37 billion a year from immigrants’ participation” in the U.S. workforce.
In AlterNet, Timothy Noah outlines the cost of denying immigrants health insurance, dubbing the overall effect a “Nativist Tax.” If we begin restricting the access immigrants have to health care, why not bar them from other parts of society? Why not bar them from the hospital altogether? Why not prevent them from buying milk at the corner store? It’s the beginning of what could be a bad chain reaction. (more…)
Weekly Mulch: Countdown to Copenhagen
By Raquel Brown, Media Consortium Blogger
On Wednesday, President Obama pledged to cut U.S. carbon emissions “in the range of” 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. Obama also confirmed that he will attend the international climate conference in Copenhagen next month, as Aaron Wiener notes for the Washington Independent. But here’s the catch: It’s a one-day deal. Obama is only planning to stop by Copenhagen on Dec. 9 before flying to Oslo to accept his Nobel Peace Prize. The climate talks, on the other hand, span Dec. 7 to Dec. 18.
Still, Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly writes that “Obama’s in-person lobbying efforts will give the talks a boost, and signal to the world that the United States intends to lead.” (more…)
Weekly Pulse: Crunch Time in the Senate
By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium Blogger
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is determined to get a health care bill passed in the Senate by Christmas.
This is a momentous time, as John Nichols writes in The Nation:
…Harry Reid has a health-care reform bill, and it is advancing. Indeed, with Saturday night’s 60-39 Senate vote to open a historic debate on the measure, the movement humanize America’s healthcare system — which began almost 70 years ago — is closer to a congressional breakthrough than at any time in its history. (more…)
Now is the Time for Immediacy
Everything about the web is becoming more “live,” from activity feeds, micro blogging, live streaming video to real-time analytics. Consumers’ demand for accessing news, in particular, has become more immediate and granular. Publishers work hard at adapting to this demand while maintaining the value of content that requires time and synthesis to produce.
While many journalism organizations have succeeded with shorter cycles of reporting (e.g. daily versus monthly), much of today’s digital media is still prepackaged. In the future, demand for immediacy will become greater and push the limits of reporting and analysis even further. Micro-blogging and live online videos are leading this trend. (For more on micro-blogging and live online video, download Vol. 2 of The Big Thaw.) (more…)
Weekly Audit: Unemployment Fueling Political Storm
By Zach Carter, Media Consortium Blogger
Unemployment figures in the U.S. are staggering: The official rate stands at 10.2%, the highest in 26 years. A broader measure that includes people who are involuntarily working part-time or who have given up looking for work is at 17.5%. That’s a full-blown economic emergency.
But, as Joshua Holland explains for AlterNet, President Barack Obama’s response to the unemployment crisis has not matched the urgency of his response to the crisis on Wall Street. This isn’t just unfair, it’s bad economics. (more…)
Progressive Ideas Vs. “My Ideas”
Progressive publishers have brought to light many important issues, including the implosion of the housing market and predictions about the Iraq War before the invasion. Independent media’s greatest value is often helping underserved communities address unmet needs.
The new political environment has shifted the context in which progressive publishers operate. In the Bush era, being in opposition had underpinned the identity and tactics of “progressives.” Despite euphoria regarding Barack Obama’s presidency, the new administration will inevitably have its share of disappointments, keeping the role of watchdog important. However, the political shift also affects how progressive publishers generate value. For example, Jay Harris believed that interest in Mother Jones, a member of The Media Consortium (TMC), might have been strengthened due to readers’ concerns about the Bush administration. Many others in progressive media have expressed a similar belief. A clear enemy can help build funders’ and audiences’ perceived value for editorial content with a strong oppositional viewpoint. In the new political context, publishers may generate more value by promoting progressive values of inclusivity and fairness through politically diverse conversations. As a result, the definition of “progressive” may broaden, and the label itself may become an anachronism.
The new political and media environment has caused progressive media organizations to reevaluate their identity and tactics. At a TMC annual meeting in February 2009, members discussed whether the consortium’s work no longer falls within the traditional label of “progressive.” They debated what notions independent media might need to give up if this were true.
One group believed independent media needed to give up one-dimensional political stances and in favor of more broadly inclusive values such as human rights and global perspectives in storytelling. Another group believed that independent media must go even farther by giving up the need to articulate political stances altogether. They believed publishers should look more pragmatically at what works and what people want to know by focusing more on being a trusted source of quality journalism. Identifying where the greatest value lies will help independent media resolve this debate and move forward more powerfully.
“My Ideas”
Whether content is mainstream or alternative, its value is increasingly determined by how it relates to “my ideas,” a mélange of concepts and interests that an individual has accumulated. The personal expression of my ideas, mixing of other people’s content to fit my ideas, filtering content to reflect my ideas—all are an evolution of what Nicholas Negroponte of MIT’s Media Lab coined, “The Daily Me.”
The proliferation of blogs and user-generated content is already a clichéd example of the demand for personal expressions, but Motoko Rich of the New York Times predicted a more interesting sea change: “The point may soon come when there are more people who want to write books than there are people who want to read them.” To be sure, many forms of media could pass this threshold of a greater demand for expression than consumption, and this dynamic creates opportunities that publishers are beginning to tap as well. For example, Hewlett-Packard’s MagCloud makes it easy for anyone to make his or her own slick print magazines, produced on-demand.
This blog is an excerpt from The Big Thaw, a guide to the evolution of independent media, written by Tony Deifell of Q Media Labs and produced by The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets. Learn how your organization can use this report. For more information and recommendations from the study, click here.
New Sources of Value
What needs can be met, problems solved or desires fulfilled?
In the old paradigm, the content that created the greatest value for mainstream media centered on the most popular and noncontroversial ideas. For independent media, the value stemmed from alternative ideas. Today, popular and alternative ideas are intertwined. The greatest value comes from how these ideas relate to “my ideas,” a combination of consumers’ growing personal expression, remixing and filtering.
This chapter covers the emerging sources of value that media organizations can capture, including:
- Progressive Ideas and “My Ideas”
- Solving Filter Failure
- A Conversation Economy
- From Audiences to Communities
To read more, download Vol. 2, Chapter 3 of The Big Thaw.
This blog is an excerpt from The Big Thaw, a guide to the evolution of independent media, written by Tony Deifell of Q Media Labs and produced by The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets. Learn how your organization can use this report. For more information and recommendations from the study, click here.
Shifting Roles
The new competencies outlined in Chapter 2 will help media organizations succeed in the new competitive environment. As a result, traditional roles will shift and overlap. (To read more of Chapter 2 and see charts of the shifting roles, download The Big Thaw.)
These changes threaten many people’s jobs, pensions and familiar ways of working. Yet, organizations that can successfully make the transition will succeed. One of the reasons for the Boston Globe’s troubles stemmed, in part, from a lifetime job guarantee to advertising employees that prevent it from making staff changes necessary to survive. (more…)
Weekly Mulch: No Treaty in Copenhagen?
By Raquel Brown, Media Consortium Blogger
Last weekend in Singapore, President Barack Obama acknowledged that a comprehensive international climate deal will not be reached during the climate change summit in Copenhagen. While many might view this as a letdown, lowering expectations might actually be a good thing, as Matthew Yglesias notes for the American Prospect. According to Yglesias, the conference can now be framed as a relative success whatever happens, and that will keep the momentum for climate action going after Copenhagen. (more…)