DigiDave | Communication is Key

What is Bad for Newspapers Might be Good for the World....

David Carr has a piece in the New York Times today - "United, Newspapers May Stand," where he envisions a world in which the heads of newspapers all get together to hold hands and unanimously decide to work together and declare....

No more free content. The Web has become the primary delivery mechanism for quality newsrooms across the country, and consumers will have to participate in financing the newsgathering process if it is to continue. Setting the price point at free — the newspaper analyst Alan D. Mutter called it the “original sin” — has brought the industry millions of eyeballs and a return that doesn’t cover the coffee budget of some newsrooms.

I don't take sides in the old media vs. new media debate. I think we have LOTS to lose if newspapers go under. But I also think there is an inflated sense of self-worth in this article. Not because I believe citizen journalism can fully replace traditional newsrooms - but because of what the world has gained by making news content free online.

Yes - putting content online for free has caused economic problems for newspapers - but it has made mankind better.

• How many people have been informed because newspaper content was made available online for free?
• How many people made better decisions because they were engaged in online conversations - that reacted to newspaper content? 
• How many young people learned to appreciate high quality journalism because it was easy to access?

Of course - the numbers can't be quantified - since the information was free and we can't be sure how far any one idea from a newspaper article spread, emailed, blogged, reblogged, tweeted, morphed, etc.

I wonder if given the choice to go back in time  whether Carr would change all this. Would keeping people ignorant and disengaged be worth saving the newspaper industry (or any industry)?

Putting aside that Carr's dream would never happen ( most newsrooms are cultured in scoops and competition, not collaboration), I think it is fair to say that mankind is better for having had access to this information for free.

Yes - it was a bad economic move for newspapers. But the decision has had a positive influence on millions of people. That newspapers are having a tough time keeping profit margins is secondary for me - compared to the incredible evolution in human knowledge.

And I'm a self-identified journalist.

The counter-argument could be made: Without an economic model newspapers will crumble and then there won't be any content available to enrich the lives of so many.

Fair point, to which I can only make this honest response.

I really believe that "journalism will survive the death of its institutions." That journalism will look different - but there will be a marketplace for quality information and individuals who provide it.

I don't know what that model will look like - so you can call bullshit on me if you want, but that is what I believe. And if you share that belief - then the idea of putting content behind a paywall to save an industry at the cost of keeping millions ignorant - just doesn't fly.

The Great Restructing - For the Information Age

For all things Spot.Us - I will quickly remind folks that the project has its own blog where we are updating regularly. I will update here on occasion but will still keep this as my personal blog.

This post will be a little on the academic side - but it's something that has been formulating in my head for some time and was recently inspired to spit out. In fact, I can point to the post when this started bubbling in the dome above my shoulders. "Editors and Publishes in a Battle Against Inertia" - which I wrote in January.

I avoid the "old media vs. new media" debate. But I do have some constructive criticism for both sides ;)  - And here's that criticism for old media....

Newspapers are industrial age institutions. We are leaving the industrial age and entering the information age. Organizations that don't radically restructure will always be two steps behind.

For many this is nothing earth-shattering. What I'd like to add to this, however, is the simple idea that newspapers have been the canary in the coal mine. While newspapers are hitting the free fall, the rest of the world is only just catching up with us. Since journalism is the exchange of information it makes sense that this industry would start to feel the shift first and perhaps hardest. But information has been a vital part of any industry - and therefore none are safe.

Put this concept (industrial age institutions in an information age) in context and we can start to see what is happening in industries around the country. The auto-industry, education, medical, and even the government (from the federal down to the city level) - all need to be restructured for the information age.

I went to an IScott meeting (Interdepartmental Staff Committee of Traffic and Transportation) in San Francisco last week. This is a meeting twice a month between different department heads to discuss street closures, traffic, etc. It includes the police department, transportation, dept. of recreation, city council, etc.

Afterwards I wondered how these department heads kept in touch between meetings. Google Docs? I doubt it.

Could efficiency be increased if they all had blogs and understood RSS? Most likely. If they wanted to be private - perhaps a simple Yahoo or Google group? Or a wiki. The tools are out there.

From the small city government to the pentagon, our country needs to be organized for the information age. Newspapers need to make that re-invention as well and I believe they are aware of it. We aren't sure what a news organization looks like in the information age. It might even be the case that there is no news 'organization' but rather - news platforms. We are still waiting to find out.

One could say that Google is the first great company to make this shift. In that sense they are positioned to be the Ford of the information age.

The good news in all this: The sky is not falling, but the ground IS shifting. Those that don't get a good footing could fall through the cracks, just as many did when the industrial age came around.

(Hat tip to Chris Pirillo and the Twickie tool he made which allowed me to easily do this.)

Digidave: Quote/question of the night: Child labor is to the industrial revolution as X is to the information revolution... Send your snark this way.

about 9 days ago

Thu Feb 26 08:56:10 +0000 2009

soozanj: As indian call centers are to the information revolution. (no snark intended)

about 9 days ago

Thu Feb 26 10:45:01 +0000 2009

SamuelJay: "Child labor is to the industrial revolution, as copyright suits are to the information revolution."

about 9 days ago

Thu Feb 26 10:59:08 +0000 2009

SamuelJay: also: "Child labor is to the industrial revolution, as rich publishers are to the information revolution."

about 9 days ago

Thu Feb 26 11:05:59 +0000 2009

fobes: Not snark; but wondering what dreams capture us? Ind. Rev gave us? Info/internet rev, like a siren, lures w/ ? open source&collab?

about 9 days ago

Thu Feb 26 13:38:37 +0000 2009

joeybaker: child labor is to the Indust. Rev. as convergence (co. death)is to the Info age

about 9 days ago

Thu Feb 26 14:33:44 +0000 2009

mattmireles: Are you saying that child labor increased or decreased because of the industrial revolution? My guess is that it went down...

about 4 minutes ago

Sun Mar 08 02:54:45 +0000 2009

cabara: Child labor is to the industrial revolution as word people are to the information revolution. (Bloggers should be paid!)

about 3 minutes ago

Sun Mar 08 02:56:27 +0000 2009

joeterrell: Child labor is to the industrial revolution as pornography is to the information revolution... (is that the answer?)

about 2 minutes ago

Sun Mar 08 02:57:33 +0000 2009

billdinTO: As intern labour is to the info rev / as contract/casual labour is to the info rev.

about a minute ago

Sun Mar 08 02:57:47 +0000 2009

amabaie: cubicle dwellers ("cubicle rats"?, "cubicle moles"?)

33 seconds ago

Sun Mar 08 02:59:02 +0000 2009

A Well Deserved Congrats Too....

My friend Amanda Michel.

1. She had an excellent piece out today in Columbia Journalism Review (my old stomping ground) on her experience with Off The Bus. 

"Get Off The Bus - the future of Pro-Am Journalism"

I helped in only the most modest of ways at Off The Bus. Amanda Michel is, without a doubt, the unsung hero of the project. Without her - it would have been toast.

2. It's official - she is working at ProPublica.
Michelle McLellan breaks it down for us.

I think this is a brilliant move. At ProPublica Amanda can do some real damage (in a good way). The organization is ready to try something new and daring, she will have the editorial support and most importantly: ProPublica has a community of readers that are just itching (I suspect) to get their hands dirty with Amanda and practice distributed reporting.

I've worked with Amanda on past NewAssignment.Net projects and I know she will rock this position. Keep your eye on ProPublica to do some interesting pro-am work.

Community Funded Reporting in South Carolina!

At Spot.Us we are trying to pioneer "community funded reporting." But the concept is owned by nobody. Anyone can do it, as my last post "community funded reporting in Arizona" pointed out.

Spot.Us is a platform that is trying to build out the tools so that independent reporters can easily crowdfund. But there are some tools already out there.

And using those tools Daniel Doyle has almost raised $580 to continue coverage of a criminal justice case in South Carolina.

Nick Martin is doing it in Arizona. Bonnie is doing it in North Field.

Can the SF Chronicle work this route with a freelancer? What about Mother Jones with a Washington Correspondent?

We haven't even started to scratch the surface.

Community Funded Reporting in Arizona!

Spot.Us has not expanded to Arizona but the concept of "community funded reporting" has. Soon I'll do a blog post detailing how anyone can launch their own Spot.Us for relatively cheap (we've absorbed 90-95% of the cost of development)

But this post is to give kudos to Nick Martin of Heat City. Hat tip to Megan Taylor for pointing out Nick's endeavor on this MediaShift post.

Martin considers Heat City to be an experiment, not a business venture. But it's still a full-time job. Martin hopes "to turn Heat City into a project where other journos can post for the site as well." He is currently taking donations on his site, but is considering filing for non-profit status.

"The donations aren't tax-deductible, and I think that makes people less willing to donate," he said, "The site doesn't have a business model, but I've gotten $310 in donations over about two weeks."

I was happy to chip in $10 and to see that his donations have doubled to over $600. If there are people out there who like Spot.Us as a concept but are frustrated with our Bay Area centric approach (we are the center of the West coast though... deal with it) perhaps an Arizona reporter is more to your liking. Like a true gent, Nick wrote me back...

Hey David, Thank you so much for your donation. It means a lot coming from you. You know it's tough out here in this new world, but support like this is what makes it worth it.

Heat City has been doing great since I launched it last month. I'm getting lots of solid tips and leads and readers asking for more news. It's fantastic. The support from the community, both financial and moral, is warm and unexpected. Honestly, having been in Arizona media for about five years or so, I thought the folks here wouldn't embrace the independent-online model so quickly. I was wrong. It turns out people here are thirsty for something beside the stale dead-tree institutions they've lived with for years. It's awesome. Totally surprised by my own neighbors. ....

Good luck to you Nick.

My Next Big Story (If I Ever Had Time To Report)

             Analogies of Power: The Printing Press and Programming

                           
Gutenberg's revolution was huge for mankind.

1. But if you didn't know how to read - it meant nothing.
2. If you could write well - it meant the potential of a new profession.
3. If you had a printing press it meant you owned the real freedom of the press.

The Web revolution is huge for mankind.

1. But if you don't know how to navigate online - it means nothing.
2. If you can manipulate the tools (blog, social media, etc) it means the start of a new profession (hence all the funky job titles: "social media expert.")
3. If you know how to code - it means you own the real freedom of the web.

Recently I published my masters thesis from Columbia which chronicled the history of Drupal's political past. If I were to follow up on this I would like to tell the narrative of Ruby on Rails. (Note: I've stepped away from reporting since launching spot.us so this is really thinking out loud).

I'm interested in studying various tribes of tech communities to find out what makes them tick and move forward. What shapes their attitude towards the web and development?

Technologies don't exist in a vacuum.

Technology, from the wheel to individual websites, are reactions to specific problems. For complex problems this means forming groups which often result in internal politics. Combine that with external forces/events that influence members of the group - and you start to have a real story form.

I believe it was Scott Rosenberg who said "all software is political" but I could be misquoting (ideally I just made it up and now I have a book title.)

Art history is the study of how art and society have interacted and influenced each other. Could there be a "code history" study?

I am not a die-hard fan-boy of either Ruby or Drupal. I always say one should pick the right technology for the problem you want to solve. But for many people who use Drupal, Django, Ruby, Joomla, etc - these are not just tools. They represent communities, philosophies and more.

Story Time

One of the off-hour highlights of my week with Hashrocket, the development team of Spot.Us, was a lunch-discussion with Corey Haines a wandering Ruby on Rails enthusiast touring the country pair programming for room and board. (It reminded me a bit of Alex Steed's recent trip "Millennials Changing America.")

The talk centered around craftsmanship in code. My ears perked at the constant use of the word "craftsmanship." Reporters often say that "journalism is a craft" and one must hone that skill over time. (An aside: As they spoke about practices to help one produce good code, I was thinking about practices I could implement to help reporters on Spot.Us craft good journalism. For me it comes down to beat blogging).

Perhaps the "craft" analogy could be said of any industry. But technology isn't "just 'any industry'" right now. It is changing the way people live their lives and has restructured power. When the printing press came out it wasn't the start of just "any industry."

Analogies of Power: The Printing Press and Programming

Gutenberg's revolution was huge.

1. But if you didn't know how to read - it meant nothing.
2. If you could write well - it meant the potential of a new profession.
3. If you owned a printing press it meant you owned the real freedom of the press.

The Web Revolution is huge

1. But if you don't know how to navigate online - it means nothing.
2. If you can manipulate the tools (blog, social media, etc) it means the start of a new job (hence all the funky job titles of "social media expert, evangelist, etc).
3. If you know how to code - it means you own the real freedom of the web.

I'm interested in the "craft" that is being practiced by this third group who "own" the real freedom - or at least, who have ownership over its future.

That to me is a book waiting to happen.

Chapter 1: From Wheel to Website (introduction to the theory that technology is political)
Chapter 2: In the Beginning There was C, C+ and C++
Chapter 3: Open Source Communities and Wordpress
Chapter 4: Drupal Nation: Software to Power the Left
Chapter 5: Ruby on Rails, Django and the MVC Bourgeoisie

Fun Friday Links

While hanging with Suzanne Yada I got a comic novel "DMZ" by Brian Wood. (I live around the corner from Al's Comics and have now been hooked). I asked Al for something good and when he said "it's a journalism drama" I said - "I'll take it." It made for great plane reading.

I refuse to read the Wikipedia entry (plot spoiler), but it's about a young journalist standed in Manhattan which is at the center of a civil war between the United States and the Free States. An odd thing to imagine being - but so is living in Baghdad - and that's why this is a powerful story.

"Matty Roth, a naive aspiring photojournalist, lands a dream gig following a veteran war correspondent into the heart of the DMZ. Things soon go terribly wrong, and Matty finds himeslef lost and alone in a world he's only seen on televsion."

Although stranded - Matty continues to report, sending back stories of those who live in the DMZ war zone.

On the lighter side: Twoogie.com for those who remember the ending of every episode of Doogie Howser M.D. My Twoogie tweet for the day!

On the useful side: Chris Prillo gives us Twickie. Every now and then I ask a question to my tweeple and painstakingly copy and paste the answers into a blog post. Never again! Hat tip Scoble.

A Journo-Entrepreneur's Important Relationships

If I were a journo-entrepreneur 30 years ago one of the more important relationships I'd have to cultivate would be with the labor union. They drove the trucks and delivered the paper. They were literally the manpower that took your information to the masses. It would be a subtle and important working relationship with the union leaders and the workers they represented. My paper would be dead without them.

Today one of the most important relationships I have is with my developers. The joke goes "developers are the new teamsters." (Can't remember who made this joke first, but I am a notorious joke-repeater).

So far Spot.Us has worked with Hashrocket and I am very happy with our working relationship.

Ideally you are an Adrian Holovaty and are your own programmer. For the rest of us I give you:

Tips on working with your dev-team.

1. Give credit and sing their praises.This one is a little obvious - but it doesn't hurt to say it out loud. You should work with developers that rock hard and when they do, let them know how hard they are, in fact, rocking.

If you can't find a way to sing their praises - consider a new developer.

2. Open source: Not just the code, but the process. Developers like working on open source projects. But they also want to feel like their work is being used and improved. This requires being open about the development process so it can be improved by users. Bottom line: Developers like that people are using the product and that it will improve through user suggestions. It's your responsibility to have that feedback with your users.

3. Understand the tools they are using and how that translates into practices. Drupal, Ruby on Rails, Django, Joomla, etc. Different development communities have different philosophies. There is the "Drupal Way" and there is "Getting Real" which the RoR community espouses. Know what these philosophies are and how they translate into their work flow.

Use their existing workflow, project management tools, etc. Don't dictate to them how they should work. A good developer has already established their own best practices.

4. Be SPECIFIC with what you want. Perhaps the MOST important tip! The more specific you are with your acceptance criteria - the less likely they will deliver something from left field. More importantly - they will appreciate that you (a. have a vision (b. can give the detailed steps to achieve that vision (c. have given thought into what you want them to build and how it can all come together.

I can't stress this enough. I'm not talking about a detailed 3-year strategic plan. I'm talking about the "what does every button on every page do" level of detail!

5. Learn to crawl with the technology, so they don't have. I've learned to run the spot.us code on my computer and edit the views when I can. This is an incredibly small feat to any programmer, so I'm not patting myself on the back (it's really just slightly advanced HTML). But when I want to change the FAQ's or any other text on the site - I can do so without bothering the developers. They can stay focused on the more difficult programming tasks. This also means all spelling errors are your fault and you have nobody else to blame.

6. Separate design and development. Unless of course you have a designer/developer. Let people work on their strengths.

What advice do you have? As always I don't claim to have written the book. But I'm learning as I go and these have helped me out a lot.

Journalism Business Idea - the Newsroom Cafe

About a year ago I wanted to start a side blog called "365-journalism business ideas." Alas, I haven't had the time to actually come up with or blog 365 journalism based business ideas. But some are still floating around my head. Here's one that you should feel free to take and make a million dollars with. Just remember to hire me when you do!

At a Public-Press meeting this last week I discussed it out loud for the first time only to meet another journalist who has had the same idea brewing in his head. I bet others out there have considered this as well. I call it the "Newsroom Cafe."

Update from comments: 

• Jason Krustefek: Media Companies should open coffee shops.
• Steve Outing: Why news companies should go into the Internet cafe business
• Ethan Kaplan: What I would do if I bought a newspaper
  
• Dave Winer: From Networked Journalism Summit and Scripting News
• Jackie Hai: A community driven news model  (hat tip Daniel)
• Matt Thompson: Neo in the Newsroom

Newsrooms should be public space.

In the past I've complained that the SF Chronicle treats the newsroom like a fortress (see "Culture Change" section in this post). As a test one time I walked up to the Chronicle to see if I could drop by and meet a reporter. I was greeted by security before I even got into the door. I didn't play the role of a reporter - I was just a 20-something citizen who wanted to visit the newsroom and perhaps offer a story tip.

Access denied. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

What I imagine is a newsroom that is also a cafe. Of course the reporters would have desks somewhere private to do work (a 2nd floor would be ideal), but the front of the newsroom would be a public space where people could get coffee, eat a bagel, use the wireless, etc. At least one reporter would be on-hand to talk with members of the public during business hours. These would be publicly announced "office hours." We wouldn't make a big pony-show of it, it would just be a part of the cafe's appeal. You may just be hanging out - but perhaps you'll end up in a news story!

Aside from being a revenue stream (coffee, bagels, etc) it would create a deeper connection between the news organization and the public. Could story tips be garnered this way? Perhaps it would be a great way to meet and encourage citizen journalism partners. Could a "Newsroom Cafe" take on MediaBistro in the workshops/training department? Could the space eventually be used to organize civilized public debates? Is this something that could be franchised and repeated in the following cities: San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York, etc?

Sometimes you want to read a news site where everybody knows your name (sha-na-na-na). What better what to foster that then by having a space where citizens can feel like they own it? (Two journo-points to whomever guesses the music reference in my head. Hint it's NOT the theme song to Cheers).

If I were MinnPost, Voice of San Diego, Public-Press (all nonprofits) the HuffPost's local satellites, SFist, LAist, Chi-Town-Daily, The Windy Citizen, etc, or any other small journalism startup with a stake in location - this would be an interesting play. It would require a lot of capital and a partner in the food-service industry, but I suspect could be very lucrative, both for the business and the journalism.

Afterthought: I don't use the Chronicle as an example to beat up on them. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a need for security. Then again, the more you tighten control the more you need to have it. If the Chronicle started "office hours" - the first few weeks might be intense but if the attempt at opening up was earnest, I bet they'd get earnest (and constructive) feedback. Also - as we lose more newspapers and become reliant on smaller news organizations - there is less of a need for security and a stronger need for community.

Journalism Beyond Newspapers - Don't Become Nonprofits - Work for Them

Newspapers have some tough times ahead. But as Lisa Williams has said (and I've oft repeated) "journalism will survive the death of its institutions."

So what does that look like?

It seems every few weeks there is a new bitch-meme in the journalism world. Last week it was micro-payments, this week if we should halt all newspaper websites for seven days and a few weeks ago it was that major metro-newspapers should be endowed.

While I have opinions about all these, I still find the discussion somewhat limited. They are focused around newspapers! In a world where anyone can publish, newspapers don't have to be the center of journalistic activity.

This has been brewing in my head for some time but as I sat at the We Are Media discussion today led by Beth Kanter I began to think about all the existing nonprofits that can be the force behind great journalism. As Dan Gillmor pointed out, some of the best early coverage of Guantanamo Bay was done by the ACLU. Rightly so! the ACLU recognized there was an issue, reported it accurately, spoke truth to power, defended the defenseless and helped make a positive change in this world.

How many nonprofits are there in this country? Roughly 1.5 million.

Do ALL of them need journalists? No. But many of them have issues that can benefit from good reporting. And the best nonprofits, the ones that really have a social mission, will hopefully recognize that reporting, fair and accurate reporting, will benefit their cause. Integirty in how they cover an issue will bring them more supporters.

And a good journalist, the sort that will be hired, will be the total package: In addition to reporting and writing they'll do some mulit-media storytelling, set up a YouTube account for the organization, manage their blog, do social media outreach, engage in pro-am citizen journalism and more. They will not work within a newsroom which means not all their colleagues will be reporting or making the news. They'll be part of a larger organization with a mission.

As I see it this IS journalism: Media is a form of community organizing now and journalists should learn how to play in this space. Because this WILL happen. And journalists are in the position to do it very well. The only thing that will get in the way is if they decide that is work for "the bloggers" and is "below their standards" or other poo-pooing nonesense.

I'm not suggesting that newspapers should go nonprofit. I don't think that is a saving grace (although I myself am working on spot.us as a nonprofit). I side with many who pointed out that endowing failed businesses is no solution. What I'm suggesting, however, is that more independent organizations will be in need of a communications outreach strategy. Nonprofits are poised to focus these communications towards the public interest - and what is a journalist other than somebody who works in communications for the public interest?

Does all this bode well with traditional journalistic standards. Perhaps not. I'm not writing this as the all knowing perveyor of journalistic ethics. But I am positing a very real future that the larger journalism diaspora should prepare itself for. Lets have that conversation now!

For journalists that are currently looking for work: Look into local nonprofits that have a strong mission and perhaps a weak communications strategy. Are they interested not just in marketing, but reporting? It's probably a question they've never asked themselves. If you started up a blog for them, would they give you editorial freedom? If so - perhaps you've found another reporting job