An End, and a Beginning, for the Media

"An End, and a Beginning, for the Media". James Poniewozik.

Great article from Time Magazine on how the must respond to the economic crisis and the rise of new media in order to survive and grow. Here's a taste:

People want the vetted information the news media offer--and they want to riff on it, respond to it and even, as in Mumbai, add to it. Journalists should embrace that rather than futilely fight it.

This means offering users more ways of interacting, commenting and contributing. It means seeing new media not as the dumbing down of civilization but as a new way of telling stories and even finding stories. And it means recognizing that the audience is no longer passive--it wants and expects to participate, even as it wants help in making sense of the info deluge.

Of course, what James hasn't figured out is HOW to do that profitably....*sigh*

While you're looking at Time Magazine, check out their article on Facebook and the Gaza Conflict. Most of it isn't that surprising, but it did mention that the Israeli embassy in New York hosted a press conference on Twitter.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Academic publishing - new models of information sharing?

Looking at the program for the ALIA Information Online conference (which I'm attending next week), I was intrigued by the number of sessions about open access and university-based publishing and research repositories. One in particular caught my eye - John Houghton's "Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models".

Only a few years ago academic blogging was very much frowned upon as a waste of time. However, that appears to be changing. Some academics are experimenting with writing and editing books within communities. Open access platforms are springing up, bringing blogging into the academic world. Check out ResearchBlogging.org, where bloggers discuss peer-reviewed research.

I wonder if universities and academics are experiencing the same struggle I am. Open access and distribution of information is a basic principle of education - but publishing is a necessary source of revenue for academics and universities. And what are the implications of replacing peer-reviewed articles with blogging and open access articles?

This topic is way, way bigger than the stray thoughts I had embarking on this post. But I will leave you with a model that just might become the middle ground - the publisher-provided academic network. Thomson Reuters is already experimenting with this in their new product Law School Exchange. Here's what Westblog had to say about it:

"For law faculty around the country, you might think of Law School Exchange as a combination of Facebook, the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) and Amazon.com. There’s really nothing like it generally or specifically out there in any market,” says Nickles [Wake Forest School of Law], who helped develop the ideas within Law School Exchange. “It creates an entirely new relationship between faculty, authors and publishers.”

Of course, to participate you must be subscribed to Westlaw. Which makes me wonder - if this is a platform for academics to publish and share information, is it a service for them - or are they providing the content for a new "publication" and should be rewarded accordingly? I would hope the latter (after all, Thomson will get the side-benefits of all members subscribing to Westlaw). In any case, it would be very interesting to see how the revenue model works - and whether academics will embrace this new opportunity to collaborate and distribute their work.

Ravelry - a web 2.0 dream

I'm dusting off this blog and getting back into sharing my Web 2.0 experiences, at home and at work.

I have to say the most complete web 2.0 experience I have had is on Ravelry, a community for knitters and crocheters (yes, you heard me right, I do knit). On Ravelry I can add descriptions and photos of all my projects. Even better, I can search for patterns (both free online patterns and those that are only available in books) and then see how other people went knitting them. If it's a bad review, maybe I don't want to try it. Alternatively if I really like it I can favourite it for later. I can also add a yarn to my stash, and then see what projects people have made with it.

Then there are forums based around topics and locations. So I can find local knitting groups and go along to their meetings. Or I can search for a particular knitting technique or ask for help. There are yarn swaps, gift swaps, virtual Knit-alongs and even a Knitting Olympics to co-incide with the real ones.. There's also a very passionate thread on the Australian Knitters forum where people have found out about draft changes to airplane security and are making submissions en masse that knitting needles should be allowed on planes.

You can also find friends, message them, view their projects, stash and pattern library, and see what they've been talking about in the forums.

From a business point of view, there are a number of pattern designers and yarn retailers on Ravelry, so they are getting direct feedback on what people think of their products as well as being on hand to offer assistance. Ravelry-only specials from yarn stores receive a fantastic response. That doesn't mean that everyone is completely sold on what Ravelry represents. An explosion of free online patterns and access to a much larger range of yarn shops makes the market quite competitive. The yarn shop down the road may find that online or overseas stores can beat their prices even with shipping. On the other hand, smaller retailers with quality offerings may suddenly be pitched into the spotlight if word of a good pattern or wool gets around. So it cuts both ways.

In terms of making money from the platform itself, here's what the Ravelry designers have to say:

The site will always be free for designers, independent dyers, spinners, crocheters and knitters! We want it to be an inclusive community- not just for those who can pay for it. Instead, we have tasteful and targeted ads for fibery products and companies that we as a community are actually be interested in and want to support!

They also sell some pretty funky merchandise - financial support and advertising all in one go.

If you feel like hopping on Ravelry, drop me a line - my ID is EclecticRose.