Today I’m going to write about the hardest part of the news replication chain…  the very last link: The display.  The information I consume distills down to  3 main formats for display: a page, a column, and a list.  Each has a purpose, but the nature of these styles rigidly define the use of each system more than any other attribute except perhaps the directionality of the source.  And no system successfully bridges between them: instead of stepping back and thinking about the data, each system just shoves all it has into the format it mandates… ridiculously limiting the usefulness of each tool. Continue reading →

Perhaps the most pressing question in modern journalism is that of the role of the traditional media.  You see this playing across the spectrum of media.  I wrote a few weeks ago about the spectrum of the media- starting on the left with the tiniest of tweets, and working through a the spectrum to the right, where you see  larger scale works of research like novels or scholarly research.   Each band of color on our spectrum naturally wants to try to absorb elements to it’s left.  But if all these outlets are doing is re-packaging content available elsewhere, what value do they actually ad?  The answer is far more important than Nielson ratings or Circulation Numbers… it is reputation.  This is a value that is personal and quantifiable.   And each day, the traditional media is spending its reputation, while individuals are earning theirs.

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