Friday, February 24, 2012
Digital future of newspapers, seen from 1981 and 2012
The future of newspapers seems precarious, given the rise of digital media. However, back in 1981, when only about 3,000 people in the Bay Area had PCs, newspapers were already contemplating their online futures. Eleven newspapers, in fact, pooled their efforts to pilot an online venue. Media watcher Jim Romenesko surfaced this report from KRON on the earliest effort to put newspapers online.
Of course, in 1981, the interface was all text. But still, the promise of online news was enticing. An enthusiast in the video pointed to the fact that articles from online newspapers could be copied and printed out. “Engineers now predict the day will come when we get all our newspapers and magazines by computer,” according to the report. A commentator added, however, that it took two hours to download the complete newspaper text by [phone-based acoustic coupler modem], so with a $5-an-hour access fee, the cost of the paper was a lot more than a 20-cent (at the time) copy of a newspaper.
Of course, the online newspapers predicted in that report are already yesterday’s news. What no one in 1981 could have foreseen is the rise of converged media — in which both newspapers and television re-invent themselves into something remarkably similar in a new channel. Consider this: if you go to a newspaper site such as USA Today and Wall Street Journal, you can watch videos of breaking news, interviews, or special interest stories. Is USA Today or Wall Street Journal now a broadcast network?
Similarly, if you go to CBS News, or CNN, you can read text stories. Is CBS News or CNN now a newspaper? Does the difference even matter anymore?
The Internet has converged these two media to the point where you can’t distinguish between the two. Newspapers provide video reports, and television stations provide articles to read. If there’s a future for newspapers, converged media is it. And the distinctions between newspapers and broadcast networks are no longer so clear.
Storify is reinventing storytelling for the social media age
Storify is reinventing storytelling for the social media age, and today we're bringing our platform to the device that is reinventing computing: the iPad.
Storify demo from Burt Herman on Vimeo.
在這個資訊爆炸的年代，整理、收集網路上源源不絕的資料，可不是一件簡單的事情。美國創業公司Storify，以類似剪報的形式，幫使用者將收集到的網路資訊集結成冊。Storify週一正式推出公開測試版，歡迎網友們試用比較。
Storify幫助使用者針對特定事件或主題，收集網頁、新聞、圖片等各種資料。Storify以簡單清爽的介面，讓使用者搜尋Google、 Flickr、 YouTube、 Facebook和Twitter等多項來源。使用者找到資料之後，可以直接將資料拖曳到「故事」頁面，Storify會針對不同的資料性質，顯示網頁摘要、影片、圖片等。當使用者想要回顧時，只要打開這個故事頁面，所有的資訊都一目了然。
位於美國舊金山的Storify，成立大約才一年半，目前資金總額兩百萬美元左右。Storify今年稍早曾經推出限定試用版，邀請需要大量閱讀網路資訊的記者們使用，獲得了相當正面的迴響。現在Storify正式開放給一般大眾，只要有Twitter帳號就可以免費註冊使用。根據美國廣告雜誌Adweek的報導，Storify打算利用廣告、或是與企業品牌合作的方式獲得營收。目前Levi's和Samsung已經開始利用Storify的服務推廣行銷活動。
The Good Stuff — Episode 2: One Cool Kid
The Good Stuff — Episode 2: One Cool Kid
What can one person do? A lot! Just ask Cole! At just 8-years old, he organized his schoolmates to take on KFC.
The Good Stuff — Episode 1: Take THAT, plastic bags!
The Good Stuff — Episode 1: Take THAT, plastic bags!
What do Northern California and Brownsville, Texas have in common? A lot more than you might think!
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