Post on 09-May-2015
transcript
The Future of
Context
The Search for a Business Model
First: The Eyeballs Era.
The
Eyeballs Era
Then: Time for Targeting.
Time for
Targeting
Now: Valuing Our Information
Valuing our information:
Two approaches
Delivering valuable information
The overload problem
“Learned helplessness”
Toward more valuable information
Coverage of the Fort Hood shootings
The Tribune’s reaction
From more stories to larger stories
Towards more valued journalism
A new frontier
The backstory problem
Familiarity with a news story
Different news needsfor different users
Towards timeless news
Wikipedia’s lessons.
It works for breaking news.
It works for old news.
Wikipedia trounced both blogs and the Times.
The Times learned from Nisenholtz’s bet.
And the concept is spreading...
Texas Tribune topic page
Google calls this approach “living stories.”
In fact …
… just this past month
Get ready for the “Timeless Web.”
You’ve heard of the “Real-Time Web.”
Imagine a news source that provided enough background
to make every story clear.
Imagine a news source that day after day became
not merely timelier,
but more comprehensive.
Wikipedia’s growth curve
Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales estimated in 2006 that 1,400 people contributed 74%of the site’s edits.*
Before 2008 staff cuts, the size of the New York Times newsroom was around 1,420.*
Traffic estimates:
NYTimes.com vs. Wikipedia.org
N.Y. Times editor Bill Keller has listed “living articles”as being among his top priorities.
The questions ahead
How do we design for timeless news?
What’s the role of curation?
What’s the role of personalization?
What’s the role of social media and user-contributed content?
And what are your questions?
Thank you.
Matt Thompson