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