The Extraordinaries

Journalism Losing its Geographic Roots? Mobiles to the rescue?

Just reading this report back from the WeMedia conference about the future of journalism, which I've been thinking a lot about since a "salon" the other week at my friend Tony Deifell's houseboat in Sausalito. The sentiment seems to be similar to those discussed at the salon:  

[Knight Foundation's President] began with a discussion of what's being lost, and pegged it to geography: "For the first time in the history of the republic, the delivery of news and information is not happening in the same space as democracy."

Unless somebody can devise a sustainable geographic model for journalism, he argued, the United States needs to figure out "how to structure democracy in a different way not rooted in geography."

How that might happen, he acknowledged, he has no idea.  Source.

If the problem really is geography, then I've got an idea! Mobile phones are delivering micro-specific location information. It's specific geography which makes most great mobile apps work!

Let's take the "Around Me" iPhone application, for example. Did you think the Yellow Pages were dead?? I did. But they are not. This app is just the Yellow Pages, but organized according to your current geographic location. Want to find a gas station nearby? Click "Gas Stations" and it will tell you which ones are closest. Want to find a hospital? Same deal. The thing is... this application rocks! It's SO useful. Why? Because it's got geographic relevance. 

Is journalism so different? I don't think so. Do you want to know about local news surrounding you? Do you want to know about stories related to the park where you walk your dog? Or about that mugging that took place on the corner where you're standing. Want to tie that to local politics - and then call your city councilperson to discuss on-the-spot? Yes, yes, yes.

And the business model? Local advertising, of course. A $2 off coupon for the Thai restaurant that's 2 blocks away.... if it's close to lunch or dinner time. Or a buy one get one free deal at a local bar if it's past dinner time. Or an ad for the local kids clothes store if you've just read an article about local education issues and it's before closing time. 

You can get hyper-local, time-specific, and content customized. You can deliver video and audio instead of just text. And, you can connect the reader (cum: doer) to local actions - or to other neighbors who are interested in the same issues. This is the future of local journalism. And it's the heart of building strong communities and engaged democracies.

What do you think? Is this not practical in some way? What am I missing? 

Making money as a journalist in 2010

Just want to clarify an idea that's been rolling around in my head for a while (by blogging it). Sparked to action by this tweet:

DailyMe#wemedia will kindle rescue print journalism? Dale: No. Notion of paying for content is an old media biz model 3 minutes ago from web

(NOTE: DailyMe is quoting Dale in the tweet above; it's not DailyMe's opinion. But the quoted tweet spurred me to write, so thanks DailyMe...wouldn't have been galvanized otherwise).

Perhaps there's a model where stories are delivered to the reader in the context of taking action and a percentage of the value generated by that action goes to the journalist. 

For example: if the story is about the ongoing plight of Hurricane Katrina victims and the action is giving legal advice at a low rate to someone who needs it... maybe the journalist/publication can take a small cut of this transaction. And/or, the reader can be asked if he/she wants to join an organization or purhase a product from a related entity. Eg: ActiveVoice.net wants you to watch its documentary film about Hurricane Katrina called Trouble The Water. Maybe they'd pay the journalist a couple of bucks per reader that agrees to be added to ActiveVoice's mailing list. Or, if they were sell the film online (they don't at present), a percentage of that sale.

In sum, the journalist creates a compelling narrative and then ties it into what the reader can do about it. The business model lies somewhere in the realm of monetizing the readers/doers' actions. I suppose the latter part of this idea is just like a Google Ad... maybe it's only the first "action transaction" part that is unique.

And, I know! There are a lot of problems with the system as described above... including integrity of journalism and logistics feasibility... but maybe there's a nugget here that one of you smart blog readers can fully extrapolate? 

Related post:

Future of Independent Journalism

Idea: Translating Citizen Journalism

I just had (what I think is) a really frikkin good idea. Of course, like all good ideas, there's probably someone already doing it... so please let me know if so. 

First, some pre-amble. Jacob just sent this link to me:

Ground Report: http://www.groundreport.com

It's a crowdsourced citizen journalism business that pays its reporters on the basis of how many people read their stories. It's also very well done - their incentive package seems to be adequate and their design is clean and useful. It's head and shoulders above  iReport, the other citizen reporting site that we've been tracking (I'm sure there are others... we haven't been tracking all that closely). 

It occurs to me that *maybe* there are tens of thousands of would-be reporters who speak/write uncommon languages... languages with small numbers of readers. And who, therefore, have little financial incentive to report. 

What if we used a system like the WorldWideLexicon (which I've been on about before) to do crowdsourced translations of these crowdsourced news reports? What if a brilliant writer who speaks Romansh can report to a global audience? Or Masalit speaking people living in refugee camps in Darfur can tell their stories (by cell phone) to someone who translates the audio file to English for American readers who have the political power to galvanize for stronger action by the US government? 

It seems that breaking this language barrier in the domain of news could be transformative? 

Right? Wrong? Already happening? 

Future of independent media & long live Story

I just returned from a "salon" at my friends Tony & Mardie's houseboat in Sausalito. These guys always bring together the smartest most interesting people. The topic was the future of independent media... which, to be honest, I haven't thought a whole lot about, but in prepping for the event, I came across a whole bunch of thoughts/ideas that were straight in line with the work we've been doing with The Extras.

In fact, I've had two extremely related conversations recently with some advisors who have said this:
1. You've got to make an emotional connection with people who use your service
and
2. You should list your tasks by outcomes instead of by action

I've intrepreted both (1) and (2) to mean that we need better Story. We need to enrapture the user in a narrative and then enable them to take action while the inspiration runs high. And, in fact, we've got the perfect application for this process to unfold. Watch a short film, listen to a short audio clip, or read a brief article, and then dive into the action... that results in real social value.

SO, hearing all these media folks speak gelled the idea for me... our lead-in is Story. We need what journalists, filmmakers, and storytellers have. We need to engage the user in Story and then deliver on action. The Extraordinaries, in one light, could even become some sort of delivery platform for independent media... and perhaps a route towards monetization.

And where it gets really exiciting is in location-based media. Imagine waiting for your bus at 6th & Market in the heart of the Tenderloin in San Francisco and getting a list of stories/actions that are related to your current locale. Eg: you watch a short film about single-room-occupancy (SROs) dwellings that are prevelant in the area and can then critique a resume for a SRO occupant who is applying for a job. Wow, that's cool. Again, really only possible at scale, but a potential of how this thing could play out.