The economics of structure: Could structured journalism make quality journalism sustainable?

November 25, 2015

Structured journalism puts consumers in control of news

In September I wrote about the economics of structured journalism, highlighting the potential for newsrooms to rebundle news as value-accumulating networks of structured information. But what is the market for structure? Why would news consumers want such a radically different way of formatting and consuming news? Why would customers care? Choice. Article-centric journalism has traditionally … Continued

November 24, 2015

Undergoing the great entrepreneurial pivot

Many entrepreneurs find themselves pivoting at some point during their entrepreneurial journey. Even some of the leading tech companies today pivoted in their early days: Instagram initially was a check-in service called Burbn; Facebook was FaceMash, asking users to rate which person was hotter; and YouTube was a video dating site. Whether pivoting sales strategy, … Continued

November 13, 2015

Community collaboration key to successful launch of Talk Story, Write Story in Missouri

Mentoring program that helps high school seniors prepare for college entrance essays is a new way to engage with community

October 21, 2015

Need for speed 2: Newspaper data diving, metrics and methodologies

Welcome to the weeds, fellow bit-twisters and data divers. We can chat here without worrying about the numeracy nonbelievers. This post details the methodologies used in “Need for speed 1: Newspaper load times give ‘slow news days’ new meaning.” First, you and I both know “load time” is a fickle metric, completely dependent on the … Continued

October 20, 2015

Alphabet-soup roundup of fall industry events, part one

The fall rush of industry meetings (ONA, LMA, NNA, SNPA and ASNE/APME) got underway in late September and ended Oct. 18, giving you only a one-week respite before heading into Inland. Whew! Missed one or more of these meetings? I’ll offer a brief recap of themes, noteworthy statements and observations, plus links to additional coverage. … Continued

October 8, 2015

Models for preserving news archives that long served the industry leave digital content in peril

Edward McCain, digital curator of journalism at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, spoke about the growing loss of born-digital content at Dodging the Memory Hole: Beyond NDNP, a meeting of concerned archivists, journalists and other stakeholders held on Sept. 16 in Washington, D.C. Below are his remarks. How many of you read George Orwell’s novel … Continued

October 6, 2015

Online news startups explore revenue sources beyond advertising

Revenue was very much on the agenda when more than 100 local news entrepreneurs gathered at the LION Summit in Chicago Oct. 1-3. There were encouraging, if fledgling, signs that some sites are looking beyond banner display advertising. Supplemental sources include crowd-funding, membership programs, sponsored content, and events. For now, however, banner display advertising is … Continued

September 23, 2015

Using digital stories to fight institutionalism in nursing homes

After I complete my RJI Fellowship I want to test digital storytelling in the context of long-term care. These stories would be about nursing home residents, ideally written by journalism organizations, with the goal of improving care or interaction between residents and staff. I was a nursing home administrator during part of my health care … Continued

September 16, 2015

Examining the new conceptualization of entrepreneurial journalism

The dominant scholarly understanding of and approaches to journalism do not match the variety of practices that make up journalism today. The profession’s recent reconfiguration as a post-industrial, entrepreneurial and altogether atypical way of working calls for new ways to investigate, theorize and teach journalism. Our fellowship project at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute … Continued

September 10, 2015