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Redefining News Publishing: Weblogs
Friends,
Thought I would share this with you.
cheers../bala
bala@apic.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Bala Pillai <bala@tamil.net>
To: <erumbugal@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <tamil@tamil.net>
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 1:57 PM
Subject: Redefining News Publishing: Weblogs
Erumbus Guna/Rajesh,
Do become familiar with the powerful concept of weblogs. It is a citizens'
empowering and community-knitting tool that redefines the news publishing
paradigm.
Simply put, the sequence of news reporting today is:-
1 Someone sees "an event" happening
2 They ignore it. A few call up the newspapers
3 The editor decides whether it is worthwhile covering or not
4 Most of the time he decides "No"
5 A few times he decides "yes" and assigns a reporter
6 In addition the editor chooses issues to cover and assigns reporters
7 That is News.
As wired mental states and as wired-unwired bridges grow, this will become
lots more grassroots, especially if pioneers like us are tuned on to it and
provide the facilities for it to happen. How so? We will move towards a
destination, where:-
1. the "someone" puts the news up on the web himself or via a wired-unwired
bridge (this is where the easy to use weblog comes in and in the case of
Tamil, pre-templated for Tamil screen input)
2. Citizens' newspapers that essence selected weblog areas will be printed
3 Newspapers will start covering what is happening in (1) and (2)
What we should do is empower "for dummies"" Tamil/English weblogs for all.
More details below.
cheers../bala
bala@tamil.net
----- Original Message -----
From: DaveNet email <dave@scripting.com>
To: DaveNet World <davenet-world@scripting.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 8:16 PM
Subject: Newspapers and weblogs; XML and academia
> DaveNet essay, "Newspapers and weblogs; XML and academia", released on
6/13/2002; 7:44:41 AM Pacific.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
>
> ***Newspapers and weblogs
>
> It's a two-part DaveNet today. Two for the price of one. Yeah!
>
> I was interviewed on Monday by a Japanese wire service. The reporter asked
if weblogs spelled the end of newspapers. I said they didn't have to, if the
professional news organizations adopted the technology. He asked how. It's
worth posting.
>
> First, I would offer a copy of Radio UserLand to every person on the
editorial staff (okay, I'm biased) and say "Start a weblog now if you want."
Then I'd make the same offer to the readers. Then I'd watch to see what
happens.
>
> I'd say to the staff "Read the new weblogs, and for those of you who have
your own, point to the articles you find interesting or useful." Let this
run for a few months. My bet is that the community starts generating good
news reports, on things like school boards, and city council meetings, the
stuff that the organizations no longer cover. (Or medical care, or city
workers who dump paint in the sewers.) Just what people see and what they
think. Democrat weblogs that beget Republican weblogs.
>
> Elevate one of the staff weblogs to the main site (by then its flow would
probably be almost as big as the rest of the publication). Go back to all
the editorial people who haven't started weblogs, and invite them again.
Wait a few more months.
>
> Now here's the New Economy bad news (sorry) -- cut the people who aren't
participating in the new network. My bet is that the community gets
energized by the new participatory journalism and the former reporters, who
now are editors, talent scouts and teachers, are also energized, doing what
they wanted to do [1] when they got into journalism. Now ask the community
what they're willing to pay to keep the system working and growing. I know
I'm naive and unrealistic, but this is how I think it will work.
>
> Another source of revenue. Charge local businesses to place their weblogs
on your network. This is advertising turned around. No more interstitials
and ads that interfere. If people aren't interested in your business, maybe
it's time to find a new business. News drives interest. Minds, not eyeballs.
Real issues not puffery. New products that meet people's needs and wants. No
limits on where we go.
>
> Editorial note: This is a revisit of an idea I wrote about in 2000 [2] and
2001 [3], now there's new interest, as a handful of newspapers are starting
weblogs. And a disclosure, my company is actually working on this stuff now,
and expect to have an announcement in a few weeks; it's not so theoretical.
>
>
>
> [1] http://davenet.userland.com/2002/06/10/whatImLearningAboutJournalism
> [2] http://davenet.userland.com/2000/02/04/howToMakeMoneyOnTheInternet
> [3] http://davenet.userland.com/2001/02/13/howToMakeMoneyOnTheInternetV20
> [4] http://www.userland.com/whatIsStopEnergy
> [5] http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/06/13.html
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------
> (c) Copyright 1994-2002, Dave Winer. http://davenet.userland.com/.
> "There's no time like now."
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