Newspapers: Getting Kicked into Change

With the recent announcements of even more newspapers folding or facing major cutbacks, lots of change is in the air for media corporations. Folio’s recent 2009 media predictions create a sense of urgency for media to evolve into a more user-friendly version of itself.

Keith Kelly, a columnist for New York Post suggests:

More closings of magazines and newspapers and more survivors clinging to the online world as a life boat. Fundamental problem of the digital age vs. print. While the gross numbers grows, advertisers still don’t invest in all the niche products with anywhere near the level of support that they once had for old mainstream media.

While Andy Cohn of VP Media foresees:

Five out of every 10 magazines and newspapers will go out of business, scale down their frequency or move entirely to the Web.  This will not just be survival of the fittest, rather survival of the most willing and able to adapt to the changing media paradigm, and throw all of the old rules out the window.

David Callaway sees the threat of the institution leaders will force innovations to save newspapers:

Unlike autos and finance, the problem with newspapers isn’t the content, but the delivery. The business side was too slow to adapt…So, by all means, mourn the passing of great names, just as we do in other industries. But look for the new channels from which all the talent that made them great will flow.

 

Other Related Blogs and Sources

Kramer-Smyth passed along the following interesting links:

O’Reilly’s Safari Books Online

Various formats for preservation of content

LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep us Safe)

Privacy issues related to digital records and content

Digital Skills #5

Dangerous Communication

London is combatting the dangers of texting while walking by giving pedestrians a cushion on the perilous lamp posts. I can see the combo of walking and texting as a dangerous one, especially since just walking is dangerous in large cities. I wonder how many problems the e-readers are causing. I have seen my husband get pretty involved while reading his (even while watching a movie!). But there is one documented case where an e-reader saved an avid bookie. This poor guy was about to get evicted because his plethora of books became a fire hazard.Other crazy people get academic while driving. Maybe not a good idea.Getty Image 

Assignment

The five posts below have to deal with an Assignment for my Digital Media Literacy class.

Kindle love

My husband has had the Kindle since they first shipped. With our huge  built-in bookcase at its full capacity, he enjoys the ease of these virtual books. I’ve played around with it and definitely can see reading an entire book, although I wouldn’t necessarily read every kind of book on it. He likes the fact that many of his core text for his PhD program are available in Kindle format.

Joe Wikert and Evan Schnittman have great blogs listing implications digital readers will have on the market. And Josh Topolsky awaits the transformation of the reader into Web 2.0 compliance.

With a variety of uses, I think its fun that editors are using the ease of the Kindle and Sony Readers to save their backs in carrying once heavy handed manuscripts. This NY Mag article even equates the practice with going green.

And Kindle will definitely have competition. TeleRead blogger David Rothman introduces the latest technologies out of Taiwan.

Digital Distinctions

The debate about Open Access will continue to render librarians, publishers, and academics in various directions. 

Meanwhile, Michael Jensen reacts to a recent article about the success of free peer-reviewed online journals. He has some interesting distinctions between journal and book publishing when discussing open source platforms:

Journals are about throughput. Books are about craftsmanship. This is not to demean either publishing variant — they both serve key scholarly needs. But in much of the discussions on these topics, too often “open access” is thought to mean the same thing for every kind of document.

Having worked for a number of publishers who produced both books and journals I do agree that journals by their very nature lend themselves more aptly to digital states. And it does behoove us to take a look at how information is used before changing the way it is disseminated.