PROPOSAL: Donica Mensing's synthesis from "Blueprint" -- the local IVP scenario
Bill Densmore
"Blueprint" participant Donica Mensing of the University of Nevada-Reno
j-school, offers this idea for the local Information Valet Service:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 22:44:58 -0800
From: Donica Mensing <dmen...@unr.edu>
Bill Densmore <mediag...@journ.umass.edu>
Subject: IVP musings
I was thinking about the IVP project and brainstorming an idea in my mind. It's
quite different from anything discussed in the conference, so it may be
irrelevant at this point. But I thought I would take the opportunity to think
out loud. Please delete, file, consider as appropriate.
Since I'm not in a position to contribute to a national effort to create a
federation, I began thinking about what IVP might look like on a local level.
For example, what if there was an IVP in Reno? It could be the site that
aggregated ALL the geocoded and geographically tagged data and content from the
local newspaper, as well as blogs, Everyblock, government sources, non profits,
national news sources, local stores, national stores, other commercial
activity, and put it together in a searchable, easily navigable format.
As a citizen, I could sign up for an IVP account (imagine IVP buttons on all
the local Web sites). During the sign up, I would indicate how I wanted my
initial page of information to be organized -- by my street address, zip code,
neighborhood, municipality, etc. I could indicate the issues I was interested
in, or not. I could indicate the kinds of stores I was interested in getting
news from, or not. We would emphasize privacy, but the model wouldn't hinge on
people revealing a lot of personal data. They could do as much as they felt
comfortable, and the model would still work.
Different from purely data driven sites, this one would be run by a small group
of journalists who would serve an editing and moderating function. They would
organize the content and highlight the meetings/
issues/deadlines/questions/specials most important for the day. They would also
seed the discussion and forum areas, serving as a conduit to journalists doing
the reporting, organizing meetings and being the public's advocate in terms of
attending to important public issues. Because people would have to subscribe
with their real name, civic conversations could be better managed and more
productive than in the anonymous comment sections of most newspapers.
Business model: IVP would have a subscription fee. People wouldn't be paying
for the content, but for the editing and filtering function. This is their
personal valet delivering them, in an organized and easily navigable way, all
the information they need for local public life. It also provides a useful
forum for conversation among neighbors.
IVP would pay news organizations and bloggers (content providers) a small fee
every time someone clicked on a story provided by that source. This would give
the news organizations an incentive to participate, and an incentive to pay
attention to the news that matters in this context.
Government agencies and non profits would not be paid, nor charged. It's a
public service.
Advertisers would pay to list their information on the site. It could be
considered a type of direct mail. They could target, through the IVP site,
consumers in a particular geographic area. They could post sales and hours and
specials and consumers could have access without having to give up their
personal info to every store in town, with emails coming from every direction.
It would be a combination yellow pages, Sunday advertising supplement, direct
mail and TV ads all easily searchable, browsable, and accessible 24 hours a
day.
I think this has some potential for several reasons:
* Much traditional news content has been siphoned off into other Web spaces.
The content that remains our franchise is largely in the "civic" space as Jane
described it.
* Civic issues are often geographically located
* Civic conversations work best when populated by real people, so a way to
authenticate identity is important
* Much advertising is geographic-specific, so a way to marry the civic and
commercial (as traditionally done) makes sense
This model addresses slightly different problems than the original IVP intent,
I think:
Overload: How to help people find and organize information important to their
real time, geographically located selves
Irrelevancy: How to help journalism reclaim civic leadership
Economic loss: How to fund public interest journalism
In some ways, this sounds like what newspapers should have become. But they
didn't. IVP has the advantage of being a neutral player, compensating
journalists for their work, but focusing on the editing, assembling and
targeting function, rather than content production.
Anyway, I apologize for sending such a long email on a subject potentially not
on target with your work. Thank you for listening and I look forward to finding
ways to contribute in the future.
Best regards,
Donica
peters....@gmail.com
I think this captures much of what I was trying to communicate as
well. Creating a national or international federation is very
difficult. Giving a "tool" to a local media company might be much more
fruitful.
Chuck
On Dec 7, 2:21 pm, Bill Densmore <mediagira...@journ.umass.edu> wrote:
> "Blueprint" participant Donica Mensing of the University of Nevada-Reno
> j-school, offers this idea for the local Information Valet Service:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 22:44:58 -0800
>
> Bill Densmore <mediagira...@journ.umass.edu>
cpet...@gmail.com
Chuck!
> j-school, offers this idea for the local Information Valet Service:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 22:44:58 -0800
>
> Bill Densmore <mediagira...@journ.umass.edu>