Post-mortem. Now what comes next?
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Courtney Sherwood
Feb 23, 2009, 3:51:49 PM2/23/09
to NewsInnovation Portland
This my after-the-fact Sunday write up, copied and pasted from my blog
(http://courtneysherwood.com/wordpress/?p=1572):
Yesterday I attended Barcamp NewsInnovation Portland, a gathering of
about two-dozen people passionate about journalism, concerned about
financing it, and interested in seeking innovative ways to both
practice and fund journalistic endeavors. Barcamps are
“unconferences,” groups of people with a shared concern who gather and
create a conference on the spot. The reporters, entrepreneurs, online
editors and programmers who gathered at Portland State University for
NewsInnovation Portland all brought different perspectives, and by
speaking up, sharing our thoughts, listening and thinking creatively,
we planned out an eight-hour exploration of ideas.
Turns out there’s a lot to think about when you’re imagining ways to
invent yourself out of this mess.
* What are the skills that innovative journalists must themselves
possess, and what complementary skills must others in their
organizations bring? I think there was wide consensus that digging
deep and telling stories well are more important than ever, but this
is not enough to sustain a career when amateurs are often just as
skilled as us. Meanwhile, we need people in our news organizations who
understand databases and Web design, at a minimum, and ideally we all
should understand the concepts surrounding social networking and
search engine optimization. In a large organization, there’s room to
specialize. But freelancers and small operations have so much to learn
and so much to do, it’s hard to see how they can make time for
journalism.
* When we try new things, what audiences are we trying to reach?
The key here, for online endeavors, is that we may need to destroy the
concept of “audience” altogether, and replace it with “community.”
Communities are collaborative, and can enhance the work we do. The
most successful online communities are built around niche interests -
natural, organic food, perhaps, or fly fishing. To build a digital
community around a physical place is more challenging. I’m still
worried that the community demand for place-based investigative
reporting may not be large enough to sustain that kind of work.
* None of this is worth anything without a business model. There
seem to be three ways to make money through journalism. We can sell
ads, which most newspapers and journalistic Web sites currently depend
on. We can sell information. Or we can sell stuff - anything from
mobile applications to T-shirts. Ad revenues have been enough for
hundreds of years, but they’re in decline and it’s time to start
supplementing them. Alternately, there are those who have given up on
making money at all and have gone nonprofit.
We didn’t walk away with any concrete answers, but I liked the
business model that my brainstorming group fleshed out at the end of
the day. I envision it as the evolution of a newspaper, a new way for
old news organizations to start making money again.
Why not build a place-based information behemoth, an organization with
a core infrastructure filled with data? That central data holder, the
brain, is filled with government and business databases that the
organization acquires, and also original data linked to a hundred
years of newspaper archives and a growing wealth of new data from the
newsroom’s continued reporting? From the behemoth’s perspective, the
newsroom is an information gathering tool - one of three important
segments of the overall business model.
Segment one: News. There’s still real reporting, community-based
journalism done in this business model. Perhaps most of it goes
online, with an in-depth magazine reporting out each week. The
newsroom feeds the data behemoth, but also draws down from it -
covering the trends and events that large quantities of data can
reveal. People pay for the print and the depth, and advertisements
both online and in print support some - though not all - of the costs
of getting this material out.
Segment two: Community information. Who knows more about the
neighborhoods, schools, history and events of a community than the
newspaper that has covered it for decades? Yet most newspaper Web
sites now fail at providing a broad overview for researchers or
interested newcomers, and make it tough for visitors or locals who
want a quick look at what’s happening in town tonight. Maybe it’s not
the role of the newspaper Web site to do this at all. I don’t want to
explore “what to do tonight” or “the best neighborhoods for kids” at
the same time as I want to learn about city council or the latest
murder trial. A separate community-oriented site, or cluster of
community sites, CITYNAME.com, can draw from the demographics of the
data behemoth and the archived history of the newspaper. Ads may
support some of the costs of this segment. More money would come in
through value-added fees. Look up the history of your neighborhood for
free. Pay $5 for details on your house, or $20 for a year-long
subscription that lets you look up all the details available on this
site.
Segment three: Business services. This is where the money comes in.
Newspapers sell one service to businesses: advertising. And it’s not
something that every business needs. Let’s replace the ad sales team
with a crew of skilled business consultants who can sell targeted,
customized business advice to every employer in the community. Need to
know who the competition is? We’ve got it in our database. Want to
know which neighborhoods best meet the demographic requirements of
your franchise? We’ve got it in the database. Looking to generate a
list of potential sales leads? We’ve got it in the database. And if
advertising and reaching customers is part of what a business
requires, we’ve got targeted channels through our news and community
segments, as well.
I hope I’m articulating the model well. Most of this came from Steve
Suo, formerly investigative reporter at The Oregonian, now founder of
InfoLiberator. I think he’s on to something.
Of course, great business models that remain unrealized are only worth
as much as the paper they’re written on or the electrons that display
them on the screen. We made good progress yesterday, but today I’m
feeling a little bit stuck again, despite the inspiration. What’s
next, and how do we turn it into something real?
(http://courtneysherwood.com/wordpress/?p=1572):
Yesterday I attended Barcamp NewsInnovation Portland, a gathering of
about two-dozen people passionate about journalism, concerned about
financing it, and interested in seeking innovative ways to both
practice and fund journalistic endeavors. Barcamps are
“unconferences,” groups of people with a shared concern who gather and
create a conference on the spot. The reporters, entrepreneurs, online
editors and programmers who gathered at Portland State University for
NewsInnovation Portland all brought different perspectives, and by
speaking up, sharing our thoughts, listening and thinking creatively,
we planned out an eight-hour exploration of ideas.
Turns out there’s a lot to think about when you’re imagining ways to
invent yourself out of this mess.
* What are the skills that innovative journalists must themselves
possess, and what complementary skills must others in their
organizations bring? I think there was wide consensus that digging
deep and telling stories well are more important than ever, but this
is not enough to sustain a career when amateurs are often just as
skilled as us. Meanwhile, we need people in our news organizations who
understand databases and Web design, at a minimum, and ideally we all
should understand the concepts surrounding social networking and
search engine optimization. In a large organization, there’s room to
specialize. But freelancers and small operations have so much to learn
and so much to do, it’s hard to see how they can make time for
journalism.
* When we try new things, what audiences are we trying to reach?
The key here, for online endeavors, is that we may need to destroy the
concept of “audience” altogether, and replace it with “community.”
Communities are collaborative, and can enhance the work we do. The
most successful online communities are built around niche interests -
natural, organic food, perhaps, or fly fishing. To build a digital
community around a physical place is more challenging. I’m still
worried that the community demand for place-based investigative
reporting may not be large enough to sustain that kind of work.
* None of this is worth anything without a business model. There
seem to be three ways to make money through journalism. We can sell
ads, which most newspapers and journalistic Web sites currently depend
on. We can sell information. Or we can sell stuff - anything from
mobile applications to T-shirts. Ad revenues have been enough for
hundreds of years, but they’re in decline and it’s time to start
supplementing them. Alternately, there are those who have given up on
making money at all and have gone nonprofit.
We didn’t walk away with any concrete answers, but I liked the
business model that my brainstorming group fleshed out at the end of
the day. I envision it as the evolution of a newspaper, a new way for
old news organizations to start making money again.
Why not build a place-based information behemoth, an organization with
a core infrastructure filled with data? That central data holder, the
brain, is filled with government and business databases that the
organization acquires, and also original data linked to a hundred
years of newspaper archives and a growing wealth of new data from the
newsroom’s continued reporting? From the behemoth’s perspective, the
newsroom is an information gathering tool - one of three important
segments of the overall business model.
Segment one: News. There’s still real reporting, community-based
journalism done in this business model. Perhaps most of it goes
online, with an in-depth magazine reporting out each week. The
newsroom feeds the data behemoth, but also draws down from it -
covering the trends and events that large quantities of data can
reveal. People pay for the print and the depth, and advertisements
both online and in print support some - though not all - of the costs
of getting this material out.
Segment two: Community information. Who knows more about the
neighborhoods, schools, history and events of a community than the
newspaper that has covered it for decades? Yet most newspaper Web
sites now fail at providing a broad overview for researchers or
interested newcomers, and make it tough for visitors or locals who
want a quick look at what’s happening in town tonight. Maybe it’s not
the role of the newspaper Web site to do this at all. I don’t want to
explore “what to do tonight” or “the best neighborhoods for kids” at
the same time as I want to learn about city council or the latest
murder trial. A separate community-oriented site, or cluster of
community sites, CITYNAME.com, can draw from the demographics of the
data behemoth and the archived history of the newspaper. Ads may
support some of the costs of this segment. More money would come in
through value-added fees. Look up the history of your neighborhood for
free. Pay $5 for details on your house, or $20 for a year-long
subscription that lets you look up all the details available on this
site.
Segment three: Business services. This is where the money comes in.
Newspapers sell one service to businesses: advertising. And it’s not
something that every business needs. Let’s replace the ad sales team
with a crew of skilled business consultants who can sell targeted,
customized business advice to every employer in the community. Need to
know who the competition is? We’ve got it in our database. Want to
know which neighborhoods best meet the demographic requirements of
your franchise? We’ve got it in the database. Looking to generate a
list of potential sales leads? We’ve got it in the database. And if
advertising and reaching customers is part of what a business
requires, we’ve got targeted channels through our news and community
segments, as well.
I hope I’m articulating the model well. Most of this came from Steve
Suo, formerly investigative reporter at The Oregonian, now founder of
InfoLiberator. I think he’s on to something.
Of course, great business models that remain unrealized are only worth
as much as the paper they’re written on or the electrons that display
them on the screen. We made good progress yesterday, but today I’m
feeling a little bit stuck again, despite the inspiration. What’s
next, and how do we turn it into something real?
Matt Neznanski
Feb 24, 2009, 6:35:26 PM2/24/09
to NewsInnovation Portland
Thanks, Courtney, for posting this. I've been trying to distill my
impressions and it's been tough. Bravo to you for doing so in rapid
fashion!
I've already got ideas for the next time we barcamp, starting with
presentations about what we've done since last time, and moving right
into some basic entrepreneur training. The more I ruminate, the more I
think Matt Stansberry was right when he said we'd have to take the
initiative to move forward largely on our own.
I'll be watching your blog posts for more. Hopefully, I can get
something coherent online myself...
impressions and it's been tough. Bravo to you for doing so in rapid
fashion!
I've already got ideas for the next time we barcamp, starting with
presentations about what we've done since last time, and moving right
into some basic entrepreneur training. The more I ruminate, the more I
think Matt Stansberry was right when he said we'd have to take the
initiative to move forward largely on our own.
I'll be watching your blog posts for more. Hopefully, I can get
something coherent online myself...
Daniel Bachhuber
Feb 24, 2009, 9:37:18 PM2/24/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
If there are enough Portland-area folks interested, I'd certainly
enjoy meeting up on a monthly basis to bounce ideas back and forth
--
Daniel Bachhuber
www.danielbachhuber.com
danielb...@gmail.com
cell: +1 971 998 5407
aim/skype/twitter: danielbachhuber
enjoy meeting up on a monthly basis to bounce ideas back and forth
Daniel Bachhuber
www.danielbachhuber.com
danielb...@gmail.com
cell: +1 971 998 5407
aim/skype/twitter: danielbachhuber
Sam Churchill
Feb 24, 2009, 10:03:18 PM2/24/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 6:37 PM, Daniel Bachhuber
<danielb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> If there are enough Portland-area folks interested, I'd certainly
> enjoy meeting up on a monthly basis to bounce ideas back and forth
---------<danielb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> If there are enough Portland-area folks interested, I'd certainly
> enjoy meeting up on a monthly basis to bounce ideas back and forth
I think that would be great.
http://www.dailywireless.org/2009/02/20/news-innovation-barcamp/
--
Sam Churchill
(www.dailywireless.org)
Courtney Sherwood
Feb 25, 2009, 12:20:00 PM2/25/09
to NewsInnovation Portland
I'd also be up for more Portland gatherings. I shared my write-up with
some colleagues at The Columbian, and I think a few of them would like
to join any future events as well.
Courtney
On Feb 24, 7:03 pm, Sam Churchill <schurch...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> --
> Sam Churchill
> (www.dailywireless.org)
some colleagues at The Columbian, and I think a few of them would like
to join any future events as well.
Courtney
On Feb 24, 7:03 pm, Sam Churchill <schurch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 6:37 PM, Daniel Bachhuber<danielbachhu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > If there are enough Portland-area folks interested, I'd certainly
> > enjoy meeting up on a monthly basis to bounce ideas back and forth
>
> ---------
>
> I think that would be great.http://www.dailywireless.org/2009/02/20/news-innovation-barcamp/
>
> > If there are enough Portland-area folks interested, I'd certainly
> > enjoy meeting up on a monthly basis to bounce ideas back and forth
>
> ---------
>
>
> --
> Sam Churchill
> (www.dailywireless.org)
Melinda Bardon
Feb 25, 2009, 12:22:28 PM2/25/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
I'd definitely be interested in a monthly meet-up. Several people at the Vanguard were interested in what I reported back to them, and expressed interest in attending future events.--
Melinda Bardon
Portland State Vanguard
Online Editor
cell: 503.784.7249
office: 503.725.3883
Melinda Bardon
Portland State Vanguard
Online Editor
cell: 503.784.7249
office: 503.725.3883
Carlos Virgen
Feb 25, 2009, 12:27:45 PM2/25/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
I'm not sure I can attend every month but I'd love to be in the loop and
I'd try to make it out there maybe once per month.
Carlos
I'd try to make it out there maybe once per month.
Carlos
Daniel Bachhuber
Feb 25, 2009, 12:36:07 PM2/25/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
Would the 2nd Tuesday or Thursday work for everyone?
Steven Walling
Feb 25, 2009, 1:41:57 PM2/25/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
I'd love to attend a more regular meeting. I'll invite the Bladines of the News-Register when a date is set.
Steven
Steven
isaa...@gmail.com
Feb 25, 2009, 2:44:47 PM2/25/09
to NewsInnovation Portland
I would love to attend more and continue to work on the ideas set
fourth.
Daniel, I don't know about the Tues/Thurs idea since quite a few
people came from Eugene, Corvallis, Walla Walla, The Dalles etc. I
have also stirred up more interest from Eugene abd the coast area
journalists. With that, I would prefer the weekend in order to attract
newcomers with fresh approaches and retain a large portion of the
original group for continuity.
We might even have a line on using space at the UO PDX campus; re:
MWerner about that.
isaacviel.com
@isaacviel
fourth.
Daniel, I don't know about the Tues/Thurs idea since quite a few
people came from Eugene, Corvallis, Walla Walla, The Dalles etc. I
have also stirred up more interest from Eugene abd the coast area
journalists. With that, I would prefer the weekend in order to attract
newcomers with fresh approaches and retain a large portion of the
original group for continuity.
We might even have a line on using space at the UO PDX campus; re:
MWerner about that.
isaacviel.com
@isaacviel
yakimah...@gmail.com
Feb 25, 2009, 2:57:49 PM2/25/09
to NewsInnovation Portland
Hi everyone,
I didn't make it to the discussion last weekend, but I really enjoy
reading everyone's thought on it, some great ideas!
I live in Yakima, Wash., about three hours away, so I couldn't get
away to attend this time around.
A little about me since I haven't met any of you — I am business
reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic, a 40,000-circulation paper.
I've done some multimedia including keeping a blog on retail and
restaurant trends called Shop Talk (www.yakimaherald.com/shoptalk). I
have always been for innovation and technology.
I would like to attend future meetings. So obviously Tues/Thursday
wouldn't work that great for me. One idea is maybe we can have local
meetings on a regular basis and maybe we can all meet up for a
regional type thing every so often. I know that I could generate some
interest here in the discussion. I'm interim president for the William
O. Douglas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (which
covers news outlets throughout Central Washington), so maybe I could
get some interest in our chapter doing something with NewsInnovation.
Looking forward to see what's next.
Best to all,
Mai Hoang
business reporter
Yakima Herald-Republic
On Feb 25, 11:44 am, "isaacv...@gmail.com" <isaacv...@gmail.com>
wrote:
I didn't make it to the discussion last weekend, but I really enjoy
reading everyone's thought on it, some great ideas!
I live in Yakima, Wash., about three hours away, so I couldn't get
away to attend this time around.
A little about me since I haven't met any of you — I am business
reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic, a 40,000-circulation paper.
I've done some multimedia including keeping a blog on retail and
restaurant trends called Shop Talk (www.yakimaherald.com/shoptalk). I
have always been for innovation and technology.
I would like to attend future meetings. So obviously Tues/Thursday
wouldn't work that great for me. One idea is maybe we can have local
meetings on a regular basis and maybe we can all meet up for a
regional type thing every so often. I know that I could generate some
interest here in the discussion. I'm interim president for the William
O. Douglas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (which
covers news outlets throughout Central Washington), so maybe I could
get some interest in our chapter doing something with NewsInnovation.
Looking forward to see what's next.
Best to all,
Mai Hoang
business reporter
Yakima Herald-Republic
On Feb 25, 11:44 am, "isaacv...@gmail.com" <isaacv...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Melinda Bardon
Feb 25, 2009, 2:59:54 PM2/25/09
to newsinno...@googlegroups.com
My entirely self-centered vote is for Tues/Thurs. Otherwise, I've got work on weekends and will never get to participate beyond the opening sessions.
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