Watching A Newspaper Go From A Print Mindset To A Digital Mindset
from the cool-to-watch-in-action dept
With our upcoming Techdirt Saves* Journalism event to be held June 16th at Google's offices, we've been looking deeper and deeper into stories of newspapers doing interesting things. One interesting one to follow is the Journal Register, who got a new CEO, John Paton, at the beginning of the year, and he's trying to shake things up. In April, he announced the Ben Franklin Project, as an attempt to get the company to stop thinking about the digital side of the business as being an afterthought to the print side, and to get the company more focused on being "digital first, print last." The Ben Franklin project involved getting various Journal Register newspapers to use entirely open online tools to really actively involve the community in the process of creating a new story. It was about recognizing that more and more people view themselves as being a part of the news process, not just consumers of the news. It doesn't mean getting rid of reporters or editors. They still do what they do. It just means involving the wider community more in the whole process -- and using free and open web tools to do so.The initial results were pretty impressive, and all put together very quickly.
But Paton seems to already be pushing the bar further. Picking up on Google's "20% time" concept, Paton is setting up something he calls "idealab", where any Journal Register employee (full- or part-time) can apply to be one of 15 members of this "lab," where they'll be given 10 hours a week, as well as some modern tech tools, and then told to "experiment with these tools and report back on how we can change our business for the better." Even more interesting, as the Nieman Lab report above notes, Paton asked people to apply via comments on his blog. You could also apply by email, but many did apply on the blog, and there are lots of interesting ideas.
The program is interesting, though, I'm not sure the initial setup goes far enough. Initially, it's giving each participant an iPhone, an iPad and a netbook as "the tools" to experiment with. I wonder if the company might find more interesting (and useful) results if it didn't even set those particular parameters (or set a budget). While I can definitely understand the value of experimenting with the currently hot and popular technologies out there, I also wonder if something more interesting might come from even greater freedom. Perhaps that's the next step.
Either way, these sorts of ideas and models are certainly among what we'll be exploring at the Techdirt Saves* Journalism event, so if you haven't yet, you should sign up for here:
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Filed Under: digital, journalism, print
Companies: journal register
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The event is being both sponsored and hosted graciously by Google -- which shouldn't come as a surprise, given how much effort the company is putting into trying to help the journalism business succeed (that Atlantic article is a fantastic read).
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As was noted in the original post about the event, Google is sponsoring and hosting the event. They're providing the room and the food and drink. We don't currently work with any newspapers. Honestly, I'd never even heard of the Journal Register until this story came up.
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Yeah, I'll be sure to run that by the FTC. Just like the FTC requires every publication to mention every company who ever advertised or sponsored anything any time they write anything about them.
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Transferred to Backtype? I don't believe anything is transferred to Backtype. They just have a widget that we use to show how many people have retweeted a story.
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The only way I'd partake is if I had everyone sign my reciprocal non-disclosure and non-compete agreement.
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Everyone other than those 15 have no parameters and no budget, so Paton should get better results from everybody not participating? Or were you suggesting an unlimited budget with limitless bounds of exploration, because we all like our results expensive and random?
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A pity
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This will help drive the conversation on "Saving* Journalism".
1. This Reciprocal Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement (the "Agreement") is made and entered into this First day of April 2010 by, between and among _______, Inc., a ________ corporation, and its affiliates and subsidiaries (collectively, "_________") having its principal place of business at _______ and _______.com, a Delaware Corporation, in _______, __ ("Company") having its principal place of business at ___________.
(Include additional parties)
All companies shall hereinafter collectively be referred to as the "Parties" and individually as the “Party”.
2. The Parties desire to discuss certain business transactions and to exchange information for the purpose of exploring potential business relationships regarding "Saving Journalism" (“Purpose”) for the benefit of the Parties. In order to facilitate these discussions and in order for the Parties to receive from each other, either orally or in writing, certain technical and business information under terms that will protect the confidential and proprietary nature of such information, the Parties have entered into this Agreement. For purposes herein, any confidential technical or business information of third persons furnished or disclosed confidentially, as set forth herein, by one Party to the other shall be deemed the disclosing Party's information and, accordingly, shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
3. Each Party may find it beneficial to disclose to the other Party certain information that may include, but is not limited to, trade secrets, discoveries, ideas, concepts, know-how, techniques, designs, specifications, drawings, maps, blueprints, diagrams, flow and other technical, financial or business information (the "Information"). Such Information, which is provided in written, encoded, graphic, or other tangible form shall be deemed to be confidential and proprietary if it is clearly marked confidential. If the Information is provided orally, it shall be deemed to be confidential and proprietary if it is so identified by the disclosing Party at the time of such disclosure. Either Party may confirm, within five (5) days of making oral confidential statements, that such information was confidential and proprietary. The Information disclosed as set forth above shall be deemed “Confidential Information.”
4. The Parties agree that they shall hold such Confidential Information in confidence, with the same care a Party uses for its own Confidential Information, which, in no event shall be less than a reasonable standard of care, and shall use same solely for the Purpose, and further agree that they shall not make disclosure of any such Confidential Information to anyone except those employees and consultants necessary to review such Confidential Information. Prior to providing the Confidential Information to any consultant, a Party will ensure that a nondisclosure agreement or an agreement with similar protections, is in place with each consultant that is substantially similar to this Agreement. Prior to providing the Confidential Information, each employee or consultant to whom such disclosure is to be made, shall be notified that such Confidential Information is received in confidence and shall be kept in confidence by such employee or consultant as set forth in this Agreement. In the event such Confidential Information must be disclosed by either Party to third persons for the Purpose, each Party shall, prior to such disclosure, obtain written consent from the other Party and obtain from the third person a written agreement regarding confidentiality of the Confidential Information, the terms of which shall be substantially similar to those contained herein.
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IN WITNESS HEREOF, the Parties hereto have caused this Agreement to be executed by their duly authorized representatives as of the date and year written above.
By: By:
(All Parties must be Vice President or above)
Name: Its:
Name: Its:
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Watching A techblog Go From an insult Mindset To A we can save you for a price Mindset
these are going to be some of the finest digital buggy whips around.
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Wow!
Good luck with the event (NZ is a great place for such events, BTW)
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Yeah, we've been debating whether or not it makes sense to label AC comments so that the same AC is clearly noted. But there are really three or four "regular" ACs who comment in this manner. The ones who reply to themselves are the most amusing.
Good luck with the event (NZ is a great place for such events, BTW)
Thanks, it's shaping up to be great. Lots of really great folks attending.
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