Common Craft Blog
The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money
By leelefever on August 19, 2008 - 9:25am
Jay Rosen has written article that I could quote 1000 times. It's called National Explainer: A Job for Journalists on the Demand Side of News. It focuses on the huge success of an episode of "This American Life" called The Giant Pool of Money, which serves to explain the US mortgage crisis.
This episode has been downloaded 50,000 times more than any other episide. Why? Because the producers (Ira Glass and Alex Blumberg) focused on explanation instead of information.
When we talk about our videos, we often say things like "Our goal is to make people care about something. That's the hard part. If they care, they'll go learn the specifics. It's not about how it works, its about developing an interest." It was exciting to this same sentiment about The Giant Pool of Money.
Rosen writes:
I noticed something in the weeks after I first listened to “The Giant Pool of Money.” I became a customer for ongoing news about the mortgage mess and the credit crisis that developed from it... ‘Twas a successful act of explanation that put me in the market for information.
He continues with an example that I think frames exactly what's happening with Web 2.0:
For there are some stories—and the mortgage crisis is a great example—where until I grasp the whole I am unable to make sense of any part. Not only am I not a customer for news reports prior to that moment, but the very frequency of the updates alienates me from the providers of those updates because the news stream is adding daily to my feeling of being ill-informed, overwhelmed, out of the loop.
Sound familiar? People are feeling left behind everywhere and it's because we are assuming too much and not thinking about the masses that need what Rosen calls the "scaffold of understanding" - the big picture that gives people the context they need to be interested. This is our goal and one that I hope others adopt.
Thanks to Jay Fienberg for the pointer!
Good Reminder
Lee, thank you for the good reminder of how Communication professionals can/should look at some of what we do for our companies/clients. We should be able to be those 'great explainers' and not take for granted that people are getting what we are saying because we are feeding them a bunch of information.
Keep up the great work and I look forward to more excellent content to distribute to the masses.
Bravo!
As a high school educator, let me second that! I find that providing my students with the big picture at the beginning of a new line of inquiry is always best. Those students then have a framework (just as you said) in their heads and so have a place to put related facts and details that they are exposed to. Without seeing a 'big picture' for a new concept, my students would receive the accompanying facts, more or less, as a disjointed collection of information. That does not support learning.
On a related note, I want to point out that the free provision of knowledge is directly opposed by big business. A major driving force behind many businesses is to possess and maintain a proprietary process or knowledge that gives that organization either a unique place or an edge in the marketplace. This force is deeply woven into our culture and can be seen in our concepts of copyright and ownership. Overall, this mentality short circuits the big picture concept from a desire to not give too much away.
Thus, while explaining IS far superior to informing, the very fabric of our culture tends toward mere informing. And the business of all news-disseminating organizations - including Common Craft - is still a business.
professional explainers
Perhaps the greatest thing about web 2.0 is that we can ignore traditional media outlets, and search for our own 'news' and explanations. We don't have to be fed or told information by journalists reading press releases. You guys are saviours. My saviour anyway. I was always the kid in class too scared to ask questions when the penny didn't drop. The penny is dropping thanks to your work, and I am developing a great interest in web 2.0 and working out ways to transfer my 20 plus years of professional documentary production to the web. I am even developing a travel related social networking site of my own, thanks to a very special web / IT man... Keep it up, i love what you do... cheers, from Darwin,Australia.
Weclome to the "Explainer Age?"
My mind is racing right now Lee! I read Jay's article, this was a great explainer for that explainer : ) Every once in a while I read something that creates a tectonic shift in my thinking and today this post on your blog really did that for me. In this fast food world of information the next hot business model will be to take a volume of information like this and boil it down for the masses...but you already know that now dont you - you sly dog! Just think of the impact it could have on our educational system! Very good stuff!
Thanks again Lee! This is
Thanks again Lee! This is too cool... (A quick update.) In the past week I have applied this line of thinking to all of the new ad copy I've been writing. Not only has it become easier for me to write, but the copy is already converting way better than my old stuff. I feel like I should send you some money! Also, been following you on twitter, good stuff.
@denrosu
Thanks!
Thanks so much for the comments. I just had a call today with Jay Rosen, who wrote the article I quoted. He's a professor of Journalism at NYU. As we discussed and you guys mention, we need more explainers. I think we have gotten used to information and when a explanation comes along, it's refreshing.
Graham - I was the same kid. I told Jay today that I dedicate my explanatory ability to every bad teacher I've ever had.
Den - If we can help people like you create a "tectonic shift" (tech-tonic?) shift in thinking - we'll know we're on the right track.
simple but important
Great post. Explanation versus information. A very simple delineation, but a critical one. And as everyone has noted, one that is very easy for all of us to overlook. I work with clients in the area of employee communication. Ultimately, it's about driving behaviors (as is most communication). To effectively do that, we need to help people understand why even more than we need them to understand what.
Of course, what gets in the way is our expertise and knowledge. In my work, myself, the people I work with, and my clients are often experts regarding the benefits or programs we're trying to explain. As a result, not only do we not explain, but ultimately even the information we provide can be unapproachable. All because we think, "Well, they must be told about this provision, and then we have to provide this detail..."
It's a hard sell to convince someone that knows a lot about a particular subject that we really need to provide less information in favor of more explanation.
But of course, Lee, you've built a nice little business doing just that. Clearly you've managed to convince your clients that the best way to explain their product or service is to forget everything they know about it.
I won't ask you to reveal your secrets. :-)