journalism

The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money

leelefever — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:25:00 -0400

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!

The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money

leelefever — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:25:00 -0400

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.

Rosen writes:

He continues with an example that I think frames exactly what's happening with Web 2.0:

Thanks to Jay Fienberg for the pointer!

The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money

leelefever — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:25:00 -0400

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.

Rosen writes:

He continues with an example that I think frames exactly what's happening with Web 2.0:

Thanks to Jay Fienberg for the pointer!

The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money

leelefever — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:25:00 -0400

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.

Rosen writes:

He continues with an example that I think frames exactly what's happening with Web 2.0:

Thanks to Jay Fienberg for the pointer!

The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money

leelefever — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:25:00 -0400

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.

Rosen writes:

He continues with an example that I think frames exactly what's happening with Web 2.0:

Thanks to Jay Fienberg for the pointer!

The Demand for "Explainers" and The Giant Pool of Money

leelefever — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:25:00 -0400

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.

Rosen writes:

He continues with an example that I think frames exactly what's happening with Web 2.0:

Thanks to Jay Fienberg for the pointer!

Your Neighborhood Needs Instant Journalists

leelefever — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:23:07 -0500

Even though the Web makes us all feel like citizens of the world, what matters is often local. Our neighborhoods and neighbors have a huge impact. There is a brand-new platform, created by Instivate, a company run by one of our long-time friends and neighbors, that aims to give every neighborhood a site for sharing local news. It's called Instant Journalist.

Here's the scenario: You sign up for Instant Journalist - it has a monthly fee that's linked to the size of the site. Right off the shelf, the site is ready for you and your neighbors to start sharing stories, photos and videos, complete with map integration.

Instant Journalist also has a bunch of cool features that make the site easy to customize. Here's my favorite:

You can right-click on almost any text on the site and change the copy. If you don't like the tab that says "Your Neighborhood", you can change it in two clicks - no geekiness required.

You can see a demo of Instant Journalist here or a screencast on the posting process here. It's new, so if you have feedback or thoughts the folks at Instivate would love to hear it. Congrats to Scott and Instivate for getting it out the door.

Dave Sifry and a Snapshot of Changing Perception

leelefever — Wed, 28 Jul 2004 21:04:23 -0400

Sifry's Alerts: Media Frenzy

I thought this was great. Dave Sifry (founder of Technorati) is at the DNC conference and observed this happen:

Just had a few of the journalists present yell into the blogger group, asking, "Hey, does anyone know Kerry's Secret Service codename?" Through the looking glass.

It could happen among traditional jouranlists too, but I thought this could be a snapshot of changing perceptions in action.