I should add that it should not be the same as Wikipedia in that all contributors should be openly identified by name and, as you rightly point out, organization/affiliation. It should also be made clear that fraudulent responses to these requests will come with very undesirable consequences.
Aw, sho am I kidding, this is the US. Such people will probably be the first invited to contribute and their corporate affiliations touted as proof of their expertise
People pay for WSJ because of its highly specialized, reputable (I know, that's debatable) content on matters of finance. It's a "need to know" newspaper.
I'm not sure this will work for other media outlets. While I know of a high school sports Website in Texas, The Old Coach, that is apparently profitable on a subscription-based model, if you think about it, it's also a highly specialized, niche, outlet.
NPR provides a good (again, debatable I suppose) example of people paying for generalized content they feel is important, but you might argue it's "niche" in its own way.
At any rate, I can envision that someone out there will strip those Newscorp articles and paste them somewhere else for free just out of spite against FOX News. And I would be laugh heartily
Most countries don't allow such commercials. But in the US, anything that's probably bad for society is usually legal as long as someone's making a profit big enough to bother protecting
Heh, I just want them to stop this nonsense so I can go back and buy some CDs. With all the time this is stretching out there's a huge number of albums that I haven't been able to buy without breaking my boycott.
But, I'm sure they've just recharacterized that tiny drop in sales as "due to pirates" and used it as an excuse to waste even more money on piracy prevention and buying elected officials.
Geez, I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but you could support your local used record store...
On the plus side, local stores and the few American producers left would be able to compete with Wal-Mart again (file this under "Biting off one's nose")
One look at the US (and many third-world "beneficiaries" of IMF/WorldBank) shows that a high GDP number has little bearing on the economic fortunes of an entire population; all the money can be hoarded by a few people.
I had a friend who worked in one of those mall kiosks selling cell phones and service plans. Often he'd get people complaining that all they needed was a phone to replace the one they had just broke and couldn't afford the price of a new phone that wasn't subsidized by the contract. He caught on to this and began buying cheap phones from eBay, then selling them out of the back of his car, telling the customers to meet him at 5:15 in the parking lot near Sears. Eventually he was selling more from his car than from the kiosk, and always had wads of cash in his wallet. That is, until he got busted by the company. Not too long ago I had a similar experience at a Verizon store, where the associate proposed that I come back "after five" with $50 cash after he couldn't fix a faulty battery connection in the phone.
"Market share is irrelevant to Linux. Or at least it is to me."
I'm with you, buddy. If market share is so important to Linux development then why has Linux caught up with or arguably eclipsed Win/Mac in some ways? (Having thousands of free applications available through direct download comes to mind)
Besides, half the fun of Linux is its anti-corporate nature! Thinking of success only in terms of market share ignores or devalues many of the qualities that make it what it is.
I rather like the UK model, it is like NPR except legally required for you to contribute. The thing is, because the public actually pay for it, the public gets high quality, socially beneficial programming and no advertisements. This may be the type of system broadcast networks pursue in the future -- I often wonder whether or not ad-supported business models are really sustainable, especially in the Internet age (but that's a whole other blog comment)
I recall, just a few years ago, the state of Massachusetts announcing it would consider switching over to Linux. Microsoft quickly deployed the flying corporate propaganda monkeys to spread doubt and mistrust over "untested" software. Britain's a lot bigger than Massachusetts.
Well, that was an oversight on my part. In large markets independent weeklies are the only ones profiting or growing.
If anything, though, the success of small-circulation papers validates the strategy of "hyperlocalization"
Also, hyperlocalization might include catering to abstract communities rather than geophysical ones. Such media outlets will cater to the specific information needs of a given community. This is what magazines have done so successfully but they don't provide much in the way of news, or at least not immediate news, so there's a niche to be filled.
I think you have hit a very strong point about localized information (or rather, the lack thereof). I am interning at an alternative weekly in a major media market and the mantra is "hyperlocalization." It doesn't matter how good a story is, they shoot down my pitch as soon as the story takes place outside of the city limits (with some small exceptions made for the metro region.) The interesting part of this is that this paper and its parent company are the only profitable newspapers in the United States.
AP is a good model for old media because it helps spread out the cost and risks associated with newsgathering. I think perhaps we'll begin to see similar networks at the local level... blogrolls that only include other outlets concerned with the locality.
This upset someone I know who works for a regional paper of record. He is offended by the idea of journalism "turning into a hobby". However, I think journalism as a profession is just a function of the format.
Now, there may still be professional journalists but they will not be chosen based on looks or voice quality or apparent "credibility". I think they will be hired for the quality of their reporting. Meanwhile, big news operations may become non-profit organizations
I believe the quote is from Neil Postman (or at least someone with similar ideas), someone we would all do well to read. He was a scholar who mused on the way technology dictates conversation and creates a bias within our minds when looking at the world around us. In other words, when adopting a new mode of technology, society makes a choice to shut off a point of view. He had a term for people who say things similar to your post: technopolists
Many people don't choose to leave their peasant lives, but rather are forced to. China, for example, probably has no protection of property rights and perhaps displaced those same peasants from their land in order to build that factory, leaving them with little recourse to fill their bellies except to toil for the capitalists.
Slashdot Mirror
If people were taught to derive concepts from math than they'd be too logical to buy into a system of consumption based on irrationality.
Great Post!
I should add that it should not be the same as Wikipedia in that all contributors should be openly identified by name and, as you rightly point out, organization/affiliation. It should also be made clear that fraudulent responses to these requests will come with very undesirable consequences.
Aw, sho am I kidding, this is the US. Such people will probably be the first invited to contribute and their corporate affiliations touted as proof of their expertise
People pay for WSJ because of its highly specialized, reputable (I know, that's debatable) content on matters of finance. It's a "need to know" newspaper.
I'm not sure this will work for other media outlets. While I know of a high school sports Website in Texas, The Old Coach, that is apparently profitable on a subscription-based model, if you think about it, it's also a highly specialized, niche, outlet.
NPR provides a good (again, debatable I suppose) example of people paying for generalized content they feel is important, but you might argue it's "niche" in its own way.
At any rate, I can envision that someone out there will strip those Newscorp articles and paste them somewhere else for free just out of spite against FOX News. And I would be laugh heartily
Most countries don't allow such commercials. But in the US, anything that's probably bad for society is usually legal as long as someone's making a profit big enough to bother protecting
In the US, every college town has several such businesses offering similar services
I move for a 15-minute recess. I have to go to the bathroom
/shamed
Heh, I just want them to stop this nonsense so I can go back and buy some CDs. With all the time this is stretching out there's a huge number of albums that I haven't been able to buy without breaking my boycott.
But, I'm sure they've just recharacterized that tiny drop in sales as "due to pirates" and used it as an excuse to waste even more money on piracy prevention and buying elected officials.
Geez, I hate to be the one to point out the obvious, but you could support your local used record store ...
Those Godless, meatball-eating bastards, corrupting our youth one condom-carrying Jezabel at a time!
militia groups, nothin'! How about the so-called "neopatriots" planning a "revolution" on april 15?
someone on /. has managed to find time alone with a woman?
Seriously, though, I wish my girl had doctor in front of her name...
On the plus side, local stores and the few American producers left would be able to compete with Wal-Mart again (file this under "Biting off one's nose")
One look at the US (and many third-world "beneficiaries" of IMF/WorldBank) shows that a high GDP number has little bearing on the economic fortunes of an entire population; all the money can be hoarded by a few people.
I had a friend who worked in one of those mall kiosks selling cell phones and service plans. Often he'd get people complaining that all they needed was a phone to replace the one they had just broke and couldn't afford the price of a new phone that wasn't subsidized by the contract. He caught on to this and began buying cheap phones from eBay, then selling them out of the back of his car, telling the customers to meet him at 5:15 in the parking lot near Sears. Eventually he was selling more from his car than from the kiosk, and always had wads of cash in his wallet. That is, until he got busted by the company. Not too long ago I had a similar experience at a Verizon store, where the associate proposed that I come back "after five" with $50 cash after he couldn't fix a faulty battery connection in the phone.
"Market share is irrelevant to Linux. Or at least it is to me."
I'm with you, buddy. If market share is so important to Linux development then why has Linux caught up with or arguably eclipsed Win/Mac in some ways? (Having thousands of free applications available through direct download comes to mind)
Besides, half the fun of Linux is its anti-corporate nature! Thinking of success only in terms of market share ignores or devalues many of the qualities that make it what it is.
I rather like the UK model, it is like NPR except legally required for you to contribute. The thing is, because the public actually pay for it, the public gets high quality, socially beneficial programming and no advertisements. This may be the type of system broadcast networks pursue in the future -- I often wonder whether or not ad-supported business models are really sustainable, especially in the Internet age (but that's a whole other blog comment)
I recall, just a few years ago, the state of Massachusetts announcing it would consider switching over to Linux. Microsoft quickly deployed the flying corporate propaganda monkeys to spread doubt and mistrust over "untested" software. Britain's a lot bigger than Massachusetts.
Should be interesting, in any case.
We are going to see non-profit journalism, methinks
Well, that was an oversight on my part. In large markets independent weeklies are the only ones profiting or growing.
If anything, though, the success of small-circulation papers validates the strategy of "hyperlocalization"
Also, hyperlocalization might include catering to abstract communities rather than geophysical ones. Such media outlets will cater to the specific information needs of a given community. This is what magazines have done so successfully but they don't provide much in the way of news, or at least not immediate news, so there's a niche to be filled.
I think you have hit a very strong point about localized information (or rather, the lack thereof). I am interning at an alternative weekly in a major media market and the mantra is "hyperlocalization." It doesn't matter how good a story is, they shoot down my pitch as soon as the story takes place outside of the city limits (with some small exceptions made for the metro region.) The interesting part of this is that this paper and its parent company are the only profitable newspapers in the United States.
AP is a good model for old media because it helps spread out the cost and risks associated with newsgathering. I think perhaps we'll begin to see similar networks at the local level ... blogrolls that only include other outlets concerned with the locality.
This upset someone I know who works for a regional paper of record. He is offended by the idea of journalism "turning into a hobby". However, I think journalism as a profession is just a function of the format.
Now, there may still be professional journalists but they will not be chosen based on looks or voice quality or apparent "credibility". I think they will be hired for the quality of their reporting. Meanwhile, big news operations may become non-profit organizations
I believe the quote is from Neil Postman (or at least someone with similar ideas), someone we would all do well to read. He was a scholar who mused on the way technology dictates conversation and creates a bias within our minds when looking at the world around us. In other words, when adopting a new mode of technology, society makes a choice to shut off a point of view. He had a term for people who say things similar to your post: technopolists
Many people don't choose to leave their peasant lives, but rather are forced to. China, for example, probably has no protection of property rights and perhaps displaced those same peasants from their land in order to build that factory, leaving them with little recourse to fill their bellies except to toil for the capitalists.
Yeah, another place where people won't buy Zunes
I'll second this, they were the best Disagree Mails so far
His wife sure did pick an odd place to meet guys ...
I'm with you!