Open Media

“It’s a few nanoseconds into the the Big Bang, we have 4 light elements and no galaxies” – Doc Searls on the state of new media

Persephone's assertions (for discussion!)

1. (Old media is broken) In the United States, new content creation and dissemination possibilities afforded by new technology are disrupting the scarcity-based business models of all forms of traditional commercial media. There are already examples of market failures to meet the information needs of a democracy, and the trend is accelerating. The effects are less acute in countries with more dominant public media or lower Internet penetration, but the tendencies are the same.

2. (Bloggers didn’t break it) The rise of non-professionals critiquing, aggregating, pointing to or creating news-related content is parallel to the changes in the traditional industry; it is not the cause of the disruption.

3. (Bloggers won’t fix it) The new participatory media sphere is expanding rapidly, but without intervention will not develop the specific functions needed to fill the gaps being created by the shrinking of the traditional market.

4. (We can do anything) Emerging technologies offer incredible potential to enhance and improve every aspect of the news and information environment: reporting, context, responsiveness, comprehensiveness, analysis, links to civic engagement.

5. (But we won’t) The mechanisms that currently drive investment of human and other resources are not functioning to take advantage of that potential.

6. (Unless you help) Coordinated efforts by multiple stakeholders are needed to stimulate media projects with public service missions, regardless of their revenue model.

7. (Use cross-breeding to let 1000 new hybrid flowers bloom) Projects should be based on cross-sector, multi-media collaboration and experimentation that builds on the expertise, resources and energy extant in traditional media institutions, technology companies, civil society, and the audience itself.

4.1 Normative definition of desired news/information environment 4.1.1 Functional roles Making basic information accessible Providing context, analysis, “making sense of the world” Watchdog function Public sphere/community-building/promoting engagement/building social capital 4.1.2 Qualities needed to achieve those functions (cite basic journalism text?) 4.1.2.1 Classical (I purposely leave out “objective” it’s lost its usefulness) Timely Independent Relevant Accessible (language, price, delivery) Comprehensive Accurate Politically Neutral Pluralistic Representative of the community 4.1.2.2 New Transparent Interactive Participatory Multimedia Responsive Definitions - Types of Content Information – i.e., various kinds of content directly from the source and/or publicly available: sports scores, stock prices, calendar of City Council meetings, state budget

Reporting – stories or other items created by author(s) based on gathering information from one or more sources and/or observing events

Deliberation – analysis, opinion, discussion

Overarching Theories we would like to test:

No one who makes any pretense of interest in current events actually relies on blogs or amateur content alone for her news (or ever will)

Low-income and minority communities are underrepresented as both topics and authors in online media

Online pointing activity (blogging, social bookmarking, aggregating) tends to amplify a specific subset of mainstream content, making other content even less visible

The long tail effect has only limited power in the world of current events [another GV example] this is also why Wikipedia is an inadequate model;

Linux and FOSS is either the wrong model for new media or the right model interpreted the wrong way

Editing in every sense of the word is indispensable and there are critical editorial functions that are not being fulfilled by the current structure of the online information environment 4.3.7 Hyperlocal reporting might be accomplished w/volunteers, but only with the right organization 4.3.8 news agencies may end up ruling the world 4.3.9 we have long have a culture of getting broadcast news for “free” and perhaps paying for the delivery, it is primarily the traditional newspaper industry’s failure to re-imagine themselves that has created the business crisis they are in