what’s a blog?

history

before the internets

(tubes!)

we had reporters who wrote for newspapers

an editor would assign stuff like photos and sidebars

it would all get edited, laid out on a page, and printed on paper

like this:

and it was good.

but then they made the internets

so we changed stuff

and that wasn’t bad, at first

but the content was … printy.

and people started to like talking to each other online

but they couldn’t talk to us

so they went someplace else to talk

chatrooms. listservs. blogs.

so the bosses said - HEY!

‘ come back! we got news!’

so they added blogs. and audio. and video. and community-produced content.

and it was good …

But how was it supposed to work?

Where there multiple blogs?

who edited them?

and wait … didn’t the print people need help blogging to begin with?

whew…..

Let’s step back.

what’s good about blogs? • conversational • regular updates • links to more material • discussion in comments • niche/relevant topics • easy to create/edit • plays well with other technologies

can’t newspapers do that?

without … • losing reporting credibility • creating stupid workflows • abusing overworked writers • being afraid of our audience

Maybe it’s time to try something new.

Laura Fries laurafries.com • laura@laurafries.com web director, association of alternative newsweeklies presentation given at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, June 2007