When’s the last time you ventured out without your phone? (I mean, on purpose. I occasionally get down the block without mine, and worry that this will be the one time I really, really need to make a call.) If you are like most other Americans, the answer is “not often.” According to Pew Internet … Read more Do You Sleep with Your Phone?
I just returned from Confab 2013 in beautiful (rainy) Minneapolis. Confab: The Content Strategy Conference brings together a lot of really smart people to talk about the critical intersection of content, usability, UI, and marketing on the Web. (“On the Web” is meant broadly — encompassing virtually everything.) I’ll be unearthing brilliant takeaways for months, … Read more Confab 2013: Zombies, Underpants Gnomes, and Cake
In this TEDx talk by Simon Rogers of the Guardian, one of the real exemplars in data journalism (see their Datablog, including their nice approach to Dr. Who villains and many weightier subjects), Rogers compares the ease of data journalism to punk: anyone can do it. The ease of new tools, such as Many Eyes, … Read more Democratization of Journalism
I’ve been in publishing a long time, and I’ve generally been a fan of copyright restrictions. Those encyclopedia or history books? A lot of hard work goes into making those facts accurate, accessible and compelling. But a couple of recent(ish) happenings are giving me cause to rethink how we are applying copyright laws. “Ambulance chasing” … Read more What is Copyright Protecting?
Your favorite author’s new masterpiece in beta? Hiptype provides some really interesting analytics on e-books (sorry, not print). What chapters do users read? Where do you lose them? How many buy the book after reading the sample? Collecting both demographic info and reading habits in a small app, Hiptype supports “data-driven publishing.” Aside from the … Read more Moby Dick in Beta?
Forbes’ Ken Krogue writes a good article on the changes (demise?) of SEO in The Death Of SEO: The Rise of Social, PR, And Real Content. There are many important points in the article, and I highly recommend reading all of it, but the point I want to focus on is this: The bottom line … Read more The Checkerboard Hat
Graphic novels emerged as a sophisticated art and storytelling form with books such as Maus and Fun Home, and are now making their foray into the classroom. This is exciting news for those of us committed to reaching the disengaged and disenchanted learner. Graphic novels have been shown to engage students that are otherwise daunted … Read more Comically Engaging
Media Post recently had an interesting analysis of the once-golden The Street’s fall. For publishers, there is one especially thought-provoking point: Finance is TOO timely. Finance is one of the most valuable verticals in both an absolute and relative sense: total advertising across the banking and financial services sector is amongst the largest, and … Read more Too Timely
A big brouhaha on capitalizing on other’s hard work by aggregating (often sans credit) or adding very little value has led to the announcement of a new Council on Ethical Blogging and Aggregation at SXSW. Another group announced a Curator’s Code, with (proposed) standard symbols to indicate a direct attribution (“I found this here”) or … Read more Content Curation Controversy
In this month’s Contents magazine, Daniel Eizans makes a thoughtful (and entertaining) plea for content strategists to consider the emotional aspects of content. Looking at the brain’s functions and how users comprehend information, Eizans advocates focusing not only on the “what” of information, but also on the “how” and “why.” Certainly a good technical foundation … Read more Emotional Content