Business, Technology and the Media: Charting a Course Through Chaos

March 15 • Columbia MO

WELCOME/INTRODUCTIONS

8:28 RJI:
Good Morning! Welcome to today's conference on "Charting a Course through Chaos." My name is Alisa Cromer, blogging for RJI, and I'll be narrating this morning. Please feel free to join in and ask questions via the site; I'll ask them live during the question/answer session.
For more background information on this event go to RJIonline.org/cdig. To follow on Twitter follow @rji, to join the conversation use the hashtag #rjimediachaos.

8:38 RJI:
Dean Mills is welcoming Brian Foster, provost of the University, who will be talking about the University of Missouri (Mizzou) Advantage.

8:41 RJI:
That is the Mizzou Advantage. One of the initiatives is in media, carried out by networks of collaborators on and off campus, led by a facilitator. Now hiring facilitators and other positions.

A LIVE LOOK AT 2040

8:43 RJI:
Mark VandenBrink vp of technology solutions at Wireless Department at Samsung is up first, speaking about "2040."

8:50 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: "A little scary topic, 2040 is a long way away." He's going to talk about four areas: Today, Trends, Technologies and Impacts.

Starting today: The big mobile services today: SMS is $15 billion worldwide is still largest but growth rate is much less, browsing includes use of social networks going up 20% in next two years, mobile video skyrocketing in the U.S.

Social networking is not about posting updates, 100 million of 400 million Facebook users use a mobile device. Its one of the top ten video serving sites in the U.S.. People are now "personal broadcasters." Time spent posting videos up 1040%.

8:52 RJI:
Mobile is reaching 1 exabite per month. Will double by 2013, equivalent of 500 million DVDS. Its a 66x time growth rate, an "exaflood" of video.

8:55 RJI:
Two major trends shaping mobile now:
1. Move from notion of monolog to dialog. Connection is through social networks access by "intensely personal" devices i.e., your phone. Average cell phone is sensory rich, always with you, like a satellite in your pocket.

8:56 RJI:
2. Loss of the medium of the medium. "We believe the notion of a cell phone is subsumed by the notion of the activity."

8:58 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: Nouns and verbs: What they are and what they can do blur. Why do you need a phone when you can "do" it over other devices? Why can't you use a television as a phone and switch over to your phone? Science fiction? It is already available through Gan networks, i.e., will roll the call over from TV to phones.

8:58 [Comment From Mark:]
I think it's good that Randy started this with a tech guy, really a device person because we need to think about platform as much as content, perhaps unfortunately. But, that's reality in a tech-driven world.

8:59 RJI:
It's a different way of looking at it that is much needed.

8:59 [Comment From Digidave:]
I will be on my way to this event soon. Won't get there till much later. Looking forward to it.

8:59 RJI:
Hope to see you here.

9:03 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: A trend towards Augmented & Layered "Reality." You will see information coming into visual maps according to various contexts. "You realize gender is a context," there are fifty kinds of context, time of day location, gender" are just a few.

9:06 RJI:
Trends in Connectivity: High-speed networks are under construction. Current AT&T technology has download ability of 4 megabits/second. Coming soon: 4G technology has a theoretical download of 50 megabits/second.

9:08 RJI:
Upload capacity is also tripling. Goal is "Hyper penetration', or 600% penetration by embedding chips in "every device", called "machine to machine" or M2M.

9:09 RJI:
Mark says your washing machine may have a communications chip. Will we be giving them away like cell phones to get the revenue stream and the 600% household penetration?

9:12 RJI:
Displays are changing from handheld devices, limit to four inches, to ambient displays on any surface. Will project from a cell phone size device.

9:13 RJI:
"Pico devices will be everywhere."

9:17 RJI:
Mark is talking makes you pick a device at any particular moment: can I get the data that I need at the moment. "I would dearly love if the E-Reader, phone and television accessed my cloud" that includes the social networks, office, Google, etc.

What people want is "to walk up to a device, touch it and have it be mine." Why doesn't't each phone instantly switch and know my data?" A lot of challenges about privacy, but this is the biggest driver in the mobile market today."

9:21 RJI:
Mark is showing a video of the future. Not sure what all the devices are, but people still fall in love in 2040.

9:22 RJI:
...and forget birthdays, but have cool "smart" glasses, no computers.

9:26 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: Impact is that news is not only more than text and multimedia. It is becoming an interactive "bundle" that is aggregated and annotated that is:

medium independent
relevance (context) based rather than time or channel specific
a multi-way conversation

9:27 [Comment From ssss:]
coming in late - who is interesting person speaking right now?

9:27 RJI:
Mark Vandenbrink, from Samsung.

9:28 [Comment From ssss:]
thanks rji

9:29 RJI:
A question from the audience, the speaker doesn't't want the "conversation" to follow him into his car.

9:29 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: One thing we found out before from tests: "I don't want seamless, I have seams in my life. I might be in the rest room...There need to be user-defined seams."

9:30 RJI:
JIM KENNEDY FROM AP: You already have a lot of control in the cloud.

9:31 RJI:
Mark points out that there is less spam in social networks.

9:31 RJI:
Clyde, a fellow at RJI wants to know if hardware companies will have a new role.

9:33 RJI:
MARK: VANDENBRINK Its a question what people are responsible for "in the cloud." Our primary focus will be to "enable control. We'll supply the mechanism, it is not our role to provide the policy." That will be the role of the family to create within the household.

9:33 RJI:
QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE: is the fantasy of 'touching a device and making it mine" close?

9:35 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: A working group on cell phone standards is working on it. The idea from CTO of Verizon is that there will be six chips in the house that may have this kind of software in the future.

9:37 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: CES and CTIA shows have all the new ‘gee-whiz’ technology.

9:37 RJI:
JOHNATHAN FRIENDLY: How does this affect the future of developing societies?

9:38 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: Won't hit there first because of the cost. But the gap created by cost is getting shorter and shorter because of how the price drops as devices become mainstream quickly.

9:39 RJI:
GREG, KANSAS CITY STAR: For older populations, devices are hard to see, and fingers have trouble operating small touch devices. How do you see your role with this group?

9:40 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: Being able to project will help this. "I think it’s a question of design."

9:40 RJI:
I guess this means, just put on your glasses for now!

9:44 RJI:
STUDENT: How will Samsung handle waste from outdated devices being thrown away?

9:45 RJI:
MARK VANDENBRINK: We are proactive in terms of recycling, go to Samsung.com

9:45 RJI:
Closing this great session, next one starts in a few minutes: Consumer of the future.

9:54 RJI:
Next panel is moderated by Stephanie Padgett, a fellow at the Institute.

THE CONSUMER OF TOMORROW

9:55 RJI:
We're going to start looking at what's happened in 20 years, and then look at the next 20 years...

9:55 RJI:
I must be stuck in the past, Home Alone was just like yesterday.

9:56 RJI:
The Sony Walkman! I loved that thing.

9:58 RJI:
Hard to believe that the "new" Apple 2G was not yet connected to the Internet.

10:00 RJI:
The Future 20 years out: Stephanie started showing a great video - Google it on YouTube.

10:03 RJI:
Beth Polish, Directory Hearst Innovation Program is the next panelist. She is talking about being married to an author and having 800 books and "getting comfort" from it. In the future, will not be attached to the delivery mechanism. "We will fully divorce the news from the paper...It's the information that's important."

10:04 RJI:
"We trust individuals, our peers, rather than god-like creatures." Publishers, I think that is us.

10:05 RJI:
BETH POLISH: We will fact check our peers. In the future, "it changes who is the consumer and who is the producer. We will all be both"

10:07 RJI:
BETH POLISH: We have not talked about expectations. If you are at work, you can be reached at any time, does that change the expectation about responding. That's different that the fact that "our privacy is shot." "Is that a good thing not to have any compartments?"

10:08 RJI:
Stephanie asked Beth Keck, director of sustainability at Walmart, to talk about the consumer of the future.

10:09 RJI:
Beth is talking about Wal-Mart’s sustainability effort.

10:10 RJI:
BETH KECK: Wal-Mart has 200 million customers a week on and offline, still mostly offline and predominantly women.

10:12 RJI:
BETH KECK: No matter where our customers are all over the world, they are looking for value proposition.

10:13 RJI:
BETH KECK: Our Mexico city colleagues don't have water 24 hours a day, so there are a number of environmental issues involved in our markets. Last five years 82% increase in interest in environmental issues in Mexico.

10:14 RJI:
BETH KECK: We are focused on communicating the environmental impact of products through transparency in the supply chain.

10:16 RJI:
BETH KECK: We are asking suppliers to dig into sustainability. "In 20 years we want to bust the myth that sustainable products are premium products, and want them to be affordable."

10:19 RJI:
Stephanie Durand, media development consultant at UN Alliance of Civilizations. She is working on a new online resource, Global Expert Finder, connecting journalists with experts.

She is talking about media trends and the growing international new coverage that has a nationalist flavor.

10:22 RJI:
STEPHANIE: In the future, the 24 hour news cycle with minute by minute news may create a passive consumer, and polarized, simplified news consumption.

She is saying that an additional risk is that access is towards blockbuster news "iconic news values" and a devaluation of experts.

10:24 RJI:
She says the working project, Global Expert Finder is about trying to maintain the purpose of journalism in the face of this evolution by connecting journalists with experts.

10:25 RJI:
Lucas Welch, founder of Soliya is now talking about the "hunger for community.'

10:26 RJI:
He says he began as a journalist, and was working in the Middle East, and was concerned about the polarization after 9/11. This led him to found Soliya.

10:28 RJI:
LUCAS WELCH: We should be looking at what role community plays in not only production, but also curation. Digg is an example of community curation. "In terms of distribution, we are all distribution outlets. In the future distribution will be less about broadcast towers than about people"

10:30 RJI:
LUCAS WELCH: "To close on a concern...we are seeing not just internationally but domestically, in the health care debate, there are silos in which we are only talking to people who think like us... how do we take these silos and develop the ability to connect."

10:33 RJI:
Stephanie just asked how communities will look in the future, when so many communities are online?

LUCAS WELCH: For building communities, build quickly iterate often. Adapt in tactics but keep who you are.

10:34 RJI:
Stephanie is asking how we need to adapt as journalists.

BETH: We have to be facilitators of conversation, not owners of conversation.

10:35 RJI:
Now taking questions!

10:35 RJI:
If you are on the web and want to ask a question, type it in and I'll ask for you.

10:36 RJI:
QUESTION: If everything wants to be free how do journalists put food on the table?

10:37 RJI:
Lucas says opinion and local stories "bubble up well", but covering government other things requires extensive investment of resources. So this is the question, "what is the unique value proposition that can't be done by distributed communities."

10:40 RJI:
STEPHANIE: The biggest challenge is that there has never been more access to information but there is skepticism, and people may be willing to pay for more credible information.

10:41 RJI:
Beth says she thinks that it may turn around, and find value in the people who are going out and doing the heavy lifting.

10:43 RJI:
The conversation is about how we are not saving time because we are connected all the time. Beth says her company is creating "norms to manage the connectivity" and are not sending e-mail over the weekend. Beth says her company is too, and now sends "do not open until Monday emails."

10:46 RJI:
QUESTION: "With all this connectivity, I found myself disconnected.. and being more selective. Before I got to read in the newspaper information that I did not intend to find. Now I only go to places that are based on my preferences and wants...Twenty years from now ... I can see more and more passionate communities and people like me who do not want to be connected." How do we connect people who are in silos and people who are not connected?

10:47 RJI:
STEPHANIE: "The risk is that one does not leave his virtual community...the paradox is that we are so connected and so much in these polarized silo communities."

10:50 RJI:
The conversation is wrapping up, sorry to the last question, could not get it in!

Ten minutes before the next panel on "Disruptive Innovations."

11:02 RJI:
Fritz Cropp of RJI is moderating this panel, just about to start.

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS ACROSS TODAY’S GLOBE

11:04 RJI:
Mark VandenBrink from Samsung is speaking about the speed of connectivity being disruptive, in that it is what will allow that 600% household penetration.

11:06 RJI:
He says every time you hear someone describe "x as a service", being hosted on the Internet is also disruptive.

11:08 RJI:
Amanda Hickman, of DocumentCloud, is explaining that it is a text analysis tool that enables journalists to make stacks of information. If you upload them on the cloud, you can extract information through tools, map them by date, and manage them differently.

11:10 RJI:
It look like one of the tools annotates .pdf documents, and to point to that annotation -- which shows up in yellow - directly from an article. So if you are a reporter, the reader can see the paragraph before and after, from the source document. Cool!

11:11 RJI:
This would be fantastic when arguing a point on or offline, you can just send a "document dive" to the skeptic!

11:11 RJI:
Its open in beta and she is taking media companies who want to use this!

11:13 RJI:
Saleem Alhabash, doctoral student at MSJ is talking about the growth of media technology around the world. In the Middle East, the Emirates have 62% Internet penetration rate compared to 1.6 % in Yemen.

11:14 RJI:
But he says the adaption is fast. The Middle East has had an exponential growth rate. In Iran in 2000 there 250000 users, today it is in the millions.

11:16 RJI:
The Middle East is youthful, 2/3 of the population are under 30. They are defined by knowing how to use technology and are used to 300 satellite channels.

He says motivations are different around the world for use of technology.

Facebook use in U.S. versus Palestine for example, U.S. students have more friends, however Palestinian students spend more time so motivations are different.

11:19 RJI:
Ochleng Rapuro, from Kenya, is talking about how Africa is like a different planet.

Newspaper readership is still growing.

11:20 RJI:
He also says the international media organizations like Google are putting together systems that are a threat to indigenous media. "We have leap-frogged technological progression from print (over computers) ... into handheld devices. The mobile device is the most important tool."

11:23 RJI:
Ochieng says social media in Africa is in a tipping point, because young people are using phones to get in. How to get to them with news is a question. He says in Kenya they are texting news and using Facebook and Twitter.

11:25 RJI:
Ochieng says their estimation, unlike AP which thinks the 20% core readers would pay, is that only 10% of readers may pay in Africa. They are asking readers what part of the news story they want, if a story meets the threshold, it becomes premium content. This is a model they are just testing so far.

11:28 RJI:
Ochieng says regarding premium content, 'what we have come to realize is that the more people are going on social media, the less we are capable of offering insight and context" and that a main challenge is the small screen.

11:29 RJI:
Advertising, he says, is also a problem for the same reasons.

11:30 RJI:
Ochieng is managing editor of the Business Daily in Kenya, and East Africa's only daily business paper.

11:31 RJI:
Clyde Bentley says that U.S. is just catching up to Europe in mobile phone distribution of news and information.

11:33 RJI:
He says the turning point was the advent of the iPhone. Everybody wanted it, so there was "sudden adoption" one thing that created disruption for the newspaper industry.

11:34 RJI:
The slide here shows by 2013 there will be more Web access by mobile phone than computers. “My research shows 50% of Internet ad revenues will also be on mobile devices.”

11:35 RJI:
Clyde says 80% of cell phone users still have basic phone and text messages. Newspapers have not capitalized on texting.

11:41 RJI:
Clyde's talking about things coming out of Europe, phones that swipe for purchasing, news through geo-based social networks, and a phone that runs the mobile office by hooking up to a keyboard or for reporters, a mike.

"Do we need a New York Times building if the office is in your pocket?"

11:41 RJI:
They are now taking questions.

11:43 RJI:
New usage of technology: Saleem says in Saudi Arabia boys throw a cell phone in a girls car to establish a connection.

11:44 RJI:
Saleem is talking about change. In Egypt the opposition group organized through Facebook after it was banned.

11:45 RJI:
Jonathan Friendly is asking about the potential use of chips in devices to track opposition as well.

11:46 RJI:
Mark from Samsung says, yes, the mechanism is there. "Its not Samsung's responsibility to define the policy.

11:50 RJI:
Didn't quite understand that question.

11:54 RJI:
I think it was about the role of newspapers in different countries.

Ochieng says that people still go to the NYT and WaPo to confirm information.

Saleem says in the Middle East Al Jazeera is the most powerful media, but that most people go to internet cafes to read email "you can eat a sandwich" while it opens. Not everyone is mobile.

11:55 RJI:
Great panel. We are breaking until 1:30.

12:54 @TWiegert:
RT @jennvolk: Mobile devices are going to be viewed more than computers by 2013. Is your company ready? #rjimediachaos

12:54 @StephPadgett:
Clyde Bentley-is LTE high-speed network boon or threat for media? It could replace your cable box #rjimediachaos

12:54 @o0KitKat0o:
Would you listen to a short news story on your phone? Clyde Bentley is discussing this and more. #rjimediachaos

12:54 @StephPadgett:
Bentley talking about aka aki mobile service which connects people in proximity to you. Now being used to share news. #rjimediachaos

12:54 @StephPadgett:
Bentley excited by aka aki ability to connect place and story #rjimediachaos

12:54 @robweir:
For those following #rjimediachaos, here's @bentleyc's post on mobile devices overtaking PCs: http://bit.ly/d97oUU

12:54 @beckyericson:
@RJI Can you ask Dr. Bentley, "is it texting or more social, microblogging that will increase?" (former research student '02) #rjimediachaos

12:54 @annlang:
#mojoad has new meaning. mojo= mobile journalism #rjimediachaos

12:54 @StephPadgett:
Bentley describing MoJo-mobile journalist, that can have an office in a pocket. Do we need physical offices in the future? #rjimediachaos

12:54 @beckyericson:
@annlang I guess I need a new MOJO t-shirt now. Mine is so 1.0 #mojoad #rjimediachaos

12:54 @StephPadgett:
RT @robweir: For those following #rjimediachaos, here's @bentleyc's post on mobile devices overtaking PCs: http://bit.ly/d97oUU

12:54 @beckyericson:
Thanks for addressing my question, Dr. Bentley!! Really enjoying your panel from the office. #rjimediachaos

12:54 @beckyericson:
RT @StephPadgett: RT @robweir: following #rjimediachaos, here's @bentleyc's post on mobile devices overtaking PCs: http://bit.ly/d97oUU

12:54 @StephPadgett:
Belief and credibility of info vary by medium/connection. Rapuro still sees value of credibility of traditional news #rjimediachaos

12:54 @merubin:
RT @StephPadgett: Belief and credibility of info vary by medium/connection. #rjimediachaos

AFTER LUNCH
HOW WILL WE CONSUME NEWS AND INFORMATION IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS?

1:38 RJI:
"How will we Consume News and Information in the Next 10 years" is starting now. I'm Alisa Cromer, I'll be narrating again this afternoon. Please feel free to send in your questions and observations.

1:40 RJI:
Mike McKean is talking about multimedia journalism, which will dominate by 2020.

Users will insist news blend personal, social and public media.

1:42 RJI:
To get there, Mike says we need to empower journalists. Mizzou is shown taking students to Apple to work on iPhone innovation.

1:42 RJI:
Jim Kennedy, director of strategic planning at AP is about to talk about the new model for news at AP.

1:43 RJI:
JIM KENNEDY: "If you were the AP you used to take the wire and put it out as a syndicated feed. It didn't work after a few years...forces take the content and rip it out of the package and disperse it."

1:44 RJI:
AP's 'New Model for News' comes from studying small groups of people to come to grips with how people consume the news, when the "package is ripped and news is flowing outside the package."

1:46 RJI:
Jim says news is broken apart into Fact, updates, backstory and spin-offs. All 18 people in study said they wanted more in depth coverage of the news. This led us down a path of looking at the mechanics, re the three steps: 1. Headlines 2. Story in the present, 3. In-depth story.

1:46 RJI:
The next study was around advertising consumption - with the same results. People felt bombarded and "interrupted."

1:47 RJI:
"We were interrupting them!"

1:50 RJI:
JIM KENNEDY: In the last six weeks we developed a new model, available at newcommunicationmodel.org. It’s about a new organization, and a force that binds the information, which is a new cultural order around communication. There are six major forces:

Collaboration with advertisers, establishes a new social contract with the audience instead of bombardment, be very honest, and offer reciprocity.

1:51 RJI:
AP page on Facebook and Twitter is not just blasting headlines, but to connect and ask audience what they want.

1:51 RJI:
It is helping to transform not just the audience but also the news team, some of the 3000 journalists around the world are turned on by this interaction.

1:52 RJI:
"You have to socialize the space before you monetize it"

1:53 RJI:
Tom Warhover, head of the University’s Missourian, is transforming the daily: "One word Jim used is package, and the idea that we as journalists have lost that sense that we used to provide that package. Instead we are providing news that is episodic, where the idea is get it first get it fast. Which is fine, but not all it should be about...How do I create context and meaning?"

1:55 RJI:
TOM WARHOVER: What people are looking at is extracting meaning from all the facts. So the job of the journalist "that we can maintain and grow and still need as citizens is 'Sense-maker'"

1:55 @o0KitKat0o:
We need to create more meaning per inch, not facts per inch, says Tom Warhover of the Columbia Missourian. #rjimediachaos.

1:57 RJI:
TOM WARHOVER: My students are working on wiki-style stories that will be updated contextually.

1:59 RJI:
Every story blog post is nested in contextual information. That's our goal.

2:00 RJI:
Taylor Weigert is up next, he graduated from the School of Journalism last May, now works in Social Media.

2:01 RJI:
Taylor says news consumption is going the way of Burger King, "have it your way."

2:02 RJI:
TAYLOR WEIGERT: People are spending money on Clothes for their Avatars, and customizing Twitter groups and brands.

2:04 RJI:
TAYLOR WEIGERT: More filtering and work is necessary to get value out of it. We have developed human filters, who to follow or not to follow. Non-of these are perfect.

2:04 RJI:
TAYLOR WEIGERT: Interface Agents scan the universe and deliver to the consumer. He is talking about Pandora, which scans music for similar songs and delivers it through an iPhone app.

(I love this app)

2:05 RJI:
TAYLOR WEIGERT: Crowd's individuals will send out more of these interface agents. The future of news is "whatever consumers want it to be for themselves. "

2:07 RJI:
Vin Capone is Apple's digital video/Quicktime development executive: He thinks print in the future is impossible.

2:08 RJI:
VIN CAPONE: Guttenberg did away with scribes.

2:08 RJI:
VIN CAPONE: "I personally pay with four kinds of broadband access...I don't buy books... I'm going to school where I never meet by professors. "

2:09 RJI:
VIN CAPONE: "The formula to reach me is pretty simple. Teach me something. Tell me a good story. Or make me laugh"

2:10 RJI:
Vin is showing slides of iPhone and iPads and about to talk about the LA Times where he used to work.

2:11 RJI:
He says he once wrote a program that created PDF's for the web, because they were broad sheet, it didn't work; "trying to shoe horn it into new media is never going to work"

2:11 RJI:
MIKE MCKEAN: If I'm going to have it my way, can we also have it our way?

2:12 RJI:
TAYLOR WEIGERT: Sure. I find out about a lot of stories from family and friends who got their news online. They become a news source that works in a social community.

2:13 RJI:
JIM KENNEDY: Our way is no longer constructed by the all knowing editor.

2:14 RJI:
JIM KENNEDY; My editor used to say when asked how he edits: I edit the magazine to suit myself. Those days are over. The audience wants to be a part of it.

2:15 RJI:
We are taking questions now!

2:20 RJI:
Heh, looks like we were in standby mode, we back live...

2:24 RJI:
QUESTION: Wondering whether or not things going on in University's can be mined as a model?

JIM KENNEDY: The trick is to open up beyond the pyramid to provide access, say directly to the sources on Facebook, to create more interactivity.

2:28 RJI:
QUESTION: I'm not hearing many thoughts about who owns this content and how does the copy write go along with this content?

JIM KENNEDY: Since I'm with a company the most adamant about protecting copy write, I'll answer. Other people are coming along and harvesting content that our customers have paid for. We need to make it available in ways that people will want to use it in the right way. We are working on the news registry that will track and encourage people to use it in the right way. Don' t necessarily have to pay for it.

QUESTION: As a publisher of a small town newspaper I'm fascinated and terrified by where the AP model leaves our industry?

2:29 RJI:
JIM KENNEDY: We used to be B2B, in the future we will be B2B and B2C, where partners can participate with us. We'll go to market together like we did with the iPhone app.

QUESTION: I'm no longer terrified.

JIM KENNEDY: I'm terrified for you...

2:30 RJI:
That's the end of this panel, the next one starts in a few minutes...

BEYOND THE AD AND SUBSCRIPTION MODELS

2:35 RJI:
New panel is on the question of Money. Michael Skoler is moderating. Is a Reynolds Fellow and has worked for McKinsey and American Public Radio.

2:35 RJI:
"Beyond the Ad Subscription Models"

2:36 RJI:
Beth Polish says, "we are at the beginning stages."

2:37 RJI:
She is showing a slide of True/Slant.

BETH POLISH: Helping journalists to think of themselves as brands, rather than having their worth be what newspaper they are associated with.

2:38 RJI:
BETH POLISH: True/Slant thinks of their role as acting as editors by choosing which journalists to choose, and then journalists have control to choose what they do.

2:39 RJI:
BETH POLISH: Spot.us model is community funded articles. The inverse is the "tip jar" in which at the end of the article you can give a tip. The Miami Herald tried it and pulled it down.

2:40 RJI:
BETH POLISH: The cnnchallenge.com features questions from the past week's news - in between rounds you get a really annoying ad.

2:41 RJI:
BETH POLISH: LMK Apps by Topic is a destination site free to users call "Let me Know", but it is going to be relaunched as a 99 cent app.

2:43 RJI:
Beth is showing a slide; "One of my colleagues put together a great site for her", which is a curated package of links, broken down into headlines, in-depth analysis and opinion.

2:44 RJI:
Beth is talking about some "Complete community connection" ideas that close the loop with e-commerce for graduation registries and other ways to connect buyers and sellers in an interactive way.

2:45 RJI:
Rocky Kahn, from Team Patent is now presenting.

2:46 RJI:
ROCKY KAHN: Recommends Denial Anger Surrender Acceptance as an emotional strategy for newspapers:)

2:50 RJI:
Rocky's chart shows how news publishers devolved and new models:

Product Placements
Micropayments with:
- micro-pay walls (needs an effortless way to pay)
- museum-style (pay what you want)
- micro patronage (pay if you want, i.e., a tip jar)
- crowd-assisted authoring or mixture of cost reduction by engaging with the audience.

2:53 RJI:
ROCKY KHAN: Micropayments Issues is very difficult. My conclusion is that the content industry is not set up to succeed and will have to partner with other organizations.

Perhaps, popular authors are going to ask for more compensation. how do you prototype it, in order to get an idea of success has to be across all media. Problems include authentication moving between sites, making it unobtrusive.

2:55 RJI:
ROCKY KHAN: Maybe the crowd suggests articles. "Maybe they put ten buck up" or maybe they vote with their credibility based on how well their recommendations did before. Perhaps some of the contributors get paid for suggesting popular articles. You have to do trials.

Big technical challenge. If you're the New York Times you don't want someone spamming the home page, unlike Wikipedia, which is not moderated.

2:56 RJI:
ROCKY KHAN: I don't think media is well suited to take on this challenge. Its the same reason that banks did not come up with Paypal.

2:58 RJI:
Jim Spencer, founder and CEO of Media Convergence group, Inc, developer of Newsy, about to speak. He moved his company to Missouri because it cost 20% less than California.

3:00 RJI:
Video is showing Newsy, content licensing, mobile apps and online video advertising. High-quality, low-cost medium. Multiple source video content company built to be a profitable company.

3:01 RJI:
JIM SPENCER: Three revenue streams: Content syndication, licensing, advertising and paid apps.

3:05 RJI:
JIM SPENCER: A content licensing deal could be with a bank, which wanted content to distribute throughout their properties. Corporations are interested in producing content, this content does not appear on Newsy properties.

Syndication of might be shipping video to Yahoo News and sharing revenues.

"When you have all these revenue streams you have diversity, stability and profitability, keep expenses down and keep driving profits"

3:05 RJI:
K.V. Rao, founder of Zuora is now speaking.

3:06 RJI:
K.V. RAO: Showing the big switch to subscriptions like Netflix, salesforce.com and so on. "Don't knock subscriptions too early."

3:07 RJI:
K.V. RAO: In 2004, the average American spent $770.95 in subscription-based products, growing to $997 by 2010. What about media?

3:08 RJI:
K.V. RAO: The real question is how do you create value?

3:10 RJI:
K.V. RAO: Truth telling is more important than ever, technology enables richer and unique ways to "simulate" truth, profits will follow those who thirst for truth.

3:11 RJI:
Michael is going to give an overview of his work exploring profitable companies:

Create obvious value
Charge the right people the right price for the specific value create.

3:13 RJI:
MICHAEL SKOLER: Some successful variations include Politico is a free paper and web site wants to be invaluable to the people who work in and around Washington. A small paper and content delivered anywhere you want. Advertisers are the biggest corporations trying to reach Washington.

3:13 RJI:
MICHAEL SKOLER: Consumer Reports has perfected paid subscription model. Different products, to which people subscribe separately, is value-added content. Untainted by corporate money.

3:14 RJI:
MICHAEL SKOLER: New models... Groupon does one thing. People sign up to receive one deal a day, people buy a deal and Groupon splits it with local business. Average deal generates $10,000 to $20,000 a day. Any local media can do this.

3:16 RJI:
MICHAEL SKOLER: RedHat provides services around free content. Sells services around linux, users pay $800 million, Linux plows money back into the community.
Angie's List: Membership organization. Makes it easy to search for and contact high rated businesses. Angie's list resolves complaints; people pay for this even though there are free sites. People trust it.

3:18 RJI:
Mike has a slide out by Disruption vs. Sustaining Innovation. Growing through disruptive innovation means selling simpler, more convenient products often at a lower price to non-consumer or low-end customers. These disrupters may become huge and overturn competitors. Think Turbo tax, Twitter and Netflix. No due dates overturned Blockbuster.

3:19 RJI:
MICHAEL SKOLER: Need to get close to the audience, they are the ones who are telling you what is the value.

3:19 [Comment From Martin Langeveld:]
BTW Stephanie's video "The future in 15 or 20 years" "has been removed due to terms of service violations" at YouTube.

3:19 RJI:
We are now taking questions.

3:22 RJI:
Questions: Are these models across the board, will they work in small communities or only large scale?

K.V. RAO: What are business models suitable for local papers? What tools can you put at the disposal of local journalists to create value?

3:22 RJI:
JIM SPENCER: I'm not used to cable and electricity going out , now you are seeing people disconnect cable and use the internet. The power of local is not going away.

3:23 RJI:
MICHAEL SKOLER: Groupon made 2.5 million in a major city, maybe in a smaller town you make $250,000. A lot of the value is local, having the very specific knowledge of a community.

3:23 @rkeck:
Rocky Kahn: The function of journalism is to limit consumers choice. You tell them what to read, watch, learn about. #rjimediachaos

3:30 RJI:
QUESTION: Is it possible that if you offer less you can make more money since people don't like choice?

ROCKY KAHN: That selection, curation is the function of journalism.

JIM SPENCER: We look at hundreds of sources and boil it down to the best ones.

QUESTION: What’s the equivalent 'hidden value" of Red Hat that is applicable to media.

MICHAEL SKOLER: The software is open source but services are not. In media we are in the information business, the question is can we package part of the information we collect to add value to it.

3:34 RJI:
One last question from Brian Steffens of National Newspaper Association; Everything you can do on the app you can do online, but you'll pay for the app because its one touch and on your screen. Same thing with newspapers, you can go to the council meeting, but you are paying for the convenience, not just content. And for truth and accuracy, RedHat also provided trust by supplying the services.

3:35 RJI:
That concludes this session. We now will have a 30-minute break.

4:04 RJI:
We are back with the next session. Again this is Alisa Cromer, blogging for RJI.

Ton Stam is introducing "Today's Opportunities: Going After The Non-News Consumer.

TODAY’S OPPORTUNITIES: GOING AFTER THE NON-NEWS CONSUMER

4:07 RJI:
TON STAM: Is news and news accuracy a "by the way" for young people?

4:10 RJI:
Ton is a professor in the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia.

The first speaker is Phil Aucutt, president of Junit, cloud-based media publishing platform. His topic is "Wanted."

4:11 RJI:
His first slide:

Lost: Literate, articulate and well-informed citizen to participate in an active democracy - if found please contact your local newspaper.

4:12 RJI:
Phil's question is what do we do with the 80% who are not core newspaper loyalists.

4:14 RJI:
PHIL AUCUTT: Leaving the 80% out is dangerous, we may not get them back and bad things happen to democracies when people are not educated.

4:15 RJI:
A lot of stress is on mediocrity. Koreans study a lot harder than our students. We need to look at this, for our students need to be informed and participants in our future.

4:16 RJI:
Phil leaves us with this slide: Wanted: Students to read, engage, argue and participate in a civil society through an informed understanding of the issues.

4:17 RJI:
Larry Dailey, chair of News Technology at the RJI in Reno, Nev. : Proctor and Gamble would never say we don't care if you like our hair color product.

4:18 RJI:
LARRY DAILEY: What business are we in? The information business? If so, we can't beat Google. If you are in the knowledge business, we've got something.

4:20 RJI:
RJI poses a question, how do people get promoted in the newsroom? Reporters with over-emphasis in perfection, can lead employees to lose sight of goals and get lost in details. Spend no money on research and development.

4:25 RJI:
LARRY DAILEY: Research says newspaper people are routed in their routines, which are a set of tasks. We have to change the newsroom culture. Innovative cultures are:

Interdisciplinary
Playful
Group-centered
"Crazy"

Google prepared their people to work in an environment of relentless change. "We are George Jetson on the treadmill, going faster. If you think Twitter and Facebook are disruptive, wait ten years. Apple works to make their own products obsolete."

4:25 RJI:
LARRY DAILEY: Journalist are stressed, aggressive, defensive.

4:29 RJI:
The slide is showing a plane is nose-down going into the drink. "This is the opportunity we in the newsroom are facing. Have a nice flight."

Coleman Hutchins, helped launch the digital practice at Fleishman-Hillard, a 60 person studio focusing on social media campaigns: Pew state of the media survey today says 1/3 of the population doesn't’t have a favorite news site. So maybe it's not an 80/20 but a 93/7 break down.

4:32 RJI:
COLEMAN HUTCHINS: The same study said vast majority of consumers rarely if ever click on an ad. One problem is church and state, textual Google ads are ok at the NY Times, but won't sell its own ads on related content. Contextually matching ads to content is where newspapers are falling short.

4:33 RJI:
COLEMAN HUTCHINS: Why do people "fly by"?

A single story answered the questions
Not enough context
No links to other relevant info
Poor user interface
No recognition and consideration of them as "flybys"

4:37 RJI:
Matt Mantey, also with Fleishman-Hillard: How do we move fly-bys slowly to loyalists? We need to dive in and see who they are.

His example is Megan, who wakes up via Blackberry, doesn't't care where her news coms from. Checking on some emergency at work, but gets distracted by Daily Candy, that's an opportunity. What are those things that are trumping you to bring her back? Daily Candy is one.

4:38 RJI:
Another thing is that friends and family mean everything and that's who she gets her recommendations from. Avid TV viewer, maybe that's a place to reach her, in the TV section.

4:43 RJI:
MATT MANTEY: I don't think advertising is done. He advises posting a profile of the four top personas of "fly bys" around the company and newsroom and create a plan to create news for them.

Jean-Raymond Naveau, product management of on-demand enterprise and ecommerce systems is speaking now: If the product is not there I can't buy it and you can't sell it. The product is not there, it is data not information.

4:47 RJI:
JEAN-RAYMOND NAVEAU: What I'm asking is can I choose where the information is coming from? I need to choose. If I get exactly what I want, out of convenience I'm going to pay, I'm going to pay, big time. "Now you can add information using the video, but first get me in front of what I really want, information not data."

4:47 RJI:
Now we are in the question portion of the day.

4:50 RJI:
The discussion is about how to mine data of what people are talking about on Facebook or Twitter in order to attract people who have a natural network.

4:50 RJI:
LARRY DAILEY: We have to start with our value being preserving democracy otherwise we are going to be a gaming or a porn site.

4:53 RJI:
LARRY DAILEY: You can intimately know your audience, and give them what they need in a way that's fun and palateable.

TON STAM: Would it be more sustainable to use the European model of heavy government subsidies?

4:53 RJI:
COLEMAN HUTCHINS: Do they remove the political aspect of the funding?

4:54 RJI:
TON STAM: I'm familiar with the Netherlands, and they do try to be fair and distribute it across the political spectrum.

4:54 RJI:
PHIL AUCUTT: If you remove the profit motive you remove the incentive to innovate.

4:57 @StephPadgett:
RT @warhovert: Larry Dailey is depressing me: newsrooms are defensive, aggressive, against change. I'm NOT defensive! #rjimediachaos

4:57 @amandabee:
I think Matt is really explaining to us why it is that advertisers have less use for newspaper ads. #rjimediachaos

4:57 @annlang:
Can newspapers be @DailyCandy? Reminds me of My Best Friend's Wedding- "I can be Jello." "You can never be Jello." #rjimediachaos

4:57 @o0KitKat0o:
RT @amandabee: Facts aren't valuable -- context and analysis are worth something. We don't value what goes into reporting. #rjimediachaos

4:57 @o0KitKat0o:
RT @annlang: Can newspapers be @DailyCandy? Reminds me of My Best Friend's Wedding- "I can be Jello." "You can never be Jello." #rjimediachaos

4:57 @rkeck:
What is news? Information that you can take action on - Jean-Raymond Naveau @rjimediachaos

4:57 @ColbyWG:
for yrs I see research on 'non-news consumers', but #s stay constant. If rsrch isnt leading to change, change the rsrch model #

4:57 @robweir:
intelligent tagging, semantic search, save preferences, expert source, consume where you want: our new CMS. #rjimediachaos #lovemyjob

4:57 @ColbyWG:
RT @robweir: intelligent tagging, semantic search, save preferences, expert source, consume where you want: our new CMS. #rjimediachaos

4:57 @rkeck:
Matt Mantey: News orgs have the info they need, they just haven't made the move toward becoming a research-driven field #rjimediachaos

4:57 @sjorscheln:
did any mizzou kids attend #bigcampaigndigitaldollars #sxsw with Chris Hanada of Retrofit films? #rjimediachaos

4:57 @mskoler:
Anyone know of a newspaper that actually asked people who don't buy the paper, why they don't? #rjimediachaos

4:57 @robweir:
Removing profit motive not necessarily good for journalism, says @philfna #rjimediachaos

4:57 @ColbyWG:
"Business, marketing, and advertising side can work with the editorial side... profit isn't a bad thing."- @philfna #rjimediachaos

4:57 @rkeck:
Matt Mantey: Why not sell a topic takeover instead of a homepage takeover? e.g. all health-related stories #rjimediachaos

4:58 RJI:
QUESTION: When I go to a travel site I get pop-ups asking if I want to see related content. Do newspapers do this?

COLEMAN HUTCHINS: SFGate does that.

4:58 @amandabee:
I was under the impression that SFGate was really struggling. Are they a good example of well monetized news? #rjimediachaos

4:58 @ColbyWG:
@mskoler That's what I'm talking bout! Current research isnt leading to answers that change things. Need to look in new spots #rjimediachaos

4:58 @amandabee:
RT @mskoler Anyone know of a newspaper that actually asked people who don't buy the paper, why they don't? #rjimediachaos

5:08 RJI:
The panel is ending. Jonathon Friendly is next up, wrapping up the day.

5:13 RJI:
This concludes this panel discussion.

Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

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