"Blog Source" Centroids : Watched a debate on C-Span between two authors at Columbia Journalism School about the drivers of modern telecommunications revolutions. One view is that it all can be explained, or best explained, by pure entrepreneurship and those eras at the start of major innovations ( radio, film, telephone, internet, etc ) when openness prevails and before giant corporations dominate the key industries. The other viewpoint is that what really explains American telecommunications successes are two things which promote entrepreneurship, namely, our anti-monopoly traditions ( since 1787 ) and a regulatory political economy that almost always promotes democratic access. Each expert cited examples from other countries to make his points about how America has always ( so far anyway ) achieved dominant positions in telecommunications sectors / industries since other countries simply don't measure up in these characteristics. What was most fascinating, and much of everything was well worth hearing, was one question from the floor. The questioner made the point that newspapers have weathered one telecommunications revolution after another, a series of crises, to always bounce back stronger than ever. At first radio was going to destroy the press, then movies, then TV, and now the Internet. Given the track record of newspapers and the hugely important position of leading papers in providing information content, what will be the innovation that will resurrect newspapers ? I have a concept that might be worth passing along. Alas, this is essentially for the record, a claim to priority in thinking this up, but not realistically anything anyone at the group will avail themselves of. I don't see any way to make this into an Apple product, nor a computer program, nor anything else with which others here are professionally most interested in . Still, this just might have serious potential. How about a blog newspaper ? That is, a newspaper that consists of web content. Real Clear Politics is one model, and a darned good one, but even that site has its limitations. And, of course, it mostly ( 98 % ) references established print sources. Also, its categorization of themes is "classic," politics, science, business, science, etc. Think of an alternative : Blogs as content sources, supplemented by established print journal sources, and categorization on the basis of hot topics. Plus a section in the paper devoted to computers and software, which would be designed to be the leading money-maker in the publication. That is, this section could feature articles about the latest iPhone apps, about useful tricks for Windows 7, about alternatives to PayPal, and similar material. You'd think that there would be plenty of businesses willing to pay serious $$$ for ad placement. About blogs and content, sure, most blogs are essentially amateur-hour affairs. And one of the authors made the point that Steve Jobs has always predicated Apple's success on the proposition that American consumers demand the best professional quality everything. About which I agree at a 98 % level. Or at least a 90 % level. There is a market for , as an example, the best home videos, or for talent shows in which participants have zero professional background, but otherwise, obviously, people want Hollywood, not some kid and his pals in a back yard producing a skit. Which explains some of the issues with CTV, some good shows but a lot of shows that you can easily forget as soon as you see them. The main problem with the blogoshere , at least as I see it ( ALA-ISI ), is two-fold : ( 1 ) It is always in flux, one set of truths prevails one year, another set the next, and ( 2 ) How do you identify the really good stuff out there ? This is a problem because there is so much stuff to consider. Who has the time to explore the blogosphere except occasionally, and even then all you ever get is like an archaeologist's trench, a small part of an ancient city, or a small part of the blogosphere. Yet you just know there is some really valuable stuff that you never learn about in a timely manner. Enter , let us call it, Blog Source, a name taken from a now defunct site, for purposes of this short essay. Actually there is an online "paper" which partly covers the idea being discussed here, called the Blog Herald, but most of its news is about the tech side of blogging. The idea in mostly mind now is news content, making use of quality blogs as a source for under-reported news, or news from unique perspective, or news from places where AP, etc, has no on-scene reporters, and the like, with a healthy % of stories intended to be thought provoking. For I disagree with Ernie ( in a gentlemanly fashion ) about the public and ideas. My belief is that the hoi polloi do have an appetite for ideas but that it is crucial to make good use of all the tricks of good PR / publicity so that ordinary folks see the relevance and can feel assured that nothing said will be bland / milquetoast / punches-pulled / uncolorful / humorless. But there is plenty of hard hitting content on the web, it just has to be located from all the clutter and cacaphony and overload. One person cannot do it. A newspaper staff could do it. To make this most relevant, categorize by hot topics. These topics will necessarily change over time, but for today the list might be : Immigration Islam Wall Street Finance The Tea Party Obama / For and Against The Rise of the Right in Europe Buzz About the Concept "Radical Centrism" on the East Coast Well, the last item, maybe still not so much, but I could not resist. Anyway, this is the idea. A print newspaper has advantages that websites do not. We all know what these are. What would make Blog Source different is that it would directly compliment computer use. It would, by design, be intended for people who make use of computers every day, it would refer them to hot blogs, to controversies about blogs, and list sites worth visiting. It would also advertise computers and computer software and computer services. All in one place. There would necessarily be an online version of Blog Source. Why buy the hard copy newspaper ? Every issue, listings of useful downloadable free software you have a permanent copy of that won't get lost in your files. Every issue more stories than can possibly appear on a website and still be seen in a coherent format. Every issue proprietary stories you cannot access from any other source. And with a subscription, an open sesame to pay-for web sites, for example, JSTOR if some kind of deal can be struck with that organization, and other similarly proprietary organizatons. Actually these are not enough reasons, I am open to as many as can be identified. But to provide you with the concept. So, here it is, "worth a million dollars," and destined to be no more than a curiosity in these environs, but in case anyone is interested. Billy
-- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
