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.comweb director, association of alternative newsweeklies

presentation given at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, June 2007