henrikharsbo.dk

News Site Without News

In the future Danish newspaper Politiken plans to focus mainly on background articles explaining and analyzing events in the printed paper while using its web site to actually report the news. The plan includes a reallocation of journalistic resources. A staff of eight working the web site today will be doubled to 16 journalists in the future!

But is this an example of a mainstream media adapting wisely to the reality of modern media consumption? Well, there's no doubt that removing the medium-long news articles from the daily paper is a pretty smart move. Articles that recount news that was reported by the electronic media yesterday have no place in a modern paper.

Also I like the idea of a daily newspaper focusing almost solely on carefully crafted, analytical background articles.

When it comes to the plans for the web site, I have my doubts though. Are readers really in need of yet another news site? There are already oodles of Danish and foreign web sites focusing on news. Making the room for qualitative improvement quite limited. Moreover sites like Inform.com and Google News have shown us that computers can edit and maintain news web sites almost as well as a any journalist! I honestly don't see where Politiken will be able to excel and stand out when it comes to online news.

But who says that a newspaper site has to deliver traditional news anyway? It would probably be wise of Politiken to follow the more social and inclusive direction that the web is taking and to stop thinking of itself as a mere sender of news. What about opening the site for citizen journalism and inviting users to write about what matters to them? This could still be done with seasoned journalists at the helm editing and helping stories along. Also, I think Politiken should use the web to fortify its traditional stronghold when it comes to covering debate and opinions. This could be done via both podcasts and blogs.

Meanwhile we're still waiting for a Danish mainstream media outlet to take the plunge and truly revolutionize its online communication. 

February 2, 2006: Danish magazine Journalisten yesterday reported this on the Politiken plans:

»Like many other nordic newpapers Politiken will focus heavily on blogs written by both employees and readers. An Interactive Editor is to create online communities for readers [...] At the same time a Web Enricher is hired to create activites on the site, pose questions to readers, make online tests [ ...]«

Looks like Politiken is really ready to do a bit more than merely delivering news on the web. Way to go!

Technorati: Journalism |News |Newspaper

Is Google Evil In China?

Google's new Chinese site that launched today allegedly censors material sensitive to Beijing.

According to AP searches for subjects such as exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence, and terms such as "democracy" and "human rights" only yields  search results that agree with the official Chinese stance on these matters. In most such cases, only official Chinese government sites or those with a ".cn" suffix are shown.

Hm... I have always been a firm believer in Google's aim to do good and have a very hard time coping with this.

Come on Google Guys tell us that it isn't so!

Technorati: Google |China |Search

Online Ads Are Booming

Australian online advertising has experienced phenomenal growth over the past three years, writes Sydney Morning Herald citing a report from consulting agency Frost & Sullivan.

The report suggests that ad revenues of print magazines and broadcast radio are about to seriously feel the internet's second coming. Web pages will be the third biggest ad medium by the end of 2007, claims Frost & Sullivan.

When it comes to more prominent media like newspaper and television online ads are no immediate threat. They are at least a decade away from catching up with newspapers and five more years away from making revenues on a scale with commercial tv.

Spending on internet ads in Australia grew nearly 50 per cent to 605 million AUD in 2005, and Frost & Sullivan expects the medium to grow by an extra 25 per cent each year until 2009!!

Whoa!!

Technorati: Marketing |Advertising

Why Companies Should Encourage Whistle-Blogging

Employee blogging is a peril that needs to be controlled! That is basically the sentiment of lawyer Mike Oliver (link to Chicago Tribune - you need to register to read, though)

According to Oliver there's good reason for companies to be concerned over employee blogging or so called whistle-blogging. He thinks that most companies are worried about being burned, especially if employees post negative or confidential information about the company. He suggests that companies adopt policies requiring employees to inform their supervisors of any company-related content in their blogs.

In my opinion policies like that are too rigid and fully neglect the fact that employee blogs can do companies a lot of good. But readers want content that reflects reality and not fiction. In other words: There's no big audience for blogs that read like a press release from the marketing department?

Companies who want to utilize the strong vehicle of communication that blogs truly are should encourage their employees to be honest about the company and its product. This doesn't mean that there shouldn't be a policy, merely that it ought to be extremely flexible.

In the end it would make company blogs more interesting to read and perhaps even help create better products in the process.

Technorati: Corporate blogs |Marketing |Weblogs

Gutsy Move By Yahoo!

This week Yahoo! acquired Webjay - a site that lets users share their music play lists. A cool idea carried out in a very cool way!

It seems to me that the site lets users do way more than share play lists, though. It is in fact possible to download copyrighted mp3 files via Webjay.

Webjay does include a charmingly written disclaimer on the site. Still, I wonder how long it will take before the record industry sets it's beady little eyes on the Yahoo! acquisition. I also wonder how Yahoo! is going to tackle that situation (they must have a plan).

All in all a gutsy move by the Flickr-owner!

Technorati: Music |Yahoo! |File sharing

Search Engines Don't Leech

Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, writes usability expert Jakob Nielsen. His point being that businesses don't get enough for the content, the pay to produce. According to Nielsen search engines simply suck value out of other sites.

But looking at the by far most popular search engine of the web, Google, I just don't get his point.

What is it that Google do, that sucks value out of other sites? Most people use Google to find actual, relevant sites, meaning we use Google to go visit them. Yes, it's true that advertisers have to keep overbidding each other to get good placement for their ads on Google. But so be it. Those are the rules of the market place. Google is about so much more than ads.

Every day the search giant guides users to zillions of web pages that offer free information. Is it right to call a search engine that direct users to all kinds of valuable info a leech? I think not!

Technorati: Search |jakob Nielsen |Google

Exaggerated Uproar Over Cookies

American government agencies employ cookies to track visitors to their web sites. Only problem is that it is against the law.

»A 2003 government directive says that, in general, "agencies are prohibited from using" Web bugs or cookies to track Web visitors,« writes techie news site, news.com.

From a European perspective the whole discussion seems a little over the top. Could it possibly be that cookies are merely used for statistical purposes and not to spy on citizens?

Also, what sort of spying are web users supposed to fear from organizations like National Institute of Health and the Smithsonian Institution?

If agencies - it would be rational to suspect spying from - like the National Security Agency and Department of Defense - wanted to spy on their web site visitors wouldn't they use more succinct measures than cookies anybody can detect?

Technorati: Spying | Cookies

Wanna Buy A Fake Painting?

Danish online auction house Lauritz.com is allegedly selling a fake painting by Danish painter P.S. Krøyer. The latest bid on the painting stands at DKK 28,000(EUR 3,757).

»I'm sure the painting is a fake. The style is atypical for Krøyer and both the dating and the signature seem wrong,« says the owner of Greenland Art Research Svend-Erik Hendriksen to Computerworld Online.

He has now reported the matter to Danish police.

Spokesperson for Lauritz.com Karsten Skov maintains that the painting is in fact by the Danish painter:
»What's confusing here is the fact that the painting is pastel on bonded paper which makes the signature seem a little odd,« he says.

Yup, and I sure wanna go ahead and spend a s*** load of money on a painting that I can only check via pure resolution on my computer screen ;-)

Technorati: Art | Auction

Godcasting Is Here

What is the fastest growing genre when it comes to podcasts? Entertainment? Sports? Or comedy maybe?

Nope, none of the above!

According to cnn.com the answer is: religion. Cyber sermons are catching on big time. The target group are modern religious people who are too busy with their careers and family life to actually make it to church. In stead they listen to the words of the lord on their MP3 players when they have a moment.

Spiritual segments on the web site Podcastalley.com have nearly tripled since July last year to about 500 cyber sermons. Almost every faith is represented on the site.

Even Pope Benedict XVI has been podcasting since August 2005, writes cnn. And Christian podcasts like Catholic Insider exceeds 10,000 listeners for each program.

All of this is no surprise actually. The church has always been really good at embracing new technology to spread the word. Wasn't the bible one of the first books to leave the printing presses of Gutenberg?

Technorati: Podcasting | Religion