by Jeppe Kabell, Sep 5, 2007
At online medias users can have a public identity. This can include more or less info about the person behind the identity, and the identity/profile usually has the function of tracking the user’s activity at the site. A public user identity opens a wealth of possibilities for social interaction and networking, user-powered contribution, editing and context providing.
Analysis
The New York Times: No public identiy
del.icio.us: Public identity
jezebel.com: No public identity
boingboing.com: No public identity
newstrust.org: Public identity
Monocle Magazine: No public identity
reddit.com: Public identity
digg.com: Public identity
technorati.com: Public identity
techmeme.com: No public identity
Google News: No public identity
daylife.org: No public identity
Newsblogger: No public identity
huffingtonpost.com: No public identity
talkingpointsmemo.com: No public identity
RSS reader: Public identity in some web based readers
by Jeppe Kabell, Sep 5, 2007
A media that has the characteristic of original content, is a media that produces it’s own content. Examples are most news medias as newspapers, magazines, television networks etc.
A media that has the characteristic of a link media doesn’t produce it’s own content, but is focused around a link from another source. Examples includes digg.com, newstrust.net, del.icio.us and others.
Thoughts:
It can be argued that the central content of some link medias isn’t the linked item, but the activity that’s going on around it, e.g. the rating and discussion at newstrust.net. Also many newspapers and online medias have a lot of syndicated content from other news providers. Some blogs range in the middle, as it’s often both the link and the comments around the item, that has value to readers.
Analysis
The New York Times: Original content
del.icio.us: Link media
jezebel.com: Link media
boingboing.com: Link media
newstrust.org: Link media
Monocle Magazine: Original content
reddit.com: Link media
digg.com: Link media
technorati.com: Link media
techmeme.com: Link media
Google News: Link media
daylife.org: Link media
Newsblogger: Original content
huffingtonpost.com: Original content
talkingpointsmemo.com: Original content
RSS reader: -
by Jeppe Kabell, Aug 28, 2007
A media that has the characteristic of a product, is a media designed with the primary purpose to inform the reader. There’s little interaction with the reader, who mainly consumes the produced content passively. The media itself is not supporting the reader in whatever action the user wants to take - e.g. not fascilitating conversation, sharing, storing, contribution etc. A product is often a finished whole without the user.
A media that has the characteristic of a tool, is a media that the end-user uses to do/create something with rather than just consume. For example digg.com and del.icio.us is more than a product for consumption, as it can be used to store bookmarks for later retrieval. Their respective front pages can still be used as just a product, but it has a big focus on the tool part. A media with the characteristic of a tool will often be an unfinished whole without the user.
Thoughts:
Product and tool is two opposites that rarely will characterize a media completely, but many of the design decisions and the way the layout is presented shows the underlying design purpose. It can be argued that digg.com is less of a tool than del.icio.us is. Most would probably agree that The New York Times is a product.
Analysis
As the terms product and tool are two extremes of a graduated scale, most medias are not one of the other, and any analysis will be subject to discussion.
The New York Times: Product
del.icio.us: Tool
jezebel.com: Product
boingboing.com: Product
newstrust.org: Tool
Monocle Magazine: Product
reddit.com: Tool
digg.com: Tool
technorati.com: Tool
techmeme.com: Product
Google News: Product (for news consumption) and tool (for search and alerts)
daylife.org: Product
Newsblogger: Tool
huffingtonpost.com: Product
talkingpointsmemo.com: Product
RSS reader: Tool
by Jeppe Kabell, Aug 27, 2007
Prioritization refers to whether a media structures it’s presentation of objects (news stories, blog posts, videos etc.) after importance/relevance or not. This is usually done according to a certain set of values, which can be explicitly or implicitly expressed.
Examples of prioritized medias:
Example of unprioritized medias:
Thoughts:
It seems as if it would be useful to split this term up in two: Prioritized and unprioritized. Also the words can refer to different parts of a news site, e.g. only the front page of an Internet media, or it can refer to a whole publication such as a paper magazine.
Analysis
The New York Times: Prioritized
del.icio.us: Unprioritized
jezebel.com: Unprioritized
boingboing.com: Unprioritized
newstrust.org: Prioritized
Monocle Magazine: Prioritized
reddit.com: Prioritized
digg.com: Unprioritized
technorati.com: Prioritized/unprioritized
techmeme.com: Unprioritized
Google News: Prioritized
daylife.org: Prioritized
Newsblogger: Unprioritized
huffingtonpost.com: Prioritized
talkingpointsmemo.com: Prioritized
RSS reader: Unprioritized
