A business unit spun off from the MIT Media Lab is looking at ways to deliver newspaper content without paper, and beyond PCs and laptops. The Washington Post's Frank Ahrens reports, and - in a somewhat blog-like tone - commendably asks a few questions, which I'll answer, in the name of news consumer and blogosphere research.

Would you be reading this story if it were displayed on a 2-by-2-inch screen on your BlackBerry?

No. I can see using a handheld wired device for e-mail and scheduling, but that's about it. I don't want to squint that much, and would rather wait until I'm in front of a laptop or my iMac G5 to read online news. So I can blog about it if I want. Would I blog off a mobile device? I know there's stuff out there. Maybe one day, yeah. But right now - as a middle-stage adapter - I'm pretty damn tickled just to be adding digicam pix to my blog, employing iPhoto to process and crop the shots, and using code to wrap text around the pix.

How about if it were electronically printed on a video scroll that spooled a few inches out of the side of your cell phone? Could you tell what was in the tiny picture?

No. Again, I don't see news as something to be digested on the fly, and I want to be able to talk back. Devices such as these presume a hugely fickle, distracted readership that ingests newsbites like french fries or airport popcorn. This sort of pandering to ADD teens and Pod-centric 20-somethings raised on video and computer games will come around to bite the industry on its ass. When the young 'uns the industry is pandering to grow up a bit, they'll realize news and public discourse isn't something to be used as filler between trading IM text messages and picture phone images. They can engage, or bugger off.

Now. Would you read this story if it were electronically printed on a paper-thin video screen the size of a tabloid newspaper, or maybe something bigger, like The Washington Post, and resembling a vinyl placemat, like the image you see under these words?

No. My PC, or the laptop I hope to buy before too terribly long, is where I want to consume my news and - as mentioned above - respond to selective items via blogging. Oh, and with my wife's consent, I just cancelled our one newspaper subscription.

What if this new electronic paper could be folded under your arm like your dad's sports section or rolled up inside your yoga mat?

Doesn't sound like that would have keyboard functionality, so, uh, no.

The key for me, technology-wise, is not delivery systems, but ability to provide value-added bloggage, and being able to comfortably access a variety of sources. (BTW, kudos to The Post for providing Technorati "Who's Blogging" links to its stories. Shows you guys are really starting to get it). Squinting at a tiny screen is not comfort. I like to scan major dailies such as The Post, L.A. Times, NYT, ChiTrib, and even the SF Chron. I work off my own blogroll's newspaper and magazine sections, and now, RSS feeds delivered to my e-mail inbox early each morning by Blogarithm. Even the Moblogging thing is pretty damn esoteric - there's just not the urgency implied by the technology, unless you're in a war or natural disaster zone. And even then, you'd be scrambling for Wi-Fi. So you might as well just take your digicam, and then get to your laptop, plus an Internet connection of some sort. Is there WiFi in Phuket?

Content-wise, declining newspaper circulation is explained by online access to many sources (via Google News, for example) which boosts news consumer choice and allows working around the biases of the hometown rag or MSM titans. The train has left the station, and the Big Dogs understand they have to work with bloggers. Not only is circulation dropping and newsprint becoming more expensive, publishers are losing their grip on a key revenue source, classified ads, thanks to Craig's List. I think the real question is what business model is going to allow them to survive at all. I see scalable, participatory online community journalism filling a real void in coming decades - though that'll have to involve viable business models, too - and just a few national heavies left standing.

TECHNORATI TAGS: NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION, ELECTRONIC NEWS, BLOGS

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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at October 15, 2005 10:09 AM

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