gen 2014

What’s New, What’s Next:

Tech Trends For EditorsJune 2014 – Barcelona

Amy Webb: 3 Things

1. Digital Media Futurist. Founder + CEO of Webbmedia Group, a digital strategy agency.

3. Trends for Global Editors Network. Five interesting trends to watch...and try.

2. Online News Association. Former board of directors, conference organizer.

5 Trends

Bot-beats and machine-derived journalism.

1

Robo-Journalism

A shallow magnitude 4.7 earthquake was reported Monday morning five miles from Westwood, California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 6:25 a.m. Pacific time at a depth of 5.0 miles.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was six miles from Beverly Hills, California, seven miles from Universal City, California, seven miles from Santa Monica, California and 348 miles from Sacramento, California. In the past ten days, there have been no earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm written by the author.

Read more about Southern California earthquakes.

Computer Assisted Reporting v2

•Updated and rewritten >70x by humans

•Supplemental, time-saving work aided by bots

•Allowed journalists to do the more difficult analytic work

Other interesting bots

Other interesting bots

Parse + Process = New Opportunities

What if, automatically...

Show streets plowed

Include user photos

Include social posts

Computer Assisted Editing

Computer Assisted Editing v1

Computer Assisted Editing v1

Computer Assisted Editing v1

Sensor Assisted Reporting

Sensor Assisted Journalism v1.5

Sensor Assisted Journalism v1.5

Sensor Assisted Journalism v1.5

Sensor Assisted Journalism v1.5

Sensor Assisted Journalism v1.5

Sensor Assisted Journalism v1.5

Why This Matters

Efficiencies = Saves money. Allows journalists to do the harder, more creative work.

Next = bots will make inferences based on artificial intelligence.

Focus on your consumer, not just her device.

2

Customer-Centric Design

Current News Story Dimensions

Digital LEGACY

mobile, web, social, app, database, etc.

newspaper, TV broadcast, radio broadcast

Lon

gSh

ort

Device > ConsumerUnintended Consequence:

What are the other dimensions of

news storytelling?

Consumer

Future Story Dimensions

Consumer

Future Story Dimensions

App or HTML5?

Screen size?

Home location?

New location?

Work location?

Commuting?

At the gym?

Eating dinner?

Lean forward?

Lean back?

Driving?

Jogging?

Researching?

Looking for social media posts?

Trending for her?

Will she engage?

New content recommendation?

News content can go anywhere

News content must meet 4 customer-centric criteria:

#1 Temporal: Developed for the news consumer at a particular moment in time, given that there are N# variables in time and activity.

#2 Activities: Developed for the news consumer’s activities at that moment in time.

News content must meet 4 customer-centric criteria:

#3 Behaviors: Developed for the news consumer given her past and predicted behaviors.

News content must meet 4 customer-centric criteria:

#4 IQ/EQ: Developed so that it meets the news consumer’s intellectual and emotional needs at that moment.

News content must meet 4 customer-centric criteria:

Simple Case Study: Nuzzel App

Simple Case Study: Nuzzel App

Simple Case Study: Nuzzel App

Temporal: incremental units of time; manual or automatic

Activities: UI shows exactly the right amount of information for screen

Behaviors: aggregates content based on who I interact with on Twitter

IQ/EQ: makes me smarter faster

Simple Case Study: Nuzzel App

Nuzzel is an automated platform, where:

Our friends are our editors.

Our tastes/ preferences are our curators.

Practical Case Study: NYT Now

Temporal: When is the consumer opening? When is the content being pushed?

Activities: Accelerometer to determine story type and content?

Behaviors: Consider a user’s actions while in the app?

IQ/EQ: Does it make her smarter faster? Or compelled to take action?

Practical Case Study: NYT Now

great UI design ≠ a great experience

Google Now NPR News Nuzzel Circa

Temporal Activities Behaviors IQ/EQ

Remaking NYT Now

Why This Matters

Sustainability = Modern journalism is increasingly incompatible with our devices. To retain and engage your consumers, you must design for THEM.

(I just made up that word.) But cards do matter.

3

Cardification

...has mastered the art of using the right format to tell a story.

(using your content)

Google Now Cards

Glass Environment

Response to smaller screen size and desire for sharable nuggets

Which is a bad design environment for longer NEWS stories

But! Cards are a good design template for NEWS explainers

Reimagine news cards for mobile?

The AVERAGE person uses her phone...

110x - 150x a day

9x an hour between 5pm - 8pm

Every 6 - 7 minutes throughout the day

Pew: Total revenue for American journalism down 33% in 7 years.

Bessemer Venture Partners: Mobile screen valuation now worth $1 billion per square inch.

Question:

Can we build a better mobile news experience?

Algorithmic Story Versions

Traditional journalism is increasingly incompatible with our devices.

We must invent new ways to tell stories.

Why This Matters

Evolve = Editors must completely rethink how you publish digital content.

Search can only respond to questions we ask. What about all of the contextual information we want

to know in real time?

4

Cognitive Computing

Depending on who you are,you’re searching for something specific

Anticipatory Computing

Last few minutes of conversation + context to predict next 10 seconds of

your thought process.

OK Google (Google Now)

Glass Environment

Emu App

Donna – acquired by Yahoo

Cue – acquired by Apple

Why This Matters

Super-Charged Reporting = What if we used these tools for reporting? This is a great opportunity for journalists and others.

MindMeld App Demo

I’ve just seen the future. Literally.

5

Experiential Journalism

I am afraid of heights.

Can you imagine other scenarios.....

Cultural Exchange Programfacilitated by two newsrooms

Live coverage from withinthe UN or EU

Immersive News Archiveallowing consumers to go inside

of historic stories

More headsets are coming.

Some news organizations,like USA Today, are starting to experiment.

Why This Matters

Your Future Platform = Rift and its competitors are already being developed for training, storytelling and education. This is the future platform for news.

You must become tech-first organizations.

B

Bonus Round

The most successful media companies don’t produce any news

Think about how newscontent is distributed

highlights.....

Platform First Digital First Tech First

Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era

Single Platform (newspaper, TV)

Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV) + Web, Social and Mobile

Media Tech Stack

Focuses on legacy media content Focuses on multimedia content

Focuses on building/ acquiring the tech that powers multimedia content

Relies on traditional advertising, word of mouthand social obligations to subscribe/ watch/ listen

Reacts to changes in search algorithms

Anticipates and plans for changes to search algorithms

Relies on traditional advertising, word of mouthand social obligations to subscribe/ watch/ listen

Reacts to changes in social media platforms

Anticipates and course-corrects for major changes in social media partners

Optimizes traditional content creation workflows

Optimizes digital content creation workflows

Optimizes all content distribution workflows

Develops content for the legacy media channel

Develops content for the device

Develops content for the consumer experience

Customizes content via location Customizes content via responsive design

Personalizes content for the individual consumer

Anticipates competition from other media companies

Anticipates competition from traditional and new media companies

Anticipates competition from external digital networks, algorithms, content marketing, search engine marketing

Monetizes the platform it offers

Monetizes the content it is creating and its platform offerings

Monetizes the technology, processes, audience and data it is creating

webbmediagroup.com

The Evolution of a Media Company

For each category above, plot your media company using this spectrum. What does this tell you about your organization’s future?

Platform First Digital First Tech First

Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era

Single Platform (newspaper, TV)Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV) + Web, Social and Mobile

Media Tech Stack

Focused on legacy media content Focused on multimedia contentFocused on building/ acquiring the tech that powers multimedia content

Optimizes traditional news workflows

Optimizes digital content creation workflows

Optimizes all content distribution workflows

Develops content for the legacy media channel

Develops content for the deviceDevelops content for the consumer experience

Customizes content via locationCustomizes content via responsive design

Personalizes content for the individual consumer

Monetizes the platform it offersMonetizes the content it is creating and its platform offerings

Monetizes the technology, processes, audience and data it is creating

Tech Stack

Definition: Layers of components used to create an application or provide a service.

Tech Stack

Tech Stack

Tech Stack

Newsroom Tech Stack

Vox Media is Tech First

•Platform for digital-native authoring and distribution. “Modern media stack” (= fancier CMS)

•Native format for real-time news coverage.

•Liveblogging platform that uses Amazon’s Cloudfront CDN in S3 requests.

Platform First Digital First Tech First

Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era

Single Platform (newspaper, TV)Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV) + Web, Social and Mobile

Media Tech Stack

Focused on legacy media content Focused on multimedia contentFocused on building/ acquiring the tech that powers multimedia content

Optimizes traditional news workflows

Optimizes digital content creation workflows

Optimizes all content distribution workflows

Develops content for the legacy media channel

Develops content for the deviceDevelops content for the consumer experience

Customizes content via locationCustomizes content via responsive design

Personalizes content for the individual consumer

Monetizes the platform it offersMonetizes the content it is creating and its platform offerings

Monetizes the technology, processes, audience and data it is creating

digital first ≠ tech first

“digital first” describes a workflow and an integration that should be a part of every journalism operation.

Why This Matters

Journalism’s Future = News organizations must transition into tech organizations that also produce content. You must build or acquire, and develop true partnerships.

Can You Pass OurF.U.T.U.R.E. Test?

Does your project pass our F.U.T.U.R.E. Test?

Will your new project, acquisition or digital strategy endure as technology and consumer behavior evolve? Is it future-proofed and able to withstand changes both inside your organization and in the marketplace? This F.U.T.U.R.E. Test should be used to assess your project’s strengths and weaknesses, regardless of its size or scope.

Foundation Unique Track Urgent Recalibrate Extensible

Foundation. Do you have support from key stakeholders within your organization? Can your project continue to function and evolve, even as key stakeholders transition away from your organization? Do you have a reasonable amount of time, money and desire to shape, launch and maintain your project? Have you set initial benchmarks to measure levels of support? Are your short-term and long-term timelines realistic, given your available resources?

Foundation Unique Track Urgent Recalibrate Extensible

Unique. Is your unique value proposition clear to your customer, whether that’s another business or an individual user? Is your IP difficult to replicate? As competitors emerge, how will you help others continue to understand what differentiates you?

Track. Do you have complete access to the data your project is creating? Given your organization’s current or planned structure, are you able to set meaningful benchmarks and to measure outcomes? Can you use that data for reliable analysis for customer retention and acquisition, as you scale and for your long-term development cycle?

Urgent. Does your project communicate a sense of urgency, both to your staff and your intended audience? Will there be continued demand for your project in the marketplace? Can you create demand within your customers? Will customers see your project as indispensable and invaluable, even as the marketplace evolves and new competitors emerge?

Recalibrate. Can your project evolve along with its intended customer segments as they upgrade their personal/ corporate technology? Do you have a realistic budget to continue along a reasonable development cycle? Do you and your staff have the time to comprehensively evaluate the project every two or three months, in order to make adjustments? Do you and your staff have the desire to continue working on the project after it has launched?

Extensible. Does your project rely on third-party software, tools, devices, content or code that you and your staff cannot control? Will you be able to recalibrate your project internally, or must you rely on another company to implement necessary changes? Can your project still operate independent of device, software or network upgrades? As consumer tastes and preferences change, can you adapt your project without pivoting from your original idea?

Thanks!

webbmediagroup.com hello@webbmediagroup.com @webbmediagroup267-342-4300