Navigate to your level, or beyond?

Getting smart about the hierarchy of smart - post by Seth Godin

The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition;
1. Novice
2. Advanced beginner
3. Competent
4. Proficient
5. Expert

Made me think about navigation models for web and tablets, do we give the different types of users the means to explore to their level of comfort? Are we aware of the differences, or simply settle for a common ground based on an assumed average user?
Can we offer several paths, while still giving the edited overview?
Are rss and other auto feeds one step? and social sharing or filtering on facebook or twitter another path, partially outside our "control" as such?

-...and the sun hid away behind nightshowers ...

Because we can

Cost reduction for high-end markets:

People who can afford to pay for service often choose to pay for service.

Another Seth G. golden nugget - there are a lot of markets where products don't cost anything proportional to their cost - call it branding or fashion, sometimes there is just a little bit extra there that makes it a comfort purchase more than anything else. So don't squander that on making "yet another" product. Make something special.

Books? Who needs them...

The first printed books came with a question: What do you do with these things? (boston.com via Nieman Lab)

Great read on the history of print and publishing, and how it evoloved - lots of interesing similariteis to the cahnge towards digital now; business leading the way with internal documents, lots and lots of classics reprinted / repurposed, and slim odds for authors expecting to make it big.

And one more thought from this weekend, as I've picked up a couple of magazine for the iPad - at 20-30 NOK ($ 3-5) the digital version is going for ~20% of the retail price here in Norway. And pretty close to the coverprice for a daily newspaper (at least weekend editions)

What does that imply short to medium term for those selling magazines at retail in Norway? 

And for those translating and re-issuing localized versions? Suddenly there is a very direct and very cheap competitor right there. Would you rather have the latest fashion trends the same day as 'everyone' worldwide, or at best a week or three later when the print editon is in the store - or the local version is out?

Learning? No so fast

Picked up a NYT piece a while ago from a tweet by Tim O'Reilly;

Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits, By Benedict Carey from September 6, 2010

Summed up; a disconnect between science findings and popular opinions (no! say it ain't so....)
But there is more; it is better to vary - both in terms of content/subject and place of study. And repeat.

Seems to match up pretty good with the way my own studies were set up - doing four or five different courses at a time, each with a mix of lecture, assignments and projects - spanning roughly four months and then a month of deep diving before final exams. Preparing for the exams by doing the previous exams - thereby mixing up the types of tasks and focus.

But still a nice read and good to know now that junior is in kindergarten, looking ahead to "learning games" and other boost to give him a solid foundation

- ...and the sun hasn't been out in view over the weekend, fall is here and the storms are making themselves known...

Never the twain shall meet?

After jumping past some other stories and book ideas I came across a good short essay on Mark Twain, but also or more importantly, on writing and self insight

There is a fascination about writing, even for my waste-basket, which is bread & meat & almost whiskey to me—& I know it is the same with all our craft

Mark Twain

Sometimes you just have to do it because it needs to be done, more than for any hope or glimmer of recognition, readership or even impact. And if that drive takes you, then at least you are taking the steps forward, honing the skills, the craft and the willingness to create more and better work over time.

Twain did, even if the The Prince and the Pauper (amz) failed miserably in terms of economics, readership and tech according to the essay


Just do it.

And then do it again
And again

Make it or code it?

Fair overview piece from the Economist, on the webversion / extension of the Intelligent Life Magazine; Whats with Steampunk

A bit shallow on the analysis compared to what I recall from the print side, haven't read lately so it could have changed...
Would have live to read a bit more on the digital vs real angle, linker up to sites like boingboing and the Make direction. Steampunk is cyberpunk brought back to something you can (imagine / visualize) being able to create yourself. While cyberpunk gives you a bit of ressonance if you program, most webusers really don't. So steampunk mixes in the tangible rather than a complex and encompassing digital realm, whilst still retaining the flair of the fantastic.

steampunk is clearly not just a look, but an embrace of a nearly mythical era of mad science and weird contraptions

The visual style and the golden age (1920'ies careless or carefree...) has been used to great effect both for movies like Sherlock Holmes (pre-steam...) and games such as Bioshock.

Is it the feeling that everything was simpler, understandable yet still outside your control?
Sure you could fit together the pieces of a diving suit, but the dark waters were still scary. But now it is close to magic, packages flying at literally the speed of light around the world with thousands of servers, switches and cables involved in the simpelst act of wathcing a video or writing a text.

...and the sun has probably set behind the grey clouds...

Learning by doing?

Along the way, kids demonstrated the very definition of creativity: alternating between divergent and convergent thinking, they arrived at original and useful ideas. And they’d unwittingly mastered Ohio’s required fifth-grade curriculum—from understanding sound waves to per-unit cost calculations to the art of persuasive writing.

 The Creativity Crisis - Newsweek piece on the downward trend in the scores on the (E. Paul) Torrance test used to measure creativity


So what is the best way for kids to stay kids - in terms of asking questions, finding (their own) answers and running with it?

Do we need school programs that use the mechanics and tools, frameworks for creativity and learning in teams? Or does the problem arise as much in the years leading up to it? Kinder garden or playtime at home - is it the "old" tv and games are bad argument with a twist? 

And if so, can we expect to see a break from the trend (since the 90-ies, downward) now with the digital world rapidly expanding both the access to information and  opportunities for expression? Are we heading into the shallows or expending our surplus of generosity? (Amazon links)




On a small aside - I find it rather annoying that Clay Shirkys book is not available on the Kindle in Europe - the Penguin site has a digital version for £20, while the US hardcover is retailing at $17 and the previous book in paperback is at $10 - guess I'll stick with the Shallows for now thank you very much

News draft

Reflections of a Newsosaur: A tale of two very different journalism start-ups:

Crovitz "late 1990s, one-year WSJ.com sub. cost $49, the incremental cost to serve a new subscriber was $8, By 2006, the price was $99 while the cost had dropped to 85 cents."

Publish2 - Karp, the venture’s CEO:
"Google and others have taken over distribution. And newspapers are at the tail end, which is the least profitable.”
“Collecting links should be a work product, Newsrooms can use and publish those links instead of throwing away that research.”

combine those two views with
"The Next Twitter or Facebook is the Open Web" a blog post from micropersuasion

"Marketers need to really embrace the fact that it's peers and their data, rather than brand, that will become the primary way we make decisions."

Reccomendations first from your friends, then from their network, then from everybody?
circles of trust, weight and degree of match (people like you thought this was a 4.1 - ref. netflix challenge - see older post)

what does that amount to for news?
journalists we trust?
editors as stars?
the return of the personal anchor?
blogs and gateways - and using a cross section to get our overall picture?

???


??

?


Getting Money from Readers Who Won't Pay for Online News

"I'm sorry, but on the Web -- with 15 years of free news already in the bag -- the reality is that it's not worth much coming from most non-niche daily newspapers. So learn to sell something else to support the journalism."

Membership - because it is worth it... think crm, think overall relationship and insight, added value for members and for 'sponsors' (aka advertisers giving something more as member benefits)

Then, to finish off - head over to brogan for some thoughts on 'The Next Media Company' - nothing less... way general, way first draft (at least it was back then), but good list to get the mind moving in new directions and challenge the assumptions we currently hold.

muse

want gives inspiration?
a picture?
a song?
a sound?

the view out the window
a cup of latte
an article

curling up on the sofa with a book

or just a random flash in the back of the mind?





(initially an old draft, not sure why it never made it - but here it is - cleaning out the closets!)