First of all, THANK YOU!
We received some very strong submissions for this first installment of Version 5.0. There are some still waiting to see what we’re going to do next, (including my own later today). We’re looking forward to those who’ve already committed to submitting a piece next month.
Now…
This month’s prompt asked our participants to consider “Designing for audience behavior”.
Bryan Murley tackled each of the questions posed in our prompt in his submission. His most passionate portions focused on tackling “if and how” we should look to individual news organizations as a template.
A piece by our former benevolent #jcarn overlord, David Cohn reminds us how news organizations squandered a golden opportunity to build community in the mid-1990s. What would’ve happened if news organizations developed something like Twitter or Facebook? It’s something worth considering…
Michael Rosenblum asks us to consider what people are looking for when attempting to determine “For Whom Do We Report News?” He reminds us to consider the financial health of a news organization in the equation. He also reminds us we’re in an age where it is no longer “a veritable content desert”. Entertainment of the audience has become important for financial survival.
Donica Mensing touches on the financial significance of listening to an audience in her detailed list of six reasons. I was happy to see her include “the imperative to “build for needs, not audiences” in her assessment. It’s something I’m thinking of more and more as we think of the future of the delivery of news.
Ashley Books asks us to think about how we present the news. She wants us to look at how much work goes into making our audience search for the information they need. She suggests “once we start listening, we will find simple solutions” for how we “finally catch up with the modern reader.”
Aram Zucker-Schraff brought up methods and resources available to help us get how we present our work to our communities.
Carrie Brown says we need to get serious about understanding our audiences. She implores we cannot continue to allow for “a defensive retrenching back into attitudes and practices that privilege the journalist over the public we aim to serve.” I tend to agree.
A pretty nice collection for our return, indeed.
Here’s the list; we’ll add more as we learn of their existence. Remember, there’s always time to send us your submission.
- David Cohn: Designing for Audience Behavior
- Carrie Brown: Care about fact checking and credibility? Get serious about understanding your audience
- Bryan Murley: #Jcarn: Designing for audience behavior
- Ashley Books: It’s time to give news back to our readers
- Donica Mensing: Designing news for audience behavior
- Aram Zucker-Schraff: Users, Humans, and Eyeballs: Designing for News Readers
- Michael Rosenblum: Carnival of Journalism – For Whom Do We Report News?
- Ryan Singel: Design for readers, Not Against Them
- André Natta: Carnival of Journalism: Designing for Audience Behavior – On and Off-line
- Jonathon Groves: Journalism: One voice among many
If you’re interested in providing a prompt for the Carnival of Journalism to consider, drop us a line via email. We’ll contact you if you’re chosen ASAP so we can turn everyone loose again.
Thanks again for a great first episode!
Photo credit: Yellow Journalism. Kevin Harber/Flickr.