As we have begun to publish A Fresh, Ferocious Wave, research is taking us onto a lot of interesting sites, all of us trying to figure out what might happen next to the media. If you’re casting about for answers as well, here are some places to look.
Reflections of a Newsosaur is Alan D. Mutter’s blog. Mutter, the former city editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, describes himself as “the only CEO in Silicon Valley who knows how to set type one letter at a time.” He mostly focuses on the newspaper industry and has lately been commenting on the financial side of things—media stocks, advertising, etc. Interestingly, Mutter doesn’t do social media. You have to subscribe to his stuff. Apparently you can take the journalist out of print but you can’t make him drink the SM Kool-Aid.
Theory.org “explores the complex relationship between media and identities and tries to have a little fun.” This one is a lot more interested in everyday creativity than in money. You can even buy action figures like Michel Foucault which comes “with thoughtful head movement.”
Mashable offers news on social and digital media, technology and web culture. It gets more than 25 million monthly page views. Its business section is an especially good source of ideas rather than hand wringing. This morning’s lead was about a partnership between Allure magazine and Microsoft to let readers access free beauty product giveaways via their mobile phones.
Newsonomics is the website supporting Ken Doctor’s book of the same name. Doctor, an analyst and owner of Content Bridges, says that the desires of the online audience are “apparently endless, and impatient.” In what he calls an “Age of Darwinian Content,” he hopes to help us rise to that challenge.
What’s Next Magazine is an exploration of the future of print with, well, print. It’s a custom magazine project for Sappi, the global paper and pulp company, that has more than a little stack in print surviving. Two print issues a year, each themed, are available free, printed on a variety of Sappi papers. Gorgeous but with a really frustrating website.
