Geeks Bearing Gifts

Capital: Investment in the Future

It took a half-century after Gutenberg’s invention of the press for the book to take on the form we know today. It took a full century, according to…

A Note on Journalism Education

These three areas of exploration — relationships, forms, and models — play themselves out in the curriculum and programs at the CUNY Graduate School of…

Metrics

We get what we measure and we are measuring the wrong things in media. Our old, mass-media metrics of reach and frequency — translated into their digital equivalents: unique users and…

The Link Economy and Creditright

There have long been two creations of value in media: the creation of content, yes, but also the creation of a public — an audience — for it. In legacy news…

The Pricing Paradox of Information

In Adam Smith’s paradox of value, he wondered why, if water is vital to life and diamonds are not, diamonds are worth so much more than water. The pricing…

Patronage

So far, we have examined direct revenue from users as a matter of access and ownership: a copyright-era model. And we have dealt in one currency: money. There are other models that…

Paywalls

If doomsday does come, who will pay for news? Someone has to, right? Who else will pay then but its consumers, yes? Isn’t that the common belief?

Native Advertising: Fiend or Foe?

Note that I have come this far in a discussion of advertising without addressing what is lately seen as the salvation of advertising and media: native…

Advertising, the Myth of Mass Media, and the Relationship Strategy

The myth of mass media, lovely while it lasted, was this: All readers see all ads, so we charge all advertisers for…

Business Ecosystems

As specialists, beats are efficient. But they are hardly sufficient to meet the complete needs of the larger community. Other, larger entities are required to complement…

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