links for 2007-08-24

Politifact.com

Politifact: A new site covering the 2008 presidential race based on Adrian Holovaty’s vision of journalism based on structured information.

Silicon Alley Insider: CONFIRMED: Web Users Ignore Ads (But Newspaper Users Don’t?)
“Eye-tracking studies for newspapers: What’s the use if a user’s eye never settles on a section, let alone the page or area of the page? Why study what ads readers pay attention to when 90% of the paper ends up un-glanced-at on the rear stoop? ” (tags: newspapers advertising research problems business news+biz tidbits+fodder)
Whats Off the Record at N.H.T.S.A.? Almost Everything – Wheels – Autos – New York Times Blog
Is this even legal? “The agency’s new policy effectively means that some of the world’s top safety researchers are no longer allowed to talk to reporters or to be freely quoted about automotive safety issues that affect pretty much everybody.” (tags: government info+access journalism attribution problems censorship adversarial shortsighted)
A fundamental way newspaper sites need to change | Holovaty.com
From Sept. 2006, but well worth reading: “Newspapers need to stop the story-centric worldview. So much of what local journalists collect day-to-day is structured info. Yet the information gets distilled into a big blob of text — a newspaper story — that has no chance of being repurposed.” (tags: aggregation arranging+ideas databases datacasting change journalism journogeek news+biz tidbits+fodder)

AttentionMax » Blog Archive » Freakonomics’ Last Word On Partial RSS Feeds
“This vocal group is only a minority of overall readership. But these people and their passion help make the Freakonomics blog alluring in the first place. They make it alive, and their presence is disproportionately more valuable versus the passives.” (tags: feeds passion community controversy publishing business advertising problems)
Radical idea: give people what they want « RippedRead
Do annoying ads work? “70% admitted that they were more likely to remember an obnoxious campaign — and 11% said they were at least slightly more likely to buy!” Hmph. Apply directly to the forehead. Apply directly to the forehead. Apply directly to … (tags: advertising bad+example statistics business mycoverage AmyGahran)
‘Anchorwoman’ canceled already – Lost Remote TV Blog
“Fox will not air the rest of Anchorwoman episodes — less than a day after it premiered with dismal ratings. We’re still waiting for official word, but here’s the Fox memo as sent to us below (thanks for the tip, all!)… UPDATE: Fox confirms it.” (tags: tv problems bad+example)
Silicon Alley Insider: New York Times (NYT) Clinging to TimesSelect, Partial Feeds
“It’s not just we and hundreds of Freakonomics readers. Amy Gahran at Poynteronline is banging the same drum. Go full and figure out a good feed-advertising solution…instead of forcing readers to do something many of them hate to do.” (tags: mycoverage AmyGahran feeds controversy)
The McKinsey Quarterly: The Online Journal of McKinsey & Co.
“At one cable co, more than half the installers who contributed to an internal wiki said social factors (reputation building, team spirit, and community identification) motivated them to contribute. Only 20% cited the possibility of a financial bonus.” (tags: wikis business motivation human+nature social+dynamics)