Journalism is a business where there's always something to do, stories to cover, deadlines to meet.
It's work that can be a grind, particularly when you wait for stories to land in your lap. But journalism can be magic when you dive into the unknown, led only by a single tip that may or may not pan out.
Sadly, I regularly encounter journalists and other professionals who lack one key trait that separates the average from the great: curiosity.
Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated is a great journalist. Case in point is "The Forgotten Hero," an extraordinary tale that started with a solid tip about a long-forgotten small-college athlete but grew into a much larger story about a dying man whose zest for life inspired everyone around him.
"The Forgotten Hero" is Mike Reily, who played football at Williams College in the early 1960s. His life was cut short by Hodgkin's disease, and by all accounts the world lost a great one.
The video above is vaporware at this point, but represents real possibilities around the corner as multiple companies prepare to launch so-called digital tablets next year. Apple is among them, but others such as Wonderfactory and Plastic Logic CrunchPad are also thick in the game.
As a consumer and content creator, I love the concept: Rich, detailed and interactive content -- whether news or advertising -- that can be updated on the fly and on the go. They're not repurposing the magazine, they're reinventing it. And unlike a lot of the shiny objects we see online today, products like these are true game changers, no matter if they're niches initially because the tablets are expensive, the content scarce or whatever.
But as a business person and someone who has a good idea what it takes to create a slick product like this, I cringe that there was only one reference to advertising in the S.I. prototype. Creating such rich content week in, week out -- or daily, if you ditch the print-driven weekly production cycle -- will cost tons of money, which means the advertising has to be there from the get-go and not an afterthought. Subscription costs alone likely will not pay for the content production.
And I also wonder whether we're starting to see long-term segmentation in platforms, with print, desktops, gaming consoles and mobile devices all cornering their portion of the media landscape. Print is a killer app, and will be for years to come for a sizable audience that likes the predictability, the simplicity. Desktops and gaming consoles are wonderful social vehicles. But for many people, a digital tablet might be too much, too complex, too intense. There's a reason the Kindle is popular: It does a few things very well without the whiz and bang; it's an escape from the chaos in our lives, not an amplifier.
These are exciting times we live in, but for those people in the traditional news business, these are the challenges -- and opportunities -- that really make one pause. My head is spinning, both in a good and bad way. Anymore, that seems to be how life is.
Update on Friday, December 4, 2009 at 9:18 AM by
Logan Molen
Got an email from a smart guy at Gannett's Detroit newspapers -- which is doing some great work now, and planning into the future -- who asked about my Plastic Logic reference. The reference to Plastic Logic -- which is in the e-reader business -- was total brain fade on my part (cranked the post out too quickly). I meant CrunchPad, and have made the fix in the original post.
Update on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 11:03 AM by
Logan Molen
Fast Company reviews two new tablet PCs due to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronic Show next month (sadly, I can't attend this year -- there's a room set aside for e-readers, tablet PCs and the like).
Thumbs up on one, thumbs down on another, as well as an update on the weird Crunchpad debacle. Worth a quick read.
Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 10:14 PM
If you know me at all, you know I have a distaste for complacency. I’m a fan of challenging traditions that guide poor life or business practices. As anyone who’s taken on tradition, it’s difficult because there are entrenched loyalists who will fight to the death for their turf. That’s understandable, because processes become traditions because they were successful at some point. As situations change, however, traditions are very slow to die.
I loved this story in the latest Sports Illustrated because it chronicles high school football coach Kevin Kelley, who questions two long-standing traditions: kicking and punting. Instead of punting, Kelley has his team go for it. ALWAYS. Instead of long kickoffs, Kelley has his team try onside kicks. ALWAYS.
Why? Because the odds favor his alternatives.
Kelley came to that realization after poring through tons of game stats. So, for the last three seasons, his teams have stumped the competition by doing something different.
Sunday, November 20, 2011 at 1:01 AM 