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By Injera, on December 15th, 2009%
Most mainstream media companies seem to have responded to the growth of the internet with fear and loathing. Newspapers, in particular, have failed to break out of the aesthetic of their page layouts which have traditionally represented hierarchies of newsworthiness. This means that newspapers on the web are newspapers adapted to the medium in a very superficial way, and this is not necessarily reader-friendly.
The New York Times is exploring new ways of reading online, and the Times Skimmer is one of these. It offers a much better reader experience than the traditional page layout. I also find it easier to browse than the Google Reader format. As with Reader, you are given the headline and an abstract of the article. To read the full article, click on it and it opens in the skimmer (ads, embedded videos and all) The Times Reader is also available for download and has a similar interface to the Skimmer – the download is free and allows access to the front page stories and previews of all stories in the paper; to read the full edition of the paper you must subscribe. It has a handy “browse” feature, which you can use to flip through the stories and the stories are presented more as they are in a hard copy – columns of text with accompanying images, which are often left out in online versions.
One of the elements of Murdoch’s proposal for paid content that has most riled me is that it hasn’t been presented as anything but a grab for cash; there hasn’t been any discussion on investing in the web to make the content more reader-friendly, the ads less intrusive, or the discussion in the comments better moderated. What the NYT seems to be doing is demonstrating an understanding that the web and the hard-copy are two distinct media, and showing a willingness to invest in ways of translating the content to best fit the internet.
By injera, on July 20th, 2009%
Violence is everybody’s problem, according to the Editorial page in Saturday’s Age. Violence might be “everybody’s problem”, but the bigger problem is that the government is currently spinning “everybody’s problem” to mean “everybody’s responsibility” and, in doing so, is avoiding taking any steps to counter it.
The full article is here; below are some items of particular interest to me.
Continue reading The problem of violence, and the non-solutions
By injera, on April 27th, 2009%
As a “bonus” with Saturday’s Age, we received a copy of
theage
(melbourne)
magazine
There’s an awful lot to dislike in this shiny, inconveniently sized publication. Earnest lower case titles, random use of contrasting colours, and enthusiastically misplaced brackets are only a small part of the problem.
Continue reading Oh, no – another whinge about the paper
By injera, on April 5th, 2009%
Buying the weekend newspapers is nothing more than a habit for me now that the “news” is available online. It’s a habit I just can’t seem to break, even though they aggravate more than they enlighten me. The Sunday Age is the worst culprit, with its supplements that skew nauseatingly to the “women’s magazines” end of the market. Usually, I flip through the “Life” and the “M” and rant to my partner. With him away, I’m reduced to this. Blogging a whinge.
So, what are the things I hate most?
Continue reading Things I hate most about The Sunday Age (and something I like)
By injera, on February 6th, 2009%
Summer. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. No, that’s not right. That’s autumn, and it’s still a month away. While I wait for the mists and the mellowing fruit (in vain, it seems; the recent heatwave has dried grapes on the vine and stewed apples on the tree) I suffer through the end of the non-ratings period on TV and the moronic advertising that seems to match the programming.
The following is just a sample.
Continue reading Cricket – too many opportunities for ad breaks
By injera, on July 2nd, 2008%
“She’s not even black.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euu_DMhsXQo]
I wish I could stop singing the song…
By injera, on June 3rd, 2008%
I’m glad I can rely on The Age to be on-the-ball with breaking news. Twelve hours after the newspaper’s own immediate vicinity was closed off, an online news report appeared. Two guys, on the roof of The Age building, were making their own version of I Am Legend. According to the report, which seems to have disappeared, they had replica weapons and were taking turns photographing each other in poses from the movie. A security guard at the newspaper noticed them on via security cameras and called it in to the police and… well, I saw the result.
There was no mention of a man lying in Little Lonsdale Street, so perhaps I imagined that. Apparently the two film-makers tried to escape on their bikes (I’m not sure whether the image I have in my mind of two lanky guys on BMXs is due to reporting or wishful thinking) and were caught in King Street. Not, then, apprehended violently in Little Lonsdale.
By injera, on June 1st, 2008%
As I was walking down Spencer Street this morning, a police car sped by with lights flashing but no sirens. When I reached the LaTrobe Street corner, the citybound lane was blocked off by a police van and two officers were standing by, redirecting traffic. Odd, I thought, but kept walking.
At the next corner, another van was parked. Beside this van was an unmarked car with a flashing dashboard light. More officers were standing by. A group of people (onlookers? voyeurs? passers-by? evacuees?) were standing on the western side of the street, angling for a view of Little Lonsdale Street.
Continue reading Another mystery police operation
By injera, on May 27th, 2008%
We were woken at 3.30 on Monday morning by what sounded like an enormous, jet propelled street sweeper. Seething, I started composing my angry email to Melbourne City Council in my head. Craig finally responded to my nagging and investigated, reporting back that it was a police helicopter. When ignoring it proved impossible, I got up to have a look. The helicopter seemed to be focussing on our little laneway, and there were uniformed officers everywhere. After fifteen minutes or so, the dogs arrived, sending Rufus and Injera into a panic.
Continue reading Racket
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