Attending I-Law

I'll be at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society's Internet Law program at Stanford on Monday and Wednesday this week, it appears. Not sure if they'll have wireless access, but I suspect so. I hope to finally meet Donna Wentworth of Copyfight blog fame, among others.

Truth as a Revolutionary Act

Lost Remote: Truth as a Revolutionary Act. Why Journalists Should Blog With Brutal Honesty, an essay by Steve Safran, exec producer at NECN: New England Cable News in Boston.

Thanks to Ryan of Dead Parrot Society for the pointer.

15 minutes of fame for Christa

My niece, Christa Schiro, and her husband, Stef Barillari, are one of four newlywed couples portrayed in a Diane Sawyer special on ABC Monday night at 10 called My Big, Wild, You're Not-Gonna-Believe-This Wedding. Already spotted her on a couple of promos. Hey, I was there and dancing away at the reception, so maybe I'll be on prime time, too.

Filtering software's shortcomings

Mark Glaser in OJR: Is Filtering Software a Threat to Free Information Online? The Supreme Court puts access to online information in the wrong hands.

On personalized news

Melissa, a graduate student at Iona College, wrote and asked for some thoughts about personalization and personalized news, which I explored in depth here and here. Here's our brief Q&A:

How do you think personalization will continue to affect the public receiving information and news?

I think weíre at a very early, rudimentary stage of where personalization will take us. The early implementations of personalization by news and information sites have been less than a smashing success because the tools have been clunky and the effort too demanding of users, who need a definitive payoff for the amount of time and energy they put into the process. In the future, weíll begin to see more seamless, invisible technology at work. Part of it will consist of the next generation of collaborative filtering technology that we now see in places like Amazonís book recommendations. Part of it will consist of permission marketing and opt-in services, like training your TiVo to learn which kinds of shows (and commercials) you like. And part of it will consist of looking at personalization itself in new ways.

Why shouldnít news and information sites learn more about your personal tastes, interests and political views and then tailor specific packages of news, analysis and opinion to you based on those criteria? Today they donít have a business incentive to do so because few people would pay for those additional services. The day will arrive, probably driven by direct-marketing and advertising dollars, when they will capture that information and provide the extra layer of personalized editorial content in tandem with the marketing messages.

As more people begin to use broadband, do you think that the use of personalized sites on the web, especially video streams, will be utilized more than they are now?

Broadband has now reached one-fifth of U.S. household. Earlier this year ESPN.com began ìrepurposingî its cable channel broadcasts by streaming live sports feeds to its website; others, like MSNBC.com, will almost certainly follow suit. But media companies and advertising agencies still think of the Web as a one-to-many mass medium rather than a many-to-many medium for the masses. So Iíd place my money on small startups, enterprising individuals and savvy programmers to provide most of the innovation in this area.

You write in your article "The Promise of the Daily Me," that there are 3 types of personalization --what is the major difference between them in your opinion?

I think youíre referring to this:

We can think of personalization in several ways:

• Personalized news content: The most common use of the term personalization refers to filters that give us control over the content selection process. By whatever means ó a Web site that remembers who you are, a bot that trolls the Internet at your command ó you have a greater say over the kinds of news, headlines and information that come streaming into your life. Think of this as the "what" of personalization.

• Personalized news experience: If personalized news selection is the main meal, personalized news experience is the tablecloth, candlelight and violin music. Users decide on the setting of their news experience, the frequency, and the method. We might access our personalized information via e-mail, pop-up screen alerts, pager, cell phone, mobile palm device, or Web page whose appearance we can alter. Think of this as the "where," "when" and "how" of personalization.

• Personalized news services: Service journalism shines when it hands us tools to make the news more personally relevant and when it simplifies our lives. Personalized services might be about connecting workers, sharing products, or solving a chore or project. Think of this as the next stage of personalization, where an individual's personal needs or work tasks are met, sometimes for a price.

I still think those are valid distinctions. You might create a news channel featuring political news from political correspondents of ABCNews.com. The site may allow you to structure it in such a way to consume the latest polls, news and analysis on your PC, laptop, Palm device, cell phone or pager. And they may offer add-on services that let you subscribe to a political campaignís newsletter, download the trailer of a campaign speech, or let you sign up to volunteer to work for a candidate.

Where do you think the future of personalization on the Net is going?

I doubt weíll see a breakthrough in personalized news on traditional news sites any time soon, given the lack of profits in the model and the reluctance by publishers to invest in new technologies without a likely payoff. Instead, I think weíll likely see personalization make its first real inroads in a new electronic medium such as tablet PCs. Tablet PCs, just now entering the marketplace, offer the prospect of subscription services tied to constantly updated editorial content, relevant advertising, and alert services. Personalized content encompasses all three, whether itís a notification of a used car model youíve been looking for that just came on the market, or wire news feeds about whatís happening in your hometown, or daily news briefings about a subject you're researching for school.

One other thought: It would be a mistake to think of news personalization only in terms of those offered by media organizations, online or offline. Music fans, for example, can tune in to hundreds of sites that offer news and information about their favorite band, and thousands more fan sites, many of which offer news, event updates, reviews and more. Weblogs have exploded onto the scene, often offering news and commentary on niche subjects. Already, tens of thousands of people use RSS news readers, or news aggregators, to read the latest news and comment from their favorite bloggers, online journalists or newspaper sections. Thatís a form of personalization, allowing users to filter out the extraneous and funnel in the information they need and want.