Stats for New York Times in Print vs. Web

As a followup to the activity we did in class this past week, I thought you might be interested in seeing some numbers that show circulation data for the print and digital editions. According to a May 2013 report from the Alliance for Audited Media, circulation looks like this:

  • print: 731,395
  • digital: 1,133.923

Clearly the digital edition is more popular than the print one. If you go the New York Times website and look for the Media Kit section that offers info to potential advertisers, you can dig up some interesting details about how the readership differs. I took screenshots of the two pages–one for the print and one for the digital–that offer insights into who prefers one format over the other:

NYT--Media Kit--Newspaper

NYT--Media Kit--Online

Among women there is a slight preference for the online edition over the print, although this difference probably isn’t statistically significant. There is clear evidence here, though, that the the household incomes (HHI) of print subscribers is higher than online, something that was theorized in class by some of you. It’s always good to have data to back up assertions like that.

 

A Wiki for Here Comes Everybody

Today, you should check your Baruch email account to look for an invite from PBworks to join a wiki that I set up for our class. PBworks is a website that lets you make your own wikis. We’ve got one now that will be all about the book we’re reading for class:

lib3040spring2014.pbworks.com

We’ll use this wiki for in-class activities from time to time as well as for a homework assignment and your group presentation. Details to come in class today.

Due Dates

I updated the Course Outline and Assignments pages on the course website with due dates for assignments. Here is a rundown on what I updated:

  • Homework #2 is due on March 13
  • Homework #3 is due on March 25 (details to come)
  • Homework #4 is due on April 3 (details to come)
  • Homework #5 is due on May 15
  • Team 1 will do their chapter presentation on April 24
  • Team 2 will do their chapter presentation on April 29
  • Team 3 will do their chapter presentation on April 29
  • Team 4 will do their chapter presentation on May 1
  • Team 5 will do their chapter presentation on May 1
  • Team 6 will do their chapter presentation on May 1

Rad or Fad?

The topic I’d like to focus on is the “fad” of social networks. Just like that cool pair of the bell-bottom jeans and those nifty sneakers that have wheels attached to them, the Internet goes through phases. First lets go back in time and think back to the popular social media tools that took over our society roughly ten years ago.

-Xanga

– Friendster

– MySpace

 I always wondered why websites just seem to fall off that face of the earth. Well not literally fall of the face of the Earth, but the public just seems to stop caring. Chat rooms filled with hundreds of people have suddenly become a ghost town. Why is that? It also seems as if social media websites lose their popularity AFTER drastic improvements are made to the site. Does the world hate the idea of change?I always see people complaining about new modifications to their favorite social network. Or does the website become redundant and is change exactly what we long for?

 

How Do You Use a Rotary Phone

On the Mental Floss blog this week, there’s a charming video of cute kids being asked to figure out how a rotary phone works.

The blog post also links to an earlier post that gives you a chance to hear 11 sounds of lost or or outmoded technology. And if you want to take a peek at my family’s first home computer, you can see what we had back in 1978-1983: an Apple II.

Have any of you ever used a rotary phone to make a call? If yes, is there anything that you miss about it?

Group 4: New York Times Online & Print Comparison

1. What content is uniquely in the paper? Static advertisements

In the web edition? Video, live comments, search bar

 

2. What features and functionality are uniquely in the paper? Ability to make notes

In the web edition? Article responses from the readers, videos, updated weather information, updated content, easy access to previous issues and content, more interactivity with ads and whole newspaper in general.

 

3. What can you do with the print edition that you can’t do with the web edition?

What can you do on the web edition that you can’t do with the print one? Search for content easier with the search bar, save your articles, have it virtually anywhere without having to physically bring anything with you,

 

4. How would you compare overall the design aesthetic of the two? The web is more aesthetically pleasing, with live videos, a bright white backdrop, colors, and generally more interactivity; the print version has minimal colors, a drab gray backdrop,

 

5. What evidence can you find about ways that the web edition is received/responded to by readers online (both on the NY Times website and elsewhere on the web)? The amount of response comments on articles,

 

6. What if any evidence can you find that the readership of the print edition is not the same as the web edition?  The web edition’s ads and overall content are somewhat different than the print edition, and are geared towards that specific readership instead.

The New York Times: Web vs. Online

James Johnson, Damla Bek, Maricia Newton, William Wong

The content published uniquely in this (obviously daily) newspaper is what’s submitted by the deadline. Some articles—especially time-sensitive ones—are available online before they can actually be put in print for the next day’s edition. The website is updated in real time, as reflected by the Times‘ coverage of the Olympics. There are also videos available on the Times website, though this is obviously not feasible in print.

There’s no search bar in the print edition, so you have to leaf through the pages carefully. Since the print edition is actually tangible, you can use it for other things after you have no use for it anymore. You have easy access to old articles/editions through the website, and the online articles also have hyperlinks. Contractions must be printed in the next day’s edition, but online the articles can easily be updated to reflect false reporting.

In terms of aesthetics, the website, is more user-friendly. There are blogs as well as a New York Times store. The print paper is kind of impenetrable and unwieldy, whereas the website is far easier to manage and navigate. More than that, advertisements are the glue of the print edition. Lastly, when stories from the front page are continued on other pages, more often than not, you have to go searching for it.

The Times website has comments sections open on each article, allowing users to share their input. There also buttons so you can conveniently share whatever article you please via email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, or Reddit. This makes the website a little more interactive for readers.

Given that subscription to the daily delivery of the Times is more expensive than solely digital access, we would imagine that wealthier people tend to read the paper in print. Environmentalists and people who use smart technology might favor the online edition.

 

 

Team 2

  • Content & Design
    • What content is uniquely in the paper? on the web edition?
      In the paper, there’s full page ads and general ads. On the web edition, each of the ads are personalized to your interest. For the weather and sports section, the print version will only focus on the local New York area. However if there is an individual from outside the New York area that view the New York Times online, they can get personalized weather and sports.
    • What features and functionality are uniquely in the paper? on the web edition?
      In the paper, you have the original content and it cannot be updated or changed. The paper edition can be kept and stored as an antique. On the web edition, it can be updated on a real time basis. It can also be emailed and shared in the web edition. In the web edition, you can access U.S., international, or Chinese versions. Paper version is access to what you just purchased.
    • What can you do with the print edition that you can’t do with the web edition? what can you do the the web edition that you can’t do with the print one?
      In the print edition, you own the physical copy which you can feel and smell. Also it’s more visual and you can flip through the pages to continue the story. On the web, the story is already continued for you so you don’t need to flip through pages to continue reading. Also you can access the archive of the newspaper when you own the physical copy but sometimes you’re limited for the web edition.
    • How would you compare overall the design aesthetic of the two?
      The front page photo is a photo is always an attention grabber or exaggerated. On the print edition, stories are cut off so therefore to continue you would have to reference to another page. Web stories are continuous reads.
  • Relationship between the NY Times and readers
    • What evidence can you find about ways that the web edition is received/responded to by readers online (both on the NY Times website and elsewhere on the web)?
      On the web edition, you can comment on the article to share your own opinions. If the opinion is valid, then there will be a whole discussion about it. They can easily share the article through Facebook, Twitter, email and you can save it for future reference. On the web edition, there’s an email list of contributors to the article, so you can directly contact those contributors.
    • What if any evidence can you find that the readership of the print edition is not the same as the web edition?
      Readers may contact the contributor through email and written mail. However, it requires additional time and effort to do so. For readers of the print edition, readers might feel more inclined to absorb the information whereas online readers would skim it quickly just to find the specific information they need.

Newspaper vs. Webpaper

The newspaper is unique in that news is first organized by order of importance, and then news is filtered and divided into different sections, whereas on the website, the news is scattered, making it for difficult for one to tell the prominence of the story. The website is easier to access, allowing one to go from topic to topic with just one click of the mouse. The videos make news more interesting, and interactive, which is very different from the newspaper. With the newspaper, one can save newspaper clippings as memorabilia or ephemera.

In terms of aesthetic appeal, the website is more convenient, and is in a layout that we are used to using: sections lead to categories which lead to other sections. The newspaper is bulkier, and may leave brown residue on your fingers. The advertising online is more appealing, and it is easier to shop for what you would like as the website is only one click away.

The relationship between NYT and its readers is shown more on the website than it is on the newspaper. The physical newspaper is a one way communication, while the website allows people to comment on news articles, write, share and submit blogs. (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/) The blogs even feature a twitter account, which is constantly updated, which makes the reader feel like they are interacting with the blog poster themselves.

Evidence thatshows web news is more popular: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2011/08/print_vs_online.html

 

paper:
more local ads
coupons
mainly black
2nd page provides short summaries of different news/table of contents
has an edition number so it can be archived
Not as many distractions in the paper than in online
web:
videos
blogs
comments
more convenient to find categories
provide suggestions/recent posts
several different listings for jobs, topics written by readers

slate.com print vs.online

Team 1, NY Times class activity

Content & Design

  • What content is uniquely in the paper? on the web edition?
    >The comic strips and crossword puzzles are only available in the print edition of the paper. In addition to that, on the print edition the headline is on the front page. But on the web edition, the homepage provides excerpts of the different news stories available. That way you can see which story appeals to you more.
  • What features and functionality are uniquely in the paper? on the web edition?
    >The web edition has the search bar and has additional photos related to a story that’s may not be shown on the print edition due to the limited space. Also, in the print edition  only selected stories have colored photos.
  • What can you do with the print edition that you can’t do with the web edition? what can you do the the web edition that you can’t do with the print one?
    >With the print edition, you can physically hold it and fold it accordingly to whichever story you want to read. In the web edition, as mentioned before you can easily search with key words for articles, it’s easier and more convenient for those who prefers to read on their tablets and laptops. In addition to that, the web addition provides access to older editions of the newspapers you might’ve missed. You can also share the link to the article that you are reading through other sorts of social media plugs such as Facebook by liking the page. You can also comment on the article on the web edition.
  • How would you compare overall the design aesthetic of the two?
    >The overall design for the web is more aesthetically pleasing since you can refine your searches through the tabs. Also you don’t have to constantly flip through multiple pages to finish the article, in most cases it’s about 2-3 pages.

 

Relationship between the NY Times and readers

  • What evidence can you find about ways that the web edition is received/responded to by readers online (both on the NY Times website and elsewhere on the web)?
    >You can find out about the ways that the web edition is responded to through the comments that may be left on the website. Not only through the comments on the actual webpage itself, but also when the readers share the story on social media such as Facebook. On Facebook you can see who has shared the link and who has liked or disliked the article. You can also tell by how many people shared the link to the article.
  • What if any evidence can you find that the readership of the print edition is not the same as the web edition?
    > There was an article that talked about the differences between the print edition and the web edition of The New York Times. You can read it here. One of the differences that the article highlights is how much content is available on the print edition vs. the web edition (specific content vs. everything that the paper reports on). There is also a page in the print edition that features a selected reader’s, submitted comment that is published.

Group 5

Only on the web:

1. There’s a search bar to look up articles that you want to read about.

2. There are ads on the front page.

3. There are two versions, the New York Times and the International

4. The NY Times page updates immediately.

5. You have the ability to comment on the articles.

6. There are videos on the site.

7. There’s a section that tells you the articles that are most viewed and a recommended for you option.

8. The weather section is updated.

9. Sometimes, you have to subscribe to see the full article.

Only in the newspaper:

1. There’s a full page of ads.

2. The newspaper is separated in specific sections – like separate newspapers combined into one.

3. They have long preview of the article on the front page followed by a “continued on page…”

4. Newspapers are heavy, bulky, and dirty.

5. Articles are next to each other, when for online, you have to click on the article to read it.

The online website is more organized compared to the physical newspaper. The physical newspaper is trying to fill up space by placing full size ads and not utilizing the space. The online version is easier on the eyes, the print is bigger than the print in the newspaper. You can highlight or comment on the physical newspaper but you cannot do that on the online version. People can share their thoughts through the comment section and interact. It’s more like a forum and can make you engaged into your reading. You can share the web article but not the physical article. When you subscribe to the newspaper online, you can get the updates immediately on your phone (live updates).

Most retweeted photo in history

This past sunday Ellen Degeneres’ tweet of a few of the most famous celebrities at the Oscars broke the record for the most retweeted of all time tweets. It currently holds the record of 3.1 million retweets and beat the original record that Obama held of a photo of him hugging his wife Michelle with the comment “four more years” after he had won his re-election. I find it comical that more people were somewhat more tuned in to the winning of an oscars trophy than the winning of a presidency. Does this tell us something? Does this tell us that more people are infatuated with celebrities and oscars then the outcome of a political presidency? How do social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook influence what is relevant and what needs to be shared? Certainly people thought that the oscars were more exciting then Obama winning his re-election right? OR is it the photo that people are more inclined to share rather then the words? This brings up the debate of the saying that pictures say a thousand words or vice versa?

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/03/ellen-degeneres-selfie-retweet-obama

Sharing good news or bad….

On Sunday March 2nd, the host of the 86th Oscars Ellen Degeneres took a group selfie and posted it to the internet. That photo as of March 4th has been retweeted more than 2.5 million times. That is more than 3 times the previous record holding 777,000 retweets of President Obama’s inaugural hug with his wife Michelle. Degeneres’ photo has far surpassed any old records and set a high bar for others to follow.

This seems like a fun and entertaining record, but in light of current world events doesn’t it seem a bit frivolous and uncaring to retweet a photo of celebrities at an expensive event where attendees are given gift bags worth $80,000? With so much different news happening in the world why does a photo of multiple celebrities garner so much attention from internet users and the media. Russia has invaded Ukraine, the Oscar Pistorius murder trial is about to start and North Korea is firing scud missiles on the eve of joint exercises between the U.S and South Korea and that’s just to start. There is so much occurring or developing in the world yet a snapshot of actors garners more attention and sharing than poor, hungry orphaned kids in Africa. Does this mean there is an inherent downside to all of the access we have through the internet or are internet users just unwilling to face or share bad news or more serious matters.

Simple advice from the world’s oldest person. Not simple enough for our generation.

Yahoo News posted recently of the world’s oldest person tips on living a long life. This person, named Misao Okawa, is expected to celebrate her 116th birthday on Wednesday, March 5th. According to Yahoo News Misao Okawa states that one will have a long life if one follows her advice, “Eat and sleep and you will live a long time. You have to learn to relax.”

My question is: With the quick and continuous rise of technology and information, is the term ‘relax’ even defined literally anymore? If we were to live to such age (which is highly likely), what would our advice be on living such long lives and how would it differ from that of Misao Okawa’s?

Smart Phones, Smart Watches, Smart .. Rings?

My mother’s smart phone recently broke down and she is temporarily using an old flip phone until the new Galaxy S5 is released. Seeing my mother bring out the flip phone, brought back memories where I thought the flip phone was the coolest and one of the most advance technologies out there next to having a computer.

After reading this article on the Bluetooth Ring from Mashable.com, it surprises me to see how easy technology makes our lives easier. From the Google Glasses to the Samsung Watch and now the Bluetooth Ring, which is actually the Logbar’s Ring device. It looks like an average  silver ring, but inside the device are electronics that allow it to recognize your finger gestures and control any number of devices. By recognizing finger gestures, Ring allows the person to write text messages by simply drawing in the air.

Although I think the Ring is unique and wearable, I would like to know if this ring can be incorporated into our lifestyles or will it be a luxury item like the Google Glasses?  http://http://mashable.com/2014/03/03/bluetooth-ring/

Should Online Gambling be legalized in New York?

Online gambling is intrinsically better than gambling in real life. As of right now, there are plenty of underground poker rooms in New York City. They are sometimes hard to find and to get in to. Also, there can be huge problems with walking in to an underground poker room with a large sum of money in your pocket. The safety is not there and there can be suspicions of cheating. Well online poker gets rid of all those fears.

Playing online poker is extremely easy and secure. You could wake up, go on your computer and play poker for any amount you want, all in your pajamas. You play in the safety and comfort of your own home. There is no fear of collusion or of being robbed.

Online poker has been able to become a significant threat to traditional casinos. The transaction costs to create an online poker room has plummeted. In order to create an online poker room, you just need servers, proper software and minimal staff. This is nothing compared to casinos which need real estate, security, dealers etc.

Another thing to be noted is the speed of play. Online poker has a very rapid pace of play. However playing live poker is much more slow. This means fewer hands played for the consumer and less fun. A single hand in real life can take a few minutes. For example,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY82JG7sdeg

Unfortunately, on April 15, 2011, the United States Department of Justice shutdown the most popular poker sites for U.S. players. Since this shut down, most American poker players have stopped playing online poker altogether. Only certain states are allowed to play poker online. Should New York really be left behind? Is it fair for some states to enjoy the freedom of playing online while we cant?

The Rise of the Chinchilla

Chinchillas are known today as an adorable animal, similar to a squirrel and a rabbit. They are native to the Andes mountains in South America. Also, they sport the densest and softest fur of any animal in the world. Petting a chinchilla is akin to putting your hand on a cloud. They are fairly popular pets as of today. However back in 2005, Chinchilla’s were a relatively unknown rodent. There was not much information online about these tiny balls of fur.

As big chain pet stores started to pick up chinchillas, information started flooding online. People started to understand how to care for these fragile animals and would post their knowledge online. As time went on, breeder associations, web rings, and Facebook pages arose that were completely dedicated to creating a well of knowledge to anyone who wanted to take care of a domesticated chinchilla.

Owning a chinchilla requires a decent amount of research on taking care of it. The wealth of information on the Internet and ease of access to it has allowed chinchilla pet care to flourish. If publishing and communication had not evolved, would chinchillas be as widespread? What other ways could you find out about them?

Where is E-Sports headed now?

E-sports or competitive gaming has seen colossal growth in the past few years. For example, the immensely popular game called League of Legends recently hosted its Worlds Championship last October. The tournament was held in the Staples Center and it was completely sold out. Millions of people watched live on the web. The event had over 32 million people watching with 8.5 million people watching concurrently. This is a short HBO documentary covering the event and its background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMh2b_n7cKw

E-Sports is massively successfully at the moment, but a decade ago, it was not doing so well. Access to live tournaments was just non-existent. The proper platforms to deliver the content to the masses were not in place. Thus, E-sports had nowhere close to the number of viewers to traditional sports. Traditional sports had their channels on television. Back then, the only way you could watch the competitive scene for your favorite game, was to be at the tournament itself. This was just not feasible for the majority of people.

Recently, appropriate platforms that would deliver this media live came into existence. Websites like Twitch, Ustream, and Youtube have made it possible to give consumers access to this media live, without actually being at the event. This allowed E-sports to get to where it is today. Where do you think E-sports will be in the next 5 years? If events started charging money for viewing, would you pay to watch?

 

Homework 1

In reviewing the homework as it came in, I was a bit troubled with some of the work that was submitted. Because I want to make sure that everyone can master the basic skill of distinguishing between types of publications, I’m going to make a deal with you. Anyone who wants to revise what they submitted has until the beginning of class next Tuesday to do so. After class begins next Tuesday, I’ll grade what has been submitted. For those of you who submitted your work late for today (Thursday by 2:30 pm), I’ll be taking points off for being late and then grade what you have done by Tuesday.

I noticed that almost everyone made at least one mistake on the assignment by incorrectly identifying the type of source. Other people didn’t follow the instructions to have one of each kind:

  • magazine article
  • newspaper article
  • peer-reviewed article from a scholarly journal
  • book

Some folks didn’t include a sentence for an item telling me what kind of source it was or how it was connected to the ideas in Clay Shirky’s book.

Other folks had trouble with MLA-style citations. Here is advice you’ll want to look over and then keep in mind as you examine your citations:

  • you don’t need to put the URL for where the article was if you found it in a database
  • every initial letter in the title of a book or article should be in capitals (except for prepositions and conjunctions)
    • Incorrect
      • Doyle, William R. “The politics of public college tuition and state financial aid.” Journal Of Higher Education 83.5 (2012): 617-647. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
      • Shirky, Clay. Here comes everybody: The power of organizing without organizations. New York: Penguin Press, 2008.
        • All words in the article title should be capitalized except for the prepositions (e.g., of) and conjunctions (e.g., and)
      • Doyle, William R. “The Politics Of Public College Tuition And State Financial Aid.” Journal Of Higher Education 83.5 (2012): 617-647. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
      • Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power Of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press, 2008
        • Prepositions (e.g., of) and conjunctions (e.g., and) should never be capitalized
    • Correct
      • Doyle, William R. “The Politics of Public College Tuition and State Financial Aid.” Journal Of Higher Education 83.5 (2012): 617-647. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
      • Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. Print.
  • if you found the text of an article in a database, then the name of that database must be mentioned in your citation (as is the case with the citation above for an article found in Academic Search Complete)
  • book titles should always be in italics (this is true for your citations as well as for any sentences where you mention the title of a book) and never in quote marks

Here are some tips that may help with distinguishing between source types:

Peer-reviewed journal articles in scholarly journals

  • they are long; if you’ve have found something that is under 5 pages, it is probably not a peer-reviewed article
  • some articles in journals are longer than 5 pages (not by much) but aren’t peer-reviewed journal articles but instead write ups of conferences that people attended or are multi-authored articles where each author is engaged in a conversation with the others; a peer-reviewed article offers results on original research, not news
  • a book review in a scholarly journal is not a peer-reviewed journal article

Magazine articles

  • magazines are published on a weekly or monthly basis
  • they usually have one-word names or names that are just a few words
  • magazine articles can be anywhere from 1-20 pages, though they tend to average 2-3 pages
  • some magazines that publish really long articles are scholarly in nature but the articles are not peer-reviewed (that’s something that only scholarly journals do)

Newspaper articles

  • newspapers are usually published every day (so you browse of a list of issues for a newspaper, you’ll see a new issue for each day and if you browse a list of issues for a magazine you’ll see list of issues for each week or month)
  • newspapers are connected to a city or town in some way (if you don’t see the name of a town or city in the newspaper, go to the website of the source you found to see if it really looks like a newspaper)
  • to get a sense of what newspaper names look like, check out this list of newspapers that begin with the letter N (the website offers a directly of links to newspaper websites from around the world)

If you are uncertain about the source type you are dealing with, you can always go to the website for it, as that will offer details about the publication (look for an “about” or “about us” section). Once you see what other kinds of articles are published there, you can usually get a sense if what you are looking at is a magazine (because all the articles look like magazine articles) or a scholarly journal (because the website mentions how articles are peer-reviewed) or a newspaper (because the rest of the articles look like news articles).

Smart Toothbrush

How advanced does your toothbrush have to be? Oral-B, a dental manufacturer has created a “smart toothbrush” along with an app on your phone that shows you how long you have been brushing for and how well you’re brushing. You get real-time feedback for two minutes – the amount of time each brushing session should be. When you finish, the app will rate you based upon time and distribution and even give you a score (either a frowny face or a trophy)!

It is definitely a cool invention in the dental and technological world but, is it necessary? How effective do you think this toothbrush and app will be? What are the chances of this becoming the next new trend?

Maybe in a few years, we will have robots to brush our teeth.