On creating a first-class news experience

(via Flickr: jj_pappas423)

Here are a couple of end-of-the-weekend quick hits:

"Business Class: Freemium for News?" (Information Architects): In the how-do-we-fund-the-news discussion comes this idea: offer a user experience comparable to flying first class vs. coach. That means visually attractive web pages and additional perks that enhance the experience enough that people will pay for it.

"ASNE Offers Good Advice on Social Media, But Too Much Fear and Not Really ‘Best Practices’ " (The Buttry Diary): Steve Buttry, late of the TBD.com online-only news experiment in Washington, D.C., worries that print editors still don't get what social media is all about as they proffer best practices for journalists using Twitter, Facebook, et al.

Video interlude: Check out this video from Fast Forward News, a project of the video storytelling workshop at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University that explores journalism's future. (I picked this particular video because it's the worst nightmare of any reporter: being replaced as a writer by a "robot.")


Man vs. Machine from Fast Forward News on Vimeo.


Music-video interlude: Here's a toe-tapping explainer developed by a New York University class to accompany ProPublic's series about gas drilling and the technique known as "fracking."

Musical wrap-up: And last but not least, a cool remix of the "All Things Considered" theme song.