Tablets are the new language – think first what you want to tell
May 18, 2010 by marek.miller
Chiqui Esteban, new narratives director at lainformacion.com was the guest of INMA’s Oxford Tablet Summit. He showed great examples of interactive infographics, that could become great tablet applications themselves.
Tablets are a new language – the publishers should think first what they want to tell. Then they should choose the best way to do that. It should be explored, surprising and playful.
As an inspiration, Chiqui Esteban showed some examples of the best interactive infographics. Make sure you check them for yourself:
- Experiment: New York Times – Immigration Explorer. A tool allowing the reader to learn all the data concerning the immigration rate in United States in the past 120 years.
- Surprise by using all the tools available for innovation. Examples: an interactive map showing the distances for trains in Spain or the interactive tool helping the reader how to put furniture in a 25 sq. m. flat
- Let readers play and enjoy new experience. Examples: fully interactive snapshot of Toledo, or a game from “The New York Times” showing the danger of texting a message while driving.
Chiqui Esteban gave the summit participants the following advices:
- think first what you want to tell than choose the best way to do it
- best formula is no formula
- show, don’t tell
- every digital narrative has to have extensivejournalism
- put your graphic people at the heart of the decision meeting
- demand that everyone tries out proposing digital narratives and everyone is involved
The speaker is also an author of an extremely interesting blog Infographic News
Tablets are the next step in evolution of a multimedia brand
May 18, 2010 by marek.miller
Javier Zarracina, graphic editor from “Boston Globe” spoke today during the INMA’s Oxford Tablet Summit. Read how newsmedia companies should move towards fully operational multimedia newsrooms.
Tablets are one step further in the evolution towards a multiplatform brand. Newsmedia companies need multimedia newsrooms to adjust to a new platform. According to Javier Zarracina, in order to become a fully operational multimedia newsrooms, they should think about the following:
1. Integration of the information systems . CMS is going to be the foundation of what publishers will distribute in the multimedia format. For newsrooms, CMS will become the multimedia printing platform. The kids coming to newsrooms in the future will watch CMS from the inside instead of printing plants.
2. Full and fast integration of the newsroom. There are lots of experts, but not in the area that is becoming more and more important. This area is coding. Right now, publishers need the coders willing to tell a story.
3. Developers as storytellers. Developers can build their own templates, format their own styles. Take the Big Picture Blog as an example. It was created by Alan Taylor, a web developer at the “Boston Globe”, as a personal project. It requires minimum maintenance, and is almost fully automatized. It is the most popular page on the site (1,5 million month after launch, 20 million page views in April 2010 ). This site will be launched on iPad as well.
4. New workflows are needed. Every person in newsroom is under the editor. This time graphics and developers have more important role. There should be macroeditors surrounded by different, equal departments. Newsroom should exist as a doorway, where reporters as information intake – they collect information. The information is next filtered by the superdesk. At the end comes the output: mobile, online, text, audio/video, infographics. The superdesk with macroeditors decides which information goes into which output.
5. Optimizing the tools. Those should have easy tagging and metadata protocols. They should have scalable video in HD and open formats, rich multimedia not only on Flash: usage ofHTML with CSS and Javascript is essential.
Boston Globe’s iPad App is coming early this summer. The content of Boston Globe’s website differs from the print product, and the same must happen to iPad applications. Boston Globe’s iPad application will:
- be based on the reader application
- have slower metabolism than the website
- have similar structure to the paper
- have easy navigation
- be updated four times per day
What’s next? Boston Globe is planning many multitouch prototypes, as St. Patrick’s Day App – showing the places to visit, travel information, history of the day etc. Or Boston Marathon App. Location based application, documenting the times of the runners, pictures, tweets, etc. Experimenting is the key!
“New bottles need new wine. New wines need great wineries”
What iPads and tablets mean for newspapers
May 18, 2010 by marek.miller
During the opening speech of the Oxford Tablet Summit Juan Senor and Juan Antonio Giner from Innovation Media Group explained the necessity for newsmedia companies of taking tablets into consideration in their expansion strategies. Read about the future of newspapers and the newspapers of the future in the following post.
Many people think tablets are a savior to the newspapers. But publishers should think about the reality. And they are facing few options nowadays:
- exit the market
- be sold or taken over
- cut cut cut until the cow bleeds to death
- re-invent the business focusing on ‘profit audiences’
The only chance to survive? It is the last option of the above.
Paper will stay, it will never die. But the business model and content proposition has changed. When you look at the history of media no meia has ever replaced the other media. Cinema did not kill television, the tv did not kill the radio. Internet is not going to kill the newspaper.
Juan Senor sugests newsmedia focus on their SOUL, understood as:
- Sensuality (i Pad has to be full of sensuality, you will not survive with poor pictures or infographics)
- Omnipresence (you have got to be where your audience is. you have got to be on every platform)
- Unique – it is difficult to stand out in the crowd, but it’s necessary
- Light – the greatest competitor is time (lack of it). We have to be very quick, offer reader a real time saving proposition in terms of content.
The news business needs reinvention. Just like circus died in late 1960’s and was reinvented as cirque de soleil. Newspapers will survive if the publishers re-invent their titles but they will die if they re-purpose only.
Newsrooms have to reinvent the way they tell stories. It is about journalism, not about the platform. When Apple is here, or any other platform, publishers should also be there. The newspaper has to be reinvented by being deconstructied.
Tablets bring a new grammar for new medium. It’s no longer the headline, introduction and text only. These are news you can read, watch and touch. It’s a great challenge how to get people to play with our content.
Experience on tablets is much more important than the product itself.
First tips:
- iPad is not a pdf reader! Nobody will make money out of pdf’s. It’s retro-fitted: you have to open it and scroll through it.
- iPad is not a newspaper on steroids. This is not a cinema or tv business. We tell stories differently. We do have videos from time to time, but it’s not a switch-off-the-business device.
- iPad is not a shovelware – it’s not about putting the website on the iPad.
Should the iPad be more printy or more webby then? Neither printy or webby. It has to be a complete new start. Deconstruction of old medium and reinvention of the product is most important according to Juan Senor.
Tablets have to include premium products. Newsmedia companies should not go free, as they checked it already in the internet and it didn’t work out. The content on the tablets should be charged for from the day one.
When newsmedia companies hire anybody they should think about hiring application developers, at least 1 developer for every 5 journalists. Developers could be in house or outsourced. Journalists together with developers will come up with great ideas while they play more with this platform. It’s important to experiment. Newsrooms should be in the permanent state of beta.
Newspapers on tablets should disaggregate into 3 strands:
- information (like daily news)
- services, like crosswords, sudoku, traffic information. Break down all information you put in the internet for free and charge for it on the iPad.
- share and creaste issues and passions. This should be a special focus.
Strategically publishers have to produce more for those who pay and less for those who don’t.
Publishers have to admit: the biggest mistake they made across the past 50 years was giving their content away for free. Free became very expensive for the publishers. The question with tablets is not to charge or not to charge. The big question is what to charge for?
The who, what, where, and when form is abundant, and unfortunately this is what newspapers are doing today.
How, why, and what’s next model is scarce, and that is a kind of content people are going to pay for. Future newsmedia companies have to adjust to it.
Here is what is potentially scarce:
- original storytelling
- informed comment
- analytical opinion
- exclusive information
- practical recommendations
- local reporting
- editing (brand)
Apple’s goal is to become the world’s kiosk. Publishers shouldn’t however just impulsively bite the apple. If publishers lose customer data and pricing power, there will be nothing left. Own platforms to build subscriptions must be created, some of them will be shown later during the day.
The future of newspapers and websites is different content for different platforms:
paper – long narratives
tablet – depth and experience
mobile – instant news
internet – breaking news, browsing, archives, aggregating, hyperlinking
In other words: paper as premium, tablet as premium, online and mobile as mass medium. People don’t need the same thing on different platform, and expect journalists to become journANALYSTS. Newsmedia companies should move from newspapers to newszines and daily news. And here is how to get there:
- paper vs online is a wrong dichotomy
- digital is the only multimedia
- Cooperation is not integration.
- Integration has to be radical, it doesn’t happen in stages.
The Oxford Tablet Summit is about to begin
May 18, 2010 by marek.miller
Within a couple of hours, the Oxford Tablet Summit will begin. Main topic: tablets as a second life for newspapers and magazines. How will these gadgets affect the newspapers business, and how publishers can monetize it? What does iPad mean for journalism? We hope to find some answers during today’s Oxford Tablet Summit.
INMA, together with Innovation Media Consulting prepared the summit looking at the iPad, and the tablets. The goal of this conference is much more important than simple introduction to the new digital platform. Surely, the following questions will be asked:
- how publishers can benefit from the iPad and other tablet deviced in 2010?
- what do iPad and other tablets mean for journalism?
- where is the money in these new digital platforms?
- is there any room for paid content and advertising on tablet devices?
INMA again managed to gather wonderful speakers, the specialists from different newsmedia companies, already experimenting with iPads. We will be able to listen to Juan Antonio Giner and Juan Senor from Innovation Media Group, as well as specialists from “The Boston Globe”, “Aftenposten”, BBC, “The Guardian” and many many others. Check the programme and come back to Forum4Editors for the summit coverage.
Financial Times on iPad will remain free until August
May 17, 2010 by marek.miller
Download the entire Financial Times iPad edition before to read it offline whenever no connection is available
. “Financial Times” has just launched an iPad application, which will provide quick access to its news, video, comment, and analysis, everything optimised for the latest Apple platform. It will remain free until July 31st.
This makes “Financial Times” another newspaper after “New York Times”, “Guardian”, “Time”, “Wall Street Journal” and many others, available on iPad. After the free trial period, subscribers will have to pay up for the same business plan as Financial Times’ website, which is $3,99 per week.
According to the “Financial Times”, here is what the FT iPad application will allow you to do:
- Download the entire Financial Times iPad edition before to read it offline whenever no connection is available
- Customise the order of the pages to suit one’s preferences
- Watch The FT’s video coverage
- Access an interactive markets data hub featuring global and regional macromaps, market gainers and losers, currencies, commodities and bonds
- View stock performance summaries with detailed business profile information, estimates and targeted news
- Access the latest articles from the FT
Watch how Financial Times’ news are presented on iPad:
iPad will be a new necessity – Francisco Amaral
May 15, 2010 by marek.miller
Francisco Amarel from Cases i Associats, co-author of a brilliant book “Evolution, Trends and Models in News Website Design”, also answered our questions concerning tablets and iPad. Read further to learn what he has to say and don’t forget to follow forum4editors on May 18th, during INMA’s Oxford Tablet Summit 2010.
Forum4Editors: Do you think iPad could be a bit overrated – In the topic of tablets, the only brand you can hear about is Apple?
Francisco Amarel: No, I think it is not. Everybody expect from Apple “astonishing” products because this company has broken the boundaries previously with iPhone and iPod. Apart from that, it seems that iPad is offering a more seductive experience than others tablets.
Do you think tablets could really be called “the future for newspapers”? It is just another medium to read information from.
I wouldn’t say that, but it is bringing fantastic opportunities for newspaper industry once it gives back to the editors the control over the publication. In a app version of a newspaper or magazine, you can really edit the articles different from what you do at the internet.
Why would someone need a tablet if he/she can read same information from their cell phones?
Have you already touched an iPad?
They would do it because the experience iPad offers. The size, the functionalities and the marketing are making the iPad an indispensable device. It will be a new necessity.
Would you call iPad a new space for designers to develop and show their skills?
Absolutely! Designers are crazy about that. And it is natural. They finally have a digital platform where they can create things that are impossible to do in the printed products and unimaginable in terms of HTML.
We live in times when publishers need to cut costs. iPad, seems to be the cost generator for publishers: the device itself, plus app developers, whereas producing information is still publishers’ core business. Where is the money in iPads? Can it make selling content easier for publishers? Where are the advertising possibilities?
This is the million dollar question. Information is the publishers’ core business, but we have to deliver our content wherever our reader is. We have already incorporated new skills to be presented at mobile phones and internet. Ipad is one skill more. It is too early to say where the money is, but we can feel that it is a huge opportunity to extend the brand and the business, offering new products. Unfortunately, I can not predict whether iPads will further weaken the position of newspapers and magazines.
Thank you very much.
Let’s think about the future of storytelling rather than newspapers
May 14, 2010 by marek.miller
Just before the INMA Oxford Tablet Summit Forum4Editors talks to John Einar Sandvand, digital media strategist at the Norwegian news company Aftenposten, about tablets. Sandvand will be one of the speakers on the table summit. He also writes the digital media blog BetaTales.
Forum4Editors: Do you think iPad could be overrated – In the topic of tablets, Apple is the only brand we hear about?
John Einar Sandvand: I think iPad will have a profound effect on media consumption, just like iPhone completely changed the game for mobile phones. It is a spearhead for new media habits and in that respect it is not overrated. However, whether Apple as hardware and platform will be the big winner in the long run is too early to say. So far they have taken a very clear lead.
Is iPad the only future? Due to great marketing of iPad, do you think there is any room for other tablets? If so, will publishers have to adjust to every single tablet platform that will hit the market?
I am quite sure there will be room for other tablets and even e-ink based devices. The reason is that there are so many different user situations, and a single device cannot serve all of these needs perfectly. iPad, for instance, is too heavy for many types of use and works better as a mirror than an e-reader if you try to use it in your garden. But I agree with Roger Fidler that only a few platforms or app standards will survive, most probably Apple and Android. Hopefully we will also have tools that make it much easier to develop for the different platforms simultaneously.
Do you think tablets could really be called “the future for newspapers”? It is just another medium to read information from.
It is too early to say. But newspapers definitely should explore the possibilities offered by tablets. I think it is too limiting to just stay that it is another medium to read information from. Rather we should look at the new user situations and possibilities to interact with content in compelling ways that is being opened up for us. I believe we will see completely new media products which over time will offer less and less resemblance with the printed newspapers as we know them today. In that respect maybe even talking about “the future of newspapers” on digital platforms is misleading. Maybe we should talk about “the future of storytelling” instead?
Why would someone need a tablet if he/she can read the same information from their cell phones?
It is not just a question of reading information. Rather we should focus on different user situations and what are people’s needs in each one of them. Tablets are able to offer richer and more compelling experiences in specific user situations than other platforms, and that is why many will decide to buy such a device.
Would you call iPad a new space for designers to develop and show their skills?
For sure. Some of the reasons: The bigger and high-quality screen, how readers will use their fingers to navigate the content, integration of video and other forms of multimedia, how simple the device is and how it is perfect to use in a number of situations where you would not automatically bring your laptop.
We live in times when publishers need to cut costs. iPad seems to be the cost generator for publishers: the device itself, plus app developers, whereas producing information is still publishers’ core business. Where is the money in iPads? Can it make selling content easier for publishers? Where are the advertising possibilities?
We are all on unknown territory here. What we do know, though, is that financing quality journalism on digital platforms solely with display ads is not sufficient. That means we should put a lot of effort into experimenting with new business models. Personally I think iPad has the potential of being a very interesting platform for selling content. But I don’t believe in just copying what we are already doing in the newspaper. Instead we should try to create new content products utilizing the unique properties of this particular platform and new storytelling techniques. Advertising possibilities are many and will only be limited by creativity. However, to make full use of the potential, including personalized ads, publishers should think about how they can stay in control of the customer relationship, and not leave it all to Apple.
Do you think iPad / tablets era will further weaken print newspapers/magazines? Or likewise, will they help prolongue their life?
In my opinion one of the biggest challenges for newspapers is that their near monopoly over specific user situations is becoming weaker by the day. Take the breakfast situation as an example. A major advantage for the newspaper has been that it is so convenient to use while enjoying your breakfast. Now this “situational dominance” is becoming weaker: Less people actually eat breakfast, many have TV in their kitchen, they bring the laptop to the table or check the news on smart phones. Tablets will be one more platform moving into the breakfast table challenging newspapers advantage of “unique convenience”. The same happens in other user situations. So yes, tablets will further weaken the position of print newspapers.
Is Aftenposten experimenting with iPads already? How advanced is this stage?
Aftenposten has for more than a year studied closely the development of e-reading, including tablets. We expect to offer products both for iPad and other digital platforms.
Thank you very much.
Too early to say iPad will revitalize newspapers – Roger Fidler
May 13, 2010 by marek.miller
Couple of days before the INMA Oxford Tablet Summit, Forum4Editors speaks about tablets with Roger Fidler, the Digital Publishing Program Director at Reynolds Journalism Institute.
Forum4Editors: Lately, the only brand you can hear about is Apple. Do you think this could be more marketing buzz than anything else in the topic of iPad?
Roger Fidler: The same question was asked about the Apple iPhone after it was launched. Steve Jobs has proven to be a consummate marketer of the Apple brand and products. As the first mover for this new class of tablet computer, Apple has a definite advantage. It also has set the bar quite high for potential competitors. With more than a million iPads sold in its first month, Apple is well on its way to dominating the market, at least in the the U.S., for the foreseeable future. However, what no one knows now is how large that market may be. We’ll have to see if Neofonie can successfully compete with Apple and expand the market in Europe with its WeTab (formerly WePad).
Now, for the same reasons, do you think there is any room on the market for other tablets? If so, will publishers have to adjust to every single tablet that comes out?
There will be opportunities for other tablets to compete with the iPad, but I don’t believe the market will support more than two app standards. At this moment, nearly everyone is betting on Apple and Android. Android has the advantage of being an open standard that any tablet manufacturer can license. To have the broadest possible reach, publishers will need to produce editions for both standards, just as they now have to do for smart phones.
Tablets are often called “the newspaper saviors” or “the future for newspapers”. Do you consider it true? It is just another medium to read information from.
The iPad-like tablets provide an excellent platform for branded, curated packages of editorial and advertising content. However, it is too early to know if this platform will revitalize newspapers and become a profitable digital alternative to printed editions. For now, it’s just another medium for accessing and displaying information and entertainment.
The majority of information consumers have access to it through their mobiles. Why would someone need a tablet if he/she can read the same information from their cell phones?
Not everyone will want or need an iPad-like tablet. Most people who do use a tablet are likely to use a smart phone, too. And they are likely to use a computer to access information and entertainment on the Web as well. The magazine-size, high-resolution full-color displays that define the iPad and similar tablets provide a much more visually rich presentation than smart phones. For subscribers to tablet editions of newspapers and magazines, these devices will afford a more print-like leisure reading experience.
Now, it seems the role of the designers will be greater. Would you call iPad a new space for designers to develop and show their skills?
Absolutely.
Do you think iPad / tablets era will further deppreciate print newspapers/magazines?
I don’t think iPads, tablets and eReaders will accelerate the decline of printed editions in the near term. However, as these devices become cheaper and more ubiquitous, I believe we will see an increasing migration from print to digital. The challenges for established publishers will be to control the rate of migration and to ensure that their digital editions are financially able to stand on their own.
We live in times when publishers need to cut costs. iPad, seems to be the cost generator for publishers: the device itself, plus app developers, whereas producing information is still publishers’ core business. Where is the money in iPads? Can it make selling content easier for publishers? Where are the advertising possibilities?
Initially, only the larger publishers will have the resources to invest in the development of tablet editions. It will take awhile for the revenue from subscriptions and advertising to make a significant positive impact on the publishers’ bottomlines. The biggest concern that publishers now have is the bite that tablet vendors and newsstands are proposing to take out of those potential revenues. Apple says it wants to take 30% of the circulation revenue and 40% of the advertising revenue. Those are very large bites that could prevent tablet editions from becoming profitable for publishers.
Thank you very much.
Roger Fidler is a Program Director at the Reynolds Journalism Institute.
Those who ignore the iPad will pay the price – Mario Garcia
May 12, 2010 by marek.miller
Mario Garcia, CEO and the founder of Garcia Media, a big fan of iPad, and the author of a very popular media blog, answers our questions concerning the role of iPad in today’s media market just before INMA’s Oxford Tablet Summit on May 18th.
Forum4Editors: Do you think tablets could really be called the future for newspapers? It is just another medium to read information from.
Mario Garcia: The future of the newspapers relies on the newspapers themselves: how they adapt, how they approach change positively, how they treat content in a 24/7 news cycle, where people are inundated with information all the time, but their thirst for information is ever so great. The tablets will be ONE MORE platform, that is it.
Wouldn’t you consider iPad overrated? In the topic of tablets, the only brand you can hear about is Apple?
Well, I don’t think so. How can an item that has sold over one million in less than six weeks be overrated! Do I think that it is a game changer, yes. Overrated, no. Those who ignore it will probably pay the price.
Why would someone need a tablet if he/she can read same information from their cell phones?
Because a cell phone is NOT the ideal vehicle to read, let’s say, a long analytical piece, or to see a video well.
C’mon, the tablet is the pop book, the Disney world version of the New York Times. It is light, comfy to use, great reproduction, no ink on your fingers, and it moves, talks, dances—-while it informs and entertains.
Would you call iPad a new space for designers to develop and show their skills?
Absolutely. I only wish I were 28 years old to have more time experimenting with it. The multimedia designer has arrived. Let your imagination go. Try it. Experiment and see what happens. If you love type, architecture, impact and movement, then your time has come, Mr. Designer.
We live in times when publishers need to cut costs. iPad, seems to be the cost generator for publishers: the device itself, plus application developers, whereas producing information is still publishers’ core business. Where is the money in iPads?
To be seen, but I think that it is a more likely vehicle for “show me the money” than online ever was (as we now know). People will pay for good content that they can download and read at their leisure, while on the ground, the air, the train or under the coconut tree.
Can it make selling content easier for publishers? Where are the advertising possibilities?
Content will sell better here, but not JUST any content. It will be content that the tablet enhances.
Advertising possibilities: the sky is the limit, and the era of combining advertising/editorial has never seen a better platform. Money to be made.
Do you think iPad / tablets era will further deppreciate print newspapers/magazines?
Not at all. I think it will make some discover printed products they have never touched. Brand recognition and rediscovery in on its way here.
Thank you very much.
The Oxford Tablet Summit is sold out
May 12, 2010 by marek.miller
As the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) reports, the first Oxford Tablet Summit is sold out one week before it starts. The summit is yet available through the waiting list only. So, in order to stay up-to-date, make sure to visit our blog, and in the meantime, check out the programme for the forecoming INMA event.
Morning Topic: Show, Don’t Tell
09:00 Old Wine and New Bottles: What iPads and Tablets Mean for Newspapers
Guest speakers: Juan Antonio Giner, Founder and President, Innovation Media Consulting and Juan Señor, Innovation Partner and Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
10:00 Brainsnacks: Tablet Design and Navigation
Brainsnack (7 minutes long speeches) presenters include:
Javier Zarracina, Graphic Editor, The Boston Globe,
Saulo Ribas, Creative Director, Editora Globo,
Pedro Monteiro, Art Editor, Impresa Group (publisher of Expresso and Visao),
Diego Cenzano, Journalist, Founder, Biko.
11:30 Networking Break
12:00 Question and Answer Forum
12:30 The New Age of Digital Reading for News
Guest speaker: Monica Bulger, Research Assistant, Oxford Internet Institute
13:00 Lunch
Afternoon Topic: From iPad to iPay
14:00 Afternoon Introduction: Monetising Tablets
Guest speakers: Fréderic Filloux, Editor and Publisher, The Monday Note, France, and Carlo Campos, Director Madrid, Innovation Media Consulting, Spain
14:20 Brainsnacks: Key Concepts of Paid Content and Advertising on Tablets
Brainsnack presenters:
John Einar Sandvand, Digital Media Strategist, Aftenposten,
Nic Newman, Co-Founder, BBC News Online,
Jonathon Moore, Product Manager, The Guardian,
Nils Öhman, Head of DN Digital: DN Digital, and
Jessie Wijnants, Strategic Director, Boondoggle Belgium.
Question and Answer Forum
15:20 Networking Break
15:40 Brainsnacks: Manufacturers Show Their Tablet Products:
- Woodwing being the software provider for Time magazine and providing software solutions for cross-media content publishing for magazines, newspapers, books and more.
-
NewspaperDirect serving 1,500 newspapers from 94 countries with digital editions on different devices
16:00 Special Report: New Tablet Media Strategies Worldwide
Presenter: Tino Fernandez Arias, Editor, Expansion & Empleo, Co-Editor, Innovation Confidential Newsletter on World Media Trends, Spain
16:20 Final Round of Opinion, Questions, Answers
16:40 Conclusions, Summary, Follow-Up Planning
Juan Señor, Innovation Partner and Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
17:00 Summit concludes





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