Wikipedia success confirms the needs in contextual/background information
I have fought two main battles since the beginning of my career:
1. Design is one of the tools to inform. It is a form of journalism : visual journalism. There is no place for decoration in the press.
2. Readers want background information and perspective setting. It is the role of the press. A part which it does not play... or very little.
I explained several times on this blog that I had, on several occasions during focus groups, listened to readers saying that they feel more idiotic at the end of reading their newspaper than at the beginning. Why? Because they are confronted with articles filled with concepts, events, names... that they have forgotten or that they do not know.
When we rethink or create a newspaper, we fight a lot to convince editors and the journalists on how much background information is necessary. With more or less of a success. However, newsrooms are still very far from understanding this need.
A Reuters article about the online encyclopedia Wikipedia confirms this requirement in contextual/background information. Well beyond my hopes.
According to Reuters, Wikipedia became this year the first source of reference on the Net. With twice more connections than dictionary.com.
As a reminder, the content of Wikipedia is created by volunteers, you and me, in a participatory and not-censured way. This, thanks to a software edition online called "wikis" and developed to allow group work. The result is astonishing. And of a surprising neutrality. More than 350 000 people have taken part in it, offering a content of more than 2 million words, in 25 languages.
In the report of Hitwise studies: the public turns to Wikipedia to find context with information, as Reuters writes :
When newspapers are losing readers, here is a role that they could have on a daily basis : give background information to their readers. Instead of publishing pages and pages of information that you can find for free on the Internet… and much more quickly.
1. Design is one of the tools to inform. It is a form of journalism : visual journalism. There is no place for decoration in the press.
2. Readers want background information and perspective setting. It is the role of the press. A part which it does not play... or very little.
I explained several times on this blog that I had, on several occasions during focus groups, listened to readers saying that they feel more idiotic at the end of reading their newspaper than at the beginning. Why? Because they are confronted with articles filled with concepts, events, names... that they have forgotten or that they do not know.
When we rethink or create a newspaper, we fight a lot to convince editors and the journalists on how much background information is necessary. With more or less of a success. However, newsrooms are still very far from understanding this need.
A Reuters article about the online encyclopedia Wikipedia confirms this requirement in contextual/background information. Well beyond my hopes.
According to Reuters, Wikipedia became this year the first source of reference on the Net. With twice more connections than dictionary.com.
"is fast overtaking several major news sites have the place where people swarm for context one breaking events. Traffic to the multilingual network of sites has grown 154 bore over the past year, according to research firm Hitwise. At current growth spleens, it is set to overtake The new York Times one the Web, the Drudge Report and other news sites."
As a reminder, the content of Wikipedia is created by volunteers, you and me, in a participatory and not-censured way. This, thanks to a software edition online called "wikis" and developed to allow group work. The result is astonishing. And of a surprising neutrality. More than 350 000 people have taken part in it, offering a content of more than 2 million words, in 25 languages.
In the report of Hitwise studies: the public turns to Wikipedia to find context with information, as Reuters writes :
"Wikipedia recently attracted 22.3 bore of users searching for information one" Gaza Strip, "tying the the CIA World Factbook. It has drawn five times more U.S. traffic than Google News, Yahoo News gold BBC, according to Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer. Similarly, in April, Wikipedia tied with CNN.com have the No 2 most visited site among U.S. Web users searching for details one the new Pope Benedict. Newadvent.org, has Catholic encyclopedia, was the most visited site among people seeking to learn more butt Joseph Ratzinger, according to Hitwise dated."
When newspapers are losing readers, here is a role that they could have on a daily basis : give background information to their readers. Instead of publishing pages and pages of information that you can find for free on the Internet… and much more quickly.
1 Comments:
It looks as if somone has been wiki-ing your quote. Or am i missing something? :o)
"Similarly, in April, Wikipedia tied with CNN.com have the No 2 most visited site among U.S. Web users searching for details one the new Pope Benedict. Newadvent.org, has Catholic encyclopedia, was the most visited site among people seeking to learn more butt Joseph Ratzinger, according to Hitwise dated"
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