tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post505563787604302879..comments2021-10-05T19:44:46.905+02:00Comments on BerlinBites: The Magazine Of The Future?Jon Lebkowskyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16248713335392018033noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-77208399284010446052008-03-22T18:54:00.000+01:002008-03-22T18:54:00.000+01:00Maybe if they were only '''amateur''' ad salesmen?...Maybe if they were only '''amateur''' ad salesmen?<BR/><BR/>Would this magazine want amateur ad salesmen, Devin? Or did you hire someone who knows how to do that?Bowleserisedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02974472204722759129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-33648719930735315792008-03-22T17:50:00.000+01:002008-03-22T17:50:00.000+01:00Oh, that's different...Oh, <I>that's</I> different...Marie Javinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12632729774717864231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-38123426559459744772008-03-22T16:37:00.000+01:002008-03-22T16:37:00.000+01:00And the ad salesmen will work for the glory, too, ...And the ad salesmen will work for the glory, too, right? <BR/><BR/>Oh, wait...Ed Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805932361842578943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-15077993544493206852008-03-22T13:27:00.000+01:002008-03-22T13:27:00.000+01:00What a brilliant, democratic, and money-saving bus...What a brilliant, democratic, and money-saving business model! But why stop there? Why not have the editors work for credit and a few bucks? Why not have the graphic designers work for their own personal glory? Why not have the mailroom guys deliver the internal mail cuz they love to? <I>(No, wait, scratch the mailroom idea. They can get paid because their names don't appear in glorious print.)</I> <BR/><BR/>A masthead doesn't pay the mortgage, but who cares? In the New World Order, bankers will accept clips in lieu of dollars.Marie Javinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12632729774717864231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-43077286131856649592008-03-20T20:54:00.000+01:002008-03-20T20:54:00.000+01:00Do they phone every venue in Riga to doublecheck p...Do they phone every venue in Riga to doublecheck prices?Bowleserisedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02974472204722759129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-31155327168116648482008-03-20T20:53:00.000+01:002008-03-20T20:53:00.000+01:00Ed,are you really so incredibly naive??? Do you re...Ed,<BR/>are you really so incredibly naive??? Do you really think a whole phalanx of history, psychology and demographology Ph.D.s could ever -- ever? -- come up with the penetrating insights that one mediocre-quality photo cum flippant heading on my blog could??? Give. Me. A. F. Ing. Ba. Rake. Don't you realize that the brains of 10,000 combined idiots are better than that of one (1) genius? Especially - e-spe-cial-ly - if the captain of said idiot phalanx is raking in the ad dough? Why don't you take your poverty-stricken ideology of quality and expertise to the bank, sucka? I'm stickin' with the dilettantes! They have suckage!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-24843263555806487062008-03-19T21:07:00.000+01:002008-03-19T21:07:00.000+01:00We have fact checkers and copy editors that look a...We have fact checkers and copy editors that look at everything that goes into the magazine (and we have a formal takedown policy online as well). As you point out, even the "professionals" aren't perfect, but copyright and accuracy are just as important for us. <BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, not everyone understands that you can't copy and paste everything on the Internet with reckless abandon. We try to educate our community on that and when they do break the rules, we take steps to correct it - although I'm sorry to hear it so long in thepenguin's case - 3 weeks is too long, but we did take the whole story down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-49699663567982113502008-03-19T18:34:00.000+01:002008-03-19T18:34:00.000+01:00Devin, how will you know that the material thrown ...Devin, how will you know that the material thrown up by your community isn't plagiarised (as happened already to Mount Penguin) or inaccurate? <BR/>We recently had an episode where Moleskine's oh-so-cool post-your-own-travel-material blog turned out to be stocked with material stolen from elsewhere.<BR/>I know that being a professional journo is no guarantee of spotless behaviour, but do you have a team of fact checkers who will examine this material as thoroughly as, say, The New Yorker or a Rough Guide? Or do you just take everyone's word for it?Bowleserisedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02974472204722759129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-31665072352654029562008-03-19T13:37:00.000+01:002008-03-19T13:37:00.000+01:00JPG? Rings a bell. Ah yes, had to ask them to remo...JPG? Rings a bell. Ah yes, had to ask them to remove some text which some passionate photographer had borrowed from one of my blogs to decorate one of his photos with.<BR/><BR/>Only took a month or so for a response, which was not bad for Web 2.0 ;).<BR/><BR/>(Not that I place any great worth on the random collection of words I choose to scatter around my blogs, but hey, it's my drivel, the Community should write its own).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-30312116712989571022008-03-18T09:07:00.000+01:002008-03-18T09:07:00.000+01:00Ed - I hope this is not your worst nightmare, beca...Ed - I hope this is not your worst nightmare, because there are great advantages to a magazine made from the expertise of thousands rather than a limited number of "experts". For starters, I'm certain there are people out there with more personal knowledge about Cracow than can be gained from a week-long trip and a visit to the tourist office. You may envision a mob of "amateurs" storming the gates of editorial decency, but the reality is that there are people all over the world with great insider stories and travel experiences to share. This is not the end of deeply researched journalism, but rather an opportunity to better share personal stories and expertise in a community with the finished output of a magazine.<BR/><BR/>With JPG, we have already shown that a large community of passionate photographers and writers can produce a better photo magazine than what is currently on the market - and this includes great writing and photo essays from members with unique access to places like Afghanistan (http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/1504) and motorcycle gangs in California (http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/441). It doesn't sound like you're particularly attached to the Conde Nast Traveler's of the world either, so I hope you reconsider your vision of hell, because this is an opportunity to produce better magazines.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-51194791890945103172008-03-15T22:59:00.000+01:002008-03-15T22:59:00.000+01:00There is an interesting article right now in the L...There is an interesting article right now in the LRB on this whole journalism debacle: <A HREF="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n05/lanc01_.html" REL="nofollow">"Riots, Terrorism etc"</A>; it is a review of the book "Flat Earth News".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-75098599678595363472008-03-14T22:38:00.000+01:002008-03-14T22:38:00.000+01:00Just to be a Fusterella, it doesn't strike me that...Just to be a Fusterella, it doesn't strike me that amateur writers nowadays have the same skills as they did in letterwriting days of yore.<BR/>Mind you, that could be the old selective hindsight thing in practice. But also I know that when I can get a video, I don't exactly stretch my brain to do a beautiful description of an event on the blog.Bowleserisedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02974472204722759129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-12640297481928223782008-03-14T18:04:00.000+01:002008-03-14T18:04:00.000+01:00i'm going back to publishing only in cuneiform -i'm going back to publishing only in cuneiform -Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-46976065563328553032008-03-13T15:48:00.000+01:002008-03-13T15:48:00.000+01:00I think you guys are both missing the point here, ...I think you guys are both missing the point here, which might be understandable given that I wrote and posted this as quickly as I did -- another characteristic of blogs. <BR/><BR/>The point isn't different audiences, it's what the conventional thinking among those who decide where the ad and investment dollars go determines. We've already seen a magazine die because the ad dollars shriveled up, and now we see a magazine mimicking MySpace, Gridskipper, and the like. It was probably sold with buzzwords from the digital world like "community" and "a bold new step in interactive publishing." <BR/><BR/>And maybe I'm an old grump, but every time I see something superficial and new like this and the bile rises in my throat, it...catches on. For a while. And I don't think this is to be encouraged, because someone will just try to refine it instead of rejecting it like the piece of neophilic crap it is.Ed Wardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805932361842578943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-25663191568306942572008-03-13T01:23:00.000+01:002008-03-13T01:23:00.000+01:00i'd have to agree with SeanM - there are diverse a...i'd have to agree with SeanM - there are diverse audiences which have different requirements for depth and perspective - sometimes even collapsed into the same person event. returning from dresden this evening i took advantage to the two hour rail journey to peruse some news and culture digests on my shiny tiny, then enjoyed longer essays by 'recognized experts' on nasty inky old paper. tain't an either/or world! but if one's business model depends on scarcity rather than value the rapid expansion of content could be a problem.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7052429.post-4528458632268133302008-03-12T12:06:00.000+01:002008-03-12T12:06:00.000+01:00Though I also hate it when people use phrases like...Though I also hate it when people use phrases like "citizen journalist" and carry on as if any amateur is just as capable as a trained and experienced writer, I don't think it's so clear-cut as a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies trying to horn in on a world of high-quality professionals.<BR/><BR/>A new player in the market for low-quality material does not necessarily signify a lost customer in the market for quality material. I think it's always been the case that 90% of the population prefers shit. The Atlantic and Harpers and The Economist have existed alongside People and US Weekly and The Enquirer for decades, and customers know that People Magazine's article about Person X will be limited to what kind of clothes he wears, and The Atlantic's article on Person X will likely be a more in-depth. Similarly, I think it will be obvious to anyone who flips through the magazine rack that the magazine that pays its writers $1000 has a different caliber of material than the one that pays its writers $100.<BR/><BR/>Then again, I'm not in the business, so maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the sky is falling. Maybe readers of The Atlantic don't actually like 10,000-word essays, and were only putting up with the magazine's wordiness in lieu of something shorter, and will now be lured away by The Current. Maybe customers who see two travel magazines will only look for the word "Krakow" on the cover and then compare the price of the two without flipping through. But I doubt it. I would imagine that people who like higher-quality material will continue to buy higher-quality material over the (albeit ever-expanding variety of) lower-quality stuff, just like they always have.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09663452684449876521noreply@blogger.com