Yesterday, an article was written in Search Engine Land regarding Google and the secrecy behind their algorithm. The details around the algorithm - how it functions, the factors it considers, the weighting of all of these factors - is a closely guarded secret and one that Google is not ashamed to publicly stand up and say that they will not ever release this information. The fact that there is so little information surrounding the algorithm is the bane of every digital advertiser and web developer's existence. As we all know, in order for search to be useful for us, our website needs to feature in the top 3 or so organic listings. Very few people scroll past the top 3 listings, and ever fewer move past the first page of listings.
Google's CEO, Eric Schmit, is adament that Google will not officially publish the factors that are considered in it's algorithm; a fact that clearly riles the author of this article. The article differs from a traditional journalistic article in that it is very opinionated. It is very relaxed in tone and includes a short excerpt from the public interview with Schmidt. The fact that the article is so opinionated and biased clearly works well within the publication, Search Engine Land. This site is more of a blog format than a traditional publisher, and also specialised in the world of search engine marketing, hence the author can afford to display a strong opinion on a topic. Such a blog is designed to create discussion and thought-leadership on the topic of Search.
I do like the fact that the author has included video excerpts of the actual video and that they have included them at the end of the article. Often video included mid-article can be distracting, however attaching them in an appendicies format only supports the authenticity of the article.
Additionally, the author also directs the reader to other articles covering the same event and interview. One of these articles is written for the New York Times, which I think is a nice contrast to the opinionated blog format of the article in Search Engine Land. Here the article is much more objective. The author presents an unbiased coverage of the event itself, rather than using the platform for discussion; to present an opinion. This style is what one would expect from a reputable publication such as the New York Times.
In saying this, I do like the blog-style format of the article in Search Engine Land. I think, as part of wide reading, opinionated blog posts can really encourage further learning and deeper thought about a particular topic. It is important, to ensure that such an article is taken into consideration with, as I mentioned, wider reading on the topic, if one is to get a well-rounded view.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Social Media and Journalism
Mashable, today, put forth quite a lengthy article on the future of Social media in Journalism. I felt this was appropriate to review for obvious reasons, however, particularly as it focused on Social media, not just online in general.
I really enjoyed this article as I felt that it put forward some thoughts that are not always considered. The author puts forward the notion that Journalists need to give up the idea of being the only authority when reporting news - not a new idea - but they do make an interesting point when they say that "enlisting a community of intelligent contributors" can help journalists provide daily community coverage. I think there is an emphasis on "intelligent contributors" here - there are so many people playing in the social media space and information is not always valuable, relevant or credible. Sorting this, curating this, will be come a main task of journalists.
What I do really like about this article is the conversational tone that is set right from the start. Within the first section, the author asks the reader "... we would love to hear your thoughts and observations in the comments below" and this sentiment is echoed at the end of the article. I feel that this really reflects the nature and topic of this article brilliantly. It focuses on social media, collaborative reporting and conversations, and by asking readers to take part in a conversation is paralleling the focus of the article itself.
As far a the layout of this story goes, there were 2 main elements that concerned me. Firstly was the number of hyperlinks within the article. This is the standard way of referencing online, however the fact that there were 5 hyperlinks within the first paragraph and a half, was quite distracting. Readers are spending less and less time deep reading as it is and adding this many links is likely to send your reader away from your article. Additionally, whilst the story was organised in to easily discernable headings, the screengrabs that were used weren't clearly referenced. The images spanned the entire width of the blog with little reference, thus it was difficult to actually identify whether the image was actually part of the story or was perhaps an ad.
Otherwise I felt it was a very well-written article that covered many angles of the story in depth.
I really enjoyed this article as I felt that it put forward some thoughts that are not always considered. The author puts forward the notion that Journalists need to give up the idea of being the only authority when reporting news - not a new idea - but they do make an interesting point when they say that "enlisting a community of intelligent contributors" can help journalists provide daily community coverage. I think there is an emphasis on "intelligent contributors" here - there are so many people playing in the social media space and information is not always valuable, relevant or credible. Sorting this, curating this, will be come a main task of journalists.
What I do really like about this article is the conversational tone that is set right from the start. Within the first section, the author asks the reader "... we would love to hear your thoughts and observations in the comments below" and this sentiment is echoed at the end of the article. I feel that this really reflects the nature and topic of this article brilliantly. It focuses on social media, collaborative reporting and conversations, and by asking readers to take part in a conversation is paralleling the focus of the article itself.
As far a the layout of this story goes, there were 2 main elements that concerned me. Firstly was the number of hyperlinks within the article. This is the standard way of referencing online, however the fact that there were 5 hyperlinks within the first paragraph and a half, was quite distracting. Readers are spending less and less time deep reading as it is and adding this many links is likely to send your reader away from your article. Additionally, whilst the story was organised in to easily discernable headings, the screengrabs that were used weren't clearly referenced. The images spanned the entire width of the blog with little reference, thus it was difficult to actually identify whether the image was actually part of the story or was perhaps an ad.
Otherwise I felt it was a very well-written article that covered many angles of the story in depth.
Online News Consumption Stats
This Article suggests that consumers are actually increasing their overall news consumption as online news adds to time spent reading traditional news formats.
Just further stats to back up what this course has been covering.
Monday, September 6, 2010
The Future of Augmented Reality
I discovered this article regarding the potentials of Augmented Reality on the National Geographic site today. It briefly discussed the background of AR, but largely discusses the possible future users of this emerging technology.
What initially engaged me with article was the large imagery that gives an artist's impression on how the technology could be used.
It provides quite a fascinating, visual representation and one that I think is very valuable in capturing a different type of audience. Some people are readers and others are not, and I believe this imagery adequately engages more visual people in the piece.
I did find the fact that the text boxes at the bottom were not aligned a little distracting, and I felt like the use of the horizontal scroll bar (see below) was a poorly executed functionality element. I actually missed it the first time I read the article and would not be surprised if others did too. It's a highly unconventional way to use an element that is usually found on the right hand side of the page and I think users are much more used to arrows or other scrolling elements in order to view wide imagery.
This is a relatively long online article, however I feel that the length is justified for the type of publication. The National Geographic is a monthly (I believe) publication which consumers would head to for in depth articles, as opposed to short news snippets. It definitely presents two sides to the AR story - from the makers of the technology and then questioning whether these developments will be a help or a hinderance. The story is presented with a level of authority and knowledge, which presents it as a trusted article (supported by the fact that it is published in a well-renowned and valued publication), and appears quite objective. I feel the author has done extremely well in created a very engaging article.
What initially engaged me with article was the large imagery that gives an artist's impression on how the technology could be used.
It provides quite a fascinating, visual representation and one that I think is very valuable in capturing a different type of audience. Some people are readers and others are not, and I believe this imagery adequately engages more visual people in the piece.
I did find the fact that the text boxes at the bottom were not aligned a little distracting, and I felt like the use of the horizontal scroll bar (see below) was a poorly executed functionality element. I actually missed it the first time I read the article and would not be surprised if others did too. It's a highly unconventional way to use an element that is usually found on the right hand side of the page and I think users are much more used to arrows or other scrolling elements in order to view wide imagery.
This is a relatively long online article, however I feel that the length is justified for the type of publication. The National Geographic is a monthly (I believe) publication which consumers would head to for in depth articles, as opposed to short news snippets. It definitely presents two sides to the AR story - from the makers of the technology and then questioning whether these developments will be a help or a hinderance. The story is presented with a level of authority and knowledge, which presents it as a trusted article (supported by the fact that it is published in a well-renowned and valued publication), and appears quite objective. I feel the author has done extremely well in created a very engaging article.
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