This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed. The next blog post is Monday, Nov. 18 and I will be reporting from Hamburg, Germany.
It is new, but with touches of the old.
It is not about scrolling, but more about swiping.
It has nothing to do with the smallest screen, and all to do with what could be the biggest of screens.
It brings the carousel back.
It brings the experience of reading text back.
It is the new Washington Post app, all about reading on your television, and you can access it via Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. Download the app for free by searching for “The Washington Post” in your TV’s app store.
What’s the idea?
I imagine that some thought has gone into the idea that after holding on to the small screen of the phone all day, reading on the smallest canvas of all, many readers will welcome the idea of sitting in front of their TV screens to ready stories, some of them 3000 words or more. Talk about a lean back experience, it is quite close to reading the newspaper. Kick off your shoes, lie down on the couch and grab your remote. Then swipe left and right for headlines and click on the one story that seduces you.
Kat Downs Mulder, the Post’s VP of product and design, puts it this way:
“Reading is really core to the Washington Post experience in many ways, and we wanted to try having that reading experience front and center.”
I find it interesting to read that instead of emphasizing video, the new app is all about reading on your television.
How it works
Using the touchpad on Apple’s Siri remote, you can swipe left or right through a carousel of stories, then click on any of them to start reading. Because the article text tracks along with your thumb as you scroll on the touchpad, it doesn’t feel too far removed from reading on a phone or tablet. (On Fire TV, you have to click the remote’s directional pad repeatedly to scroll in small increments, which is more laborious.)
Read more about this
McClatchy saying NO to Saturday print editions
Highlight (and no surprise)!
McClatchy, a newspaper chain with more than 30 publications in 14 states, said on Wednesday that it planned to eliminate Saturday print issues at all its daily newspapers by the end of 2020, though a new slate of articles will continue to appear digitally.
Launch party for The Story in Zurich
From Monocle Weekend
THE INTERROGATOR / EDITION 30
https://monocle.com/minute/2019/09/21/
Mario García
Editorial consultant Mario García has advised the most important newsrooms in the world on design – and how best adapt to a digital transition. More than 700 publications, from The Wall Street Journal to the South China Morning Post, have received his strategic steer. Other than being an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, he also runs his own consultancy firm: García Media. Nowadays his speciality is how digital devices influence narrative structure and consumption; his latest book, The Story, was written specifically to be read on a phone. Here, though, he confesses to a few analogue pleasures.
What they are saying about The Story!
The Story is here!
You can now download my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, from Apple Books at $6.99
This is Book 1 of a Trilogy! The other two books coming soon.
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-story-volume-i/id1480169411
The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Order The Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.
My chat with in Monocle Radio
Listen to my chat in Monocle Radio’s The Stack: Latest episode‘The Face’ and ‘The Story’:We welcome the return of the print version of ‘The Face’ and talk to legendary newspaper designer Mario Garcia about his latest book, ‘The Story’.
https://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/368/play/
My interview with CNN en Español
I was a guest in the program Encuentro, hosted by Guillermo Arduino daily at CNN en Español. The interview was about how we read on mobile devices and my introduction of my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, to a Spanish-language audience.
Mario’s speaking engagements
November 20, 2019
Presentation of The Story in Zurich, Switzerland, at launch party (by invitattion only). Sponsored by Monocle The Stack.
March 13, 2020
Keynote presentation at the National Media College Association Spring Convention, New York City, NY>
Order print edition of The Story
You can order the print edition of my new mobile storytelling book, The Story, from Amazon already here:
An interview of interest
http://www.itertranslations.com/blog/2019/3/11/fd60ybflpvlqrgrpdp5ida5rq0c3sp
TheMarioBlog post # 3159