Image courtesy of Global Journalist.com/AP
1. Do you see Amazon’s Kindle 2 as a step closer to the type of newspaper edition that you have been working on for a decade now?
The Kindle 2 has a higher resolution display (16 levels of gray versus 4 levels) and a more streamlined case, but the size of the display and the presentation format are the same as the original Kindle. It’s great for reading electronic books, but not very compelling for newspapers. I’m more excited by the Plastic Logic and iRex Technologies e-readers that have magazine-size displays. These displays are better suited to branded newspaper (and magazine) presentations.
2. How would you describe the mood of U.S. editors concerning this new form of information gathering?
U.S. editors and publishers are finally recognizing that e-readers and other mobile display devices are practical alternatives to ink printed on pulp paper. However, the constant downsizing has left newsrooms without the resources — human and financial — to produce innovative digital editions. Most editors and publishers seem satisfied with screen replicas of printed editions or automated feeds to simple page templates. Maybe I’m just stuck in the past, but I still believe professional publication design and typography are important to readers and that human creativity adds value.
For more information about Roger Fidler’s ideas:
http://www.globaljournalist.org/
Five Steps to Engaging a Twitter Audience
Mario Garcia Jr,, of Garcia Media Interactive, discusses 5 Steps to Engaging a Twitter Audience
http://garciainteractive.com/blog/view/30/
In the Paris subway: Music for the soul
In Paris, today Friday, I was on the Metro, when the train stopped for the longest 7 minutes right at the Pont de L’Alma station. Nothing was ever explained as to why the train stopped there for so long. But I figured that if one were to be stuck somewhere, let it be at this place, which translates to Bridge of the Soul and is best known as it was the tunnel which Princess Diana was travelling thru when she was killed in that now famous car crash one summer night more than 10 years ago in Paris.
To make things interesting, an accordion player appeared from somewhere during the 7 minutes interlude at Pont de L’Alma, and immediately proceeded to play that most recorded of French songs,La Vie En Rose, made famous by the legendary Edith Piaf. The lady across from me never opened her eyes, although she must have opened her ears. Two young students, a male and female, sitting side by side, never removed the iPod earphones from their ears. An old man to my left continued reading Le Figaro, as if the accordion player was not there. Suddenly, the Metro was moving again, the sounds of La Vie En Rose now blending with those made by the train. I got off at the Opera exit, as the accordion player embarked into a faster moving song, festive and upbeat, but not one especially composed for the soul.
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To read TheRodrigoFino blog, in Spanish, go:
https://garciamedia.com/latinamerica/blog/
TheMarioBlog posting #198