How To Save The New York Times

Tear down all walls between information and education.

Combine information with instruction;
produce knowledge, information, and wisdom - together as one.

-I. Become An Online University-

Imagine if the New York Times became an online university..

By diversifying as a pubic university that is research-oriented,
the New York Times becomes eligible for substantial government funding..

NY Times employees who are qualified to teach academic courses, as well as give lectures or seminars,
start making interactive presentations of these lectures and seminars available to all who are online - for a fee..

(Look to Lynda.com for a subscription/payment model..)

The New York Times continues producing news while producing educational material,
and revenue generated from the educational material helps fund the production of news..

While most people may not be willing to pay to read a Stanley Fish editorial (if they can read it online for free),
some people might be willing to pay to view a Stanley Fish lecture on Law - something that may cost a lot of money at a university..

-II. Business Payment Model-

Imagine four levels of educational payment and participation..

1) A small limited-size class for each available lecture/seminar costs the most for participants
who want to learn and participate on-location - as well as receive college credit..

2) A moderately larger-size audience pays less to stream live lectures and seminars from remote locations,
with certain abilities to ask questions and participate in real-time - via VOIP video-chat conferencing..

3) A substantially greater audience pays a much lower rate to stream videos of prerecorded lectures and seminars,
without the ability to actively participate or ask questions in real-time during these lectures and seminars - and without course credit..

4) The largest audience continues to receive free ad-supported access to all of the NY Times news articles..

-III. Division of Labor-

Imagine that some employees just teach, some employees just produce,
and some employees do both..

NY Times employees have free access to each other's educational materials
and gradually become even more knowledgeable and educated over time
by sharing in the fruits of each others' labor..

The NY Times staff is given free daily access to quality multimedia literacy training
that is constantly available on-location and on rotation at the NY Times..

NY Times staff members who voluntarily participate in this free interactive/multimedia literacy training
gradually increase their skill-set over time, as well as their value to the NY Times Company..

When producing informational or educational material for multiple platforms (web, print, radio, or television)
NY Times staff are paired into groups of about five people consisting of a writer, photographer,
multimedia producer, interactive designer, and voiceover/anchor person..

-IV. Scholarships-

Imagine that some of the best academics, journalists, and journalism students, from all around the world,
are given special scholarships to study at the NY Times..

NY Times instructors and editors give these scholars assignments for their journalism "courses"
and these students produce content for potential publication on the NY Times website..

Imagine that inexpensive and modest dormitory-type housing (and food)
is made freely available to these scholars on-location at the NY Times,
so they may eat, sleep, learn, and work - all at the same place..

Decreasing costs, decreasing commute times, maximizing efficiency..

Through this process the NY Times increases their base of specialized freelance journalists and instructors over time,
individuals who have received some of the best and most prestigious training available from the NY Times themselves..

-V. Operational Mobility-

Imagine that the NY Times also generates additional revenue by contracting NY Times instructors
to travel and give special and exclusive lectures, seminars, or workshops - to schools and universities from all around the world..

NY Times instructional staff conduct special lectures or seminars while at remote locations (perhaps while on assignment)
using specially designed and easily portable "Mobile Multimedia Multiversity" equipment..

-VI. Restructuring & Reorganization-

Imagine that individuals such as myself were paid exclusively in NY Times stock (rather than money)
to come in and restructure the NY Times into a Multiplatform Multimedia Multiversity..

That way, it would substantially pay for these agents of change (such as myself)
to successfully transform the NY Times back into a profitable organization,
because the NY Times stock would rise in value - creating an incentive for success..

Whereas the stock would lose value if these change agents were unsuccessful,
creating an effective deterrent for failure..

-VII. Appendix & Further Reading-

A) Multimedia Multiversity

The following is a rejected Knight News Challenge proposal I drafted from November 2007
outlining my concept for a newsroom or classroom model for the future..



I would like to invent a new kind of classroom (or newsroom) for all kinds of media professionals.



I would like to invent a Multimedia Multiversity (or newsroom) in which there is a classroom that is circular and all the seats are arranged in a circle. In front of every seat, there exists a computer touch-screen for all the students or media professionals who are interacting in this environment.



There are two monitors in front of every subject, one connected to the Internet that the subject controls, and one monitor that shows whatever is on the teacher’s (or moderator’s) interactive computer screen.



The teacher (or editor or moderator) has a control switchboard which allows them to temporarily transfer control of the non-interactive monitors to project the interactive monitor of whomever is speaking or “has the floor” during a discussion, lecture, or debate.



In addition, there is a circular dry-erase board (which spans all around the classroom) behind the seats, in which students, teachers, professionals, (or politicians alike), can get up and draw or write notes behind them. Due to the circular nature of this room, anybody in this environment can see each other's notes with relative ease and transparency.



This model would use a dialectic, Socratic seminar approach. The room itself would be structured in the form of a panopticon.

All debates could be recorded with a camera in the middle of the room and the recorded videos could be made available freely (or for a fee) online as an educational resource to anybody in the world who wants to watch them.



Ideally, these seminar rooms would be constructed to seat no more than 18-24 people, seeing as how smaller class sizes are more conducive to Socratic debate, analysis, and dialectic.



Moreover, each seat would have the ability to project a video image of somebody in another location who is participating in the discussion but is unable to be there physically in person due to geographical constraints. These participants could even be reporting from “on the scene” at a news event.



I think this classroom model makes sense because universities and newsrooms can’t keep up with the progress being made in multimedia journalism and communications.



This model could accelerate and enrich the learning process with media as well as democratize the teaching process, since more and more college students (or subordinates in newsrooms) are surpassing their professors technically speaking in the fields of multimedia journalism and communications.



It is an environment that could prove very conducive to the formation, maximization, and application of raw creative mental energy.



It’s purposes could be equally useful for government officials, education, journalism, politics, advertising, public relations, or even courtrooms.



(Edited) Imagine a scenario in which the active participants in this experimental classroom were graduates from various fields of communication from all around the world.



There is no telling how valuable the research and knowledge attained from this project could be for the journalism industry and society as a whole.



This is something that could change the world by changing the way we think, learn, work, and communicate. By accelerating communication with this environment structure, we could very well accelerate our capacity as a species to solve a great deal of the world’s problems.



B) Newsopticon - Knight News Challenge Proposal

The following is a rejected Knight News Challenge proposal I drafted from November 2008
which adds to the previous Multimedia Multiversity excerpt..


Describe your project:



Newsopticon is a multifaceted project which aims to accomplish numerous goals. It will primarily serve as a think tank and as an educational resource.



In addition to providing premium content for content publishers that can be syndicated for free on any website,

Newsopticon will also provide journalists in particular with free multimedia training as well as essential entrepreneurial business training.



I will assemble a cutting-edge interactive multimedia studio based on my Multimedia Multiversity concept for a newsroom/classroom of the future.



There will be five computer consoles arranged in a circle (turned inward) and room for one moderator as well as four other participants. There will be a 360 degree video camera placed in the center of this studio, which will videotape each participant as they speak.



Each of these five participants will have their own computer in front of them with high-speed internet access.

At each computer console, there will be two computer monitors, one monitor hooked up to the computer that the individual participant controls, and another monitor which broadcasts whatever is on the computer of the participant who has the floor during the discussion.



Thus, during debates, the moderator will use a switch board to direct the non-interactive monitors to broadcast the interactive monitor of whomever has the floor during the debate. As a participant is speaking, they will be able to show the other participants interactive/audiovisual material and resources from the internet that will enrich the discussion.



A socratic seminar of the 21st century.



In addition to filming these discussions, a screencast recording will simultaneously capture whatever is being broadcast on the non-interactive monitors. Once published to the internet, the screencast would be displayed next to the 360 degree video of the participants speaking, resulting in a high-tech form of show-and-tell as you see what the speaker is talking about while they are speaking.



This multimedia studio, consisting of 5 computers, 10 monitors, and 1 camera, will be fully portable and mobile. Though there would be a specific studio location for this multimedia studio, it would be tremendously easy to move this studio around to various other universities, newsrooms, or conference rooms to setup shop in various locations.



Participants who can't make it to the studio in person would also be able to participate remotely via video chat.



I would arrange and schedule interviews, debates, discussions, and seminars with some of the world's leading journalists, entrepreneurs, economists, professors, philosophers, politicians, artists, writers, futurists, et cetera.



Newsopticon would cover many topics. While the focus would certainly be on providing free open-source multimedia and business training for journalists all around the world, Newsopticon would also simultaneously produce free syndicatable content relating to multiple fields of interest.



Content publishers from all around the world would be able to embed Newsopticon videos into their websites for free, allowing them to even generate advertising revenue off of Newsopticon material without having to pay royalties or subscription fees (unlike the AP model, for example). Each video would be fully transcribed for the hearing-impaired, and I would program a translation engine into the Newsopticon website's functionality which would dynamically translate these transcriptions into various languages of the viewer's choice - effectively bridging a great deal of linguistic barriers and making the content more accessible to a global audience.



Moreover, I would program functionality into this content that would also allow people to embed just a small segment of these videos into their websites instead of the entire video. That way, if a publisher just wants to highlight a soundbyte or a couple-minute portion of an hour-long video, they could do so with relative ease (similar to how Google Books allows users to link to specific pages of digitized books), instead of having to embed the entire video.



I would primarily serve as coordinator, producer, and publisher of Newsopticon. While I would plan to moderate certain discussions, I would invite many others to guest moderate these panels. Other people would even have the opportunity to book the studio space and schedule their own panels during times that the studio is not in use.



While I would plan to base the studio out of New York City, I would also plan to setup these discussions at universities and newsrooms all across the world via the "Multimedia Multiversity" mobile unit. New York City seems to make the most sense to base the studio out of since it is a publishing epicenter, with one of the largest pools of potential qualified participants.



How will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities?

:

1. It would provide free multimedia literacy training, as well as essential entrepreneurial training to journalists and others all around the world.



2. It would provide free, open-source information to content publishers all around the world, covering a plethora of relevant topics.



3. The dynamically translatable transcriptions will make the content more accessible to people of non-English speaking origin.

4. It will allow people to embed or link to portions of Newsopticon content.



5. Downloadable & embeddable videos will make the content accessible for broadcast, radio, and web outlets who may wish to syndicate the videos.



6. Transcriptions of each video available on the site will make the content accessible for print, web, broadcast, and radio outlets who may wish to syndicate the videos.

How is your idea innovative (new or different from what already exists)?:



The model for both the production and publishing of Newsopticon is considerably different than any existing talk show format. Geared for the internet, the simultaneous presentation of the speakers presenting (in 360 degree view) on one side of the screen, along with the exposition of any interactive/audiovisual material they may be citing on the other side of the screen, is original and unlike any existing talk show or radio show format. Moreover, Newsopticon will be produced and published in such a way that it's content can be easily syndicated for print, web, television, or radio outlets - making it's delivery multiplatform as well as multimedia.