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New Media Innovations
The Kauffman Foundation hosted a number of econ bloggers, including myself, at the AEAs to discuss blogging, communication and new media. Tim Kane at Growthology summarizes the stimulating discussion:
Some of things I learned include (1) the process of collaborative filtering is increasingly useful for discovery and evaluation, and a pioneer to watch is Slashdot, (2) commenting on blogs is arguably more valuable than posting for evaluating ideas ... look for weighted commenting/evaluation systems to supplant formalized referee systems over time, (3) blogs are just part of the spectrum of idea sharing, as is journal publishing, and simply having a web page is now essential to be part of a research community, (4) good ideas can filter up much faster through the academic community thanks to blogs, (5) it is very difficult to determine what revenue models will sustain the print news media, but one possible trend to watch for is the return of ideological patronage (e.g. think tank magazines) -- it's not just advertising and subscriptions that will sustain the sector, (6) it's still probably not advisable for graduate students or junior faculty to blog instead of focus on tenurable research ... for now, and (7) if blogging is representative, then risk-taking entrepreneurship will thrive, even in a recession.
You will be happy to know that it was brought up in the discussion that the MR comment section is especially good so take it away readers.
Posted by Alex Tabarrok on January 4, 2009 at 07:37 AM in Current Affairs, Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
regarding (5)
Isn't that a step backward? Suppose one's patron wants all the news that fits their ideology, and nothing more? (Not that we don't suffer from that already, but the "return of ideological patronage" seems to be an even worse road to go down)
Posted by: Delirious at Jan 4, 2009 10:54:43 AM
Alex,
Sounds interesting. Next time, please tell us these things in advance - I would have loved to attend. And it would have been a nice excuse to escape the interview suite.
"So, why don't you tell us about your job market paper?". Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.
Posted by: Commenterlein at Jan 4, 2009 10:57:19 AM
Slashdot's filtering and weighted evaluation system relies on selecting random logged-in users to do the moderation, almost like registered voters getting selected for impromptu jury duty. It also uses meta-moderation, to deal with the problem of "who moderates the moderators" and prevent gaming the system. You probably need a very large user base to make it workable, larger than that of most specialized blogs.
Slashdot's moderation system has been in place for many years now, but seems to have few imitators, perhaps for the above reason.
Posted by: at Jan 4, 2009 11:01:43 AM
A key point regarding blogs is how people find them. Recent studies suggest most people find blogs by following the links on other blogs they already read and like. This can create a fitness landscape where you get stuck in a local but not global optimum. Services like Entrecard may help blog readers find new content, but unlike visiting a new city and using real estate as a clue to where to find good eating, there is no reliable way to find good blogs other than "follow the links" or scour the major SN site (Digg, Blogcatalog, et al.). None is anywhere near optimal in my experience.
This would be an area for an entrepreneurial group to make a major impact on the Web and in finding new ideas, perhaps through the use of a new form of collective intelligence (something beyond /., Tanimoto, etc.).
Posted by: Aoi at Jan 4, 2009 12:54:27 PM
I hope you'll entertain a dissenting opinion on conclusion 6.
Posted by: Chris Blattman at Jan 4, 2009 1:40:10 PM
I believe the slashdot commentators also "build rank" in some way. You have to be dedicated in order to be heard. New comments by infrequent visitors (great name when slashdot invented "anonymous cowards") usually sink without a trace.
The thing that keeps MR clean is probably the low level of comments and the relative obscurity of the subject matter (quick, nobody mention Sarah Palin!)
Posted by: odograph at Jan 4, 2009 2:04:51 PM
Chris,
Isn't that yet to be determined?! :)
Cheers
Alex
Posted by: Alex Tabarrok at Jan 4, 2009 3:43:39 PM
"Think-tank" magazines? For the love of god, gag me. I'd prefer wholesale government subsidization of periodicals, even if 90% of the money goes to PlayBoy
Posted by: Robert Olson at Jan 4, 2009 5:03:35 PM
What I found most interesting was this:
(6) it's still probably not advisable for graduate students or junior faculty to blog instead of focus on tenurable research ... for now
I wonder how long it will be before blogging - especially well-researched, thoughtful posts - is regarded as an equally important factor in tenure decisions. It seems that facilitating the transmission of ideas, and especially the debate that erupts around those ideas, is a key goal of academia.
Posted by: William at Jan 4, 2009 6:14:32 PM
I have a better idea, which I described a while back in "The News-and-Views Industry of the 21st Century." http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=052605B. Let newspapers carry water for the blogosphere.
The internet is inherently superior to print as a medium for breaking news, exchange of opinions, commentary, etc. But print media are portable and easy on the eye. Here's a model worth trying: start a newspaper with all the content downloaded from the internet. Public domain stuff; contact bloggers and think tanks and ask for permission, plus press releases etc. Pay no writers. Get local ads. Distribute free. Citizen journalism. Let it be ideologically motivated, but grass-roots, eclectic. Like the blogosphere.
Write me if you want to help me organize it.
Posted by: Nathan Smith at Jan 4, 2009 11:14:20 PM
I love slashdot - it's karma and moderation systems are great stuff - but they do have limits. Its moderation gets troublesome in the face of politics posts, though, because passionate subcommunities can give each other enough karma to moderate some pretty troublesome comments as good.
It works great for technical topics, though, and'd probably be good for econ blogs. It's a tad heavyweight to set up compared to a blog, though, which is probably why blogs've been outcompeting slashclones even in technical blogs. I guess the open questions are how to make moderation work even for politics and have lightweight setup.
Nathan, The Onion's way ahead of you. It may be the only newspaper increasing its print exposure. It does have some local events specialization, though.
Posted by: Jon Kay at Jan 5, 2009 4:03:20 AM
