What can come of NPR's release of an API giving access to its story database?

[Steve Behrens]

Last year, public radio's Digital Distribution Consortium Working Group predicted (see page 10) that freeing content could result in mashups such as "a Hidden Kitchens regional food content site that mashes up DDC audio and video content with Google Maps and Flickr photos about local restaurants and food events; a Science Talk site that draws on DDC science content combined with selected blog posts on related topics."

And there probably will be much more signficant unforeseen innovations, as the DDC authors would probably agree.

But to media traditionalists, freeing content also rips it from a relatively concrete "place" (radio station or website) that carries underwriting and is clearly associated with an institution that seeks to generate good will and membership, subscription, foundation or taxpayer support.

Thus the freed content gets much-improved distribution, and probably added value from the mashing-up. But the institutions best positioned to reap revenue are companies like Google that put relatively little money into generating content themselves.

What are some great things that can come of freeing content, and are there also great revenue opportunities to support the production of content?

[Scott Hanley]

Oh and responding to myself -- I tried to do an edit before the system timed out ---

The most important thing in how we move forward is how we work together. Technology will not cure dysfunction - and can even make it worse. Watch how we end up debating our opinions in blogs, forums, listervs and more.

Worse yet, the seeming need for constant feedback is reducing our time to be contemplative, in which we can think things through and bring ideas back to share, adapt and change. One of the reasons I blog so little is that I have other work to do with the people I do work with, or those I hope to work with.

So, the problems we are facing now are the business model. Please do not think this is new - it has been the way of the world for centuries.

Parting note -- Today's Washington Monthly - referencing a blog entry in the American Prospect.

Almost two thirds of Politico's revenue comes from less than 30,000 subscribers to the 3 day a week print edition. A bit more than a third comes from 3 million readers to content that is fresh, every day.

Kevin Drum's parting shot:

Bottom line: Print gets you respect and big dollar advertisers. The web gets you buzz and a nice chunk of additional revenue. The future — part of it, anyway — belongs to those who can successfully combine multiple media platforms into a single profitable whole. So far, it looks like The Politico has done that.

So, yeah, we all have things to do. And as soon as we get it right, or close to right, it will change. That is NOT a new experience for human activity.

What the open API from NPR does is allow us to build on the good intentions of people of like intent. We have a social network already -- 30 million listeners and soon, we hope, 3 million donors. We will never be perfect in making our relationship better with them - but we've done a lot of good against the odds so far. I hope my station, staff, listeners/users and others will keep up the good fight.

Always moving, never arriving, but toward a good direction.

Thanks

Scott Hanley

[John Sutton]

Thanks for the good thread everyone. Scott, I picked Pittsburgh for many of the reasons you mentioned, for the market conditions, and for the symbolism of a place that has reinvented itself a few times without losing its past. Technology changes, missions get altered (there's a blog posting coming on that one), and people adapt.

Stephen, you're right, you haven't been an "all-or-nothing" voice in this. My apologies for suggesting so. It's that "radio is dead" thing that I object to. Believing that radio is dead is just as dangerous as being in denial about the changes ahead. I mean, who's going to walk away from a $4,000,000 enterprise today based on an uncertain future? Yet that's how it comes off some time. And in public radio, no less, where rational thinking is supposed to trump sensationalism.

[Scott Hanley]

and at the risk of steering people elsewhere, this thread has prompted me to come up with some thoughts at my under-active blog under the title "It's the Humanity, Stupid." I would offer that we are often discussing the wrong things when we come around to the topic of digital public media - and public media in general.

There are a lot of valid discussion points being floated about - but we seem to spend too much time talking about who someone ELSE should hand control over to or keep control from. And just because things aren't moving in the way we think they should or as fast as they should does not mean there isn't movement. Sometimes things take time, sometimes mistakes must be made so we can learn, sometimes things just are what they are.

[John Proffitt]

Hey, we just had a picnic, too! It was our second, and a great opportunity to bring in the community, share our space, engage, chat, etc. We're going to do more of that kind of stuff in the near future. For too long we've had an attitude that said, "We can't have the public mucking around in here -- this is Public Media!"

As for the tech angle, when I talk new media technology, I'm mindful of two things. First, the technology itself is always changing and is always, paradoxically, irrelevant to the mission. These are tools, not goals.

Second, as the media universe fractures and our supporters spread themselves across more media, we need to use the tools at our disposal to reach them where they are / when they are with media that's as relevant to them as we can make it.

These new tools allow us to develop a more personalized service, based on a much broader set of distribution models. Used well, these tools allow us to have a more direct two-way relationship with more of our community in ways we couldn't (afford to) before.

I think we'll find we need these new, deeper relationships going forward. Just "being on the radio" or "being on the TV" isn't going to be enough.

[Rob Paterson]

Sorry about being late back John S - the all or nothing that I am seeing in the system is that nearly all the effort is being placed in the traditional area!

It reminds me of what might have been said in the board rooms at Ford or GM 10 years ago - "We make most of our money making Trucks and SUV's When we have to, we will shift to smaller cars - no one can make money doing that anyway"

At Toyota it might have gone like this "We will make Trucks and SUV's - that is where the money is now - but we will dominate the small and the high efficiency car sector and we will learn to make money there - so that when the time comes we will be ready"

I agree with Stephen - what can be done now is to work on how we will make money in the new. Even that is not done.

As Stephen says the best place to start might be the archive - with a revenue sharing deal between the producer and the station

This way we can all learn how to get there.

At KETC we are going down the other route - becoming the essential convener that brings all parties together to address critical problems - in this case the effects of the foreclosure crisis. As we get better at this we can see that we will have an endless list of issues - energy, financial literacy, health, education etc. This work shifts the fund raising into a higher plane - where we attract philanthropy because we are really helping the city

There is a third stream - of convening the energy and ideas of the community such as WOSU is doing in Columbus. They have made a big effort to attract the local blogging community and a key partner - the library. I am sure that in the next year - WOSU and the Bloggers will expand the stations' coverage of their city immensely but all for the cost of some time and pizza. They will also have infected the station with the reality of the digital natives

I think that stations that can do all three of these things will wean themselves off being a re-broadcaster and build a revenue and a resource base that will prepare them well for the Toyota moment