View From the Phlipside - Biblion and magazines

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

So here’s the question that we’ve been tap dancing around on this program for a couple years.  What exactly will the next generation of news media look like?  Particularly those that follow in the footsteps of the magazine and newspaper.  While there’s been a lot of conversation and comment (like mine) on the subject there doesn’t seem to be a lot offerings on what it might look like.

Some, like the Daily for iPad, have gotten mixed reviews (I still love the one that called it “fluffy”.  Pretty sure that wasn’t what they were reaching for).  Most are simply translating the old print page to print on a screen.  Pretty dull I have to admit.  It seems like there ought to be more to it than that.  With all the additional options that our computers offer just text on a screen with pictures or the occasional video is that the best we can do?

Well maybe not.  Most fascinating is who just might have hit on the beginnings of that new formula.  The future of the newspaper or magazine just might look like - the New York Public Library.  Or at least like their new Biblion app for the iPad.  Biblion is intended to help bring people into the depth of the fabulous collection of materials that is the New York Public Library.  It is multi-media, text, graphics, photos, video and it is non-linear.  That means it’s not a matter of following the direction set by the author.  Rather you are given a central page that lays out the options and the information available to you.  You then get to pick and choose to explore the story in the manner and order you choose.  Not interested in reading the essay portion?  Skip directly to the video or the photos.  It is news that is given depth and dimension two things that too much of our news these days lack.

Biblion isn’t intended as a magazine.  That’s not what the NYPL was trying to create.  They created a fascinating way to explore the stacks in a digital form.  As someone who loves just wandering the collections of libraries exploring this sounds like a bigger and better way of doing just that.

What the Library has done is create something that is bigger and more profound than they anticipated.  They created the first really meaningful prototype for the next generation of news media.  The final product may or may not look just like Biblion.  But the news moguls would be very foolish not to take a long serious look at what just might be their future.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011