Does Good Design Matter? An Anecdote from the Thompson Campaign
I’ll be speaking on a panel at the Politics Online conference next Tuesday (register here) on the topic of “Does Good Design Matter” in the context and political/advocacy websites. The panel was put together by Colin Delaney of e-politics and will also feature Margaux O’Malley (Grand Junction Design) and Susan Finkelpearl (Free Range Studios).
In thinking about this topic, one example from our work on the Fred Thompson campaign where good design didn’t matter immediately jumped to mind.
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Mapping an Earthquake
Last week on Thursday, February 21, a 6.0 earthquake rocked northern Nevada and was felt in Idaho and Utah as well. In response, the Salt Lake Tribune wrote a traditional article about the event. However, its coverage didn't stop there.
The paper decided to ask readers who felt the quake to describe what they noticed and where they were at the time. These responses were mapped on a MapBuilder map to give a graphic representation of where people felt the earth shake.
In Monday's E-Media Tidbits column, Amy Gahran of The Poynter Institute highlighted this nifty map. Kim McDaniel of the Tribune explained to her that this map wasn't originally designed to examine the quake; it was originally used in November to show where holiday lights were located in the Salt Lake area. After the quake hit, she and her team had a great idea and implemented it.
It is very important to note that newspapers of all sizes can launch great interactive tools. This ability is not reserved for large papers like the New York Times that can create sexy flash presentations like the one about box office data that Todd mentioned yesterday.
Granted, it is easier said than done, but creativity and fast thinking — sometimes coupled with services like MapBuilder — can go a long way for any newspaper trying to report better and connect with its audience in meaningful ways.
Internet ad revenue tops $21B, but growth is slower
So while reaching the $21 billion plateau for the first time sounds great, the growth of internet ad revenues is also slowing down.
The data, collected by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, suggests revenues grew an estimated 25 percent last year, up from $16.9 billion in 2006. That’s a whole 10 percentage points lower than the previous year’s growth. Even the dollar figure was lower, with a $4.2 billion increase compared to $4.3 billion in 2005.
The increasingly torpid growth was forecasted by many analysts though. As the internet continues to soak up more of the advertising stream, this has meant less money for traditional outlets like newspapers. Still, the internet only occupies about 10 percent of all American ad spending, which means plenty of room for growth, albeit slower.
There are some variables that may contribute to the slowdown in growth not accounted for IAB's figures. We’re arguably in a recession, and one of the first things companies do when the pockets get thin is cut ad spending. Some of the big boys like MSN, Yahoo!, and AOL are even having a rough go of it lately.
A full breakdown of the numbers is expected to be released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau in May.
Newspapers and Interactive Features
One thing I am seeing more and more of on newspaper websites are interactive features that provide rich ways to look at otherwise flat data. Today, Gary forwarded me a great example from the New York Times website. Check out The Ebb and Flow of Movies: Box Office Receipts 1986 – 2007, an interactive piece that shows box office receipts by month/movie for the last twenty years. This Flash piece is really well done, and is definitely the kind of thing that will get past around and get eyeballs to the Times website. It also provides ways to discover other Times content, as when you click on the movie names you get a little pop up window that provides a summary of what the movie is about and a link to a full review.
Saturday Night Live has an official wiki?
I was excited to see Tina Fey host Saturday Night Live over the weekend since the episode basically marked the return of new scripted TV after the writers’ strike ended (further, it is helping me stave off the cravings for new 30 Rock). After laughing during most of the skits, I visited the SNL site on nbc.com to watch the “I drink your milkshake” skit again, and that’s when I noticed the official SNL wiki.
Of course, there are already other SNL wikis — like the one on Wikia — but I was a little surprised to see one on NBC’s site. Don’t get me wrong, I see the value of such a feature for a popular TV show website, but it seems to me that SNL doesn’t attract a crowd that is inclined to use wikis like the audience of a science fiction show like Star Trek. Granted, a wiki doesn’t need too many people to thrive, but why does NBC think that SNL needs a wiki before another show like ER or one of the Law & Order series? Continue reading “Saturday Night Live has an official wiki?” »