Susan Mernit has been a friend, collaborator and advisor for many years. I’m pleased to announce she’s taking on a new role at iFOCOS - Entrepreneur-in-Residence. It’s a virtual residency. She’ll still be based in Palo Alto, where until recently she was a Senior Director of Product Development for Yahoo! Susan will contribute to a variety of projects at iFOCOS.

Last month at We Media Miami Susan led and moderated two sessions - one focused on social media and social experiences in business; the other focused on women in media and technology. If you don’t know Susan, you can get to know her through her widely-read blog and connect with her through the We Media Community [here's her profile]; and starting now through her contributions to guiding and growing iFOCOS. Welcome Susan!

And, for those of you reading this who know Susan but don’t know iFOCOS and We Media: Welcome to you too! We hope you’ll dive in, join the community, and find people, ideas and activities here that make a difference in your work and help you make a difference for others.

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Meet and chat with author, blogger and media strategist Brian Reich at The National Press Club in Washington, DC.

When: Tuesday, April 1, 4 pm ET

Where: The National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20045, 13th Floor First Amendment Room [map]

What: Conversation Followed By Reception

More: If you have questions, contact Brian directly: brian AT themediarules DOT com. Or learn more about him and connect with him in the We Media Community [here's Brian's profile].

Brian is a partner at web design and strategy shop EchoDitto, he’s a media-and-politics savvy blogger and co-author of a new book, Media Rules!: Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience. That’s his exclamation, not mine, like Yahoo!! Brian is also a member of the iFOCOS advisory board.

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For the second year in a row we’ve documented a devastating lack of satisfaction with journalism in American - and an opportunity to do something about it. Here’s the formal press release of the new research, which we discussed in the opening session of this year’s We Media Miami Forum and Festival. The good news: Americans believe journalism is important. The bad news: They don’t like or trust the journalism in their communities. One thing is clear: Our forecast from four years ago of “the digital everything” has arrived - the Internet is the primary source of news for more people than any other. There’s no going back. The widespread dissatisfaction with traditional journalism could be viewed ominously, by those who produce and sell it, as a cause for alarm, a reflection of ongoing decline and a likely foreshadowing of further decline. But for the We Media culture a tremendous opportunity emerges - not only to produce better and more trusted journalism but to build better communities around it. In the We Media culture that’s an opportunity for everyone, including but by no means limited to those who think of themselves as media companies or professionals. Civic groups, healthcare companies, nonprofits, local governments and activists are starting to flex their muscles as story-tellers too. The future, like the past, will be full of stories. - Andrew Nachison

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Two thirds of Americans – 67% – believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news, a new We Media/Zogby Interactive poll shows.

The survey also found that while most Americans (70%) think journalism is important to the quality of life in their communities, two thirds (64%) are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism in their communities.

Meanwhile, the online survey documented the shift away from traditional sources of news, such as newspapers and TV, to the Internet – most dramatically among so-called digital natives – people under 30 years old.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet, an increase from 40% who said the same a year ago. Younger adults were most likely to name the Internet as their top source – 55% of those age 18 to 29 say they get most of their news and information online, compared to 35% of those age 65 and older.

These oldest adults are the only age group to favor a primary news source other than the Internet, with 38% of these seniors who said they get most of their news from television. Overall, 29% said television is their main source of news, while fewer said they turn to radio (11%) and newspapers (10%) for most of their news and information. Just 7% of those age 18 to 29 said they get most of their news from newspapers, while more than twice as many (17%) of those age 65 and older list newspapers as their top source of news and information.

Web sites are regarded as a more important source of news and information than traditional media outlets – 86% of Americans said Web sites were an important source of news, with more than half (56%) who view these sites as very important. Most also view television (77%), radio (74%), and newspapers (70%) as important sources of news, although fewer than say the same about blogs (38%).

The Zogby Interactive survey of 1,979 adults nationwide was conducted Feb. 20-21, 2008, and carries a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points. The survey results were announced at this week’s fourth-annual We Media Forum and Festival in Miami, hosted by the University of Miami School of Communication and organized and produced by iFOCOS, a Reston, Va.-based media think tank (www.ifocos.org). This is the second year of the survey.

“For the second year in a row we have documented a crisis in American journalism that is far more serious than the industry’s business challenges – or maybe a consequence of them,” said Andrew Nachison, co-founder of iFOCOS. “Americans recognize the value of journalism for their communities, and they are unsatisfied with what they see. While the U.S. news industry sheds expenses and frets about its future, Americans are dismayed by its present.

“Meanwhile, we see clearly the generational shift of digital natives from traditional to online news – so the challenge for traditional news companies is complex. They need to invest in new products and services – and they have. But they’ve also got to invest in quality, influence and impact. They need to invest in journalism that makes a difference in people’s lives. That’s a moral and leadership challenge – and a business opportunity for whoever can meet it.”

The survey finds the Internet not only outweighs television, radio, and newspapers as the most frequently used and important source for news and information, but Web sites were also cited as more trustworthy than more traditional media sources – nearly a third (32%) said Internet sites are their most trusted source for news and information, followed by newspapers (22%), television (21%) and radio (15%).

Other findings from the survey include:

• Although the vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism (64%), overall satisfaction with journalism has increased to 35% in this survey from 27% who said the same in 2007.
• Both traditional and new media are viewed as important for the future of journalism – 87% believe professional journalism has a vital role to play in journalism’s future, although citizen journalism (77%) and blogging (59%) are also seen as significant by most Americans.
• Very few Americans (1%) consider blogs their most trusted source of news, or their primary source of news (1%).
• Three in four (75%) believe the Internet has had a positive impact on the overall quality of journalism.
• 69% believe media companies are becoming too large and powerful to allow for competition, while 17% believe they are the right size to adequately compete.

Republicans (79%) and political independents (75%) are most likely to feel disenchanted with conventional journalism, but the online survey found 50% of Democrats also expressed similar concerns. Those who identify themselves as “very conservative” were among the most dissatisfied, with 89% who view traditional journalism as out of touch.

Further Details: Zogby Methodological statement

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Since the presidential campaign began for the 2008 United States election,mainstream media coverage of the campaign never stopped amazing me at all.Matter of fact is,this is my first ever election campaign i have literally seen in the United States.

And though i occasionally watched other U.S. presidential campaigns and elections while still in Africa via CNN,BBC and other international broadcasters, this one is special to me because it happens to involve a black male and the first ever female running for president in the United States.

Though my native Liberia has produced the first ever elected Female head of state in Africa, i am having a very difficult time deciding when and how race plays a part in reporting the election campaign.

Though many Americans(including the very democratic front-runners-Hillary and Obama)say race has nothing to do with the 2008 presidential election,i am subtling leaning toward thinking and believing that race does have a major part to play in the up-coming election as seen during these primaries and caucuses that seem not to end now for the democratic party.

And as a journalist who lived and worked in a third world country where it becomes difficult most of the time to be relatively objective and unbias during election times,many questions are on mind:

When is race not the story? But then how to cover the “white”, “black” or “yellow” hot issues of politics and race?How can a journalist deconstruct the forms of racial and ethnic identifications that most often appear in news stories? How best can a journalist describe the way people look during elcetions that involve race?

Then,is it wrong or right for a journalist to vote during primaries and caucuses and at the same time report the news fairly and accurately?

As we( i am flying in next week too) prepare to descend on Miami next week,i hope i could get a rather clear understanding of the above questions. We Media 2008,here we come.

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We’re please to announce a new service for members of the We Media Community. The iFOCOS Media Intelligence Report is a periodic review of key trends, ideas and issues in media, along with analysis of what these findings mean for the connected society.

In the new Intelligence Report we’ll consider trends in media and their implications from a variety of perspectives (enterprise, social, creative, investment, culture, technology). As usual, the analysis reflects our broad definition of We Media - the world in which everyone and every institution is media.

The report will be made available first to members of the We Media Community - so if you still haven’t joined, now there’s additional reason to make the modest investment as an individual or corporate member. You can learn more about membership here.

The report joins our iSIGHTINGS blog, which includes faster “realtime” analysis and findings. The Intelligence Report is a longer-form PDF, with more reflective synthesis of what we see and what it means - and it’s also more visual than our blog. We hope you’ll find value in both and appreciate the difference between the two.

The first edition of the Intelligence Report includes a recap of the Media Matrix Dale and I have have developed for our consulting and strategy projects, and thoughts on the Amazon Kindle, cell phone novels, the design dividend at CES, endowed social journalism - and more.

You can access and download the January 2008 issue here.

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RESTON, VA–(February 3, 2008) - LaunchBox Digital, an early-stage investment firm and organizer of LaunchBox08, and iFOCOS, a new-media think tank and convener of the annual We Media conference, are partnering to identify and accelerate the development of innovative media startup companies.

The strategic partnership will interweave initiatives from both organizations. At iFOCOS’ We Media conference in Miami, Feb. 26 to 28, entrepreneurs will “pitch” startup ideas to a panel of investors and experts, including John McKinley, LaunchBox Digital’s co-founder. LaunchBox Digital will also be a sponsor of the We Media Miami conference.

“Our conference pitch sessions have been very popular, giving entrepreneurs a chance to get instant feedback from experienced investors. Partnering with LaunchBox takes this goal even further, pushing beyond advice to action,” said Andrew Nachison, co-founder of iFOCOS.

The best idea for a web-based startup will automatically receive “finalist” status in the competition to take part in LaunchBox08, a 12-week business-accelerator program in Washington, D.C., where 6 to 10 companies will each receive a $15,000-to-$30,000 investment, mentorship from world-class advisors and exposure to investors.

“LaunchBox08 is a platform for entrepreneurs to launch new technology businesses,” said Matt Jacobson, LaunchBox Digital’s executive director. “Partnering with iFOCOS will enhance our pool of new media applicants and broaden our global reach.”

iFOCOS founders Nachison and Dale Peskin will also participate in components of LaunchBox08.

To apply for the pitch session at the We Media Miami conference: http://ifocos.org/2008/01/23/pitch-it-bring-your-new-biz-idea-to-miami/

To apply for LaunchBox08: http://www.launchboxdigital.com/apply-online.html

ABOUT iFOCOS:

Founded 2006, iFOCOS is a media think tank and futures lab committed to harnessing the power of media, communication and human ingenuity for the common good. iFOCOS organizes the We Media Community, produces research, working groups and other projects that reflect, inform and inspire the community, in addition to organizing the annual We Media Global Forum and Festival.

ABOUT LAUNCHBOX DIGITAL:

LaunchBox Digital, an early-stage investment firm located in Washington, D.C., is the organizer of LaunchBox08, a summer accelerator program focused on helping entrepreneurs get the capital, advice, and practical guidance to succeed.

Contact information:

Contact information:

Matt Jacobson
Executive Director
LaunchBox Digital
(703) 946-6374

Andrew Nachison
Co-Founder
iFOCOS
(703) 880-2659

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For members of the We Media Community, or anyone coming to We Media Miami, or anyone else who thinks the We Media conversation is worth tracking and recommending to your friends: now you can show you’re part of it. Use one of our handy-dandy badges.

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The discussion at We Media Miami on next-generation search concepts, chaired by Jim Kennedy of The Associated Press, was both vibrant and inconclusive. So we’re going further. We’ve launched the iFOCOS Search Working Group. The group will hold its kickoff meeting April 24, 2007, in Santa Clara, California - using meeting space generously provided by Yahoo!

Members include:
Neil Budde, GM, Yahoo! News; Suranga Chandratillake, founder/CTO, Blinkx; Jeff Clavier, Managing Partner, SoftechVC; Steven Donahue, Professor, Miami Dade College; Jeffrey S. Given, science.gov/Computer Operations Manager, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy; Jim Kennedy, VP Strategy, Associated Press; Michael Mannes, VP Strategy, Gannett; Oren Michels, CEO, Mashery; Andrew Nachison, President, iFOCOS; Julie Rutherford, Marketing Director, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive; Rich Skrenta, CEO, Topix.

This is the first of what we hope will become many action-oriented teams initiated and driven by members. Working Groups are an antidote to the tedium of best practices meetings - our working groups will focus on better practices and results. If you and your company haven’t become members of iFOCOS yet - please do. Our impact and ability to convene projects like the search working group depends on the support and participation of members. Please review the membership details and benefits, join now, and then help us push the agenda and outcomes further.

To join now, click here.

About Search
Could internet search work better? What would a next-generation, “better” search experience look like, especially for discovering news and current events information? What is “better” - and what would it take to get there?

This working group of experts representing key constituents from search and content companies will share ideas and assess opportunities, if any, to collaborate on initiatives, standards or recommendations that could enable independent innovation and improved means to access more relevant and more informative search results across digital platforms.

The goal of this working group is to seek a next-generation vision for making sense of the world’s information. The result could be no more than a set of recommendations, or creative ideas applied in unexpected ways; or perhaps action among members to develop a new data standard or some other collaborative project.

We want to keep our working groups as small as possible - 10 - 20 people - but have enough brainpower, key constituents and influence represented to consider actions if any emerge.

Our goal is to convene and facilitate the smallest group possible to be effective and well-rounded, with a potential to collaborate and have influence on next steps (which might include other participants). We’ll post notes, position statements and conclusions on the iFOCOS blog to seek additional input, expand the conversation and discover other collaborators.

Roles
Working groups are driven by the members. iFOCOS will facilitate a working group’s creation, initial information sharing and kickoff meeting to push the discussion further, and ask participants to self-organize on subsequent actions and recommendations. Follow-up actions might require some financial commitment to cover support or development costs, if any emerge. That will be discussed at the kickoff meeting or in follow-up conversations.

This is meant to be collaborative and driven by the working group members - not merely advisory to or driven by iFOCOS. You can help shape and move the agenda forward, debate and push back on assumptions or recommend alternative approaches. As a learning experience the dialog might inspire new R&D and innovation within individual member companies irrespective of shared actions or outcomes.

Members: If you’d like to join the search working group - or start a new working group on a different subject - contact Andrew Nachison at iFOCOS.

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Online survey finds general public, media conference attendees agree that traditional news outlets could do a better job

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 15, 2007

A majority of Americans (55%) in an online survey said bloggers are important to the future of American journalism and 74% said citizen journalism will play a vital role, a new We Media - Zogby Interactive poll shows.

Most respondents (53%) also said the rise of free Internet-based media pose the greatest opportunity to the future of professional journalism and three in four (76%) said the Internet has had a positive impact on the overall quality of journalism.

The We Media survey results were released by iFOCOS and pollster John Zogby as part of an iFOCOS conference on media innovation hosted by the School of Communication at the University of Miami, with major support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

In the national survey of adults, 72% said they were dissatisfied with the quality of American journalism today. A majority of conference–goers who were polled on the subject agreed – 55% said they were dissatisfied, and 61% said they believed traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news.

Nearly nine out of 10 media insiders (86%) said they believe bloggers will play an important part in journalism’s future.

“We are now seeing mainstream acceptance of what we call the Power of Us - the value, credibility, and vital expression of citizen and collaborative media,” said Dale Peskin, a managing director of iFOCOS, the organization that conducts the annual We Media conference. “We’ve arrived at a tipping point. A new definition of democratic media is emerging in our society.”

Peskin said that, until recently, many traditional news enterprises have been skeptical about We Media. “They were either fearful or dismissive of our 2003 research forecasting and documenting the change in the media ecosystem,” he said. “Now the Zogby poll provides additional evidence that “We Media” is an essential component – perhaps THE essential component – for the agenda for news and information into the future.”

“The research documents the widespread recognition that control and influence on how we know what we know is shifting to a vastly more distributed network of empowered individuals and organizations,” said Andrew Nachison, co-founder of iFOCOS. “This obviously will have a big impact on how media organizations evolve and conduct business, but it’s really about how we all discover, create, share and apply information, and that’s important to all industries, to entrepreneurs, to non-profits, to governments, to individuals and to society as a whole. We are all part of the ecosystem.”

We Media Miami was conducted Feb. 7-9 with major support from Knight Foundation. The conference brought together more than 250 leaders engaged in media innovation. Participants represented a range of sectors impacting media, including new and traditional media organizations, investors and analysts, information technologists, educators and researchers, as well as bloggers, citizen journalists, and news-and-information entrepreneurs.

The Zogby Interactive survey of 5,384 adults nationwide was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.4 percentage points. The Zogby Interactive survey of 77 members of the media who attended the Miami conference carries a margin of error of +/- 11.4 percentage points. While periodic audits show the results from Zogby telephone and Internet surveys closely track each other, a companion telephone survey of this topic was not conducted.

Dissatisfaction with today’s news reportage is greater among those nationwide online respondents who identified themselves as conservative – 88% said they were unhappy with journalism, while 95% of “very conservative” respondents said the quality of journalism today is not what it should be.

Among those respondents identifying themselves as liberal, 51% said they are dissatisfied with the quality of journalism. Dissatisfaction levels were also highest among older respondents – 78% of those age 65 and older said they are dissatisfied. Most respondents (65%) also said they believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news, with the highest levels of dissatisfaction with traditional journalism among those age 70 and older (74%), the very conservative (95%), and libertarians (89%).

Despite concerns about its quality, 72% of those in the national survey said journalism is important to their community. More respondents (81%) said Web sites are important as a source of news, although television ranked nearly as high (78%), followed by radio (73%). Newspapers and magazines trailed – 69% said newspapers and 38% said magazines were important. While blogs were rated as important sources of news by 30% of the online respondents, they were not considered as good a news source as the backyard fence – 39% said their friends and neighbors are an important source of information.

However, a majority of the nationwide online respondents said Internet social networking sites and blogging will play in important role in the future of journalism. But they added that trustworthiness will be important to the future of the industry – 90% said trust will be key.

Liberal and progressive respondents were more likely to say newspapers are their most trusted source than those with more conservative ideological mindsets. But radio is the most trusted source for 28% of those who describe themselves as “very conservative”, compared with just 9% of liberal respondents.

More online respondents nationwide said the Internet was their top source of news and information (40%), followed by television (32%), newspapers (12%) and radio (12%). The youngest adults in the poll, those age 18-24, were far more likely to say they mostly get news from Internet sites—58% said the Internet is their main destination for news, with television coming in second at 18%. Fewer than one in 10 in this age group said they get the majority of their news from newspapers.

For comment or reporting on We Media, contact dale AT ifocos DOT org or andrew AT ifocos DOT org.

For a detailed methodological statement on the survey, please visit:

http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.dbm?ID=1170
For more on the We Media conference, please visit:

http://ifocos.org/2006/09/01/we-media-miami-overview/

About iFOCOS

iFOCOS is an independent not-for-profit organization committed to enabling a better-informed society. It provides a variety of services, activities and training that help individuals and organizations worldwide understand and use expanding media and communications technologies to innovate as well as to create better-informed global citizens. More about at iFOCOS at: www.ifocos.org

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Companies and individuals are invited to join and participate in the We Media community.
iFOCOS today announced a series of action and educational programs to spur global innovation in media. The media action tank also announced key leadership and advisory appointments as well as support from partners and foundations across a a variety of sectors.

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Here’s a news release we’re distributing today about the We Media Film Festival …

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Online Festival Celebrates the Power of “My Community”

ifocos.org today announced a call for entries and viewer-judges to the 2007 We Media Film Festival. The user-generated online film festival, launched in conjunction with the We Media Miami conference to be held Feb. 7-9, is organized in cooperation with the University of Miami School of Communication and Magnify.net, an online resource for community-powered video.

Video creators can upload or link to their videos and anyone can review and judge the entries online at: http://video.ifocos.org

The theme of the video festival is “My Community.”

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iFOCOS is brand spankin’ new, but the more things change, the more they stay the same …

Andrew and Dale continue their globetrotting. Two weeks ago, they were in Melbourne, Australia, to facilitate an internal conference for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Read about it here. Then Andrew stopped in San Francisco to give a keynote talk at the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, while Dale headed to Miami to prepare for the next We Media conference.

In other words, we’re moving. Forward. Relentlessly. Inexorably. How about you? Is your organization re-imagining its role in the connected society? Here’s how we can help: http://ifocos.org/services

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Dale and I were in Melbourne this week to facilitate an internal conference for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Internal, yes - but blogged by the ABC and open to further comment here. Our role was to inform, incite and moderate conversations about the future of the ABC, which is Australia’s government-funded public broadcaster.

It was an inspiring couple of days - there was a genuine eagerness to adjust ABC practices and structures to reflect changing consumer behaviors, and to re-imagine the ABC and how it serves and strengthens Australian society.

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iFOCOS with the University of Southern California will Innovate Across a New World of Media

RESTON, VA, October 4, 2006 — Two leading media analysts announced today the formation of a new non-profit institute, iFOCOS, the Institute for the Connected Society. iFOCOS convenes thought leaders across disciplines to understand and use the new expanding media and to create better-informed global citizens. Their goal is to drive innovation around a new definition of “media” - one that includes traditional media and new emergent media, typified by the explosion of social media.

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We’re planning to get an “official” announcement out soon. First, here’s an update for our closest friends and advisors. Thanks if you’ve found us or care about what we’re up to. You’re welcome to share this and link to our new site (which is still a work in progress).

Dale and I have left The American Press Institute and formed an independent organization called iFOCOS, the Institute for the Connected Society. We’ve affiliated the organization with the Integrated Media Systems Center at the University of Southern California, but we’ll remain in Reston, Va., where we’ve established offices.

Change is good. The creation of iFOCOS allows us to more fully address the changes sweeping media, its businesses and audiences. We’ll continue to convene the We Media conference – the next one is scheduled February 8-9 in Miami, so save the date. We’ll expand other activities to provide intelligence, education and collaborations on the changes transforming media and society globally. The affiliation with IMSC and USC enables us to incubate new projects shaping media and an informed society.

We’ve received great support from friends and funders in forming the new organization. We’re not sure what becomes of The Media Center – that’s up to API. Happily, Gloria Pan joins us as communications director. More on all this to come. We’ll issue a press release in coming days. And we’ve created a web site at www.ifocos.org with initial info. We’ll be building out the site and launching a series of communications as we move forward.

We hope to see you online and in person soon, and we hope you’ll continue to be a part of our story.

Here’s how you can contact us:

• Andrew: andrew AT ifocos.org
• Dale: dale AT ifocos.org
• Gloria: gloria AT ifocos.org

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