Building the Information Valet Economy

Sustaining news and information through a shared-user network

http://www.Informationvalet.org

http://www.ivpblueprint.org

Bill DensmoreReynolds Journalism InstituteMissouri School of Journalism

Columbia, MO

Densmorew@rjionline.org

October 10, 2008

Show summary

• What is RJI? • What is IVP? • What’s the problem for journalism? • Strategic convening • Solutions posed • Explain project/system • How do we pull this off?

Who are we?

•Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute• Just opened research center• $32M initial grant from DW Reynolds Foundation• Six fellows / year, four outside • Research on sustaining, redefining, advancing journalism

• Who is Densmore – RJI Fellow•2008-2009 leave from UMass Amherst•(www.mediagiraffe.org)• Career journalist, publisher, entrepreneur

“The evidence is mounting that the news industry must become more aggressive about developing a new economic model.”

--Project for Excellence in Journalism, The State of the Media 2007

Problem recognition

“ ‘Long term, we've got to get paid for news (online) or we can't keep producing it,’ [Singleton] said. But he said that it has to be an industry-wide solution and not just one paper acting alone.”

-- Dean Singleton, CEO, Media News Group Posted April 28, 2006 at: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/14446579.htm

Problem recognition

What is the IVP? • New relationship among news orgs / consumers

• Personalized info from anywhere •Assemble a coalition of publishers, advertisers, technology and financial-services companies in a federated-authentication / shared-user network for internet information commerce.

• Compensation for ad views • User-centric demographic management• A way to pay / one ID etc.

Strategy convening Dec. 3-5, 2008

Columbia, Mo.www.ivpblueprint.org

Blueprinting the shared user/value network

Teams to form on marketing (research), advertising, governance, network/payments, technology, content, user experience . . . what else?

“We must change how we charge for content . . . One-size-fits-all on the business side has to evolve. Tiered pricing with premiums for timeliness or comprehensiveness is one option.”

- Tom Curley, AP CEO, Nov. 10, 2007

Solutions

“ . . . [T]he more time I’ve spent on this, while I think there are legal things, enforcement things, etc., etc., they are not the meaningful way to fight piracy. The meaningful way to fight piracy is you need to give consumers legitimate options to get what they want.”

-- Peter Chernin, president, News Corp. Aug. 4, 2008, interview with Charlie Rose

Solutions

“Maybe the solution isn't to escape the market, but to empower it. Modern computing offers unparalleled capacities to track and calculate. Imagine a vast menu of news and commentary offered to you ad-free for pennies per item, the charges micro-billed, added up and presented like a utility bill at month's end. -- Edward Wasserman, Washington & Lee Univ.

Miami Herald column published Feb. 18, 2008

Solutions

“Buffet muses out loud: ‘The ideal combination would be if The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Post had a joint web site, and you couldn’t get any one individually. That, you could sell for a fair amount of money, and it would have one hell of a readership.’ ’’

-- Warren Buffett, quoted in Fortune Magazine, July 26, 2007 / http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/08/06/100141340/

Solutions

“What will happen next is that the audience will say: If you’re going to sell us to advertisers, then you’ve got to pay us. And that’s the long-term challenge that I think newspapers are going to be facing.”

-- Paul Maidment, exec. Editor, Forbes Magazine Interviewed during “On the Media,” Feb. 25, 2005 http://www.onthemedia.org/yore/transcripts/trnascripts_022505_aboutface.html

The value of one

How it works -- consumer

Consumer chooses Information Valet – such as a newspaper – to entrust demographic information.

Valet manages user’s relationships with other websites or devices in shared-user network.

Consumer compensated for ad views, and by easy access to special services (including music, entertainment).

The Information Valet … Helps consumer negotiate use of

personal information for customization, rewards for ad views, payment for special services.

Relies on network authentication and logging service to exchange payments, info among participating valet hosts and vendors.

Benefits from commerce and negotiated identity layer added to Internet.

Broader concept Collaborative system owned by valets and

vendors who are not equity stakeholders – non-threatening because it cannot be “rolled up” by a dominant player

Establishes value for the delivery of specialized audiences, and rewards gateway sites for providing this service

Demographics are shared based on the opt-in permissions set by consumers

Key results 1) Update role, effectiveness, compensation for

online advertising through personalization

2) User privacy/profile management controlled by the consumer.

3) Online users to easily share, sell and buy content across multiple Web sites with one ID, password, account and bill.

RECAP: Situation Today

Journalism is expensive, and mass-market web advertising alone will not sustain it

Single-site subscriptions for content puts up walls that destroy the unity of the open web

Sustaining journalism requires rethinking the very notion of news as a service, not a product

The Situation Tomorrow The news industry becomes a trusted and

ubiquitous advisor, authenticator and retailer of all web content

Audiences are measured through a federated network that also tracks and shares revenues for ads and content

Consumer controls demographics, and can be rewarded for looking at ads and sponsored content.

Sophisticated pricing and bundling options give consumers more buying power by subscription or per click

For Consumers A single user ID that works everywhere Get paid for viewing ads One-stop method for buying text, music,

movies, services One bill for all online content purchases Privacy controls to protect personal data A more personalized online experience Faster, easier access to the content you

want Opportunities to exchange personal data for

access to premium content

For Valets Valets compete to be best at meeting

consumers’ diverse information needs Each valet is compensated for finding,

shaping and referring audiences Valets help advertisers present targeted

messages to end users who opt-in Internet advertising becomes more

valuable Convert 50M newspaper customers to

web-info customers

HOW IT WORKS Flash animation shows flow of

information from consumer to websites to network authentication and logging service. Key points:

No permanent central user database Only enhanced log report saved for

periodic settlement User controls level of demographic

sharing ANIMATION: http://tinyurl.com/4amatq

Project tasks

Convene cooperative members Form, capitalize association Manage network/technology build Establish rules for enumerating, exchanging

value Assure privacy; opt-in demographic sharing Contract some operating pieces

Potential results

New revenue sources unlocked (wholesale/retail); personalized ads/services

Users get a simplified, personalized web experience

News organizations paid as service providers – gateways to premium ($$) or sponsored (ads) info anywhere

What can you do? Help identify founding collaborators

Invent new forms of ad personalization/targetting

Assert that news has value or it goes away

Be creative about originating, remixing information that’s unique, needed

Building Info Valet economy

Thank-you! Sustaining news and information through a shared-user network

http://www.informationvalet.org

Bill Densmore

Densmorew@rjionline.org

Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

November 3, 2008 573-882-9812