Nieman Foundation at Harvard
…is asked by the ever thought-provoking Gina Chen of Save the Media:
Imagine if a newspaper’s Web site didn’t look like a news Web site at all. Instead, when you entered the site, you faced a question: What do you want to do? (I’m picturing it almost like Facebook’s “What’s on Your Mind?”)
You could pick from a pull-down list of choices — find out the weather, read the top story, find the movie reviews, do a crossword puzzle, post a video game review, view today’s front page.
You’d also be able to type in what you wanted if none of the options met your needs. And you could bypass this search option, and navigate the site yourself if you desired. It would be like a typical news Web site search feature, but on steroids.
Chen suggests this could be how news sites move from hyperlocal to “hyperinterest.” Check it out.
