Content
The iPad represents a huge opportunity for publishers' says Ben Hammersley director of digital at agency Six Creative and Editor at large for Wired UK. 'However if they think they can just package up PDFs they have created for print titles and put them on to the format they are going to be in for a real surprise. It just won't work.'
Hammersley, who has advised many media companies including The Guardian on their digital strategy, thinks that publishers need stop obsessing about transitioning print content to other formats.
'Media titles today need to be published on a multitude of formats and each platform has its own qualities,' he explains. 'So print has its own grammar in striking photos, interesting design and typography, whereas for websites there's video and flash based content. Producing editorial for the iPhone adds another layer in that content creators need to think about personalisation and location based services. Content for the iPad is completely different again and I don't think many publishers have even begin to think about how to use its potential.'
There is a very healthy debate within the British publishing industry over the merits and the potential of the iPad. For every person who believes that the iPad's ability to display print like content in a digital format as well as delivering very strong full page ad positions via its flick through touch screen technology, there are those who think the device is a bit of a red herring. James Bromley Online MD of the Daily Mail recently told leading news website Paid Content that he thought the iPad would not have any real impact at all on his company for years.
There are also questions as to how many iPads will be sold. Even if half a million are sold in the UK in the first two years that is still a small fraction of the number of people who own smartphones. Early indications are that pre-sales are going well and that Apple has already sold 150,000 iPads in the US. It'll be fascinating to see if the take up is similar when the iPad reaches the UK at the end of next month.
Nevertheless Hammersley's concern for publishers who are excited by the iPad is that their content will be up against online publications from digital natives, who will have more of a grasp of the potential of the iPad.
'Simply cutting and pasting PDFs from print and adding a bit of video won't cut it, especially when other people will be delivering content that uses things like the iPad's advanced touch screen controls.' He adds that publishers need to remember that as the barriers of entry to digital publishing have come down they are now not just competing with rival media companies, but with talented web savvy individuals and groups from across the planet. Enhanced PDFs will not make the most of the iPad and may reflect badly on the brand.
Hammersley thinks the key for publishers is to future proof any content they produce and this is where his new product, Budding, comes in to play. Budding is a content management system that enables the journalists or publishers to ensure that the content they produce is ready for multiple formats. No matter what format the words will be published on the editor will already have the tags, links and extraneous data to ensure that the content is ready for print, web, iPhone or ereader.
'It looks a bit like a Google doc' explains, Hammerlsey, 'but with advanced features such as live word count. After the journalist has inputted their text the system then automatically adds the key data. It literally only adds another 40 seconds to the content creation process.'
So for example Budding finds the Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook details of people mentioned in the article, grabs location details for the places mentioned, finds links to background on companies that are featured as well as suggesting tags to help search engine optimisation. When they journalist is finished they simply click a button and it will export all the date into which ever content management system they are currently using.
Budding, which is undergoing beta testing will be free to journalists but publishers and editors, who will have access to richer editing facilities, can expect to pay up to £30 a month to use it.
In many ways Budding is answering questions that many publishers aren't aware that they need to ask. For digitally savvy journalists and publishers though it could become an invaluable tool.
For more information on Budding go here http://startbudding.com/ or here http://www.dangerousprecedent.com/
APA exclusive interview with Ben Hammersley 'Many publishers not ready for iPad'
The iPad represents a huge opportunity for publishers' says Ben Hammersley director of digital at agency Six Creative and Editor at large for Wired UK. 'However if they think they can just package up PDFs they have created for print titles and put them on to the format they are going to be in for a real surprise. It just won't work.'Hammersley, who has advised many media companies including The Guardian on their digital strategy, thinks that publishers need stop obsessing about transitioning print content to other formats.
'Media titles today need to be published on a multitude of formats and each platform has its own qualities,' he explains. 'So print has its own grammar in striking photos, interesting design and typography, whereas for websites there's video and flash based content. Producing editorial for the iPhone adds another layer in that content creators need to think about personalisation and location based services. Content for the iPad is completely different again and I don't think many publishers have even begin to think about how to use its potential.'
There is a very healthy debate within the British publishing industry over the merits and the potential of the iPad. For every person who believes that the iPad's ability to display print like content in a digital format as well as delivering very strong full page ad positions via its flick through touch screen technology, there are those who think the device is a bit of a red herring. James Bromley Online MD of the Daily Mail recently told leading news website Paid Content that he thought the iPad would not have any real impact at all on his company for years.
There are also questions as to how many iPads will be sold. Even if half a million are sold in the UK in the first two years that is still a small fraction of the number of people who own smartphones. Early indications are that pre-sales are going well and that Apple has already sold 150,000 iPads in the US. It'll be fascinating to see if the take up is similar when the iPad reaches the UK at the end of next month.
Nevertheless Hammersley's concern for publishers who are excited by the iPad is that their content will be up against online publications from digital natives, who will have more of a grasp of the potential of the iPad.
'Simply cutting and pasting PDFs from print and adding a bit of video won't cut it, especially when other people will be delivering content that uses things like the iPad's advanced touch screen controls.' He adds that publishers need to remember that as the barriers of entry to digital publishing have come down they are now not just competing with rival media companies, but with talented web savvy individuals and groups from across the planet. Enhanced PDFs will not make the most of the iPad and may reflect badly on the brand.
Hammersley thinks the key for publishers is to future proof any content they produce and this is where his new product, Budding, comes in to play. Budding is a content management system that enables the journalists or publishers to ensure that the content they produce is ready for multiple formats. No matter what format the words will be published on the editor will already have the tags, links and extraneous data to ensure that the content is ready for print, web, iPhone or ereader.
'It looks a bit like a Google doc' explains, Hammerlsey, 'but with advanced features such as live word count. After the journalist has inputted their text the system then automatically adds the key data. It literally only adds another 40 seconds to the content creation process.'
So for example Budding finds the Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook details of people mentioned in the article, grabs location details for the places mentioned, finds links to background on companies that are featured as well as suggesting tags to help search engine optimisation. When they journalist is finished they simply click a button and it will export all the date into which ever content management system they are currently using.
Budding, which is undergoing beta testing will be free to journalists but publishers and editors, who will have access to richer editing facilities, can expect to pay up to £30 a month to use it.
In many ways Budding is answering questions that many publishers aren't aware that they need to ask. For digitally savvy journalists and publishers though it could become an invaluable tool.
For more information on Budding go here http://startbudding.com/ or here http://www.dangerousprecedent.com/
Share:
Posted in Digital
19thMar 2010