7.08.2009

Interviews re: possible Intercom magazine app

So the iPhone app I'm attempting to build is for the magazine Intercom. As you can see from the website, the current system is old and old-fashioned (we're using PDFs of articles). But this is a magazine for TCers, so it seems reasonable for many of them (readers are mostly STC members) to want a mobile version. I was curious to find out what readers think of the idea, how they might use it, and what it would need to have, and I gathered the following feedback:
  • "I love the print version and do not want it online or in a mobile device. And what happens when the next technology comes along? We have to do that, too?"
  • "I'd rather see it for Amazon Kindle. The screen size is more suited to the current layout."
  • "As a social media tool about topics presented in the mag, it would work. But not as a reproduction of the print version."
  • "I'd like to see a text-only version of the magazine. IMO, it's currently too graphic-intensive, and I'm not sure those graphics would work, or even be necessary, on a mobile device."
  • "What is the benefit to encourage members to use such a program? To be cool?"
  • "For me, a paper copy is more portable. I don't own a PDA, a smartphone, a Kindle, or anything like that, so viewing the magazine means I have to be sitting in front of my computer. And I admit, I just like paper. I like printed books and paper magazines and all that. Reading Intercom online was inconvenient because you had to open up a dozen separate PDF files. Now that each issue is available as a single PDF, I've long since gotten out of the habit of reading it, unfortunately."
  • "Print layouts are far more labor-intensive than online, HTML-based publications. Yes, I would like to see it online-only with no PDF option, and an app could supplement that. Laying out a publication in InDesign takes eons longer than posting an article in HTML.
    Of course, printed magazines are prettier than HTML. That's the other side of the issue."
  • "I'm concerned about readability and accessibility. I don't 'read' on the computer or a phone. I use these devices to search for information. I read articles in hard copy and I keep periodicals as a personal library."
  • "I think it is important not to get so enthralled by new technologies that we fail to support the old technologies that are still in demand."
  • "I like my printed version of Intercom, but I also like the idea of putting it online and making it interactive, expanding it to include content beyond what's available in the printed version, and publishing information on and about emerging technologies faster."
  • "In an app, I'd like to be able to link from a blog post or a forum directly to an article. A pdf would be laborious."
  • "How will you restrict access to members-only with an app?"
  • "You really should post individual articles as blogs. This gives the author more exposure and can give the STC more traffic via trackbacks from other TC folks who blog."
  • "We really need to leverage these kinds of "Web 2.0" technologies. We should publish articles, op/ed pieces, even research pieces as blogs; this leverages the blog platform and invites everyone to participate. This opens up the "social media" aspect of the web to the Society."
These comments all have me thinking that a magazine app could function more like an open-access blog or forum or a searching device, where people could go to discuss articles, maybe with a link back to the magazine articles on the web. But the PDFs still need help that I'm not sure an app solves, only supplements.

Still working this out in my mind, and the feedback is enormously helpful....

2 comments:

arthurpare said...

"You really should post individual articles as blogs. This gives the author more exposure and can give the STC more traffic via trackbacks from other TC folks who blog."

Closest to my thinking - link to each author's blog, have all the articles in blog form linked together, allow interactice comments.

No matter what, you have a challenge before negotiating a "medium" that is appropriate.

Arhur

Brett Oppegaard said...

A fascinating mix of comments that show the breadth of what ails the print industry right now. Many people like print for an assortment of good reasons. It is easier to read long-form work. It can be more comfortable to hold. It can go in the bathtub. It is contained and containable (not the massive maze of rabbit holes that hyperlinks can be). I've always read this way. Etc. ... I tend to think of publication sites more as complementary than a replacement. What can the online version offer that the print version can't, and vice versa. Chris Anderson of Wired magazine is making the rounds right now talking about his new book "Free," and the clever concept of "freemium," both ideas are critical for print publications to consider. There really are many aspects of sharing information that print still does wonderfully (and even better than the digital media). But, and maybe I should capitalize that, BUT, digital media has opened an enormous realm of new techniques of communication that can do things wonderfully, too. These aspects of the new media should be embraced for what they are, new opportunities. Not to be feared. Or degraded. This is a chance for Intercom to find new niches that will make it more valuable, make it more essential in the lives of its users. That's an exciting prospect. Where to begin? I'd say that's where the fun and experimentation start. The only suggestion I have is to not go into the endeavor looking at the digital form as a direct replacement. Good luck!

Post a Comment