links for 2009-03-09

"We have decided that we can best meet the challenges of the future by changing our company completely. We will have an independent organization which I lead focused exclusively on developing content from our professional journalists as well as from the community. We will publish this content digitally without editing and without the limitations of products. Another organization will plan and edit products, such as The Gazette and GazetteOnline, using content from my organization as well as others." [via @jayrosen_nyu via @scottkarp on Twitter]

In amongst an incredibly good post about online local economics is this gem: "If somebody drops 50 cents into a newsbox and it won't open, they just go away mad. If somebody is paying for access to your website and it won't work, they're going to call and suck up 12 dollars of staff time. You have no idea what you're getting into. Computers are evil, perverse devices aimed at driving humans crazy."

Demand exceeds supply for the new download-only audio Eighth Doctor adventures that are trying to fill-in whilst the series takes a TV hiatus.

A gathering of minds on how to use information to rewire our government data into something that actually is of use, rather than hoarding it all in one secret database, which appears to be the preferred alternative at the moment.

"Almost a year has passed since Tony Harcup interviewed myself and other digital journalists such as The Guardian’s Jemima Kiss about life, the universe and the news industry for a book he was writing. Now he tells me his work is about to be published - and it’s got me thinking what a very long time a year is in the digital news world. Back at the start of 2008, yes of course there were worries about reducing advertising revenues, but there weren’t the daily title closures, job losses and re-structures across the news organisations that we now experience."

Step 1: Make easy to reproduce eye-catching visual. Step 2: Make use of current social media buzzwords in the article. Step 3: Name-check some a-listers in several spheres to spark debate on who was included and who wasn't. Step 4: Linkbait profit!