Conversation

In online publishing you need to keep experimenting with form (visual/temporal/feedback/aesthetic structure of UX). I’m far behind where I’d like to be. Partly because I’m not as good at it and need support from design/arts types, partly because the tech for indies is weak...
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Realized I have my own form experiments/content experiments divide going. Ribbonfarm is where I do almost exclusively content experiments but the form is conservative straight-up blog. Breaking smart is conservative content-wise but experiments with form a lot more.
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The problem with being an indie is that you’re pretty much stuck with a mix-n-match set of WordPress options. Even the smallest experiments with form cost a lot in terms of paying for the art/design talent. Big media like NYT/Bloomberg have a huge advantage...
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Though I appreciate boundary pushing by platforms like Medium and Genius, and even Google/Facebook (though that’s a lot more mixed blessing) ultimately, I think the *experience* innovations come from companies that do *both* form and content. Ie vertically delivered content...
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I think the picture emerging is this: A) distribution at scale = covered by aggregator theory B) Form innovations = NYT/Bloomberg as a way to resist aggregators (ie until FB/Google figure out how to “platformize” a form innovation, the verticals have an edge ...
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...Indie publishers (defined as small 1-2 person WordPress based ops with low/zero capacity for form innovation) can only innovate on content. New narrative styles, voices, tones, conversational gambits etc. The “horizontal media innovation” (Medium/Genius) are a conundrum...
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...These players try to generalize a form innovation without a content innovation to go with it. I think this is ultimately weak. They never seem to live up to initial promise. So Medium ends up being angst journals, Genius struggles to get beyond lyrics markup.
...gap I see in this survey is form experimentation tooling for indies to integrate into existing blogs and things. Need new era in the plugin game basically. tldr: I want to do things like Bloomberg mall game, but at ribbonfarm scale. WITHOUT an art/game design studio in house.
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...Addendum: many are pointing me to interesting new tools, but that’s the wrong way around! I don’t want to find a new tool and think up a content idea. I generally have an idea in mind requiring custom (but generalizable) tooling of which I produce the prototype case...
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...Take a minor form “innovation” on ribbonfarm, my Now Reading page. A few others like have adapted it. ribbonfarm.com/now-reading/ Obvious candidate for a good plugin. One guy offered to pluginize it, but wasn’t clear he’d be able to support it long term.
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