Two Data Points, Two Questions

Data point #1, from The Big Thaw: Charting a New Future for Journalism, a new report by The Media Consortium:

“The product of journalism is no longer content, but community. It is not enough to talk about community or simply enable users to comment on stories. Media organizations must create platforms for users to participate in the journalistic process, work with each other on projects and build their own online communities independent of publishers.”

Data point #2, the home page for National Geographic’s new beta website:

Question #1: Does this look like a web site — or an organization — that’s focused on community? (To us, it still feels like a slickly designed, one-to-many megaphone.)

Question #2: Our Society has a VP for Social Media, so why doesn’t our home page feel more social? (We’d love to hear your thoughts, Robert Michael Murray, in the comments section, below.)

UPDATE (29 December 2009): Some responses from Robert Michael Murray via Twitter:

1. 
   rmmdc @AlanMairson we’re proud of 1st phase of the new site. Not just a graphic design change, also a new open architecture publishing platform. 29 Dec 2009 from Tweetie in reply to AlanMairson
2. 
   rmmdc @AlanMairson this open architecture environment provides more flexibility and the opportunity to connect with larger Django dev community. 29 Dec 2009 from Tweetie in reply to AlanMairson
3. 
   rmmdc @AlanMairson foundation was necessary for next phases which will add more social and community to the platform over the coming weeks/months. 29 Dec 2009 from Tweetie in reply to AlanMairson
4. 
   AlanMairson Open arch & connecting w/Django devs is good news, @rmmdc. Can’t wait to see how open NGS becomes org-wise & for users. 29 Dec 2009 from TweetDeck

— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl

Thanks, Robert!

Tagged as: community, journalism, Robert Michael Murray, social media, Society, The Big Thaw, web