MediaVidea

Radical Transparency: It is the story, stupid

I fear sometimes we get too much carried away with ideas and buzzwords.

For example, take the idea of ‘radical transparency’. Huh?

Chris Anderson of the Long Tail fame has suggested a scenario where magazine stories were developed with the help of all and sundry – the readers, the magazine’s competitors and so on.

Something like Google throwing open the algorithms to all add. I am sure the SEO companies would have a field day with this.

As long as it serves to create a better story, it is okay. This transparency idea may work well with special stories, books, etc. However, it not okay for the whole magazine or newspaper.

Crowdsourcing, an idea related to Radical transparency, has its limits.

At the end of it, Publishing is just another business, and so no need to be right in every aspect.

A good story – that’s what readers want.

Nice idea, though.

posted by Pramit Singh @ 6:13 PM