Merging two generations

My new role provides a great opportunity to meld together what appears to be two generational thought patterns for enabling technology in the information provider world. 

The continued near-term viability of print editions requires a portion of the standard IT landscape to remain.  These are core competencies that, in our case, have stood the test to time to the tune of 125 years.  Highly vendor-specific systems, proprietary databases, closed/complex API’s…yes, those systems.  One of key near-term concerns I will be watching is the balance between the maintenance costs of those systems and the print edition revenue stream.  The fiscally weighty nature of those systems might actually be one of the first internal tipping points when it comes to decisions about continued production of print editions.  Definitely something to ponder and watch.

The new generation is, well, basically evolving every single day and is, in my mind, everything that isn’t dedicated to print editions.  Web sites?  Yes, to some degree.  Mobile sites?  A stronger yes.  Alerts via SMS and email?  Sure.  Blogs, wikis, Facebook, aggregators, etc.?  NOW WE ARE TALKING!  If you are interested or involved in the industry and you haven’t started doinking around with these capabilities, you are missing some tremendous experiences.  These represent a quantum leap on a number of levels: technology, social behavior, content gathering, content consumption, etc.  Dwindling are the days of waiting until the evening news or the morning paper to find out about the commotion down the street, complete with fire trucks and some guy in an FBI jacket.  Now, not tonight.  Now, not tomorrow morning.  Oh, I want to comment and ask questions, too.  I try talking to my television a great deal (I am a Cubs fan) and it has yet to pay me any attention, much be truly interactive.  The systems that enable this type of behavior is not monolithic.  They are not incredibly unique and certainly not under the proprietary thumb of yesterday’s print edition vendors (thankfully).  I’ve already blogged about the process paradigm shift for journalism, so I’ll take a pass on that. 

Somewhere in the middle of all this, these two generations of technology meet.  The dividing line is better determined by organizational processes than solely by technology.  Only with clear roles, responsibilities and processes can we start layering on the necessary technology.  These technology generations will and must meet at some point in the process and the technology landscape.  It is the human that will be the control point to bridge content to the print edition.  Surprised at that?  C’mon, do you really think the old-school print edition system vendors will open their systems to that degree?