Month: March 2011

Paywalls


 

As promised, my NY Times app stopped providing access to articles I might find interesting. I supposedly have access to 20 articles a month, but this does not work through the iPad app which is the way I would prefer to organize my reading. Time to delete the app. I will likely identify some number of articles I want to read through other means and 20 will be plenty, but so much for a general scan of the Times. See this LifeHacker analysis if you want more access. I did receive a “take 25% off” offer today, but this is not what I am looking for.

I have been thinking about “business models”. The situation with the NY Times got me started. Then, it looked like Audible had canceled out 10 unpurchased books because I had not selected books by the end of the year (this turned out not to be the case although my iPad Audible app will not let me purchase books even though I have credits via a browser). The point is not that I am unwilling to spend money on online services (we did our taxes last night, between Lynda, MobileMe, and pro versions of half a dozen services I spend between $500 and $600 dollars a year on online access). The frustration is that the business model is often not suited to my personal interests. I do not want to spend $180 for full access to the Times. I want to spend $50 to read the content that interests me. I do not want to purchase 10 Audible books a year. I probably purchase 30+ books a year, but Audible is not focused on what I would describe as “professional content” and often books they have that interest me I want to read carefully and annotate so I buy for the Kindle App or purchase the paper version from Amazon. So, there is this mismatch between the models that are available which likely are great for some people and the model that would appeal to my specific interests. I want to use multiple services and multiple formats. The providers seem to want you to focus exclusively on what they offer.

Do not get me wrong – free is not the answer. I am in complete disagreement with those who propose that information wants to be free. However, I do think we need more flexible plans for purchasing access to content.

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NY Times Says It Is Time to Pay

If you have the iPad app or access NY Times content in some other way, the free access is soon to end. I can’t say I blame the paper, but I do think their expectations are unrealistic. If I understand the model, I would now be expected to pay nearly $200 a year for access. Simply put, this is too much for my level of interest. This is not a knock on the quality of the content – I understand that original research and writing costs. I simply am not interested in most of the content or have options for similar material.

What will I be able to view? Quite a bit as it turns out (see description) –

Visitors can enjoy 20 free articles (including blog posts, slide shows, video and other multimedia features) each calendar month on NYTimes.com, as well as unrestricted access to browse the home page, section fronts, blog fronts and classifieds.

Your free, limited access resets every month: at the beginning of each calendar month, you’ll once again be able to view 20 free articles for that month.

Would I be will to pay? I would. What amount do I think would be appropriate for me? I would say $25-30 a year. Do I have a suggestion? How about a fee for individual sections (something like paying for the Sunday edition, but focused on areas). I look for education and technology content.

I think the next few months should be interesting as far as paid content goes and I hope the Times adds some additional options.

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Docs Discussion

Google has improved the commenting system available in docs. You can now carry on a discussion with collaborators while working on a document. The feature should be available now, but you will not see it (red box in image shows the way to access the feature) unless you create a new document.

Google provides a video with additional information.

This would seem an effective way to leave comments an author might either implement by changing the document or respond to as part of what Google would like to call a discussion.

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Location, location, location

When we write about potential projects for the classroom, we typically like to use local examples from teachers we know. It seems a good strategy to assure practicality. Sometimes we have something in mind and simply cannot find an example. When this is the case we like to experiment with the tools and techniques ourselves. We learn a lot and have a sense of the options that would be available for teachers.

So, we have been thinking about the GPS as a way to “fit information to location” (just made that phrase up but I like the way it sounds). Geocaching would be a possible example but we wanted something a little new. Cindy came up with the idea of mapping local historical sites. I was going to map houses for sale in the neighborhood. I liked her idea better.

A little Internet research revealed that a list of sites, addresses and GPS coordinates already existed. This made the activity pretty easy – I had hoped I could find a list of locations by address and we could then find the GPS coordinates to see if we could map buildings to Google street view. I guess you would not have to give out the coordinates.

We located buildings using the maps available on our cell phones and with a Garmin Nuvi 1300 I received as a Christmas present. This Garmin can be used in a vehicle or on foot. The plan was to locate a building, switch to “where am I mode”, write down the coordinates, take a picture of the building and then put everything together once back home.

We learned something quite interested about the Nuvi by accident – it is capable of screen captures (also storing personal photos just in case anyone could possibly think of a reason for showing family photos on his or her GPS).

So, one of us would walk up to a building a record the coordinates by taking a screen shot.

 

We would take a picture of the building.

We would store the coordinates using the Garmin Nuvi.

 

Now, you can use the coordinates above to see how well this works. Enter 47 55.501 – 097 01.951 in Google maps (see this GPA converter to understand a little more about GPS coordinates).

I had to spin the street view around –

But there was the same building I had recorded with my own camera.

BTW – the link to buildings on the list of historic places also provides access to information about the history of building. I would certainly have students read this content and also take additional photos to represent features of the buildings identified in these descriptions.

According to the documentation included with the request to declare this building a landmark:

Architecturally, this building is an outstanding example in original condition of the turn-of-the-century brick commercial style with classical detailing. Although architectural plans could not be located, the building was most likely designed by John W. Ross or Joseph Bell DeRemer, both of whom were practicing in Grand Forks at the time and actively designing commercial buildings in this style.

We did test this system in a way that involved a little more risk taking. We drove 40 miles into the country using GPS coordinates searching for a round barn (#17 on the list of Grand Forks County sites). But, that is another story.

Other images from our project are available from Picasa.

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