In the never-ending quest to determine Just Exactly What the Fuck Is It That You People Want, NPR.org will be potting down the audio and ramping up the written reportage.
Instead of short paragraphs that direct users to click on links to audio reports taken from NPR’s programs, the Web site will now offer fully reported text versions of articles, so users can click from their cubicles.
Says Kinsey Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of NPR Digital Media, in a chat with The New York Times: “We think the midday experience is much more text-driven.”
He may be onto something there. The cube farmers turn in by the jillions at VeloNews.com to catch Charles Pelkey’s text-based live updates during major events, such as the recently concluded Astana-Saxo Bank training ride around France. But our new corporate management is headed in the other direction, emphasizing VN.com’s first tentative steps into video, called VeloCenter.
I appreciate the work that goes into VeloCenter, but I don’t watch it. I’m not the prototypical sports fan — I can’t watch an event, then read about it, then watch a bunch of people talking about it. It’s a bike race, f’chrissakes. But then we don’t even have cable. Our primary video-delivery system is a rabbit-ears antenna from (wait for it) RadioShack.
And that’s the way it is. For now, anyway. Just what the fuck is it that you people want? When we find out, we’ll let you know.
Mad Blog Media 
Apparently, there’s a lot of people that want fitness equipment with branding from a well-known Texan. Local company makes good?
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/459678
Just what the fuck is it that you people want?
Aah,
Free health care (make Chris Dodd pay for it)
A sustainable retirement … now.
A few more bikes.
Those will get me what I really want – stronger legs and bigger lungs.
Ooo,
LiveStrong fitness gear. One more shot to the nutsack for Monsieur LeMond.
I’m with Ben. I wanna retire, now.
What the fuck do I want? What’s the big three? You can never have enough money, a beautiful enough wife, or a fast enough car. In my case, I’ll take a fast enough bike, which means better lungs and legs as Ben tells us.
CP did good on the Tour coverage. Not sure about the video. I suspect our bosses would be more likely to notice if the company server was downloading video stream to every cube farmer rather than text stream. Wadda you think, Patrick?
Our IT department has started to restrict access because of all the vid content people are watching. Gonna get worse as most places lack the bandwidth to handle everyone watching video on the desktop.
I prefer reading, since, you know, I know how and all. Suppose the next generation will want video for the obvious reason. VC written coverage is great during the major tours.
Don’t forget to go to Nike and get your Pharmstrong apparel to go with your fitness gear:
http://store.nike.com/index.jsp?cp=USNS_KW_0611081618&country=US&lang_locale=en_US#l=shop,search,searchList-livestrong
K,
I agree on the streaming video. Only home-office types like Charles and Your Humble Narrator can get away with watching Le Tour live on a workday without the need for a “hide” button for when the Suits stick their long snoopy snouts over the cubicle wall.
We had people following Charles’ live updates on BlackBerrys, iPhones, you name it. Wonder what the carbon footprint of all those battery recharges looks like after three weeks? ‘Bout like Godzilla’s, I imagine.
I watched some of the Velo Center videos for the post race comment segments that are not on the live feed. But just like your comments about Versus, the commercials suck. I’d hit the button and go off and do something else while Trek “wowed” me. Ron Kiefel was a good choice for technical commentator but I didn’t care for the other guy or the announcer who had to growl out, “Velocenter NOW!” like it was pro wrestling….but maybe with the believeablity level of the results of pro cycling these days, it might be just right!
I like it! I don’t watch the teevee (except for bike racing), and it gives me the willys to have to load videos when I just want to see what some joker said about something in the news. If I wanted to watch TV, I’d watch TV. Just give me the damned text, I’ll read it quicker…Of course, I constitute an exceptionally small fragment of the population….
Why not audio and text?
I won’t say what I spent an inordinate amount of time “working on” last Friday, but it could be the stream from the H_rl_y US Op_n _f S_rf_ng from HB pier. It was a lot more exciting with the sound down than any bike race – let me tell you.
But cycling with an audio and text feed would do wonders for a cube farm. I would presume there is a little less bandwidth used, and if it is done right you can get away with it with headphones and nothing else. Besides all the chamwow sniffers out there can wait for the 300-hour DVD for their mindless automaton watching later.
I guess though it all boils down to what time zone you’re in, now doesn’t it? Lunchtime in DeeCee is mid-morning out here on the Left Coast, so what NPR has on then I won’t be listening to. Too much work to do before nappy time.
James:
I didn’t catch the surfing on the web last Friday, but I did go surfing on Saturday in Matagorda (Texas coast) with a family from Huntington Beach–small world. First time my daughter and I had ever been on a board (not counting boogie boards). When I die, I’m coming back as a 25-year-old longboard surfing god from California. I’m pretty sure they have the best lives ever.
Patrick:
I thought the written text from CP was excellent. I’m out and about most of the day, so I can check in on my Palm Treo 755p and keep up. Video bugs me. I hate TV as it is. I don’t want my PC turned into a TV.