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Why technology journalism matters
Tom Standage, The Economist
January 17th 2009
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Introduction
Tom Standage: Business Editorand Technology QuarterlyEditor,
The Economist
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Introduction
About The Economist
Global news weekly
Circulation: 1.4m56% of readers in North America
31% in Europe; 10% in Asia
2% in Middle East & Africa
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Introduction
Why I am a technology journalist
The future is already here its
just unevenly distributed.-- William Gibson
And I get to talk to the worlds
cleverest people
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Introduction
1. The past: How tech journalismhas changed
2. The present: How we do itat The Economist
3. The future: Where techjournalism is going
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1. The past: How tech
journalism has changed
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Two big stories in the past 15
years have made tech journalismmore important than ever:
The rise of the internet
The spread of mobile phones
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1. How tech journalism has changed
The internet has affected almost
every aspect of human life:business, politics, social life
(It has changed journalism, too)
The internet makes computersuseful to almost everyone
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1. How tech journalism has changed
The internets rise created strong
demand for people to explain it
Economistreaders consistentlyasked for more coverage of itsimpact on business
My route into journalism in 1994!
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Tech journalists went fromwriting about gadgets
to being expected to commenton privacy, censorship, telecomsregulation, competition policy,
intellectual property, etc
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Many early debates have been
resolved, and real-world laws andrules have largely been imposedon the internet
Journalists helped to frame the
debate and influence the outcome,if only by explaining things
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Nobody still thinks the internetcan be turned off
It is understood that carriers andISPs are not responsible for theirusers actions
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Unresolved internet debates:
Net neutrality
Behavioural targetingTerrorists/Google Earth
We still have work to do
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1. How tech journalism has changed
The spread of mobile phones
has affected more people thanthe rise of the internet
The internet supplemented otherforms of communication for most
users; mobile phones oftenprovide access for the first time
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1. How tech journalism has changed
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Mobile phones have direct
impact on economic activity:
Substitute for poor infrastructure
(shop in Afghanistan)Price discovery, market access(fishermen in Kerala)
New uses: mobile banking(M-PESA in Kenya)
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1. How tech journalism has changed
An extra 10 mobile phones per100 people in a typical
developing country leads to anextra 0.6 percentage points inGDP growth. (Waverman,
London Business School, 2005)
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1. How tech journalism has changed
All governments claim to be
pro-growth and pro-connectivity
But not all of them have the rightpolicies in place to promote thespread of mobile phones
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Private firms will build networks if
they are given the chance
$230 billion invested in telecoms
infrastructure in the developingworld,1993 - 2003 (World Bank)
Not big Western firms: local
champions such as Orascom,Investcom, MTN, etc
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Deregulation is key
Ethiopia: 1.4% (one operator)
DRC: 10.5% (four operators)But comparable GDP per capita
Somalia 7% (no government!)
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Governments also impose
luxury taxes on handsets,hindering adoption
But done right, mobile telecomscan be a big contributor of taxes
(14% in Afghanistan)
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1. How tech journalism has changed
Unlike with the internet, there is
not a thirst to have this explained.But it is important
Technology overlaps witheconomics, regulation and
development. Reporting itaccurately is more vital than ever
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2. The present: How we do it
at The Economist
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2. How we do it
Scientists and technologists
like our coverage because:
We get it right, mostly
We explain what they do totheir families and friends
We keep them up to date with
developments in other fields
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2. How we do it
We try to be three things
in our coverage (not just in ourtech coverage):
Broad
Deep
A filter
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2. How we do it > Broad
Overview of the field
What other companies aredoing this? Look at whole field.
How long has the idea beenaround? What is new?
What are its prospects, really?
(Eg: portable fuel cells,biometrics, videoconferencing)
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2. How we do it > Broad
Cross-industry comparisons
Can help to identify trends orpotential pitfalls
(Eg: Dotcoms and clean-tech;airlines and telecoms; cars andphones; social networks and
early ISPs)
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2. How we do it > Broad
International comparisons
What happened in othercountries? Policies? Socialfactors?
Evidence from X suggests
(Eg: telecoms deregulation,
broadband in South Korea,3G in Japan)
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2. How we do it > Broad
Historical comparisons
Analogies can help toexplain or predict
(Eg: telegraph and internet:World peace? Hype? Hackers?)
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2. How we do it > Deep
Deeper coverage: more
technical detail, not hand-waving
Our readers have an appetite foran extra level of detail
Detail can be added withoutusing more complex language
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2. How we do it > Deep
The problem with this design was that
during recharging, the metallic lithium
reformed unevenly at the negativeelectrode, creating spiky structures called
dendrites that are unstable and
reactive, and can pierce the separator
and cause an explosion. So today's
rechargeable lithium-ion batteries do not
contain lithium in metallic form. Insteadthey use materials with lattice structures
for both positive and negative electrodes.
As the battery discharges, the lithium
ions swim from the negative-electrode
lattice to the positive one; during
recharging, they swim back again. Thisto-and-fro approach is called a rocking
chair design.
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2. How we do it > Deep
Analogies can help
The trick is to simplify in a way
that helps novices yet does notoffend experts in the field
We often ask experts for helpwhen choosing an analogy
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2. How we do it > Deep
Roberto Padovani, Qualcomms chief technology
officer, explains the difference between theseapproaches by analogy with a dinner-party
conversation. FDMA is akin to a party at which
everybody talks simultaneously, but each pair of
speakers converses at a different musical pitch,
from booming bass to piping treble. A rota systemin which party-goers took turns to speak would be
like TDMA. And everybody talking at once, only in
different languages (so that other conversations
are rendered incomprehensible), would beequivalent to the spread-spectrum approach, by
now dubbed CDMA.
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2. How we do it > Deep
We boffinise technical stories to
check that they are accurate
Virtuous circle: more accuracymeans better access
And we can always ignoreboffins comments if we choose
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2. How we do it > Filter
One of the most important things
we do is ignore stories, and actas a filter
Be sceptical, but not cynical
Miracle-cure stories look good,but undermine credibility
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2. How we do it > Filter
PR firms are very active in IT in
particular; more filtering needed
Is their client the best example,or just the most accessible?
Good PRs will admit that theirclients rivals exist
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2. How we do it > Filter
We only run six tech stories a
week, plus TQ every quarter
Vital, not urgent
When we ask readers if they
want TQ to be longer, they sayno. They rely on us to filter
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3. The future: Where tech
journalism is going
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3. Where tech journalism is going
In the 1840s
The Economist
incorporated the
Railway Monitor
Nothing lasts forever!
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3. Where tech journalism is going
In 2006 readers started to ask for
more coverage of alternativeenergy -- not the internet
This is clearly the next big thing
Climate change is a tech story-- the biggest in history
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3. Where tech journalism is going
One point of view: peak in 2013
(The next bubble: Priming the markets for
tomorrow's big crash. By Eric Janszen. HarpersMagazine, February 2008)
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3. Where tech journalism is going
Computing/telecoms is no longer
the only definition of the techindustry
So start learning about batteries,fuel cells, solar panels, ethanol,
wind, wave, nuclear, etc
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3. Where tech journalism is going
History (dotcom bubble)
suggests broad adoption willoccur after bubble bursts
The fight against climate changewill involve lots of technology
that will need to be explained.No silver bullet; a portfolio
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3. Where tech journalism is going
Debates raging around:
Cap and trade v carbon tax
Biofuels v food
Clean-tech subsidiesGM crops
Geoengineering
Plenty of explaining to do
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3. Where tech journalism is going
Biotechnology will probably be
part of the solution:GM crops
Fuel from artificial life-forms
And biotechnology is heating up
anyway. So learn about that, too
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3. Where tech journalism is going
The good news for tech
journalists who know aboutcomputers:
Alternative energy and biotechdepend on a foundation of IT
(smart grids, DNA analysis)-- so you have a head start
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3. Where tech journalism is going
I am an optimist
If we do our jobs right, we can
help to fix the problem
I am looking forward to the future
-- see you there!
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Why technology journalism matters
Tom Standage, The Economist
January 17th 2009
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