MyNews

Every time we pick up a newspaper, turn on the radio, wacth the TV news or access our news feeds we are effectively receiving what an editor or publisher deemed fit for our consumption. Are we getting the news we really want?How can consumers of news be assured that they get only the information they want? Is it possible that everyone can get a bespoke news gatherer with the possibility of discovering something new? After all, news should always be fresh otherwise it would be called ‘’‘olds’.

But what if your newspaper learnt what interested you? What if it filtered out the rubbish and kept just the good stuff? And what if it understood that every now and again you might want to know what was going on in the suburbs of Wolverhampton as well as in the jungles of Borneo.

What’s happening where you aren’t?

A man goes on the rampage in Madagascar killing 50 people. Unless the story has any British interests (anyone with a European passport, American, Canadian or Australian) it probably won’t be reported by the UK news services. But what if you had family or friends in Madagascar? Wouldn’t you want to know?

Newpapers and news networks cater for a core audience and they attempt to gives it what they believe it wants. Any disaster, crime or event that they believe isn't relevant is not reported. No ‘audience interest?' then don’t expect to hear about it.

Who’s getting the news

Newspaper circulation has fallen as a host of news services becomes available on the internet. Advertisers are spending less, seeing the internet as a better return on their money. Newspapers are losing their traditional readership while failing to engage with and pick up new and younger readers. Of the 26 hours a week the average person watches television, only nine minutes of that is spent watching news. For those who want news, they must brave 24 hour news networks battling for ratings, newspapers fighting for survival while replicating their competitors’ stories, or unregulated internet news sites.

A news service

MyNews is a news delivery service for mobile devices that has, at its core three driving principles. Firstly, the notion that the best people qualified to report the news are skilled reporters and news gathering agencies. Secondly, editorial policy, marketing and demographic targeting can rob readers, viewers and listeners of information that they might have wanted. Thirdly, with technology moving so rapidly and the world a much smaller place people should be open to a wider selection of information rather than a narrower band.

When a user first subscribes to the service all news is available. What the user chooses, how long they spend reading specific stories and whether they decide to read similar stories are noted. As the user continues to interact with the news Nexus picks up on the behaviour and offers choices that get closer to what the user wants. Eventually the user will have a bespoke newspaper based on their reading habit. This doesn’t destroy the option to read other news as the user can always widen the choices. MyNews users can also 'peep' into other users' devices and discover what they are reading.

Exploration, discovery and solutions

MyNews was my final major project for the BA honours degree at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication. Following is the research and findings. At the time of writing the report I named the service Nexus, but since then I have decided to name it by its function. Click the slide to expand it. To move forward and backward use either the arrow keys, F (forward), P (previous) or click in the appropriate place.

A solution

Below is the latest user interface for the application. It includes a simple set up that allows the user to get in quickly. By-passing the top heaviness of wading through questions and preferences the user can familiarise themself with the device system and while the system gradually adapts to the user. A mutually nuturing application.