Comments on: Least Publishable Unit http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:39:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-10897 Daniel Tunkelang Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:48:01 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-10897 I have nothing against short but sweet. But I do have a problem which favors cardinality over aggregate value. News articles that are often short summaries without analysis., perhaps because analysis takes more efforts and doesn't always fit into a tiny package. And the recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/the-perils-of-bite-size-science.html" rel="nofollow">NYT article</a> talks about the problems in science, e.g., "Small studies are inherently unreliable — larger studies or, better still, multiple studies on the same topic, are more likely to give definitive, accurate results." I love snacks. But I understand they don't always make for the healthiest diet. I have nothing against short but sweet. But I do have a problem which favors cardinality over aggregate value. News articles that are often short summaries without analysis., perhaps because analysis takes more efforts and doesn’t always fit into a tiny package. And the recent NYT article talks about the problems in science, e.g., “Small studies are inherently unreliable — larger studies or, better still, multiple studies on the same topic, are more likely to give definitive, accurate results.”

I love snacks. But I understand they don’t always make for the healthiest diet.

]]> By: Daniel Lemire http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-10896 Daniel Lemire Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:02:01 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-10896 I enjoy short articles even if, as a scientist, I find it hard to write them because I always have more to say... I'd be interested in hearing arguments as to why short contributions imply lower quality. The iPad/iPhone with its tiny applications as shown tat there can't be much value in a small package. I enjoy short articles even if, as a scientist, I find it hard to write them because I always have more to say…

I’d be interested in hearing arguments as to why short contributions imply lower quality.

The iPad/iPhone with its tiny applications as shown tat there can’t be much value in a small package.

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2471 Daniel Tunkelang Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:01:33 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2471 It would be great to create documents with such rich annotation. It's increasingly possible to do so, but authors don't seem particularly incented to invest the effort, and purely automatic tools won't cut it. That strikes me as more of an economic that technical problem, though there's a bit of both. It would be great to create documents with such rich annotation. It’s increasingly possible to do so, but authors don’t seem particularly incented to invest the effort, and purely automatic tools won’t cut it. That strikes me as more of an economic that technical problem, though there’s a bit of both.

]]> By: Chuck Peters http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2470 Chuck Peters Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:53:05 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2470 Daniel - As I noted at http://cpetersia.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/information-in-the-first-instance/: "We have to start with the creation of the “elements” in the first instance. By starting with each source, quote, factual statement, picture, graphic, audio clip or video clip as an isolated element, or “tweet”, properly tagged with automatic tagging engines, those elements can be packaged or searched directly, allowing the most transparent view of local information. Sometimes that could be done by reporting on scheduled events by live blogging, using Twitter tweets for participant comments, with the resulting “record” time stamped. All audio and video clips could also be tagged to the time, place, event and people. From those elements, packaged stories could be written, but any reader could go “through” the story to the original elements." This will require quite a bit of "elegant organization", but is futile unless we begin with the smallest meaningful piece of information. We have lots of work to do! Thanks, Chuck Daniel -

As I noted at http://cpetersia.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/information-in-the-first-instance/:

“We have to start with the creation of the “elements” in the first instance. By starting with each source, quote, factual statement, picture, graphic, audio clip or video clip as an isolated element, or “tweet”, properly tagged with automatic tagging engines, those elements can be packaged or searched directly, allowing the most transparent view of local information. Sometimes that could be done by reporting on scheduled events by live blogging, using Twitter tweets for participant comments, with the resulting “record” time stamped. All audio and video clips could also be tagged to the time, place, event and people. From those elements, packaged stories could be written, but any reader could go “through” the story to the original elements.”

This will require quite a bit of “elegant organization”, but is futile unless we begin with the smallest meaningful piece of information.

We have lots of work to do!

Thanks,

Chuck

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2465 Daniel Tunkelang Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:16:20 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2465 The short answer is that I think there's a place for news articles of different length and scope. I just worry that the economics of news are driving LPUs to the exclusion of everything else. The short answer is that I think there’s a place for news articles of different length and scope. I just worry that the economics of news are driving LPUs to the exclusion of everything else.

]]> By: Josh Young http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2440 Josh Young Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:45:46 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2440 I know the LPU can get us down from time to time. Ken's argument that it's really nothing new is a good one, but I offer another here: http://networkednews.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/news-structure-content-context-chart/ The gist is that, while the internet may sometimes push us in the direction of information-lite snacks, it opens up other doors to smart but cheap, or lightweight, ways of generating content, including news. I know the LPU can get us down from time to time. Ken’s argument that it’s really nothing new is a good one, but I offer another here:

http://networkednews.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/news-structure-content-context-chart/

The gist is that, while the internet may sometimes push us in the direction of information-lite snacks, it opens up other doors to smart but cheap, or lightweight, ways of generating content, including news.

]]> By: What the Structure of Content Means for Context « Network(ed)News http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2438 What the Structure of Content Means for Context « Network(ed)News Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:08:40 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2438 [...] Least Publishable Unit is funny thing. The concept refers to a thing that’s in fact publishable—but only [...] [...] Least Publishable Unit is funny thing. The concept refers to a thing that’s in fact publishable—but only [...]

]]> By: Daniel Tunkelang http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2394 Daniel Tunkelang Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:39:08 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2394 Ken, I hope you're right. To be clear, I'm not advocating long-windedness! In fact, one way to achieve LPUs is to write a long-winded template and only vary the sliver of substance. Where I agree with Scherer is that splicing a story into thin storylets may actually violate the irreducibility of its big picture. Nothing new here--this is just another way of complaining about soundbites. What struck me as new was that the motive for this strategy might not be just accommodating people's short attention spans, but also maximizing ad coverage per unit of substance. Ken, I hope you’re right. To be clear, I’m not advocating long-windedness! In fact, one way to achieve LPUs is to write a long-winded template and only vary the sliver of substance. Where I agree with Scherer is that splicing a story into thin storylets may actually violate the irreducibility of its big picture.

Nothing new here–this is just another way of complaining about soundbites. What struck me as new was that the motive for this strategy might not be just accommodating people’s short attention spans, but also maximizing ad coverage per unit of substance.

]]> By: ken http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/03/16/least-publishable-unit/comment-page-1/#comment-2392 ken Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:28:16 +0000 http://thenoisychannel.com/?p=1655#comment-2392 That's an interesting observation. I suspect its true of only certain types of news that people follow closely and check on several times a day, with national politics being the leading example. The Politico is perhaps an outlier in this respect. Outside of those few breaking-news categories, there are plenty of long-winded articles that get heavily linked, as the Clay Sharky piece you mentioned a few days ago, and the one you just linked to in Time. If I have time, I'll see if I can dig up some representative sources for political news and look at article length over the last few years, it might be interesting. With print though, it perhaps is tempting to think that most people read the entire article. I wonder what fraction ever got past the headline or just the first paragraph or two. Network news certainly was never deep. So I'm not convinced matters are worse. They may be better. That’s an interesting observation. I suspect its true of only certain types of news that people follow closely and check on several times a day, with national politics being the leading example. The Politico is perhaps an outlier in this respect. Outside of those few breaking-news categories, there are plenty of long-winded articles that get heavily linked, as the Clay Sharky piece you mentioned a few days ago, and the one you just linked to in Time. If I have time, I’ll see if I can dig up some representative sources for political news and look at article length over the last few years, it might be interesting. With print though, it perhaps is tempting to think that most people read the entire article. I wonder what fraction ever got past the headline or just the first paragraph or two. Network news certainly was never deep. So I’m not convinced matters are worse. They may be better.

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