COURSE NUMBER: BA278.2

Cross listed with the Journalism School (no journalism course number assigned yet)

COURSE TITLE: New Media Publishing: Business and Journalism Strategies

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3

INSTRUCTORS: Pete Deemer and Paul Grabowicz

E-MAIL ADDRESSES:

grabs@uclink.berkeley.edu,
Pete_Deemer@zd.com

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL):
http://www.journalism.berkeley.edu/program/courses/journbus2001/

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Mondays, 6-9 p.m.

PREREQUISITE(S): None

CLASS FORMAT: Mix of classroom lectures and company case study field work

REQUIRED READINGS: "Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transform Strategy," by Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster; "Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy" by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, "New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World" by Kevin Kelly, "Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity," by Jakob Nielsen; other readings and case studies

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: midterm paper and final paper, both based on case study projects done by student teams; rankings of individual student contributions by the team members; class participation.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: This is an interdisciplinary course offered for the
third year by the Graduate School of Journalism and the Haas School of Business. In the class, teams of
Haas and J-School students, along with students from the School of Information Management and Systems, will
work closely with top executives and editors at online publications and new media startups to identify
and analyze the critical issues they face and improve their performance, both economically and journalistically.
Students will write case studies of the companies that center on recommending strategies for the companies to
adopt to succeed as online publications. There also will be several panels of experts in the new media industry
brought into the class to discuss the most important issues in online publishing.

The project companies will be a mix of established online operations and start-ups that represent of the
various types of emerging new media publications, such as vertical portals that specialize in particular
areas, online financial or technology publications, online versions of print publications, user assistance and help sites, etc.

The issues that will be the focus of class discussion, panel presentations and the company case studies
include:

*The New Media Landscape - How the Internet is changing the publishing industry and the new economic forces at play in the online world.

* Rules of the Information Economy – The Internet’s impact on traditional economic principles and business models, including phenomena like network externalities, positive feedback, experience goods and standards.

*Advertising and Revenue – Banner ads, click throughs, transaction fees, sponsorships, subscription fees, micropayments, syndication and other revenue schemes adopted by online publications and what the data indicates is and isn't working.

* Customization and Personalization - How online publications need to take advantage of the Internet's nature as a one-to-one communication medium and deliver news and information tailored to the needs of individual users.

*Audience – Defining the audiences of online publications and identifying trends, segmentations and other demographic shifts in the Internet population, as well as changes in the habits of American news consumers in general.

*Journalistic Content – Understanding what "content" is in the online world, and how new media publications need to blend news, information, databases, links and other resources.

*News Cycles and Real Time content – How the Internet is destroying traditional news cycles and how stories must be adapted to the personal timetable of individual users.

*Web Writing and Design – The ways in which this new multimedia, interactive medium are changing the writing and presentation of stories, and what users studies reveal about Web design and information organization online.

*Interactivity and Community – Exploring how online publications can engage users by enhancing interaction with the publication and its staff and creating virtual communities around topics of common interest.

*Credibility and Ethics Policies – Identifying ethics and disclosure policies that online publications should adopt to keep the editorial and business sides of their operations separate and enhance a publication’s credibility.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

Pete Deemer: Vice President of Business and Product Management, ZDNet

Mr. Deemer launched his publishing career as a reporter for the best-selling "Let's Go: Europe" travel guide. He went on to become editor-in-chief and then publishing director of the 17-title Let's Go series of travel guides.

After graduating from Harvard College in 1993, Deemer joined San Francisco-based PC World Communications.
In 1994 he directed the launch of Multimedia World Online, an early International Data Group online publication, and then in 1995 became PC World Online's first director of advertising sales.

In 1996, Deemer left IDG with two colleagues to launch SpotMedia Communications, a publisher of vertical,
product-oriented online publications. SpotMedia's flagship publication, GameSpot, grew to become one of the
largest entertainment information sites online, with monthly traffic of 75 million pageviews and over 3 million
monthly users. At SpotMedia, Deemer served as a principal and senior vice president of technology and operations.

In the spring of 1999, SpotMedia merged with ZDNet, Ziff-Davis' technology information portal, and the combined
entity went public. Deemer currently serves as one of the three general managers of ZDNet, the top-rated news
and information site online (according to Media Metrix), with an audience in excess of 10 million users per month (and which now is merging with CNET. Since 1995, Deemer also has been a lecturer at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, teaching courses in Web-based publishing and media.


Paul Grabowicz: Assistant Dean, Adjunct Professor and Director of the New Media Program at
the Graduate School of Journalism.

Paul Grabowicz has been a journalist for 25 years and is co-author of "California Inc.", a book about how the
entrepreneurial spirit shaped the politics, culture and economy of California. He writes a regular column for the
Online Journalism Review about how reporters can use Internet resources as a reporting tool. He teaches new media publishing and computer assisted reporting at the Graduate School of Journalism, where he also operates an online journalism job bank, a Freedom of Information archive and an online Internet resources guide on the school's Web site

Previously he was the chief investigative reporter at the Oakland Tribune, where he worked for nearly 18 years as
a reporter and editor and developed an early prototype of a Web site for the paper. He has written for national
publications such as the Washington Post, Esquire magazine, The Village Voice and Newsday and is the recipient of numerous journalism awards, including honors from the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Inland Press Association, and First Amendment Funding. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in sociology.