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Feedback for the News (and Podcasts)
Over at Scripting News, Dave is positing a system for giving feedback to the media about what stories you want to see and which you don’t. This in an effort to get more personalization in the news stories we see.
I’ve had similar thoughts about podcasting (as has Dave and others). At IT Conversations, there is a feedback mechanism. Relatively speaking, no one uses it. Part of the problem is that when you’re listening to podcasts you’re probably not at your computer. Part of the problem is that people don’t understand the benefit.
We have a recommendations engine that works off of your personal ratings. So, if you take the time to rate shows, you should see things you like in your personal recommendation queue (RSS feed enabled). Still, while I think the idea is great, the execution might put some people off.
We’ve grown accustomed to systems (the Web in general, but even systems like Amazon and NetFlix) that watch what we do and give us better results in the future as a result. Podcasting and the media haven’t emerged with that natural feedback in place. Apple (following industry trends) conceived of the iPod as a “display” device—strictly one-way. Whatever feedback the device may do, Apple isn’t sharing that information with anyone else.
In 2007, however, I think it’s silly to build anything that isn’t capable of two-way communication.
Posted by windley on April 24, 2007 10:50 AM
Comment from Dave Winer at April 24, 2007 12:56 PM
Just to be clear, I didn't describe a system for giving feedback, I described a system for controlling the news. If you uncheck the Anna Nicole Smith box, you will not see any more news about her. It's not a suggestion box, it's a control.
Comment from Richard K Miller at April 24, 2007 3:23 PM
Phil, I listen to a lot of IT Conversations podcasts but never use the existing feedback mechanism. However, if the option were available, I'd gladly submit my "iTunes Music Library.xml" file (or a subset of it.) For each podcast it contains a play count, rating, date last played, date last skipped, etc. all of which could be useful metadata.
Comment from tonetheman at April 30, 2007 10:02 AM
Truthfully and I have been thinking about this a lot... i think that any type of rating system that requires the user to do almost any sort of work is doomed to failure. not that you do not have a good system.
What I would really like is a way from "inside" the RSS/ATOM feed to send the publisher some feedback. That is fairly generic but it would be great if I could somehow go to my feedreader and send you the podcaster something like ... I loved this. or this show sucks.
The whole mechanism would need to be easy/braindead/slick enough that the average user could use it and would have to allow the feedreader software to display the feedback mechanism the way it chooses...
I am dreaming I think but it would be nice. it would sure make your ratings better if i could rate the show from the same place i downloaded it: my reader.
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