One of the intrinsic problems with online journalism is that the turn time from typing the last word in your article-to when it is online can be seconds. This often leads to lots of fatuous reportage, to lots of echo chamber repeats of memes (which may or may not be true…).

I have a couple examples of good reporting (i.e. providing corrections and context to the work of others) and a great case where there was a need for some better research into the provenance of some information (i.e. asking some questions…).

A good place to start is the echo chamber-like aspect of iPad coverage. I have an iPad, I like my iPad, but while it may have quite a few important aspects to how out online world might be changing…it isn’t the obvious answer for everything.

A good case in point might be the coverage in the last week presenting the notion that the iPad may be the prime mover in the coming demise of PC’s…While this might become a truth…in time…there is little statistical evidence to showcase that this is anything but the very beginning of a trend (i.e. things can still change, and there are many paradigms to shift in our futures…).

The post-PC era is happening, but not yet at the expense of PCs
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/05/the-post-pc-era-is-happening-but-not-yet-at-the-expense-of-pcs.ars

Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently roused some criticism for declaring the iPad to be the harbinger of a "post-PC" era. Market research firms seem to disagree with Jobs’ proclamation; Gartner thinks he may be right, suggesting tablets are eating into PC sales, while NPD thinks slow PC sales have nothing to do with iPads. Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps believes the transition started happening long ago, but the combination of advances in mobile technology, the increasing ubiquity of WiFi and mobile broadband, and consumers’ increasing reliance on conducting official and personal business online means computing happens more and more with tablets and smartphones and less with a bulky desktop chained to a desk.

While popular wisdom seems to suggest that PCs will suddenly disappear as consumers flock to touchscreen tablets, Epps sees users using more kinds of computing devices which suit the given place and time. "Consumers own an increasing number of devices, including PCs, and they get very good at making tradeoffs in particular contexts," Epps told Ars. "79.3 million US consumers own three or more types of connected devices; eight million own eight or more types of connected devices," she said.

Despite The Hype, Just 5 Percent of U.S. Owns a Tablet, Says Nielsen
http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/05/18/despite-the-hype-just-5-percent-of-u-s-owns-a-tablet-says-nielsen

From the way that OEMs are rushing to get ahead in the slate race, you’d think that tablets were just about as ubiquitous as our beloved smartphones. But according to Nielsen, that is not the case, whatsoever. In fact, only about 5 percent of the 12,000 U.S. consumers surveyed own a tablet.

Here is another interesting case…the first quote is from a very reputable site (ReadWriteWeb!) which was passing along information form a French Research Company…which was likely seen as too intriguing to pass up. That is, that idea that iPad readers are slower and shallower in how they read material than traditional ‘book readers’…

Of course, there are so many unanswered questions here, as well as what ultimately became a series of mistaken and sloppy survey design (VERY sloppy!!!). The net result is that there is a need to cultivate a pretty healthy sense of skepticism when dealing with online information (this may be one of the most obvious things I have ever written in this blog!!!).

Study: iPads Inferior to Newspapers in Information Retention
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_ipads_inferior_to_newspapers_in_information.php

French Internet Research Company Miratech has published research on how users interact with media presented in a physical newspaper versus an iPad. Miratech used eye-tracking technology to determine how users approached each medium and tested their memories to see if there was a difference in information retention.

Newspaper readers finished articles slightly quicker than iPad readers, who were more likely to skim content than to read it fully. Newspaper readers also had better retention, with 90% remembering what they read on paper compared to 70% of users of the iPad. See some of their videos after the jump.

Study wrongly suggests iPad readers skim, show poor retention
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/20/study-suggests-ipad-readers-skim-show-poor-retention

Miratech conducted a study that compared the way people read a newspaper with the way they read on the iPad. The research used reading time, gaze patterns, and eye movement to discern any difference between the two mediums. The study concluded that people concentrate more on the content and remember an article better when they read the newspaper.

This result is tantalizing and may seem to bolster the opinion that the iPad is a toy, while the newspaper is where people turn for their real news. Before you toss the iPad in the trash, this survey has two major flaws. First, the authors don’t tell us how many people participated in the survey. It could be 50 or 5,000. This number is important as the smaller the sample size, the larger the margin of error.

Also, the authors admit they had participants read similar information from a newspaper first and then from its iPad version. No wonder people only skimmed an article on an iPad — they just read it in the newspaper! I wonder if the results would have been different if the researchers reversed this order and handed people an iPad first and a newspaper second.

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