“There are so many simple, unsolved problems.”

So right. There is just so much that could be done! At Al Jazeera English I was told all I need do is pick an area and I would be able to improve it.

“Technology done wrong can get in the way of good journalism.”

I had the privilege of sitting next to somebody as they put together an article and watched them copy and paste things in and out of notepad to sanitise the content that was being taken from various sources.

“Newspapers are getting more comfortable with innovation.”

Also my experience — and I’m lumping aljazeera.com into the newspaper category — I think the lines between journalists and technologists are becoming increasingly blurred and that can only be a good thing!

Something tells me you’re are going to enjoy your time at the Boston Globe!

And to your second point, after 17 years working on newspaper Web sites, I’ve seen far more hindering technology than helpful. By a ginormous margin. Mostly because for the majority of that time, the Web sites were/are produced by print systems and workflows being re-purposed to create Web content. As Web content wasn’t the design-intent of the systems, they were/are horribly suited.

The other major hindrance is that the creative production people running these systems are paid/rated/rewarded for the job they do producing the print product mostlyy using technology primarily designed to produce a print product. The Web content made in tandem with/by these systems, either through original design intent or via the creative application of duct tape and bailing wire, is by and large an out-of-sight, out-of-mind work product.

But I’m really interested in reading about your experiences and getting your fresh impressions, so if you keep writing, I’ll keep reading!

Cheers,
John