Links from readers in response to series on what local newspapers should do

A number of readers have sent me worthwhile links in response to my series on 10 steps local newspapers should take to survive and thrive in the face of the economic meltdown and societal shift to the Internet. I'm sharing a few of those today. The series will resume with part 6 on Sunday night.

Among the links I think are worth checking out:

Interesting research on how users view the Internet vs. other media.

More on the same topic.

From a site called TED, Ideas Worth Spreading: "While news from Iran streams to the world, Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics." From John Moore, managing editor of the Ventura County Star in California.

"In August, journalism and mass communication educators from across the globe will gather in Boston to share tips on how to survive and thrive in today’s evolving world at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's convention. To kick off the convention, AEJMC asked them to imagine what the future of journalism and mass communication might look like." Here is where you can find links to the three winners presentations. From John Leach, a one-time colleague of mine on the advisory board of the University of Colorado School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a former web leader at the Arizona Republic.

This one from John Leach is even better.

And if you missed this lengthy article in May, it's definitely worth considering.

Given the topic of my series, this post on Buzz Machine by Jeff Jarvis presents a project on new business models worth following.

Here's a tech person who's waded into the newspaper world and has an interesting project. Chris Treadway, CEO of Notice Technologies, launched a self-serve local advertising product to help local businesses advertise easily/conveniently on the Web and social networks. The live demo is at youpons.net. The ads are in the form of 140 character text (or less) and they are geared to help local businesses find leads/customers from the Internet.

Finally, a company called Matchbin out of Utah may be flying under the radar of big media but it's offering an interesting web package to help weeklies and small dailies. I think their suite of products, which were presented to me after a chance encounter with one of the investors, is worth looking at. Two main reasons: It's built on the model where local papers don't have to invent the features and functionality they need and they're branching out from traditional newspaper advertising to business directories and mobile.