You can show a little bit of the article like The Wall Street Journal or Digiday, or set a low meter like the trend has been the last couple years. But the future of paywalls seems to be, according to many, a hybrid model where, like so much else, our personal habits are analyzed. Then the paywall would emerge on what we deem to be of most value.
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“Organizations that intend to stay at the top of their game with world-class talent need to ensure that hiring is beyond what it used to be before 2020,” writes Amit Das, director of HR at Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. (The Times Group). With a new Industry Dive acquisition targeting job seekers, the message is clear that media companies will need to go beyond mere job boards to attract and engage that audience.
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At the Tony Awards last Sunday, director Kenny Leon accepted the Tony for Best Revival of a Play for the well-deserving A Soldier’s Play (which I was fortunate enough to see pre-pandemic). He spoke about the need to be more inclusive: “No diss to Shakespeare, no diss to Ibsen, to Chekhov, to Shaw—they’re all at the table,” Leon said. “But the table’s got to be bigger.”
Leon’s speech reminded me of a couple 2021 EXCEL Awards winners that made the table bigger in their respective niches. One is the American Bankers Association, which won a Gold EXCEL Award for Best Website (General Excellence) for Banks Never Ask That. This is a clever microsite that has responded to a common problem, with a quiz to test your scam IQ. “Show us you have what it takes to outsmart online scammers, then encourage friends and family to do the same!” There’s also a humorous video about phishing. “I love fishing,” says Tim. “No Tim, not the kind with rainbow trout and good memories of grandpa,” the narrator says. “This is bad guys tricking you into sharing your password or pin.” Later a millennial woman says that, “senior citizens are always falling for internet tricks.” “No,” the narrator says, “people under 30 are more likely to become victims of identity theft for phishing. “Sorry,” she says, “typical millennials. Narrators are so helpful.”
Second is the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which won a Silver EXCEL for Rising Up, focusing on women scientists. It leads with an inspiring tic-tac-toe scientist board and then moves to engaging intros. “’If someone tells you that you can’t do something, then that probably means that you should go and do it. Don’t let other people hold you back,’ says Andrea Dutton, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies ancient coral reefs with an eye on today. Jennifer Eberhardt studies unconscious psychological biases at Stanford University, and her findings have been used to reform police departments and challenge the constitutionality of death sentences. “Racial bias is something that’s difficult for many people to see and to talk about. I’m looking at something that’s everywhere, yet it’s invisible at the same time.” The real faces are powerful.
Our coverage should also be powerful and push boundaries. Here are 4 more examples of the great work done for the Neals and EXCEL Awards this year. Entries for the 2022 Neals open next week on Oct. 6. (I know, crazy. October is just about here!) And the EXCEL Awards open on Nov. 15.
Amplify important and lesser-known stories. DTN’s Progressive Farmer featured a wonderful story from Chris Clayton, ag policy editor, titled Grappling With a New Farm – Young, Black, First-Generation American Determined to Succeed as a Farm Owner. “Like a lot of children growing up in a small Nebraska town, Zemua Baptista remembers playing with tractors in the living room as a boy—’carpet farming,’ as he describes it.” Later in the story we get this quote from Baptista: “I still see it when I tell people I’m a farmer and they kind of look at me. For me, to give a face to a minority farmer is a good thing.”
Provide tools/new ideas for our audience. For Best Profile, American Chemical Society’s Chemical & Engineering News won a Neal for a wonderful profile titled A Day With Jennifer Doudna: Trying to Keep Up With One of the World’s Most Sought-After Scientists. It chronicles the day she spoke at the University of California, Berkeley campus. “It’s clear that being considered the Beyoncé of science has reshaped Doudna’s life. But has it reshaped how she views herself?” The article leads to a sidebar story titled Jennifer Doudna’s Tips for New Entrepreneurs. One story presents the person, and the second presents how to help their audience succeed.
Spotlight under-the-radar stories. There’s an excellent Q&A with Alda Ly in a “Next Progressives” feature in the Neal Award-winning issue of ARCHITECT Magazine. “What led to the founding of the firm,” Ly was asked. “I’m a woman of color working in a field traditionally dominated by men. Initially, this launched me on a path designing for women, but it quickly morphed into designing for those who aren’t typically considered.” Later, when asked about her ambitions, she said, “Working with inspiring clients to push the boundaries of traditional building typologies…”
Adding complementary elements to a story. SHRM won a Neal for Best Instructional Content for a story titled How Should HR Handle Political Discussions at Work. “It was just a picture, and it was in an employee’s cubicle,” the story by Susan Milligan begins. About a third of the way through the article refers to a “SHRM poll conducted last October [that] found that 42% of employees have had a ‘political disagreement’ at work, and 12% have experienced political affiliation bias.” The link led to an 11-page, beautifully designed pdf with results from that poll. “Over half of working Americans say politics and the discussion of political issues have become more common in the last four years.” With the poll, pull quotes and fun wordplay—“While HR can hardly have Aretha Franklin’s iconic song ‘Respect’ playing on a loop, there are some actions HR and legal experts advise”—it’s a valuable story for members.
Today, Senators Leahy and Cornyn introduced the bipartisan “Restoring the America Invents Act,” which drew praise from the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA).
Ten years ago, the America Invents Act received widespread bipartisan support when it passed Congress because it created a less expensive way of determining a patent’s quality without the expense of litigation. When Congress passed that law, it intended that anyone sued under a patent (that was likely to be invalid) could challenge the quality of that patent without the prohibitive costs of getting a court decision.
During the last administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received widespread criticism for adopting an administrative rule denying requests for agency review if a judicial proceeding were pending.
“SIIA, along with the retail, restaurant and many other industries, strongly supported the AIA’s passage,” said Chris Mohr, SIIA’s VP for Intellectual Policy and General Counsel. “The PTO’s past practice of refusing to review patents that it knows are reasonably likely to be invalid is a clear violation of what the AIA was intended to do.”
“We believe this bill goes a long way towards both restoring the intent of the AIA and bringing increased transparency to the patent system by insulating administrative patent decisions from political interference. We support this needed new legislation, and look forward to working with Senators Leahy, Cornyn and other members of Congress as the process unfolds.”
About SIIA
For more than 50 years, SIIA has united the information industries. Today, SIIA’s umbrella organization connects more than 450 diverse members who manage the global financial markets, develop software that solves today’s challenges through technology and provide critical information that help inform global businesses of all sizes. As the only professional organization representing Ed Tech, SIIA’s members bridge the gap educating students and the workforce driving innovation and growth.
The inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) — scheduled for September 29-30 in Pittsburgh — is an opportunity for the world’s largest trading partners and economies to foster greater alignment on technology issues that underpin the global economy.
SIIA is encouraged by the broad scope of the TTC framework. Covering critical topics such as coordination on technical standards, supply chain resilience, and alignment on data governance, TTC will also explore the nuances of technology platform oversight, increasing access to digital technologies and addressing the misuse of technology to undermine rights and values.
But to achieve results that benefit U.S. and EU citizens as well as citizens of the global community, we must finalize a sustainable, enduring agreement on transatlantic data flows. This is why SIIA joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and nearly two dozen leading organizations in a major advertising campaign encouraging a transatlantic data flow framework.
Information is the lifeblood of the digital economy and our daily lives. Consumers, businesses, researchers, teachers, and students rely on an ability to access, share, and use information. Data flows are in essence the sharing of information across borders.
Representing a diverse coalition of organizations, SIIA has a unique vantage in understanding the effect of data flow protectionism. Our members rely on data to support learners of all ages, to provide investors with critical financial information, to support scientific research, to inform business strategy, to provide access to credit and to enable people around the world to communicate. Digital “borders” harm individuals — consumers, educators, learners, business leaders and investors — and inhibit innovation. Data flow regulations must strike the critical balance between enabling engagement and protecting individuals from public or private overreach.
There is much that aligns the United States and the EU. We are far closer to individual privacy and civil liberties than some would have us believe. Despite our differences, we are aligned in our support for privacy and individual liberties. And our respective governments have their own national security interests that must be balanced against these shared values.
How the United States and the EU align these values will have global ramifications. The United States and the EU must set an example for the rest of the world. Data localization requirements have grown exponentially in recent years. The rise of digital protectionism serves the interests of those who would segregate the Internet and use technology to further anti-democratic ends. As President Biden told the United Nations last week, we must, together, “ensure a future where technologies are a vital tool to solving human challenges and empowering human potential, not a source of greater strife and repression.”
This week’s TTC can build on the G7’s recent support for data-driven innovation and a framework for “data free flow with trust.” Doing so will help to establish a democratic vision for our shared digital future — a future marked by protections to preserve individual privacy and human rights and transparent data transfer mechanisms.
About SIIA
For more than 50 years, SIIA has united the information industries. Today, SIIA’s umbrella organization connects more than 450 diverse members who manage the global financial markets, develop software that solves today’s challenges through technology and provide critical information that help inform global businesses of all sizes. As the only professional organization representing Ed Tech, SIIA’s members bridge the gap educating students and the workforce driving innovation and growth.
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