Form and content

As we progress toward multi-channel delivery of news content we become increasingly mindful of the need to keep content separate from metadata that dictates a specific form. In the traditional Web publishing model, the content (e.g. the text of an article) was hopelessly intermixed in HTML files with code for tables and frames and other devices meant to express how the page would be displayed with a browser window.

We are starting to use publishing tools that hold content in channel independent databases until the delivery method is known, at which time content and formatting code are sent as a stream to the user. CSS Zen Garden is a site that showcases the ability of W3C Cascading Style Sheets to specify radically different presentations without altering the source HTML file. Thought-provoking stuff.

Survey says...

I never knew this organization existed -- The National Council on Public Polls -- but their Web site says they were established in 1969. I'm massively down with their purpose, which is "to set the highest professional standards for public opinion pollsters, and to advance the understanding, among politicians, the media and general public, of how polls are conducted and how to interpret poll results."

It's a mission that works hand-and-glove with journalism, and here they address journalists directly.

Buyer's remorse

The SUV fad continues to illuminate the worst aspects of the American character. Now Irresponsibility joins Stupidity and Arrogance to form the unholy triumvirate of core values...