“One of the applications we developed for the city is a Green Mile program, which is similar to a frequent flyer program, but good for the environment.” -Christine Outram, Project Leader

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How could the NyTimes create new platforms?

Compare a “2.0 NYTimes” to its existing site: Make the homepage less like a newspaper shoddily rigged up on the internet and more like an internet portal: let members log-in and immediately be plugged into their news subscriptions (paid and non-), a photo database, audio casts, wire services, ‘friend’ services (so you can MoDowd see what she likes, and share links with your high school friend Tim), comment aggregation, and all else. Make it psychologically enticing by allowing commenters to rate each other: they’ll be driven back to give their say. Make some but not all news available without subscriptions. Make it so if you’re not a subscriber you’re just not in on what everyone else is. Harness the medium’s social purpose.

The Times has much of this infrastructure already in place—but things haven’t been pushed to a crisis. As it stands, even without a subscription, you can still read everything less than 30 days old. It’s impossible to track commenters; they exist in a small, internet world at the bottom of the webpage, trolls and wunderkinds alike. These seem like gestures at revamping the site, but the Times is clinging to its print model. Partly the reluctance is probably rooted in status: the dignity and integrity of its brand lies in this clean, traditional format. But internet shouldn’t be a dirty word, and there are countless examples of well-designed news sites, free of clutter, like the New Yorker and Harper’s. And let’s not be afraid of reminding ourselves that the newspaper and its format were technology like anything else—made mostly of pulped wood, glue, and runny black ink. The general categories and purpose of the news should remain, and the Times would do well for itself by giving the public reasons to feel more strongly than ever about what those are, why associating with them is good, and how the Times brand provides them better than anyone else, right?