Our group used this exercise to discuss how we consume news on our phones, what kind of mood we are in when we read news on our phones, and what we do before and afterward. One of the surprising takeaways is that many of us check our phones for news when we are bored or waiting for something… in other words, often in a negative state of mind. As an antidote, we thought that more humorous short stories might be in order!

What follows are the raw, unedited notes I took during our discussion….

1. Method of attraction – how does the form attract and sustain attention in an attention scarce world? Last minute updating. Push notifications. Convenient. Newness.

2. How did you find this news? Did you subscribe, link from a friend, turn on the TV, etc Subscription. Sharing. Feedly. Pocket. Passive. You grab your phone because you’re bored, and it pops out.

3. Did you have to choose it (by searching, clicking)? Or did it find you (like radio, push notification)? Often you receive it passively through push.

4. When do you experience news in this way (time of day, during what types of activities)? What were you doing immediately before and immediately after experiencing the news in this way? First thing in the morning. Smartphone as alarm clock. And when you’re waiting. Before and after, you are likely doing something completely non-news related. Or you’re on your email.

5. Are you doing other things while experiencing the news in this way? Maybe lying in bed or walking down the street.

6. Who else was experiencing the same news? Was it co-present, remote, asynchronous Mostly individual. There are some Facebook links that you might follow to news but these are the minority.

7. How did you feel while experiencing the news like this? e.g. Intellectually stimulated, guilty pleasure, obligated to read it, riveted until the end, interrupted but kept coming back, bored, occasionally annoyed, took you out of everyday life, etc. Bored. Distracted. Guilty for not clicking on all of the follow-through links!

8. Did you “do anything” based on the news – for example, share it, talk about it with someone, log it somewhere, remember it later, cite it? Share it. Tweet it. Save it to pocket.

1. What kinds of values are embedded in this news experience? Values: quick and dirty

2. What is this experience’s “theory of the user”? Who do they imagine you are? Does the experience also have a “theory of change”? Theory of user: limited time, limited attention Value: using time efficiently. Always staying connected and up to date. Efficiency. Theory of change: informing people. But not necessarily giving them time to take action.

3. What is this experience’s end goal? Virality & eyeballs? Deep listening? Exposé for action? End goal: eyeballs. Entertainment. Get subscriptions. Get user data.

4. How are you empowered through this experience? Disempowered? Disempowering because people read headlines only. Counterargument: Can also be empowering… If something big happens, you can get on your phone right away and take action and get up to date.

5. What kinds of stories is this method good for? bad for? underutilized for? Good for: breaking news stories. Short stories. Sports news. Segmentation. Bad for: long stories. Historica analysis. Non-urgent stories.  Infographic. Underutilized for: advocacy stories

6. What other form could you mash up with this for to create a new product that delivers the news?

Split screen on the mobile phone. Shopping while doing that.

Or combine humor with short phone stories. For more appealing and mood improving content

Combine short radio story with a mobile news story. So you can listen while you are walking. Like a short news podcast.