E-paper e-ink from Make magThe New York Times may employ some of the most incisive newspaper columnists out there, but the free access week doesn't impress John Burke much. And according to the "anything-but-scientific research" the Editors Weblog contributor did, the columns those stars produced didn't necessarily grow their popularity:

In four days of TimesSelect free trial (13 staff editorials in total from Nov. 5 to Nov. 10), only two columnists claimed the honor of most emailed, and one with a column written the previous week, not even close to the frequency the op-eders’ links were shared before the paywall.

It's my first glimpse over the pay wall this week, besides having read the print edition at various times, which has much of the same articles but not the Web-goodies. I've noticed a few things about Allison Arieff's "Living Design" blog (which looks to be TimesSelect content. Aesthetically pleasing posts on modern architecture located behind the pay wall. Very democratic). 

While not a daily offering, Arieff's blog is both well-written and has the visual style element down — a requirement for a design blog no doubt. The sustainability and urban greening theme makes a welcome through-line, a logical choice for a happening SF design writer like Arieff.

For me, the tag cloud and blogroll linking to relevant, well-chosen external sites represent just a couple of the directions I hope newspaper blogs will take. Along with a reevaluation of pay-walled and citizen journalist-contributed content, of course. That's part of opening the door, of regarding readers as more than consumers.

Speaking of consumption and shamelessly tying it to impact: I've mentioned e-ink and e-paper before, but I hope that's another direction newspapers go en masse, and as soon as possible. As soon as it's viable — and an investment in making it viable wouldn't kill any corporate media execs, would it?

In fact … 

Why

not

start

NOW?

Image from Make Magazine.