Encyclo: The CrunchBase for the Future of News

To predict the future, you must have the past. That is the theory Nieman Journalism Labs has built upon in creating a new encyclopedia of about the future of news called Encyclo.

Encyclo is a curated collection of noteworthy news organizations and what each has done for the future of news. Encyclo “takes a step back from the daily updates and focuses on background and context.” What has ReadWriteWeb been doing to enhance the future of news? Encyclo has the answer.

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Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University is on the forefront of what is happening to the media industry. It is one of the go-to resources for any student of journalism or new media and continually produces critical thought and commentary on the industry and its direction. In this way, Encyclo is kind of like the CrunchBase for media.

“Reasonable people can make their own judgments about the value of these various outlets — but they’ve all got something to teach us about how the business of news is changing,” Nieman writes in its introduction of Encyclo.

In addition to media companies, Encyclo also includes technology companies that are having a profound effect on the news industry including Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook and Craigslist.

Each entry is broken into five sections: 1) about the publication and its contribution to the future of news; 2) important new articles and commentaries about the subject; 3) partners, allies and competitors; 4) all posts on the subject by the Nieman Lab; 5) all posts by news industry aggregator MediaGazer.

Encyclo provides an embeddable widget on every entry that can be placed on a site or blog for easy reference. Check out the entry for ReadWriteWeb to the right. Encyclo is working to update the database with the newest and most pertinent information and asks users for ways to improve, update and fix entries; “While Encyclo is a Nieman Journalism Lab project, it’ll only achieve its full potential if others get involved.”

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