The numbers have quieted most of the skeptics, including Clay Shirky. Today, the New York Times summed up a year of its digital circulation strategy, and the report reinforced the notion: there’s a there there. It’s not the there of saving the newspaper industry, or even the Times, but it’s a strong indication that some readers will indeed pay for digital news access — and that paying for subscriptions opens other doors as well. The numbers in brief, from this morning’s Times 2011 earnings report:

• 390,000 digital subscribers overall.
• Growth rate of 20% fourth quarter over third quarter.

An approach called altmetrics—short for alternative metrics—aims to measure Web-driven scholarly interactions, such as how often research is tweeted, blogged about, or bookmarked. “There’s a gold mine of data that hasn’t been harnessed yet about impact outside the traditional citation-based impact,” says Dario Taraborelli, a senior research analyst with the Strategy Team at the Wikimedia Foundation and a proponent of the idea.

People from all sides of the debate seem to agree at least that some definitions are needed. Today there seem to be three camps, or “theories”  for trying to define journalism and the modern journalist.

As the digital marketing landscape has evolved, so have the strategies. Changes in the structure and definition of media have broken apart the silos of paid, owned, and earned media and have spurred marketers to re-examine how paid, owned, and earned media can be integrated for greater success. In doing so, marketers have realized better ways to engage audiences by offering relevant information that informs and helps the consumer make better purchase decisions, rather than a one-size-fits-all message that is simply blasted where consumers happen to be. Integrating paid, owned, and earned media means that marketers are now viewing paid media as a means to amplify the impact of earned and owned media. It also means marketers are putting increased emphasis on the value to the consumer rather than treating each media channel as a separate and totally disconnected effort.

The Washington press differs from the Columbian and Albion in that a very simple toggle joint provides pressure to the platen and on each side of the platen are coil springs which raise it to open position.

The Washington hand press is the invention of Samuel Rust, an American who first produced his press in 1821. In 1834, R. Hoe & Company took over his firm and continued to make the Washington. Many firms manufactured the Washington, some well into the 1900′s. It was the last style of hand press made in the United States.

This press was made and sold by Palmer & Rey of San Francisco, the first successful Far West typefounder. (71 inches high)

I’ve been looking into a number of aspects about the newspaper business in the Old West lately, including business models, ethics, and content strategies. My interest is historical parallels to today’s communication disruption and the paradigm shift in journalism and news media. This press, the Washington Hand Press, was the technological material equivalency of a wordpress or another personally manageable content management system.

It was behind hundreds of pioneer newspapers. They were moved from town to town and run in tents. But most interestingly, the newspapers were rarely, if ever, the money making business. The press itself was. Printers fought for the contracts to print legal notices, land information, wanted posters, and other such information. Many newspapers actively lobbied to get county seats moved where their presses were. Many editors even fabricated news to fill space.

a game going off in the american museum of natural history in nyc tonight.