Interactive Innovation Project NewsFeed
NewsFeed, developed by Medill students Bill Healy and Annie Martin and computer science student Matt Yetter, is a Web site designed for iPhones that lets users choose from news packages based on how much time the users have or want to spend reading.
Since browsing stories on an iPhone can be cumbersome, the service makes reading stories easier and the content more accessible. “Our audience is on-the-go and it provides users just the right amount of news,” Healy says.
Users choose from news offerings labeled “appetizers” (5 news briefs), “entrees” (4 full-length stories), and “dessert” (2 funny or light stories), electing to read or skip stories as time or interest dictates. “Users will intuitively understand what they’re getting,” Healy says.
“We’re hoping that iPhone users who have a few minutes to kill throughout the day will want to read the news,” Martin adds.
The application scrapes content from MSNBC.com and automatically separates some stories into briefs. It then orders the stories to start with light content and moves on to more serious content. News organizations who want to establish a reputation for convenience and attract iPhone users might be interested in adopting the application.
In the future the group would hope to expand the application for other types of mobile phones, allow users to specify their preferences and give more meal options.