Although Jeff Jarvis seems like a great guy, I often find myself disagreeing about media and technology with him, though I think he has a solid, common-sense approach when providing unsolicited advice to Google in its desire to “save the news.” Rule #1: Focus on the news, not legacy news organizations. From Jarvis at Medium:

“First, start from scratch.

I wish Google would convene some of its best minds; ignore the needs, complaints, and precedents of the legacy news industry; and begin with the fundamental questions:

• What does it mean to be an informed member of a community?
• What information do communities need?
• What information already exists in a community? How can members of a community share information with each other more effectively?
• How can this information be made accessible and useful (a Google specialty)?
• How can this information be vetted? What signals of authority and originality can help? (And when is editing needed?)
• What is missing? What questions are not being answered? What questions are not being asked? Who in authority needs watching? Who in the public needs protection? Whose voices are not heard? (That is, when is reporting required?)

In short: What’s the problem? Then: What are new solutions? That’s what Google’s engineering culture does brilliantly. What could a Gmail, a Waze, a Translate, a Drive for news and information be? It’s more than Google News, which organizes news done the old way and sends it audience … except in Spain. The future of news is something yet unimagined. It won’t be just human anymore. It won’t be just technology either. It will be some helpful combination.

Software may eat the world. But it will not answer all its questions.”