#TsunamiDigital

The technical term for reproducing what a physical object like a newsstand or a magazine looks like on a digital platform is “skeuomorphism” — the same principle that designers use when they show a virtual page turning as you flip through a magazine on your tablet. As John Bethune pointed out in the context of news-aggregator Journatic and its recent fake-byline scandal, this approach makes things seem familiar in some ways, but it also restricts new forms of content. Another term for this is “paving cow paths,” and while it may make things easier in the short term, it can be risky in the long term.