Most Kickstarter projects are some permutation of the words iPad,iPhone,case,stand,shell, and stylus. But this project is a permutation of the words long-form, journalism, and website. The project, called #MATTER, is the brainchild of Jim Giles and Bobbie Johnson and hopes to bring thoughtful, long-form journalism to the tabletweb.
While I would recommend the pair set their sights on something more generally popular, like a site dedicated to hilarious stock photos of funny cats or something about the Kardashians, their noble effort needs $50,000 to fly and I suspect many of us would pay $10 not to read another exciting top ten list about which purse Jennifer Anniston used to fend off the advances of a drunk Andy Dick.
The goal is pretty simple:
MATTER will focus on doing one thing, and doing it exceptionally well. Every week, we will publish a single piece of top-tier long-form journalism about big issues in technology and science. That means no cheap reviews, no snarky opinion pieces, no top ten lists. Just one unmissable story.While I disagree with the denigration of “cheap” reviews and “snarky” opinion pieces (I prefer the terms “vapid” and “flatulent”), to be able to read one long, good article on a topic is going to be the new hotness soon enough once bloggers realize that most people really don’t need to know that Nikon improved the shutter speed on their garbage point and shoot. That said, I hope they’re able to maintain the momentum necessary to keep people coming back and here’s to them for trying.
You can donate $10 or so and get a mention on the site or you can pay $25 to be on the “board,” which amounts to a crowdsourcing system for picking future stories. Will Matter ever put vapid and flatulent sites like this one out of business? Not by a long shot, but it’s nice to think that someone out there, somewhere, is licking the nib of their Parker and getting ready to write 10,000 words on the topic of Microsoft’s rise to prominence among diasporic Hmong communities.
