“The clear consensus was that our ideas, which look bold from an insider view,
appear to be just tweaks around the edges when you’re looking with fresh eyes.”

 - Matt Mansfield in a blog entry on Rethinking the Merc 

I just wanted to point to this blog from the San Jose Mercury News. I included it in one of the Online Publishing Updates last week, but it really deserves more attention.

The Mercury News is reevaluating itself, as a lot of newspapers are doing to various extents. But unlike most other papers in transition, the Merc is blowing up its newsroom in a very public way. Chris O’Brien and other newsroom leaders are going directly to readers and non-readers to find out how those people are using the newspaper (or not using it, as is the case, sometimes). Ultimately, the newspaper wants to figure out how to be a better, more useful, more relevant media company.

And to make the process even more complete, the newsroom is blogging the entire process with Rethinking the Merc. In an introductory post, O’Brien wrote, “We're sharing our ideas because we want you to know why we're doing all this. We'd like your guidance on our progress. This is your news organization, after all. And we aim for this process to be wide open, in the best spirit of innovation that's made this valley a leader around the world.”

The Merc has also launched a Facebook application to keep tech-savvy readers updated with the latest Rethink blog entries.

One of NAA’s purposes for existing is to help newspapers share ideas and learn from each other. This is a good tool to do that. Props to the Mercury News for taking this on.