The Newer New Yorker.

The New Yorker needs little introduction. It's possibly the most popular source for art, culture, and literary whatnot in North America.  

In its paper format, The New Yorker is text heavy. Each weekly issue includes fiction, poetry, reviews, critiques, and of course, cartoons. In my opinion, it's a great publication. But how does The New Yorker's website stack up against its juggernaut paper cousin? 

www.newyorker.com appears, at first glance, like a carbon copy of the original. We've seen in past comparisons that this is not always a good thing and it often hurts the overall content. They use the same fonts, colours, and images as the paper copy. The articles are available in their entirety. A simple click of a button can take you into a little Malcolm Gladwell or Laura Collins. This is no technological wonder. But of course, it wouldn't be The New Yorker if there wasn't some experimentation. 

Some closer inspection of the site's main page reveals a media player offering a podcast called The Transition. On this page, you don't even have to hunt for a little media. About a quarter of the way down the page there is a video posted and if you continue scrolling you get a menu of Audio and another menu of Video content. All on the Main Page!

If you're interested you can take an online survey or, with a little hunting, you can play some games. And, of course, you can always link to recommended blogs and other sites. 

Another interesting feature of The New Yorker online is the availability of audio downloads of articles. It's like books on tape... weekly. This feature, however, requires a subscription. 

We can learn a lot from the online New Yorker. We can learn that, with good content and up to date technology, the message and the medium work together to create the whole. They are anything but mutually exclusive. The New Yorker produces quality work, in whatever form it takes. This is what seems most important. Flashy media players aren't worth much if the message/content is sub-par. But nobody wants to carry around a stone tablet or wait for a carrier pigeon either. I rate The New Yorker Online 4 Mouse Clicks.