Opinion: SBJ prepares to lock down Web archive

Sure, there’s that thing called Christmas (celebrated exactly a week from this issue date), but Springfield Business Journal is looking ahead to the New Year. Not so much for the season’s second holiday, but because on Jan. 2, we will lock down our searchable archives on sbj.net. That’s the day the free archive database dating back to 1998 becomes a paid-for product.

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to produce and upload all of that content. Now it’s time to recoup on those efforts.

This is a project that’s come after much discussion. Honestly, it took some convincing for some that this was a good idea. But look at other media Web sites. Where can you access archived stories without first registering to the site, then subscribing to the Web?

SBJ will offer an annual Web subscription for $64 and a combination print and Web subscription for $84. The combo subscription is only $20 more than the regular print rate.

The current week issues will continue to be available online at no cost, as will SBJ’s Daily Update e-newsletter and home page news flashes.

Here I must warn that even subscribing to the archive has its limitations on usage. We’ve run into more than a handful of companies that have posted PDFs of our stories or copied and pasted the text to their Web sites. Copyright policy prohibits such use, even if you subscribe to the Web when that’s offered Jan. 2. However, we do welcome companies to post on their Web sites a link to any story on sbj.net.

This is most commonly done under an “In the News” section of a company’s site. This way, companies share the media recognition, but it also keeps intact the copyright policy.

Manufacturing news

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce just released a manufacturing industry study that showed an economic impact of $18.6 billion in the five-county metropolitan area including and surrounding Greene County.

SBJ falls into that category as a manufacturer of a business-to-business news product.

We have a weekly manufacturing cycle – that now includes the Web product – much like other Springfield manufacturing companies.

The chamber also just named Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. the Manufacturer of the Year, ahead of finalists Jarden Plastic Solutions and Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems.

Would those companies give away the gadgets or products that they are churning out? Certainly not. Neither should SBJ.

It’s an exciting time for SBJ as we evolve as a media outlet. While SBJ was ahead of the curve locally in sending out free e-newsletters to subscribers’ in-boxes, we are now catching up with our competitors in charging for archive access.

More Web developments

• We’ve also sold our first List E-commerce subscription, another Web-exclusive product that SBJ has developed. The $199 list subscription is our most comprehensive research data in downloadable spreadsheets. It gives the purchaser complete access to the same database that our researcher, Joyce Embree, has at her fingertips. There are varying list purchase options, including single lists and extended versions. Further list information is available by clicking List E-commerce in the SBJ Products box on our home page.

• If we needed proof that readers were becoming more in tune with online content, SBJ Reader Poll activity is reaching new heights. Days after publishing an Eyes & Ears column about a poll record of 231 votes, readers made that old news and posted 364 votes. The question: Which television station do you watch most frequently? The answer: KOLR10 CBS (44 percent).

For the previous high, we asked: Who should redevelop the Heer’s building in downtown Springfield? Current owner Prost Builders Inc. tallied 58 percent of those votes.

Immediately following the TV station query, readers registered 227 votes to tell us their preferred radio station format.

Public radio (24 percent) edged out the news/talk/sports format (22 percent).

Eric Olson is SBJ editor. He can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.