The comparison with news subscriptions doesn’t make much sense to me because this is a completely different kind of resource. Although I do understand the need to keep up with the news and that budgets are limited. The comparison with buying a book is closer. But there are several unique features of the kind of “text” you are creating. You mention the opportunity to interact with the producer of the content. This is huge. A tiered pricing model makes sense for that. Also I think providing active and interactive engagement with the content makes this completely different from merely passively reading a book or taking a self-paced online course (Great Course are great, but so passive!). I am finally beginning to dabble a little in AI that can interact with an inquirer based on specified source material. It’s finally starting to get pretty good. Something AI might not be too hard or expensive to spin up at this point and may extend your reach. Cf Tyler Cowen’s personification based on his writing and books. The third unique feature would be the idea you mentioned briefly about interpretive frameworks eg environmental or social. This is very important to move beyond American History 101 and adult learners are going to want/need to bring a particular pov or problem or question or application to bear. They’re reading history for a reason. Just some thoughts. I would totally support resources like this over mere news!
Good response and explanation, Dan. I think you are building a useful and somewhat unique resource. Perhaps for the occasional history reader, the Buy-me-a-coffee payment model might be more attractive, or even the book fee model. I wish you well in this endeavor. Pat
The comparison with news subscriptions doesn’t make much sense to me because this is a completely different kind of resource. Although I do understand the need to keep up with the news and that budgets are limited. The comparison with buying a book is closer. But there are several unique features of the kind of “text” you are creating. You mention the opportunity to interact with the producer of the content. This is huge. A tiered pricing model makes sense for that. Also I think providing active and interactive engagement with the content makes this completely different from merely passively reading a book or taking a self-paced online course (Great Course are great, but so passive!). I am finally beginning to dabble a little in AI that can interact with an inquirer based on specified source material. It’s finally starting to get pretty good. Something AI might not be too hard or expensive to spin up at this point and may extend your reach. Cf Tyler Cowen’s personification based on his writing and books. The third unique feature would be the idea you mentioned briefly about interpretive frameworks eg environmental or social. This is very important to move beyond American History 101 and adult learners are going to want/need to bring a particular pov or problem or question or application to bear. They’re reading history for a reason. Just some thoughts. I would totally support resources like this over mere news!
Good response and explanation, Dan. I think you are building a useful and somewhat unique resource. Perhaps for the occasional history reader, the Buy-me-a-coffee payment model might be more attractive, or even the book fee model. I wish you well in this endeavor. Pat