IDG revives The Industry Standard online

Computerworld - International Data Group Inc. (IDG) today relaunched an online-only version of The Industry Standard, once known as The Bible of the Internet economy, with a new publishing model that includes editorial content, a community-driven prediction market and social networking components.

IDG also is the parent company of Computerworld.

"What we wanted to do was bring The Standard back online only. A print component wouldn't make sense," said Derek Butcher, the online publication's vice president and general manager. "We'll be covering the same topic area in terms of the online economy and the business of the Internet, which of course has grown quite a bit since the original Industry Standard was around. We really want to be true to the editorial integrity and professionalism and quality analysis of the original Industry Standard; we want to provide the what and the why, rather than just the what."

Dovetailing with the editorial content is the prediction market, a way of betting on the outcome of future events, Butcher said.

The prediction market uses community input and proven algorithms to forecast events in the technology industry, according to the statement. Registered users can use mock currency to place "virtual bets" on the outcome of these events.

"For example, a prediction might state, 'Apple will ship 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008,' or 'High-tech venture funding will decrease by 15% in Q2 2008,'" according to a company statement. "As the community members place bets on a given prediction, the resulting market price of the prediction represents the community's consensus as to the probability of that event occurring."

Butcher said he doesn't know of any other media sites that prominently feature a prediction market operating in conjunction with editorial content.

"Certainly not one that's focusing on the online economy as we plan to do," he said. "A third component of the online publication involves a social networking aspect where people who come on the site can connect with other members on the site, and they can see what their friends are predicting and they can rank themselves against their friends in terms of their predictions and their success rates."

Managing Editor Ian Lamont said the predictive market will give people a different way to interact with each other and to understand trends affecting the Internet industry.

"The [Standard] follows a new publishing model," Lamont said. "The old Standard was an organization that had 450 people, but we are operating with a smaller group -- about 10 core staff and partners." Although the staff is small, he plans to add content with freelance contributions.