dimanche 10 janvier 2010

Reaction from the readers - LeStudio1.com






LeStudio1.com received hundreds of messages from the readers after the announcement published last January 4 regarding the end of the Internet Weekly email magazine.

Thank you to all for your kind words and your comments!

Unfortunately, despite your several requests, it is impossible to resume the old formula and this, as explained before, for economic reasons.

The team formed in 2005 is now decimated and the project is only continuing through its website and by collaboration of the individual team members on each of their respective social sites, either Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr or other sites.

The Internet is an enigma and LeStudio1.com did not managed to penetrate its secret. Is this a failure on our part? Probably, but we had great pleasure during the five years of publication and we hope to have much more in other forms of Internet communications.

The economy drives the world and it is the same for LeStudio1.com. However, it should be noted that all the other media groups have also failed to make a financial profit from the Internet. The operation of all Internet projects is still funded by monies from capitalization or other activities of the business rather than by revenues from the Internet as such.
We must also consider that the economic situation of the media is constantly changing. For example, Le Devoir was penniless and needy in the early 1990s and it was Pierre Péladeau with Quebecor, which saved him from death. Today in 2010, Le Devoir shines while others Quebec newspapers agonize, including Le Journal de Montreal ...

Any end of project attracts bargain hunters and among you, some have offered to recover certain tools in particular LeStudio1.com mailing list (65 000 names). We have refused to do so because none of the proposals was intended to continue LeStudio1.com development. Applicants wanted rather use some tools that we have developed, including the mailing list to promote their own projects. What is more, rebate were being sought regarding the financial compensation...

LeStudio1.com is a concept and each of its elements compose the concept. There is no question to dismantle it and to distribute the parts to all winds or liquidate them in a bazaar market.The team prefers to see the project simply become the memory of beautiful days!

Again, thank you to you all and As I often wrote in my editorial: To be continued ...
Bernard Bujold

The future of the team



The team LeStudio1.com is decimated but all members pursue their own individual adventures. Many of you we have written for more information on the subject. Here are the details:

-The creator and publisher Bernard Bujold decided to go back on the job market and he is currently searching for employment. Notice to those interested! (See his biography)

-Miss-X is already back on the professional circuit and she is now working as a communication specialist for a large international accounting firm.

-Jacques Robert continues with its various projects in photography and he travel extensively between Montreal and Europe.

-The poet and songwriter Louis Royer continues the weekly presentation of his shows "La chanson vivante" presented every Sunday night in Montreal.

-The mysterious computer expert is unfortunately completely disappeared from circulation and LeStudio1.com has lost track of her ... (Just as in the novel Millennium with Lisbeth Salender)

-The reporter and blogger David, singer Christine and all the other members of the team since 2005 continues each their respective projects.

-Finally, the financial partner and supporter of LeStudio1.com died at the end of 2008 but his memory continues to be a source of encouragement and inspiration for many people, both in Canada and around the world. He however asked to keep anonymity for its support to the project LeStudio1.com and we respect his wish in not disclosing his name ...
www.LeStudio1.com/Equipe

samedi 2 janvier 2010

Story of a website - LeStudio1.com








(Message written on January 2, 2010)
The Internet magazine LeStudio1.com inaugurates today a new format while the publishing of stories and blogs will now be made exclusively on social sites and on the official website http://www.lestudio1.com/ rather than directly by email.
The use of email was essential to familiarize the public with the magazine but the Internet is changing so that today, email has become a less effective method of communication given the targeted traffic on each of our permanent sites and the Internet habits in general.
However, our decision is mainly motivated by economic as we must take into consideration the financial aspect of our Internet vehicle. LeStudio1.com always targeted a convergence with a large media group rather than a solitary action. Unfortunately, our research for funding partnership has not worked and no negotiations have yielded a positive result either in French language (Quebec and France) not more than in English language (United States). Several small local media groups have proposed to use our mailing list (66 451 email addresses) from time to time for advertising but no serious financial contribution was neither offered nor available for the development of LeStudio1.com as a Internet magazine.
A final appeal was launched last December to various individuals, some readers, friends and media groups, to find a funding formula for LeStudio1.com but again, nothing has been productive except for a warm welcome, congratulations for the journey and, ultimately, the wishes of "good luck ...".
It should be noted that several media groups are also being restructuring either in Quebec, in the United States or in France. In Montreal, La Presse has almost ceased its operations permanently last December due to serious financial difficulties and eliminated the Sunday edition while Le Journal de Montreal will be endangered in 2010 because of the lockout of its employees that has lasted nearly a year (January 24, 2009) and whose obstacles for a solution are also financial issues. It should be noted that the website Rue Frontenac will face the same problems as LeStudio1.com at the financial level even if their site is very popular. In the U.S., several major newspapers including The New York Times are laying off employees in their newsroom to reduce operating costs and the same situation is happening in France.
If a media want to inform the public and his subscribers well, he must have the means of his ambitions. For this reason, we decided to continue our efforts in information and opinions with a formula exclusively public by partnering with various social websites. This formula will require less time from our team and we can define it as "low-maintenance." It should be noted that all social sites also seek to find their way to the financial profits but they have the advantage of being already large entities with a broader reach than LeStudio1.com. Their power will support our efforts and will enable our continuity and our survival.
The media magnate, Rupert Murdoch has clearly explained in an editorial published last December in The Wall Street Journal: "The free Internet is a myth that must be quickly amended or it will be the bankruptcy of major media groups as we know it." (See full text of the editorial on page LeStudio1.com - December 21, 2009) To reach financial profits as an Internet project, it is necessarily to have a convergence between the message, the vehicle and the consumer products. It is useless to spread a message that does not contribute in any way to create an economic action from the public. Believing in a free product is unfortunately a utopia, whether you are a media or commercial enterprise of any kind. And we believe only a large media group has the financial resources and influence necessary to achieve an effective convergence between the message, the vehicle and products.
We present below the link to our official website LeStudio1.com hosted by Yahoo! on which the number of visitors in 2009 ranged between 1000 and 3 000 visitors daily, or close to one million in total throughout the year. We also present the links to our other sites within the major social networks, bilingual in French and English, from Facebook to WordPress, Google Blogs, Flickr, MySpace and Twitter. Note that communication via email will always be done from time to time since we have a database that will be kept active but its use will be made only for exceptional events.
In a sense, the history of LeStudio1.com somewhat resembles to the one of the novel Millennium but in a much less dramatic way ... Our project was launched in 2005 by a small group of passionate in journalism, photography and Internet technologies. (See team LeStudio.com) In the beginning, there was an expert in the Internet (sort of Lisbeth Salender), a journalist and former manager of Quebecor (a kind of Mikael Blomkvist who is like me somehow), a professional manager in public relations (a kind of Erika Berger who is Miss X) and also a retired business man, very rich, who wanted to demonstrate the truth about a great historical event using journalistic method. Today, the businessman has died, the computer expert is gone and the team has changed entirely along the way.
As sing so well the great French artist Charles Aznavour: "We must learn to leave the table ..." We add: "This is only a farewell!"
But we do not want to make false promises or create false expectations as it would lead to deception... LeStudio1.com ends today an important chapter in its history because the project has failed to succeed financially as was our forecasting our business plan. And as it is the finances that lead the world, we must move on and pursue other roads!
Goodbye, thank you and we hope to continue our exchange with many of you on the Internet.
Bernard Bujold - Creator of the concept LeStudio1.com
Picture 1: Bernard Bujold and the official Mascots;
Picture 2: Charles Aznavour;
Picture 3: Some members of the team LeStudio1.com;
Picture 4: Mademoiselle X LeStudio1.com