Newspaper archives want to be free

Dan Gillmor: Newspapers: Open Your Archives. Right on. This is not only the right move from a business model perspective (more in a second) but from a Public Good perspective.

Why is it a good move from the business model perspective? Three things. First, keeping archives publicly accessible increases the newspaper’s share of voice in Google (as Doc Searls and I argued a long time ago). Second, it dramatically increases ad inventory. Third, it lowers the transaction costs for people interested in older information, increasing the likelihood that they’ll go in and find your content—and maybe click on an ad.