Convergence and the Kansas City Star, what do they have in common?

Surprisingly little.

Alright, so we all know our way around convergence here, so there isn't much need to explain how the integration of video, pictures, and other gee whiz web 2.0 bells and whistles into online media constitutes con-ver-gance. Most of these features are still in their infancy and have yet to be used to their full potential. (Grandma can't use youtube.) So it should come as no suprise that many of the smaller market newspapers and tv stations don't have any of those new and shiny things on their websites.

The website I examined was the Kansas City Star's kansascity.com. The front page doesn't get the same treatment as some major paper like the New York Times or Washington Post who have a host of videos, slide shows, and discussion boards dedicated to making the news more accessable. The front page is essentailly the print version of the newspaper put into an electronic format. There are a few ads and a bit of new media content, such as the tracker keeping tabs on the current score of the Chiefs game. The are some video content, but it is hidden down near the bottom, next to section specific links to stories. The website is built on a vertical rather than horizontal style, pushing most of the content toward the bottom, where it is a bit harder to access and easy to miss. The side bars are used primarily for advertising on the right hand side and for newspaper sections on the left side. Oddly enough, the classified and the job search links are on top of links to feature stories and national headlines, perhaps to benefit Knight Ridder's partnership with careerbuilder.com. Overall, it's a kind of poor site with little media content, but Kansas City is a comprably small media market that doesn't get enough papers moving to necessitate spending more moey on hiring professionals that can design and run all the convergence content.