The New York Times has introduced its long-delayed Beta620, a public beta testing site where web surfers can experiment with new products that could eventually take root on NYTimes.com.

The AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship program will provide $20,000 scholarships for the 2012-13 academic year to six students pursuing or planning to pursue degrees at the intersection of journalism, computer science and new media.

There are several catalysts for jump-starting progress, but managers can begin to break negative cycles and get positive progress loops going if they start with three fundamentals: meaningful work, clear goals, and autonomy. Be sure that people understand how their own work contributes to something they can care about — a mission with meaning. Establish clear goals for projects, so people know what they are working toward, but allow them autonomy to use their own talents and expertise to get there. Ideally, those goals will include interim, achievable milestones, so small wins will happen early and often. Above all, pay attention. Stay alert to the progress inhibitors that reduce the probability of small wins, and neutralize those inhibitors as much as possible.

As Weinberger notes, what sites like Reddit and Quora do very well is take advantage of the social elements of the news and media — in many cases, far better than their traditional media competitors