What I am interested in is seeing if The Conversation "works" in this country. Specifically is there significant traffic to the site? Does any specific posting change any public policy or debate?  Does it generate any self-financing spin-offs? Basically will it truly matter? My fear is that its lack of a very specific voice means The Conversation will always be very tangential to Canada's public life.

In terms of government funding of new media, I think only when a whole bunch of legacy media goes kaput will we have a clear sense of what can and will replace it. Before that tsunami  most proposed new media business and information models seem to me, well,  largely academic.