Archive for March, 2007

Old, New Media — Together on to the Next

San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli wrote a story based on the 4th edition of “The State of the News Media.”  These types of research reports are nobel because they get the attention of business, political and leaders of other establishments.  But this discussion and every item below has been bouncing around for years.  And during that time, social media has had time and space to grown and become important in people’s lives.  Why not synergize, or have both generations work together.  Maybe we don’t have to pass a torch from old generation to the new generations.  Maybe the best of both is what will dfine all of the the next generations to come.

For me, here’s the core of the report:  There is no vision yet…sounds like an opportunity.  There are lots of great voices out there — maybe no clear leaders but some pretty good influencers — and now’s the time to listen and reply to help the best rise to the top.

In nearly every sector except ethnic news, audiences are splintering off to many other media options. Even Fox News, which has come to dominate cable news in recent years, is showing a viewership decline, according to the report.

The report says, “No clear models of how to do journalism online really exist yet, and some qualities are still only marginally explored.”

Media outlets and advertisers often disagree on how to measure the amount of news the audience is consuming and where it is flitting to online.

Electronic media are in transition from the “Argument Culture,” epitomized by the canceled CNN shoutfest “Crossfire,” to the “Answer Culture,” exemplified by the branded persona of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and the exposure of child predators by NBC’s “Dateline.”

The blogosphere is evolving, too, “splintering into elites and nonelites over standards and ethics,” the report said. Some bloggers are joining mainstream media outlets and political campaigns, and corporations are beginning to covertly use blogs to market their products.  “The paradox of professionalizing the medium to preserve its integrity is the start of a complicated new era in the evolution of the blogosphere,” the report says.

A danger lurks behind journalism’s “shrinking ambitions.” Basic monitoring of local and regional government is suffering, it says.

Print outlets realize where their readers are going — online, mostly, and occasionally to their own news Web sites. And judging by the people joining the public news conversation on blogs and elsewhere, they have seen that there remains a thirst for news.

Traditional and new media have to figure out how to turn all those eyeballs into money.

Full article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/12/MNGV1OJHEA1.DTL&hw=study+finds+journalism&sn=004&sc=504

Old, New Media — Together on to the Next

San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli wrote a story based on the 4th edition of “The State of the News Media.”  These types of research reports are nobel because they get the attention of business, political and leaders of other establishments.  But this discussion and every item below has been bouncing around for years.  And during that time, social media has had time and space to grown and become important in people’s lives.  Why not synergize, or have both generations work together.  Maybe we don’t have to pass a torch from old generation to the new generations.  Maybe the best of both is what will dfine all of the the next generations to come.

For me, here’s the core of the report:  There is no vision yet…sounds like an opportunity.  There are lots of great voices out there — maybe no clear leaders but some pretty good influencers — and now’s the time to listen and reply to help the best rise to the top.

In nearly every sector except ethnic news, audiences are splintering off to many other media options. Even Fox News, which has come to dominate cable news in recent years, is showing a viewership decline, according to the report.

The report says, “No clear models of how to do journalism online really exist yet, and some qualities are still only marginally explored.”

Media outlets and advertisers often disagree on how to measure the amount of news the audience is consuming and where it is flitting to online.

Electronic media are in transition from the “Argument Culture,” epitomized by the canceled CNN shoutfest “Crossfire,” to the “Answer Culture,” exemplified by the branded persona of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and the exposure of child predators by NBC’s “Dateline.”

The blogosphere is evolving, too, “splintering into elites and nonelites over standards and ethics,” the report said. Some bloggers are joining mainstream media outlets and political campaigns, and corporations are beginning to covertly use blogs to market their products.  “The paradox of professionalizing the medium to preserve its integrity is the start of a complicated new era in the evolution of the blogosphere,” the report says.

A danger lurks behind journalism’s “shrinking ambitions.” Basic monitoring of local and regional government is suffering, it says.

Print outlets realize where their readers are going — online, mostly, and occasionally to their own news Web sites. And judging by the people joining the public news conversation on blogs and elsewhere, they have seen that there remains a thirst for news.

Traditional and new media have to figure out how to turn all those eyeballs into money.

Full article here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/12/MNGV1OJHEA1.DTL&hw=study+finds+journalism&sn=004&sc=504

Against the Tide of Free, Open Access

San Francisco Chronicle columnist David Lazarus had me going.  Until the end of his 3/14/07 article, “Pay-to-play is one way to help save newspapers.”  I’m a slow reader — that brain of mine wonders at it’s pace, fits and starts — and was soaking up the possibilities and challenges.  But when I read the last two paragrpahs, that’s when I woke up!

“The students I teach really do believe that everything on the Internet is theirs for the taking,” Kirtley said. “Young people have been conditioned to believe that they’re entitled to this content.”

It’s time for newspapers to condition them otherwise.

This is the discussion to explore.  “Condition”-ing can be a good even heathly thing, no doubt, especially if you have compulsive or habitual behavior that is damaging to you and others.  But conditioning also has negative meanings, like ethnic cleansing, irradicating,  rooting out, or getting rid of something for good.  For good.  Is that how we all live together in the world?  Seems evil, when the more challenging way is to collaboriate, accept that there is no good without bad and find ways to better understand.  Not just through talking or planning, but by doing things together.  That’s what will happen in our next phase. 

These days we’re seeing a lot of “fighting back” or “drawing the line.”  Why not collaborate without limiting the frontiers of possibilities and collective imagination. 

If we have to pay for something we never paid for before, that is elitist and limiting.  I will pay to feed my kids and stave myself of news and information because I can’t afford it.

David Lasarus is doing the right thing by defining, strengthening and sharing some vision for the struggling traditional media.  This will make us all better, but switching to a full pay-to-play model is not the solution in my opinion.  Newspapers and broadcasters already do pay-for-play techniques.  I’d venture to say that if traditional media put more resources and mindpower behind existing pay-for-play parts of their business, they’d get the payers coming back for more…and offering to pay more to improve things.  And this would spur great ideas for new pay-for-play opportunities as large and small companies and individuals collaborate with traditional media. 

Traditional media needs investors, business partners and subscribers.  And we need the media.  But it might be wise if traditional media stepped back and took pride in seeing that “we are the media” thanks to them and new technology.  A threat, or opportunity?

In refernce to David’s ding on bloggers who post whole stories copied from traditional media Websites, I won’t past the complete story here.  BI love booking cool things I find, I like to Dig good stories on occassion.  But tell me this:  Why would SF Gate offer social bookmarking on thier site if they didn’t want their stories to be “portable”?

Full story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/14/BUG4COKGDU1.DTL&hw=pay+to+play&sn=006&sc=724

Robert Scoble Talks To Rocketboom at SXSW

My pals at PodTech turned me on to IceRocket about six months ago. It\’s a very cool, free tool to graph blog buzz comparing topics or companies. At Intel, we\’ve been using Rocketboom to show how technology breakthrough stories are encouraging conversations.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/03/PID_010516/Podtech_Vloggies_Scoble_Rocket_Boom.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/2368/robert-scoble-talks-to-rocketboom-at-sxsw&totalTime=725000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]

Irina Slutsky Talks To Robert Scoble At SXSW

The art of witty conversation. Two top online video bloggers goin’ at it. These days, even an interivew with your boss is fun and interesting when it’s on the fly.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/03/PID_010492/Podtech_Irena_Robert.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/2340/irina-slutsky-talks-to-robert-scobel-at-sxsw&totalTime=259000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]

Vatican “We Are the Media,” Too

The Vatican has been worldwide media savvy with print, radio and is now starting it’s own broadcast network.  Sure those are “traditional” media, but all media — old, new, social — is media.  And this is the age when we can all participate like media, maybe just not like some of the world’s wealthy media giants.

I found this story in the broadcast daily newsletter, ShopTalk.  It struck me for what it says and doen’t say.  The Vatican is making a big investment to create ways to share their voices, passions and stories past, present and future.  But like an earlier post in this blog, Robert Scoble interviewed a Catholic Sisiter who is a top ranking IT guru for the Vatican.  That interview showed that the Vatican — like companies, individuals, families…good and bad — have strong desires to show and tell stories.

This is the age of expression!  It’s best to invest so that you can show and tell your stories clearly, intelligently, with passion and insight.  If you have the insider’s view, you get to present it first hand to the world.  Doing it with full disclosure, consideration for audiences and good storytelling skills will allow everyone to get information from “the source” and make their own decisions about what they believe.

Here’s the story:

Eric J. Lyman at Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, the Vatican plans new TV network:

Days after Pope Benedict XVI criticised the media for its “destructive” influence, the Vatican on Monday announced plans to launch its first television network by the end of the year.


Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd at the start of his weekly Angelus address over St Peter’s square at the Vatican REUTERS/Tony Gentile
H2O will broadcast news and original entertainment programming worldwide in seven languages, according to a statement. Additional details were sketchy.Over the years, the Vatican has been quick to adopt new technologies in its efforts to communicate with the world’s more than 1 billion Catholics. In 1996, the Vatican introduced its Web portal nearly three years before the Italian state unveiled its own Web site. And it has embraced digital and satellite technology. (more)

Vatican “We Are the Media,” Too

The Vatican has been worldwide media savvy with print, radio and is now starting it’s own broadcast network.  Sure those are “traditional” media, but all media — old, new, social — is media.  And this is the age when we can all participate like media, maybe just not like some of the world’s wealthy media giants.

I found this story in the broadcast daily newsletter, ShopTalk.  It struck me for what it says and doen’t say.  The Vatican is making a big investment to create ways to share their voices, passions and stories past, present and future.  But like an earlier post in this blog, Robert Scoble interviewed a Catholic Sisiter who is a top ranking IT guru for the Vatican.  That interview showed that the Vatican — like companies, individuals, families…good and bad — have strong desires to show and tell stories.

This is the age of expression!  It’s best to invest so that you can show and tell your stories clearly, intelligently, with passion and insight.  If you have the insider’s view, you get to present it first hand to the world.  Doing it with full disclosure, consideration for audiences and good storytelling skills will allow everyone to get information from “the source” and make their own decisions about what they believe.

Here’s the story:

Eric J. Lyman at Reuters/Hollywood Reporter, the Vatican plans new TV network:

Days after Pope Benedict XVI criticised the media for its “destructive” influence, the Vatican on Monday announced plans to launch its first television network by the end of the year.


Pope Benedict XVI greets the crowd at the start of his weekly Angelus address over St Peter’s square at the Vatican REUTERS/Tony Gentile
H2O will broadcast news and original entertainment programming worldwide in seven languages, according to a statement. Additional details were sketchy.Over the years, the Vatican has been quick to adopt new technologies in its efforts to communicate with the world’s more than 1 billion Catholics. In 1996, the Vatican introduced its Web portal nearly three years before the Italian state unveiled its own Web site. And it has embraced digital and satellite technology. (more)

David Weinberger On Social Media and Changing Communications

PodTech’s Jennifer Jones talks with a leading voice in the age of new communication.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/03/PID_010478/Podtech_Marketing_Voices_David_Weinber.mp3&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/2341/david-weinberger-on-social-media-and-changing-communications&totalTime=557000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]

Twitter Is A Hit At SXSW

Two weeks ago — after six months of wondering why — I signed up for a Twitter account. Maybe it was Loren Feldman’s praising vlog? I Twittered from Italy a few days ago after seeing what Twitter was planning for SXSW. Nice to see them doing cool things.

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/03/PID_010501/Podtech_dan_fost.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/2350/twitter-is-a-hit-at-sxsw&totalTime=63000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Will Change Business

This is a book I gotta check out. Wonder if it will have the same lasting usefulness as the book, The Long Tail?

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/03/PID_010509/Podtech_IDM_wikinomics.mp3&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/2360/wikinomics-how-mass-collaboration-will-change-business&totalTime=776000&breadcrumb=3F34K2L1]