The Power of the Personal - Voice?

March 10, 2008 at 9:26 am · Filed under BBC, Bryant Park Project, Euan Semple, John Proffitt, NPR, Public Media, The 'Phoric

This slide shows us that another kind of content is winning big time. We can’t pass this slide over - it must be dealt with.

It is clear after the recent IMA conference that public radio remains stuck. Recent changes at NPR highlight the challenge that still remains. NPR will now be looking again at what is important.

This slide reminds me of a shift in power. I think that it deserves a little more thought than merely saying that user trumps producer. Does it simply mean that User Content Wins?

I think that that may be interpreted here is that a more authentic, a more natural, a more human voice and perspective is what we want. I wonder if “User” content is really a proxy for more human content?

One of the most natural and human voices in the Blogosphere is Euan Semple. Here he is on the ‘Phoric talking about the power of the more human - less staged - voice to connect.

One of the examples that he uses is a short film he took on Sydney Harbour. As a tourist, using a simple camera, he took a film of Sydney Harbour and put it on his blog. Shortly after he was contacted by a travel firm who wanted to use his clip. Why? because it showed a real person’s view. From a traditional perspective it was very low quality. From a new perspective it was high quality.

Think of art at the end of the 19th century.

This was seen as quality then:

This painting is by Bouguereau, The Man, of the time. Look at the quality of the flesh tones! He represented “Quality”- the official view of the time. Think of the production quality of radio and TV today. Smooth, slick, controlled. Hard to do.

This painting is by Renoir. Look at how he handles flesh! This view of quality was so offensive to the establishment that the impressionists had to have their own exhibition. But who remembers Bougueureau’s name now?

The quality of the Impressionists is emotional. They use light to find a deeper and more human meaning.

Euan’s last film shows how traditional media can bridge to the new. Just as the crew at Bryant park now show their human side online to their inner group, so here on the BBC, we go inside the studio and discover the human behind the curtain. As we see the humanity, we are pulled in. The power imbalance is leveled out.

I think that this is the meaning of the slide - much more than user driven - more human.

This then is more hopeful for if BPP and parts of the BBC can be more human, the gulf is not too wide.

Remember - Who knows Bouguereau today?

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Radio as TV? - The Bryant Park team show the way

February 7, 2008 at 7:23 am · Filed under Bryant Park Project, Social Media, Social Objects, Trust, Trusted Space, Video

Not only can I get Bryant Park streamed or podcasted to me in Canada. Not only can I banter back and forth with the team and other listeners on Twitter - NOW I can see them eating what looks like a dead python and coughing their lungs out on video.

The point?

Makes the connection more human - this is not the Radio of my youth when the BBC announcers would wear a dinner jacket on air to get the right sound. Here is Alvar Lidell announcing the attack on Pearl Harbor - gives you a sense of the “sound” of the time.

BPP is evolving a deep human connection with their audience - all local stations can and should do this.

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