Archive for NPR
by Rob Paterson
March 12, 2008 at 11:21 am · Filed under
Andy Carvin, Get My Vote, NPR, Platforms
NPR are on a roll. Recently NPR Music, now politics. Here is a new “world”that is not simply site. It is a new platform called “Get My Vote“. Here you can add your views on what would get youir vote and you can check out and talk about other’s all under the brand of NPR.
If you look at the Cloud, you can also get a feel for how a national agenda might emerge. Imagine a politician partcipating here - could be municipal, state or national. This is what I mean by a platform. This has the potential to become a force for democracy. If not in its present form with a few tweaks it will.
This door way into the “World of Politics” is a bit like WOW. You enter as an unknown with few powers. But if you work hard here - you could become a somebody.
I think that this represents a breakthrough in thinking away from the NewsRoom knows best and the NewsRoom defines what is important and what is quality.
This is a platform and not merely content. As such it has the potential to grow and to become ever more complex and hence interesting.
Platforms will be the future of the social web.
Well done Andy and the gang:
As the name suggests, the project is based around a basic premise: what will it take for political candidates to get my vote? Every person has their own reasons for selecting a particular candidate, their own litmus tests, and we’re asking the public to articulate this in the form of open letters to the candidates. Using Get My Vote, you can upload your own commentary - audio, video or text - and talk about what issues or concerns will drive you to the ballot box. NPR is then planning to incorporate these commentaries into our shows throughout the rest of the election cycle.
We’ve also designed the project in such a way that local stations - both NPR and PBS stations - can create their own Get My Vote initiatives on their websites by embedding Get My Vote widgets. That way, a station can localize the project. A station in Arizona, for example, might create a local version of Get My Vote focusing on immigration perspectives, while a station in Massachusetts might challenge users talk about what it would take for local mayoral candidates to get their vote. So while most users might end up talking about the presidential candidates, I’m hoping it’s used for state and local races as well.
On the Get My Vote homepage, you’ll see that we’re using a tag cloud prominently. These tags are submitted by users when they upload their commentaries. For example, a commentary from an Iraq war vet about healthcare for vets might include tags like “Iraq,” “healthcare” and “Walter Reed.” The more often a particular tag is used by commentators, the larger it appears in the tag cloud. That way, you can get a sense of what topics and ideas are being referenced most often by commentators. Clicking any tag also will show you all commentaries associated with that word or phrase.
We’ve also ensured that the commentaries are embeddable on other websites and social networks - a first for an NPR project. There’s an embed code available for commentaries that you can grab and place in your website. You can also click an option to post on another blog or network, giving you a list of more than 20 sites where you can upload your own Get My Vote commentary, or someone else’s.
The site is now in public beta. This means that anyone can now access the site, upload their own commentaries and explore the site in general, but we’re still working out a few bugs and other minor fixes. We’re hoping that if you have any problems with the site you’ll alert us through the contact form. Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to tweak the site, and soon after that, we expect some of our shows to begin using it on air.
So when you get a chance, please visit npr.org/getmyvote, upload your own commentary and please let us know what you think. Our team is really eager to hear what you have to say. -andy
by Rob Paterson
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?
by Rob Paterson
February 2, 2008 at 6:59 am · Filed under
Apple, Business Model, Enterprise 2.0, Microsoft, NPR, PBS, Public Media, Relationships, barriers, iTouch, iTunes, podcasts
As sure as the sun rises in the morning - the web will become the primary delivery platform for all information.
Many in public radio and TV, have told me that my feelings about how fast the shift would take place from “air” and cable to web are exagerated. My argument is this. “Weight of money”.
When you pay $45 billion dollars you are not fooling around.
MSFT wish to get ready NOW for this new reality for when the bulk of advertising revenue and action are on the web. Ad revenues are $50 billion right now and are expected to rise to $80 billion by 2009/10. This is the prize. When the ad money shifts out of traditional media, you will hear the sucking sound of a mortal wound. It will be too late to reinvent your self then.
All the supporting parts of a web based radio and TV will have to accelerate their plans
- The viewing platforms such as the iPods and the large screen TV’s are ready now for a direct link. The Early Adopters are watching the bulk of their video online.
- Many listen to radio online at the office or on their iPods on their commute
- YouTube is bursting with great content both from traditional sources and from new entrants
- Channels such as iTunes and Miro are building capacity - it will be the ease of use that these channels offer that will pull in the Early Majority.
- Major Networks have their toe in the water and are offering some content online
The Yahoo bid will accelerate all this work.
So what is the work that Public TV and Radio have to do in this context of no time? It is to solve the business model problem. How to offer the best content from TV and Radio AND keep the stations whole. How to do that? I think the answer is to make the offer direct with the forced choice of the show and the station.
I am not saying that people will not listen to radio nor am I saying that people will stop watching TV. People will still buy SUV’s and Trucks. But the bulk of the people, especially people who are naturally curious will make the switch.
Remember Mikey - “Give it to Mikey - he hates everything. Well my wife Robin, is the tech Mikey.
Robin is very very resistant to gadgets. BUT …….. She now listens to all her radio online - loading the podcasts onto her MP3 player which she uses when she is doing stuff around the house and walking the dogs. And in her down time, I hardly ever see her anymore - she has discovered YouTube. She has discovered that it is packed with content that she wants to watch - content that is “serious” that is just what a good Public TV member would want to watch. She has discovered that it is easy to watch and listen to what she wants when she wants and that there is tons and tons of great content out there.
She is closer to 60 than 50 and is in the centre of the demographic for Public TV.
So Robin’s desire for interesting content that intrigues her has been met already. Just imagine how easy it will be for her to have access to even more and what her choices will be soon.
Don’t you want her and the millions like her as your audience?
by Rob Paterson
January 27, 2008 at 7:32 am · Filed under
Andy Carvin, Business Model, Community, Grooming, NPR, Public Insight Journalism, Public Media, Social Computing, Social Media, Twitter, User Revolution, Wisdom of Crowds, iTouch
This is a slice of time last night on my Twitter. I am watching TV but I have my iTouch in my lap. When the ads come on, I mute the set and go back to my Twitter feed. here I have a real friend - not a Fake Friend - Andy Carvin covering the South Carolina Primary. I also have a Twitter friend worrying about how to cope with teen boys - her son is out late.
As Andy twittered his coverage, others that I know, pitched in too.
This was not strangers talking to strangers but Friends Talking to Friends - much much much much warmer.
Add the back channel of a parent asking for help about how to cope with your teens being out late and this is an entirely new Media Experience.
I am inside a system - inside a system that is deeply human and that I feel a part of.
BPPDiner - the Twitter inner circle for Bryant Park Project is also adding this warmth to the show. Already we are seeing program ideas being discussed in real time with the listener. Over the weekend even contact is still there between the crew and each other and their inner group.
My intuition is shouting out that somehting that I don’t fully understand yet is happening that will turn out to be momentous.
by Rob Paterson
January 16, 2008 at 8:17 am · Filed under
Andy Carvin, CPB, Emergent, NPR, NPR Music, PBS, Public Media, Relationships, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Objects, TV, Trusted Space, Web 2.0, Wisdom of Crowds
Wouldn’t it be something if Public TV and Radio got together to cover the election? Would it be great if the local stations got together with the big producers to cover the election?
Well it’s more than a dream now - CPB is funding just such a Mashup - The beginning I think of the key new force in public media - a Real Network of Many to Many.
Many of us had had a problem wit the term “Network” in Radio and TV. What it really means is one powerful producer using a system to distribute its product. Of course a real network is a diverse multi node system that where many nodes add value to the whole.
This is what is being “born” in Public radio and TV. Our hope a year ago was that the Election would be a powerful enough incentive to help the current large players to grit their teeth and really share and work with each other. This is working.
Here is Andy Carvin with the story.
Earlier today, NPR and its partners announced that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is awarding more than $1.3 million dollars to a consortium of public media organizations to expand our coverage of election 2008 across multiple platforms. The consortium, led by NPR and including American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio, Capitol News Connection, KQED, PBS, PRX, PRI/Public Interactive and The NewsHour, will work together to produce election-related content and interactive tools available to the entire public broadcasting system.
“By pooling content produced locally and nationally — for radio, television, and online — we will discover new ways of doing business to better serve the public,” said NPR CEO Ken Stern in a note that went out today to the public radio system. “We are pleased to have succeeded in coming together to deliver on the commitments made at the 2007 Annual Meeting.”
“This grant underscores CPB’s support of innovative projects that move public radio and television into the digital future so they can help individuals better connect with their communities wherever they are,” added Pat Harrison, CPB President and CEO. “This ambitious project will provide us with new ways of looking at how we serve the public on existing and emerging media platforms.”
The basic premise of the project was built around a simple reality - many public broadcasters were planning to create on air content and interactive modules for their websites, but we didn’t have a structure in place to work together during the election cycle. Around a year ago, NPR and PBS began conversations around editorial partnerships for the election, including the creation of an interactive map that would work on both of our websites, as well as on the TV show NewsHour. While that conversation was taking place, I co-organized a group discussion at the February 2007 Integrated Media Association conference for public broadcasters to talk about the Election 2008 social media plans and how those activities might be replicable across the system.
The conversation kicked into high gear at NPR’s annual meeting last April, where you may recall I blogged about some of the ideas that were brewing among those of us present at the event. We organized breakout conversation in which we laid out what was at stake and how we might collaborate. It didn’t take long to realize that we had an opportunity that might quickly slip through our fingers if we couldn’t get our act together. We needed to pull together a SWAT team and get to work……….
Now with NPR Music - we are seeing a real network emerging. With a real network, there will come the network effects for all concerned.
by Rob Paterson
January 11, 2008 at 6:43 am · Filed under
Autos, CES, NPR, News, Public Media, Social Media, User Revolution, Web 2.0, Web Advertising, podcasts
Part of the growth of audience for public radio has been the car. For many Americans, commuting can take up between 1 and 2 hours a day. NPR’s key shows Morning Edition and All Things Considered have been designed to meet the demand of thoughtful people who sit alone day after day in traffic. Many of the hosts seem to have become friends - after all for a 4 hour commute, the radio hosts spend more “talk” time with the commuter than any other person.
Until now, the car, like the plane, has been a “Web Free Zone” But all of this is going to change.
At the CES this month, Cars moved onto the spotlight. (AP)
Cars and automotive technologies from startups and established aftermarket makers are abundant at this gadget show. They’re coming in such variety that they encapsulate many of the advances seen elsewhere at CES in cell phones, TVs, video games and wireless Internet networking.
For example, one theme at CES is the development of touch-screen and voice-activated controls for portable devices. Cars are showing that off, too, with systems that let people make phone calls, navigate, choose music and have e-mails read to them without dangerously fumbling for manual controls.
Or look how CES overall is highlighting the widening availability of Internet content. Autonet Mobile Inc. offers a small box for car trunks that takes a cellular broadband signal and uses Wi-Fi to relay it to portable computers in the car, so people can browse the Internet in the vehicle. And while the car is parked near a home wireless network, people can beam music and video content to it for enjoyment on upcoming road trips.
“The car is a lifestyle product,” said Sterling Pratz, Autonet Mobile’s CEO. “It’s not just a car anymore.”
The clock is ticking for the car terrestial radio market. Wifi is not only seen as being key to car entertainment and guidance but also enables the systems in cars to be updated.
One reason for automakers’ increasing comfort is that powerful computers now found in cars can get software updates fired in by wireless networks, letting vendors fix bugs and keep features up to date, said Erik Goldman, president of Hughes Telematics Inc. His company is expected to begin outfitting Chrysler and Mercedes cars with a navigation, entertainment and diagnostics service in 2009.
Another change is that car makers have often sought to differentiate themselves with proprietary electronic systems, like General Motors Corp.’s OnStar, that operate independently from gadgets people regularly use outside the car.
But these days automotive electronics are being more closely integrated with standard Web technologies.
For example, the Hughes Telematics system will include a personal Web portal that lets people remotely lock and unlock their car doors, plan routes, check their auto’s emissions and engine status, select music playlists and even monitor their vehicle’s location.
Increasing ties to the Web could broaden the field of automotive-tech vendors beyond traditional players. Last year, OnStar began working with MapQuest.com, part of Time Warner Inc.’s AOL LLC, so drivers could plan their routes online and send them to the car.
At a CES panel on the interplay between cars and electronics, Eckhard Steinmeier, general manager of BMW’s “Connected Drive” initiative, showed a commercial in which a woman says she wants to investigate sushi options. So she heads out of her house, in the rain, to do a Google search from her Beemer’s dashboard.
Where and how we connect to the web and to each other is becoming ubiquitous. Finding the best interface is therefore shaping up as being very important.
by Rob Paterson
December 19, 2007 at 10:10 am · Filed under
NPR, OPB, PBS, Public Insight Journalism, Public Media, Relationships, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Networking
Oregon Public TV is starting a TV version of Public Insight Journalism. Here is a link to a neat video that they are using as the invitation - it makes it all come alive for me.
My own bias is that I want to be connected to people that know a lot about things that are important to me. Knowing what my friends had for breakfast is important - one of the reasons I like Twitter. But I still value expertise.
The web enables me to get connected to individuals who really do know a lot. For instance, the man who runs the music department at Nicholas Hoare’s Book Shop in Toronto is a genius who seems to know everything about serious music - I would love to have him talk online about what he knows and to be available to host a chat.
by Rob Paterson
December 14, 2007 at 7:56 am · Filed under
Andy Carvin, Blogging, Enterprise 2.0, NPR, Social Media
Andy Carvin will be on air on Morning Edition talking about the history of Blogging and its impact on society. In preparation he asked for help on identifying milestones.
Here is the list that he is currently considering - he and I both agreed on the first - unusual one - What do you think?
1st Century BCE: Julius Caesar writes De Bello Gallico, raising the bar for military bloggers more than 2,000 years later.
1690: Benjamin Harris of Boston publishes the first independent newspaper in North America, presaging the golden age of late-18th century American pamphleteers. The four-page broadside left the final page blank so readers could add their own comments and news stories before passing it on to another person. The paper was a flop.
1776: Thomas Paine, unofficial blogger-in-chief of the American Revolution, publishes the influential pamphlet Common Sense.
1945: The Atlantic Monthly publishes Vannevar Bush’s As We May Think, which examines the future of knowledge and prophesies the development of the Internet, desktop computing and personal publishing, among other innovations.
1984: The creation of Listserv, the first email discussion group software.
1986: The launch of Cleveland Freenet, one of the first “community networks” through which residents could post community updates and discuss local issues.
2003: Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi launches his own blog, well before many U.S. politicians catch on to the idea.
2003: In one of the first major audio blogging experiments, public radio host Christopher Lydon publishes mp3 files on a website, using an RSS feed developed by Dave Winer so people could subscribe to them. That same year, Winer would organize Bloggercon, one of the first national gatherings of bloggers.
2004: Ben Hammersley, in an article for the UK Guardian newspaper, described the audio blogging technique used by Lydon, Winer and others as “podcasting,” creating a whole new industry without even knowing it.
2004: Videographer Steve Garfield launches his video blog, a blog containing video clips, and declares 2004 “The Year of the Video Blog,” more than a year prior to the birth of YouTube.
February 2004: The launch of Flickr, a photo-sharing community that helps popularize photo blogging.
by Rob Paterson
December 7, 2007 at 5:49 am · Filed under
Enterprise 2.0, NPR, PBS, Public Media, Relationships, Social Media, WOSU
As I talk to many public TV and Radio stations, I hear the same fear - “If we allow the bloggers in, we will lose the trust of our audience - How can we control them - We have to control them”
The issue is of course Trust - on both sides. So using Open Space, a good invitation, and pizza, WOSU is working to establish the trust that is required. It’s working and their peers are seeing that they are making progress. The Current is THE industry magazine who have just run a lead on this process.
The two parties are formally dating now - next week they decide where to live and how with each other
Current, the industry newspaper for public radio and television, has devoted an extensive article in it’s most recent edition to the first Columbus Social Media Cafe.
For a full size view, go here for the 1st page and here to continue reading the article.
Remember, the next Columbus Social Media Cafe is this Monday, December 10th at 6:30PM at WOSU@COSI.
by Rob Paterson
November 12, 2007 at 4:05 pm · Filed under
BBC, BBC Manchester, COSI, Enterprise 2.0, Flickr, Hyper Local News, Jeff Jarvis, NPR, Ning, PBS, Public Media, Robin Hammam, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Objects, Twitter, WOSU
This Wednesday, Nov 15th, the guys at WOSU will meet with may of the leading local bloggers in Columbus to see if they can find things to talk about and to do with each other. Here is the invitation:
We at WOSU and COSI have been wondering how we could do more to help our community cope with some challenging issues. We asked ourselves:
What if we — your local public broadcaster and science museum — and those of you who are the local blogging experts got together and learned how to use Social Media to bring back that great American tradition of the community taking charge of its own problems?
Here’s what we’re wondering:
Could we use social media and our many talents and resources to breakthrough the bureaucratic barriers that seem to block so much local reform?
Could we gain enough support and understanding to shift our education system so that our children are equipped to face the sometime harsh realities of the world?
Could we start to make sense of what our aging population, our health care system and even our food system may mean to us?
What other issues should we be discussing with an eye toward change?
Many local bloggers have deep subject knowledge and are also part of existing communities that also care and know a lot.
We have a big megaphone—radio and web site—and some great resources—a centrally located facility with cutting-edge technology (studios and a mediaLab) that we could add to the mix.
Can you imagine what we might be able to do together?
Interested? We would like to invite you to the first meeting of the Columbus Social Media Cafe — a “Town Hall” Open Space Meeting — on Thursday, November 15 at 6:30 pm, to see if we can find an agenda that we can all get excited about and to see what will emerge if we get together.
The meeting is at WOSU@COSI inside COSI at 333 West Broad Street in downtown Columbus.
Tim Eby, retiring Chair of NPR, will be blogging here - see the picture above - and he will be Twittering here. Scott will be vidoing some of the participants and WOSU will put the clips up on their site soon.
There will be pictures here on Flickr
This is a look at part of the amazing space at COSI.
The hope is that this may be the beginning of a new approach to Hyper Local Coverage - where the bloggers and the public TV/Radio - can combine their talents and efforts.
Many thanks to Robin Hammam at the BBC and to Jeff Jarvis for inspiring this efort.
by Rob Paterson
November 7, 2007 at 9:26 am · Filed under
Change, Culture, Enterprise 2.0, Hylton Joliffe, NPR, NPR Music, New Realities, Public Media, Relationships, Social Media, Wisdom of Crowds
Hylton sent me a link today that discussed the relative values of a range of social technologies in helping shift organizations to become more cooperative.
My experience is that in organizations and between organizations that trust has to come first.
I wrote earlier this week of the pre-work that occurred at NPR leading to the the brilliant new Music site.
Here is a reprise of the post I made at the conclusion of that work. I offer it up to show you how hard this is - even after all of this - even after it was clear that 300 stations saw the same predicament, saw the same threats, saw the same things to do - ONLY 12 could cross the chasm and try and work with each other on this - a project that EVERYONE has said that they thought was a good one. It also took a year longer to pull of than any had imagined.
Have you ever given up a lifetime habit? Say smoking, fast food, sugar, alcohol?
Technology such as the Patch, gum, diets are useful tools - but they don’t drive the change. Why should we think that social media will drive change in organizations when control is the main cultural habit?
This is why we are finding that UFIT works so well - on the surface there is a tool - the exercise - but it is wrapped in the key to cultural change - a supportive social network of peers
by Rob Paterson
November 6, 2007 at 8:18 am · Filed under
Enterprise 2.0, NPR, NPR Music, New Realities, Public Media, Social Media, Trust, Trusted Space
NPR launched its new Music site yesterday. I spent much of yesterday walking around and playing in it - yes it’s a complex world not a “site”.
I am really impressed as I hope that you will be too. It really does allow for an informed “discovery” for instance when I listened to a new recording of Elgar’s cello concerto, it took me to the incomparable Jacqueline Du Pre, to articles on Elgar and to many other pieces. All can easily be played and put onto my own playback list with an exceptional Flash Player - no more WMF!!!!!
Most musical tastes are met. As are many different “views” - Not only can you listen to recordings but also concerts and view video. Not only can you establish a personal playlist but you can buy music too. You can also tap into the streams of up to 12 stations - many of whom have a global reputation in the field
Not only can you hear music but you can hear informed discussion about music.
For me the site offers the current ideal in a social media site
- It’s a complex world but with intuitive navigation that not only allows you to find what you are looking for but also to discover things that you were not! So you tend to spend hours there. As the site builds - so will its complexity and your ability to hang about there for long times
- It’s a personal world - you can shape it to meet your own needs both in terms of taste and time and control
- It’s interactive with many open and informative blogs
- It can grow as more stations join and has the potential to become the major music site in the world - it demonstrates the mutual value of cooperation that exceeds the early coop venture in podcasting - for here each new addition adds to the over complexity and hence life of the system.
So how did this come about? That is itself a story.
I think that the key was a decision by a few brave NPR folks over 2 years ago that they did not know what to do. I am finding the the most inviting and most successful beginning to find the new way is to accept ignorance.
Not only did they accept that they did not know, but that intuitively understood that maybe most did not know either BUT that if they genuinely asked the stations, an answer might emerge.
They also knew that they had to get some help to enable them to do this - they needed a few (They got 3) people who were not selling a solution either but who could help build the conditions of trust to have a huuuuge conversation so that the “Wisdom of Crowd” could be heard.
In later posts, I would like to talk a bit about what happened. For look at the results:
- The NPR Music site is truly a child of the process
- It is truly cooperative
- It hits a bullseye for design and outcome
- It is the new standard for a social media site and very importantly supporting organization
For me the key to any organization seeking to do the same is to build the requisite trust with some of the parties.
I have found that building trust is dependent on building a shared context, a shared language and a shared understanding of that is going on. This includes getting the elephants out into the open. Just talking does not do this - we found that people had to do things with each other to create this trust.
Then some key ideas emerge - they literally float up. They do not belong to anyone - that is their power. But they are seen as being true by many. By being owned by all, there is no owner barrier to the idea and this seems a precondition to joint action.
Then it takes more hard work still than anyone could imagine - I had hoped that the music site would have been ready a year ago. I was naive. Even with the best preconditions, moving to the new reality is exceptionally hard to do.
The product is all about technology. But the process to getting there is not. More later
by Rob Paterson
October 29, 2007 at 9:15 am · Filed under
Blue Monster, Chris Anderson, Enterprise 2.0, Fox, Gaping Void, Hugh McLeod, Hulu.com, Long Tail, NBC, NPR, News Corporation, PBS, Public Media, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Objects, Web Advertising, Wired
Hulu.com is an important experiment for how TV will shift from being available only when the broadcaster schedules it to when we want it - Having it My Way!
(From the NYT) Hulu is the new-media creation of two old-media rivals, NBC, which is owned by General Electric, and Fox, owned by the News Corporation. Since March, when the broadcasters announced their joint effort to bring free, ad-supported television shows to the Web, critics have pounced, predicting the venture would be doomed by diverging agendas, technical challenges and an all-powerful enemy: YouTube.
Skeptical bloggers even slapped Hulu with a derisive moniker: “Clown Co.”
Now the defense is ready to present its case.
Today, Hulu, now an independent company with more than a hundred employees and its own offices in Los Angeles, will begin privately testing its new service with select users at Hulu.com. It will also begin sending its videos to the sites of five distribution partners, Microsoft, AOL, MySpace, Yahoo and Comcast.
Hulu is presenting select episodes of some 90 television shows, including new and old programs from NBC (“The Office,” “The A-Team”), Fox (“24” and “The Simpsons”) and an assortment of smaller broadcasters like USA Networks. It has also added two new partners, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which distributes programs like “Chapelle’s Show” and “Reno 911,” and Sony Pictures Television, which will make selections in its archives like “I Dream of Jeannie,” available on Hulu.com.
All the shows are viewable inside a Web browser and festooned with advertisements.
However Hulu works out - they are on a track that is clear - people want video as they ant their music:
- Easy to find
- Available in chunks
- Available ON THE WEB - when they want it and usable on a variety of platforms such as an iPod and a 50inch HD LCD screen
Who pays and how will still be settled.
Also what I think Hulu has missed is the value of creating community around a show - this is Hugh’s great insight about Social Objects - it is the Conversation around the object that is more important than the object.
3. The Blue Monster wine is also part of the “Smarter Wine” conversation. The main thesis is that it’s not the wine per se that is interesting, it’s the conversations that happen around the wine that is interesting. And that is true for all social objects. People matter. Objects don’t.
The advertising money is shifting to the web - so will the content - it will go there faster than we imagine. For the laws of exponetial growth are in force. I think that the Tipping point is here:
I think that Broadcast TV is now in the Titanic Mode - It is large and feels unsinkable - BUT - the ship has grazed the ice - at the moment no one feels anything - but the wound is fatal and it is only a matter of time before the ship sinks.
The Iceberg is the weight of money that is leaving conventional media and going to the web. My forecast is that 2008 will be the year - 2008 will be the year where the web/digital will become where the ad money will go - the work for all providers of all types of content then will be to reset their universe.
Today most people in TV and radio see the web as a growing and important channel. In 2008, the smart people will see the web as the primary channel and that their old channel is now the supporting channel. Of course most will not see this and they will be lucky to find a life boat.
You think I exaggerate? Here is Chris Anderson on the “Music Industry” I quote him in full:
At a speech last week I was asked a question that has come up every day since the Radiohead (and Madonna, NIN, Prince, etc, etc) announcement: What’s going to happen to the music industry?
To which I answered “Which music industry?” You don’t mean just the one that sells CDs, do you? Because it’s a big mistake to equate the major labels and their plastic disc business with the industry as a whole. Indeed, when you stand back and look at all of music, things don’t look so bad at all.
Indeed, it appears that every single part of the music industry except the sale of compact discs is up.
- Concerts and merchandise: UP (+4%)
- Digital tracks: UP (+46%)
- Ringtones: UP (+86% last year, but probably just single-digit percent this year)
- Licensing for commercials, TV shows, movies and videogames: UP (Warner Music saw licensing grow by about $20 million over the past year)
- Even vinyl singles (think DJs): UP (more than doubled in the UK)
- And, if you include the iPod in the music industry, as I’d argue a fair-minded analysis would: UP, UP, UP! (+31% this year)
Only CDs are down (-18%). They’re around 60% of the industry not including the MP3 players, but just around 25% if you do include them.
So the problem with the music labels is not that music is an industry in decline, but that they have a too-narrow view of what business they’re in. Madonna’s switch from a label to a concert promoter should be a clue. This quote from an excellent article (it’s worth reading it all) in Entertainment Weekly says it all:
”Soon a lot of these companies won’t define themselves as record companies,” says Steve Greenberg, the former head of Columbia Records who now runs the independent record company S-Curve. ”They’ll define themselves as artist development companies. If you’re involved in an entire career with an artist, then everyone’s interests can be aligned.”
I think most music will soon be free, as artists give away the product as marketing for their performances and licensing, and as a celebrity accelerant that creates more opportunities to make money than just from the sale of a record.
And for those who say that this avenue is only available to artists at the head of the curve, such as Madonna and Radiohead, I’d point out that the other group poorly served by the labels are those at the bottom of the curve, the many thousands of bands who fall below the radar of the hit-driven majors. I’d argue that they, too, have nothing to lose by letting their music go free, nothing to lose but the prospect of becoming indentured to companies stuck in last century’s model of monetizing music.
Most people see TV and Radio like the people who make CD’s. All the forces that are turning the music industry upside down are coming to TV and Radio - for after all - a video and an audio file are the same as music - they are in reality all digital now.
by Rob Paterson
October 28, 2007 at 11:47 am · Filed under
Emergency, Enterprise 2.0, KPBS, Mobile Phones, NPR, News, PBS, Public Media, Social Media, Twitter, University, Web 2.0
Here is a short but informative report by NPR on KPBS’s historic use of Social Media to cover the fire. One of the key Apps was “My Maps” -
The Google map has had over 1.2 million hits and even the fire fighters used it as The Source. Google themlseves have been a huge help and gave support to KPBS as the load on the map increased.
I think that the fire and KPBS’s work has been a watershed for public broadcasting - their work has shown that a small station with few staff can offer the public a huge service in an emergency.
More - it also shows universities who are all struggling to find a process to help their own communities in an emergency such as the recent shootings can do so in an affordable manner.
by Rob Paterson
October 25, 2007 at 5:47 am · Filed under
Emergency, Enterprise 2.0, Mobile Messaging 2.0, Mobile Phones, NPR, PBS, Public Media, Social Media, Twitter
“San Diego’s KPBS-FM lost its main transmitter this morning as a wildfire burned Mt. San Miguel. By 8:30 a.m., its all-news coverage of the region’s multiple fires moved from 89.5 to 94.9 MHz, using a music station’s frequency lent by Lincoln Financial Media Co.” (The Current)
Thank goodness for the loan - but by having a major online presence, KPBS, would still have been in action - so what is your Station’s Emergency plan?
In my former life, I worked for CIBC a large Canadian Bank. WE knew that if for any reason, we lost a major dealing room, we might go out of business. So we worked with our competitors and set up an emergency dealing room in several key centres. So on Sept 12, CIBC, whose office was in the next door building to WTC and was wrecked by the collapse of the larger structures, was open for business.
We live in a much more volatile world where major weather systems can take out entire states. So what about developing a state wide plan for your state? I assure you that the day after the hurricane/fire/flood is not the time to be thinking about what to do.
Social media will surely play a major role in any such plan?
by Rob Paterson
October 24, 2007 at 8:32 am · Filed under
2.0 Design Thinking, Corante, Debi Jones, Emergency, Enterprise 2.0, Flickr, KPBS, Mobile Messaging 2.0, Mobile Phones, NPR, News, PBS, Public Media, Social Media, Twitter, Wisdom of Crowds, security
If you live where I do 3,000 miles away from the fires, maybe pictures of the fires and interviews with people who have lost their homes might be interesting. BUT what if you live where the fires are? Surely then I would want to know in real time EXACTLY what was going on.
KPBS - a public TV Station is providing this service using Google Maps, Twitter & Flickr. They are also broadcasting on air and on the web! They have all the bases covered. I have suggested to some PBS/NPR stations that they should create an Emergency Plan - they have pushed back saying that they don’t do “News”. Here is a joint license showing that covering emergency well is surely one of the key “Public” tasks of such a station - showing also how by using social media - they can do this really well by accessing their community
Here is the Google Map - all the key detail is there - what is going on and where and when (875,000 views and counting this morning)
Here is the Twitter feed - note that the feed is operating on a minute by minute basis
Here is the link to Flickr
They are using the Comments Section on a blog as a tool to allow people to make local reports - see how it works here
They have got the full suite all cleverly applied
Update - In this kind of emergency - Mobile Phones are now the main link - here is a great post by Debi Jones on how this is playing out:
The disastrous fires burning in San Diego have initiated a service used by the city and county government to inform and update residents. Mandatory evacuation orders have been communicated via reverse 911 on both landline phones and mobile phones. The messages are prerecorded and as I’ve said, three messages have been received on my phone. The first was an evacuation order. The next message was a notice that San Diego schools are closed until further notice along with the instruction to keep children inside and restrict their activity levels (smoke and ash is so thick in the air that keeping it out of your house is impossible during large fires). The third message was information on evacuation centers that were still open as several are already full.
Regulation in the US for Enhanced 911 or emergency service which incorporates location data has resulted in a number of emergency related services that are unique to the US market when compared to other geographical regions like Western Europe or Asia. The reverse 911 system isn’t specifically a mobile service, but that it does include mobile phones is impressive and to see this system work in the case of a disaster saving time and lives is an important development. To this point, 262,000 households have received reverse 911 calls.
It is likely in a very bad situation that cell phone networks will get jammed - what we are learning though is that SMS tends to get through - so Twitter as a feed may be the core of a good plan
Advisories have been announced on CNN and local San Diego TV stations asking people to limit their mobile phone use as the networks are saturated. This is a common problem during emergencies as we’ve seen over and over. The one component that continued to provide communication during the London bombings, post Katrina flooding in New Orleans and now in San Diego is text messaging. Twice today my mobile calls have been rejected with the network reporting, “all circuits are busy”. And yet, I’ve continued to be able to send out SMS.
