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A blog about change, corporate comms, transformations and other stuff…

May 21, 2009 • 1:08 PM 0

Kids on the future of TV

Kids on future of TV
Some of the more enjoyable debates I am having nowadays are with friends with careers in television and the visual arts. The debate is often about the future of online television and runs along the following lines:

Myself – ‘Kids aren’t watching TV anymore, or reading newspapers. The content distribution model for TV has to change’
TV Professional - ‘Of course there is a future in online TV – but no-one has been able to monetise it yet. Until that is sorted, big changes in the networks won’t happen’ …. etc

The rest of the conversation is predictably circular and seems to centre on a central assumption – that until someone works out how to make money from online TV, networks (and producers of content) won’t change their business models.

Then you see a You Tube video with a bunch of kids talking about the future of television and one is left wondering whether we are debating the right things.

The link comes from a VC in NYC’s blog. Am not a sure of its origin, but this candid interview somehow represents the problem with the debate that I characterised above.

Whilst we argue amongst ourselves on how to transform television into something more relevant for the BBC’s younger audiences, a whole generation today is learning to go without this channel altogether.

My favourite quote from these 14 year old girls, when asked whether they would like to be the president of TV network, is “Um, no, coz you’re going to lose all your money”.

Source: TED Talks, Peter Hirshberg on TV and the web, Dec 07. Explaining how the computer ambushed television

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May 14, 2009 • 8:34 AM 0

Visualising the HIV virus

HIV
The future of good communications will be about visualisation of complex data. There will always be a role for intelligent PR, well thought out corporate messaging, etc etc. Yet simple representation of data – especially given the volume of data we navigate through daily – will be key. Even in my own research work, there has always been one killer-chart, on which a recommendation hinges, that tells the whole story.

In Hans Rosling’s TED talks he outlines the spread of the HIV virus, and the evolutions using incredibly simple animated graphics. [I suggest you commence from 1.50 min though - he takes a while to warm up]

Oh, and great accent and powerpoint antics, Mr Rosling.

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May 5, 2009 • 10:52 AM 1

Anti-copyright hero: Girl Talk

rip2
Just finished viewing a downloaded version of the film, ‘RIP: A Remix Manifesto‘ – doco about the history and copyright and the implications for current technology. The film is a brilliant introduction to the issues of intellectual property. Despite the Michael Moore-isms employed to tell the tale (which is somewhat heavy-handed… the director also happens to be Canadian, but that’s not causally related), I am thrilled that filmmaker Brett Gaylor has produced a visual essay about current generation issues – establishing the battle lines for future debate.

The character Girl Talk is a mash-up anti-copyright hero. As was Warhol and even Walt Disney. Naturally, Larry Lessig’s opus on Final Free Culture is central to the film.

However, it is film maker’s approach to channel distribution that excites me. You can download the film, rip it or donate money if you like. Choice of channel is now irrelevant. Young people are even encouraged to ‘run your own screening‘.

I downloaded the film via www.opensourcecinema.org and whilst I loved the chapter by chapter interface (addressing attention span issues of potential viewers perhaps?), the end-of-chapter invitations from the director to ‘add to the content’ are a little awkward. Is it really necessary (and feasible) to develop a 2.0 version of the film? But this is a minor complaint. Chapter 11 is a bit of a high point.

Open source art is gaining traction, but has a long way to go.

Go Girl Talk.

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London based corporate comms consultant

Corporate communication & transformation consultant - experience in issues management & major change.

Based in London, UK.

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That great talk by Lessig