Category: interactive media

Posted on

$6 Billion for Broadband in Obama’s Stimulus Package

BroadbandOne of the first tasks for the new administration is to propose and pass a stimulus package to kick-start the ailing economy. One small part of the package currently being proposed is about $6,000,000,000 for broadband internet service, particularly for the 7-8% of Americans living in rural and underserved areas where broadband is unavailable and dial-up connections provide only 56 kbps. The US has already fallen behind the developed world and stands at 15th in terms of number of broadband subscribers per 100 residents. According to a recent report, this is critically important because broadband creates jobs. According to the Brookings Institution, for every percentage point increase in broadband adoption, approximately 293,000 jobs are added.

Not only are we lagging behind in the global race for connectivity, our broadband connections are often much slower than what is available in other countries. According to one report, the median download speed in the U.S. is 2.35 Mbps. Compare that to Japan whose median speed is an amazing 63.60 Mbps. And while fiber optic to the home (FTTH) is one approach to increasing bandwidth, new technologies in the works for cable modems offer great promise at much lower cost. Using a technology called Docsis 3, several cable TV channels can be combined to offer Internet service approaching 1 gigabit per second. At that speed you could download a two hour Hollywood movie in well under a minute. But while entertainment media is the driving force behind broadband adoption, the stakes are high for less exciting, but more important tasks. Telemedicine,  better access to online education and telecommuting are clear benefits that stimulate the economy when high-speed connectivity is universally available.

One last related issue is the battle over network neutrality. This is the idea that digital data delivered over public and private networks should not be restricted, regulated or controlled except those controls that address legal issues such as copyright infringement and other illegal actions. It is very possible that this $6 billion infusion will come with requirements that the major telecommunications businesses that own the fiber optic networks, and ISPs, practice net neutrality.

Posted on

Suicide on the Small Screen

In recent days two events have focused our attention on the sometimes volatile combination of teen angst and social media websites. The first was the “broadcast” suicide of a 19-year-old man who took an overdose of prescription medications while a chat room of onlookers watched his live web cam stream. Some of the viewers urged Abraham Biggs on–either indifferent to his threats to take his life or willing to take the chance that he was bluffing. Perhaps it is not much different from sidewalk gawkers calling out to a would-be suicide victim to “jump” and “get it over with,” but it still suggests a calloused indifference and sense of alienation that comes from a failed sense of community.

The second event was the jury trial of the woman accused of cyber-bullying in the Megan Meier case. The internet hoax resulted in 13-year-old Megan taking her life after being dumped by a fictitious male character created by the 49-year-old defendant Lori Drew. While found not-guilty of violating the more severe Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Drew was found guilty of three minor offenses including the violation of MySpace’s terms-of-service agreement which prohibits the use of phony names and the harassment of other users. Still, Drew could face up to three years in prison for the conviction. The trial highlighted the fact that we currently have few law-enforcement tools designed to address these new forms of computer crimes, and we’re likely to see new cyber-bulling legislation enacted in response.

These sad episodes of teen suicide raise serious questions about the porous nature of the LCD screen that separates our online and off-line lives. Megan’s response to a make-believe “boyfriend” and forum members’ collective failure to respond to Abraham’s calls for help have this in common–both speak volumes about how we relate to others in virtual space and how those virtual relationships have life-changing, real-world consequences.

Posted on

MySpace Music to the Rescue!

The music industry has had a tough time of it for the past decade or so…but help may be on the way. According to a news story reported in Business Week, MySpace Music is about to launch in a few days.

MySpace Music is a joint venture between News Corp.’s social networking site and the three largest record labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Music.

This effort is a direct response to the plummeting revenue that music labels have been experiencing since 1999. Part of the reason for the decline is online music piracy…but some would argue that it also reflects a shortage of hit records. Whatever the cause, record labels are trying new tricks to monetize their creative assets.

According to Business Week,

The idea behind MySpace Music is that it can help generate revenue for artists every day, not just around an album’s release. The venture gives the labels access to MySpace’s global audience of 118 million users and its ad sales team of more than 250 people. It also provides the labels with a prominent venue to pull in audiences and advertisers with new types of nonmusic content, including music news, behind-the-scenes videos, and artist interviews.

MySpace is designed to do more than bring in ad revenue, though. It also gives the industry a new channel through which to sell songs, ringtones, T-shirts, and tickets. With 5 million artists using the site to promote their bands, MySpace has already become a major destination for discovering new music and upcoming concerts.

One thing is fairly clear–the major record labels have been slow to embrace new media and only time will tell if this is a case of “better late than never,” or “too little, too late!” What do you think? Will MySpace Music revive the ailing music industry?

Posted on

Browser Wars: Google On the Offensive

If you’re like most people you might not pay a lot of attention to the browser that you’re using to access the internet. After all, a browser is simply a program that provides access to the real content that you’re after…kind of like your computer’s operating system provides access to the applications you use. So whether you use Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, or Opera may depend more on what is currently installed on your computer…and for most people running the Windows OS that is IE. When browsers were brand new – in the early 90s – the battle was between Netscape Navigator and IE. But Microsoft’s dominance in the OS wars led to the demise of Netscape and the victory for IE as the default browser. In recent years their market share has slipped significantly, but they still command a decisive lead over the next most popular browser, Firefox.

Enter the new force to be reckoned with: Chrome, the new browser from Google Labs. Released yesterday, Chrome has been receiving favorable reviews for its speed, simplicity, and security. If you are partial to pictures over words, you can check out Google’s comic book for an overview of the new browser’s features! (Be warned, even in comic book format some of the technical issues are beyond my level of expertise/interest!)

But Chrome is really part of a larger strategy for Google…they want to provide a complete user experience. Ideally a user would launch Chrome, conduct a Google search, then switch over to Gmail for communication and even Google Docs for word processing and other “office-like” applications. If the only thing you know about Google is their search engine, check out their other applications…the list is about 45 and growing! But herein lies the rub. By investing more and more of our internet usage/behavior with a single company, any company, do we flirt with personal privacy danger? Google–celebrating their 10 year anniversary this week–is proud of their motto “Don’t be Evil.” But what happens if they change their mind?

Posted on

Fans Idolize American Idol

American Idol is a cultural phenomenon in nearly every culture in which the franchise has been licensed (about 40 to date). American Idol (AI) came to America from England in 2002, and has spread around the globe at the speed of sound, from Armenia to Vietnam. If AI were a book it would be a best seller– if a movie, a blockbuster–and if a record, it would have gone platinum! Season after season, AI ranks at or near the top of the Nielsen ratings. As we approach the end of season 7, the two Davids are set to take the stage for the final two nights May 20 and 21. But many are left wondering what is the appeal that keeps fans glued to their sets? Can it be the lure of imagining oneself taking the stage and finding fame and fortune? Or perhaps the guilty pleasure of seeing contestants humiliated week after week. Whatever the allure, AI is only beginning to show signs of ratings weakness. While Fox struggles to tweak the show’s format, fan continue to tune in and vote.

Another interesting thing about AI is the way that it so conveniently demonstrates some of the leading trends of TV programming, such as interactivity (phone voting), product placement (Coke, iTunes, Ford, AT&T, and even Kellog’s Pop Tarts!), and spin-offs (programs that are derivatives of the original program concept).

What do you think? What makes the AI franchise so successful, marketable, and universal?

Posted on

GTA IV

GTA Video GameGrand Theft Auto, version IV, is out today and according to early reports is expected to break a few records (perhaps $200 million in US sales the first week). USA Today reports that the video game industry is already on a roll, with revenues up every month for the past 2 years and last year reporting record sales of $18 billion. BTW, that’s more than the film industry. Video game critics are also suggesting that the rich narratives and increasingly realistic visual effects of games like GTA are making video games the ultimate replacement for feature films. Why just watch a film when you can control one?! GTA highlights the power of interactive media to engage the player while creating a world in which anything…and in this case it really is anything…can happen. Will Wright, the renowned game designer, calls this the game’s “possibility space.”

Of course there are always social issues that accompany any new technology and the related mass media phenomena. Rockstar Games, maker of GTA, has been in hot water since the “Hot Coffee” scandal when an earlier version of GTA had hidden content that was, a) not very well hidden, and b) clearly Adult Only in nature. I won’t get into the raging controversy about the effects of video game play right now, but if you’er interested, check out this audio podcast from On the Media.  Or, if you want, take a look at the extended trailer and you’ll get a hint of what the debate is about. Be forewarned, it is rated Mature, and some of the content is clearly not appropriate for the younger teen crowd.

Posted on

The Social Media News Release

Over at MediaShift Mark Glaser has written a fascinating article about the latest trend in news releases…the social media news release. If you want to cut right to the chase, check out the image on the right to see what a SMNR might look like. According to Glaser, the venerable news release–the stock in trade tool of PR practitioners–is long past its prime. The all-to-obvious solution is to update the release to take advantage of the power of social media.

Glaser quotes Tom Foremski who had this to say about traditional press releases:

Press releases are nearly useless. They typically start with a tremendous amount of top-spin, they contain pat-on-the-back phrases and meaningless quotes…Press releases are created by committees, edited by lawyers, and then sent out at great expense through Business Wire or PRnewswire to reach the digital and physical trash bins of tens of thousands of journalists. This madness has to end. It is wasted time and effort by hundreds of thousands of professionals.

Strong words. But if these new-fangled news releases catch on, it means that PR practitioners will have to become more savvy about social media technologies such as RSS feeds and social aggregation tools. And as these news releases incorporate more and more rich media, i.e., digital audio and video, skill with digital media tools will also be necessary. If you’re preparing for a career in PR and thinking that your future includes faxing text press releases–you may want to think again.

Posted on

Yahoo! rebuffs Microsoft

News is that Yahoo! will announce tomorrow (Feb, 11) its intention to reject the $44.6 million offer by Microsoft. Yahoo may be playing tough and holding out for more dough, but it is not without risks. Microsoft could take the offer directly to shareholders who may choose to oust the Yahoo board of directors. While this setback may be seen as good news for rival Google, it is difficult to predict how this might turn out for the search leader. Certainly a merger of two former competitors into a super-competitor would spell trouble for Google…whose lead in the search advertising business is currently unquestioned. In the short term, Yahoo stock is up for now.

Posted on

Okay, but what do we call it?

Pauline Millard at The Huffington Post has a point…the phrase new media has lost its…well, its newness. And while I’d love to be able to move on, there really are no reasonable replacements. We still need a term that allows us to differentiate between this and the “old media,” aka traditional media, aka MSM. Interactive media works, but is rather clunky. But perhaps the best argument for “new media” is that it can morph over time, keeping up with the latest and greatest changes and never getting locked into a particular technology or point in time. New media is always new, and it can be used to describe the vanguard of the media revolution. Until we can come up with something better, new media works for me.

css.php