The smoking gun....

The internet left holding the smoking gun? I love this quote...

Over the last few hundred years, the usual run of play has been to claim that each new technology will usurp the one that came before it, keeping things nice and simple. However, the internet has changed the rules and, according to many, has the power to take on all-comers. Print is dead, radio is dead, TV is dead. Google these statements and you’ll find that in most cases, the internet is left holding the smoking gun.

http://pcplus.techradar.com/weblog/columns/death-television-08-09-10

A few thoughts on Transmedia and Tribalism

Our discussions in the last few weeks about tribalism and transmedia have me thinking about the forces we exert in our lives toward feeling secure. It seems to me that culture/society is all about the quest for light in the darkness. It all comes to feeling secure in the world we live in. Since the beginning of time, humans have worked toward understanding the big questions like where is the food coming from, how do we make it through the night alive and if its cold outside, how do we get warm. The basics of survival being air, water, food and shelter. It is this compulsion that sent us into tribes and built this multi-cultural world we live in. In the past, we lived inside a 20 or 30 mile radius of the place we were born. We lived with our families. To be outside the safety of the fire was to be ever in danger. We competed with our near neighbors for the food or banded with them into communities. Now, as we gradually spread out across the globe, able to travel anywhere, eat anything, know anybody, translate the babel, and contemplate the outer space, we return sometimes to the concept of tribe. It may seem we don't need the shelter of the common cave but we still need each other and the networks of money or power we inhabit. This long tail of applied interests we have been studying recently seems to me to be that reaching back into the small space of shared interests but with the twist that the internet can offer us neighbors from all corners of the global cave. We find we have shared interests with folks in other lands. We find that the threads which seem to divide us can also unite us but can also divide us yet again. The internet offers the same dangers but they seem more removed when they aren't right there knocking at the other side of the front door.

Transmedia storytelling takes the folk singer, the cave painter and the wandering minstrel and tosses in the Easter bunny, the corporate head cases, the librarian, the editor, the graffiti artist with his can poised on the edge of the brick wall and all these inordinate geeks and sets them loose together in a strange new tribe. One thing I note is that it takes a moderator, the uber-storyteller, to wind the threads together into something recognizable and remotely trackable. And even then perhaps the thing which attracts us most about the transmedia format is the stuff of fable, the idea that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if we could just find it. There could be an undiscovered country (clue) that not just anyone can find. We humans like stories that go on and on, serialized, remade, retold, reworked for every new generation. How else can you explain the remaking of classic films and books?

80/20 Rule – Applies to Everything- Right?

Long tail of Delivery Service… Grace brought up very valid points about the mail delivery system and the long tail of the delivery business. I actually owned my own courier/trucking company and can relate to the hardships that FedEx is experiencing. The last 10 years of seemingly limitless business technologies (faxes, internet purchases) have really taken a toll on the mail system and other delivery methods. The decline of manufacturing and price of fuel in the U.S. are the main reasons I sold my company in 2006.

Anderson’s findings on the inaccuracy and misuse of the 80/20 rule were fascinating. I used Pareto’s 80/20 rule to describe parts of business many times. We used the rule to describe the volume distribution of client base- 20 percent of our business was in the printing industry, 80 percent was the long tail (advertising, record labels, graphic design, etc). We used the term when describing profits as Anderson said, and again with our types of services (80 percent were 1 hour deliveries and 20 percent were other services). Anderson made a great point when he said it was an overused and untried theory in many situations and I agree. I didn’t realize that you can apply it to anything and sound reasonably knowledgeable! There was a difference in our industry versus online retail distribution though. Our actual numbers were very close to the rule which is why we used it. I think it is also quite possible that we tend to look for patterns we are used to seeing and may come up with the example that fits the model we are looking for.

90% cr*p? Only with a fast-forward ||> button.

I find a lot of comfort in Sturgeon’s Law ruling the media universe. It sets a level playing field for the constant filtering I have to do each day to find “good” (subjective, I know) media-worthy content. As a consumer, my needs are constantly changing for certain types of information. I didn’t realize that I apply filters to everything I see and hear, especially online. When I click the internet browser button, my filter sensor is on overdrive. I am currently a research analyst and have learned what sources to trust and which to not trust, however the 90% cr*p rule is great for finding the fantastic 10% of useful knowledge.

I have had a little change of heart from my first post on the topic of having to filter through the abyss of information to find the data I actually need or want... If I did not have all of the (90%) choices available to me I would not know what filter I need to apply to find the sources and content I do need (10%).

While working on the media project and wiki project as a producer I have had to really think about my audience and define clear messages and questions to get the results I am looking for.

Reflecting on the long tail content, I am as thankful for the 90% cr*p as I am thankful for the fast-forward/skip/next ||> button.

Hey! I can relate to that....

So I had no idea what I was going to write about for this weeks blog entry. Luckily between the mention of reddit and the graphic about the information commons I think I have a topic.

Reddit is a prime example of the Information Commons. There are links to links and sub-catagorized links called sub-reddits which encompass just about any interest you could want to think of. Users of reddit (called redditors by their own) find content from across the web and in many cases create the content themselves. The users are also the consumers hence we have a community of produsers living within the information commons.

Gaining entrance to the community is as easy as creating an account (which is free) and jumping into an existing thread or posting a new thread on the topic of your choice. Reddit truly is a mini-commons where there is little barrier to entry and no barrier to retrieval.

So, video did NOT kill the radio star…Let’s Talk Convergence

I have to say I am intrigued and on board with the concept and practical knowledge in Jenkins Convergence Culture. Jenkins has provided (in detail) the reason for my technology frustrations. It appears that video did NOT kill the radio star, the radio star simply migrated to television awaiting his/her debut for a new cyber venue gaining global Internet super stardom! I had not thought about television coexisting with radio and the Internet doing the same; meanwhile, radio and television evolving and redefining their purposes as a medium. In the past, radio was the primary source of entertainment. Currently, it is a talk radio and weather reporting device with a few commercials sprinkled around. In the not too far future, radio may be destined to digress into solely a government message delivery system reporting drastic inclimate weather warnings and traffic updates.

Jenkins also writes about, “divergence rather than convergence” which enlightened me further. Radio, TV, and other new new media co-exist in this perpetual undefined symbiotic relationship that is filling our lives with too many tools and unfulfilling choices. However, old and new media could provide us with harmony and happiness with a successful marriage. This would include a one-stop-shop device like a big black box that connects us to family via the Internet, offers video gaming, movie watching, and digital scrap booking with social media. I was sorry to read that Jenkins feels this will not happen (Unfortunately, I have to agree). The full product adoption process for new new technology moves quicker than new new media formats.

as the tail grows longer...

This class has been a breath of fresh air for me. I spend a large portion of my day online for business and personal communication. The "Longer Tail" has struck home on many different levels. I can relate personally to the discussion in class about how we have become a culture capable of filling the niche desires of even the most eccentric consumer. Our new web based economy reacts quickly to the new and even quicker at finding a way to market it.

I use the internet in my job as a Jeweler to source virtually everything we need for our clients. The way we do business today is virtually nothing like it was even ten years ago. Thanks to the rapidly expanding network of vendors around the world I can find the most obscure items in minutes if need be.

At home I use twitter, FB, google+, and reddit, to browse user created content and contribute my own thoughts and creations. Via these social vehicles I can promote the University of Memphis cycling club, stay in touch with freinds, and kill time in any number of ways. I can even make extra money selling my old belongings on ebay.

I like where the discussion in this class is going and hope to learn how to better integrate with the rapidly advancing online community.