Relaunch Planned for August

Working on a relaunch of CEAnalysis for early to mid September. Thanks for your patience.

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Re-launch Coming Soon

I may post a few times, but the regular weekday posts will come back in early September after the site relaunch. Thank you for your support and continued interest in this crucial topic.

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Transitioning to New System

Look for a re-launch of the site coming soon. Thank you for your support and e-mails.

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Stuff I’m Working On

I recently received a review copy of Free by Chris Anderson, editor for Wired Magazine. You can buy it on Amazon or read it on scribd He was on The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert last night and the New York Times magazine did a feature on him and his book last Sunday, July 18.
Look for my review of the book some time in the next couple of weeks.
My project on the Innovation Worksheet is still in the works. Right now I’m workshopping it with some writers and artists.
Please feel free to contact me with questions, information, and story ideas.

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The Bigger Picture: Art, Commerce, and Technology in Synergy

Let’s further explore the big picture, with analyses of technology, creative content, and reaching the audience.
The main point of this website has been the importance for artists to realize that there are three aspects to their work, not one. Besides the work itself, which is referred to now as creative content (as an umbrella term for all artistic product and to show that the work can be experienced by others in many venues, analog and digital), the artist now needs to be aware of the commercial issues associated with the work and the available technologies for creating the work and for distributing the work in order to find an audience.
The traditional approach (was it a myth?) of artists eschewing the commercial issues about their work has become a luxury that artists can no longer embrace. There is a need for creative content; it enlightens, entertains, inspires, and even neurologically develops and maintains. As we’ve long known, but now have data showing, it is good for the mind, body, and soul. But it’s also good for the pocketbook; with the money it brings in, artists can grow their work and bring even more of the benefits of the work to mankind, benefits more important than the crass commercial benefits it brings to the distributors of the product.
The commercial elements know all of this, bank on it, and manipulate it to their benefit. Analog and digital reproducers of the work have convinced creators of artistic work that they need audience more than they need money (a pound later rather than a penny today) and they are right. But that does not excuse the exploitation and it only serves to hide the fact that the work provides potential enrichment to the publishers. As a group, it may or may not be true that we are producing way too much work for the market to properly make use of, but it is the responsibility of the artists to assure protection of and remuneration for their intellectual property.
That’s where the third part of the artistic endeavor comes into play. Technology provides not just new and exciting and innovative ways to produce creative work. It also holds the potential for providing more advanced ways of making sure that the artistic product can be more accurately valued monetarily and to more precisely keep track of how and when our work is used. A cornerstone of the digital revolution is the production of data. We now can track and verify how often our stories are read, how many clicks our photographs get, how many times our work is downloaded and printed, how many users visited web sites to experience our work, how many times our films were watched online or downloaded or purchased. The methods are not yet precise and are still in the process of development, but that is why the artistic community needs to be there right alongside the technological community and commercial community so we can all work together to benefit each other, ourselves, and the audience for our work.

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MIT Media Lab LabCast Provides Sneak Preview Into Future Commercial Technologies

Most of my posts so far have focused on content creators and commercial issues, but the third part of this website’s raison d’etre is the technology, established and emerging. Therefore, today let’s take a look at MIT’s Media Lab LabCast to see what future technologies are on the horizon.
Technology hugely influences content and commerce because of the synergy between creation and access of content.
Especially check out #26 Storied Navigation. Since watching the video for that program, I’ve been considering numerous ways to apply it, even though it’s current form is far from ready for what I have in mind. Storied Navigation provides, in effect, a database of video to accompany text, with recommendations based on whatever text you write.
My recommendation is just to go through, search for what looks interesting, then explore the site and find out what the current level of technology is so that you can have an insight into what sorts of things we will be seeing in the next 1 to 5 years.

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Zoetrope Offers Online Workshops for Writers, Film Industry Professionals and Hopefuls, Graphic Artists, Songwriters

Looking for a place to interact with other artists? Maybe a place for a writer to workshop a short story, screenplay, novella, short script, poem, or flash fiction? Perhaps workshop photographs, storyboards, costumes, scenic designs, or graphics? How about songwriting, film scoring, and sound design? Actors and directors also have available workshopping opportunities.
One of the best sites I’ve found is Zoetrope.com, online home of American Zoetrope and The Virtual Studio.
This is how the site describes itself: “The Virtual Studio is a submission destination and collaboration tool for filmmakers-a community where artists can submit and workshop original work. It’s also the best e-resource for information about the Coppola family and American Zoetrope.”
American Zoetrope is the studio that produced such recent hit films as The Good Shepherd, Marie Antoinette, Kinsey, Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides, Sleepy Hollow, and many others.
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola began the site in 1998 as a site for writers to submit short stories to his journal Zoetrope: All Story. It’s been expanding ever since.
Features of the site include Zmail, an internal e-mail system for keeping in touch with other members, Private Offices, gathering places for like-minded artists to post about shared interests and issues, and, of course, the buildings, designated areas for finding information and other creative people in each of the particular fields mentioned above (writing, graphic arts, audio, acting, and filmmaking).
There is also an annual screenplay contest with a $5000 first prize.
I’ve been a member of the site for a couple of years now and have found it quite valuable, visiting nearly every day, even if just for a moment to check for any posts that might interest me.

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What Next for Web Content?

For a cynical perspective on the future of the Internet, here is an article well worth reading:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/09/27/the-futurist-will-human-laziness-burst-the-web-20-bubble/
Seth Porges wrote this nearly 2 years ago! It’s still a little ahead of its time, but if I had to guess, then I would say Seth’s version of what will happen to currently popular websites is much more likely than the expectation that the sites will continue to grow in breadth and depth.
Why? Seth sees the problem as involving human laziness. The current models rely upon the creation of content on a daily basis from a wide audience; such a state of affairs is simply not sustainable.
There may always be a market for websites that require reader participation, but the future may belong to high quality content provided by individuals who find a way to make money in exchange for producing and posting the high quality content.

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The Rest of My Notes on the Washington Digital Media Conference 2009

This week I’ve been recounting some of my experience at the recently held Washington Digital Media Conference held at the Ritz-Carlton in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.
The keynote speaker was Bill Bradford, Chief Product Officer, Fox Digital Media. Bradford believes that “TV guys believe that television is separate from online.” Others believe that “online will kill TV.” Bradford claims it is “somewhere in between.” “Online consumption of TV products is growing.” However, “TV viewing is also going up.” The industry term for people using televisions is PUTs, a statistical category found to be on the increase.
“Sponsor integration” is an important element. Fox is “working with Sprint to develop applications for” the TV show “24.”
It’s also important to “leverage the power of each platform” and Fox currently has “about 30 Facebook sites.” This type of strategy provides “instant feedback” about “what people think” of content.
Bradford says “TV is about storytelling” and creating “great content.”
The next panel I attended was “The Evolution of Online Advertising.”
The panelists focused on the issues facing marketing; measurement, market fragmentation, and minimizing cost per sale.
When marketers “can measure, they will measure.” “Advertisers want customers.” There is increasing fragmentation: “assembling big TV audiences will get very difficult.”
Scott Ferber, chairman of TidalTV and co-founder of Advertising.com, says that “in the end, they want sales” and to lower the “cost per sale.”
Adam Kaspar, Senior Vice President, Director of Digital, Havas Digital, recommends a “cross-platform approach” and says in “2 to 5 years,” there will be a “melding of advertising knowledge groups” and “digital and TV” will “come together.”
A panelist mentioned www.media6degrees.com, a company that “tracks what users are doing.” The importance of learning the effectiveness of online advertising, according to one panelist, could be stated as “show me proof that the ad is ringing the cash register.”
The final panel for the day was “Is the Newspaper Dead?”
Well, is it? The panelists all agree, no.
Panelist Randy Bennett, Senior Vice President, Business Development for the Newspaper Association of America, stated that there are “100 million daily adult readers” of newspapers (I assume he meant in America).
The moderator, Mike Vorhaus, President of Magid Advisors, asked the panelists whether some newspapers will become non-profit organizations.
Rick Edmonds, Business Analyst, Poynter Media, responded that newspapers are profitable, but that “newspaper companies are in trouble because of debt load.”
Randy Bennett believes some will become non-profits, but others won’t.
[Note: The benefits for newspapers becoming non-profit organizations include the ability to seek grant money from the government and foundations and others, and tax benefits. Nobody on the panel commented on the potential problems with news organizations as non-profits: for example, grant money and tax status could be used as threats from government officials to prevent journalists and editors from printing stories critical of the government or elected officials. What? You don’t think that would happen? I cannot imagine it not happening!]
Jon Aust, Vice President, NavigationArts, commented that newspapers have “large audiences,” but they “need a new business model” in order to take advantage of the profit potential.
An audience member asked whether his blog, which cites news articles and links to newspapers, is “helping the newpaper industry.”
Rick Edmonds responded that “a blog is fun to do for bloggers.” (Note: I’m not sure what Edmonds meant, but he seemed to find blogging quaint, harmless, and low-brow. Is it any wonder I never refer to this website as a “blog”?)
Randy Bennett replied that blogs can provide different “perspectives on topics.”
Jon Aust discussed the potential for “hyper-localism.” (I have to admit that I have no familiarity with that concept, but I think he meant that blogs are purely “local” and do not discuss issues beyond a very localized geographic area. [the Wiktionary defines it as “news coverage of very local events especially to the exclusion of more important world events.”] If that is what he meant, I doubt Aust has visited many blogs, which in my experience focus on specific topics more often than focusing on specific places.)
One panelist mentioned the possibility of newspapers following the Adsense model (targeted ads, etc…)
Neil Budde, President & Chief Product Officer for DailyMe, recommends that newspaper’s “print and online should be different products.”
Jon Aust recommends newspapers “invest in online property.”
Rick Edmonds recommends that “newspapers need to decide what they do best” then “move to high-value” content.
So, is the newspaper dead? The panelists agreed no, but if the question means is the longstanding business model for newspapers outdated, the answer is obviously yes. It will be interesting to watch new models take hold, some better and some worse.

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More Notes from the Washington Digital Media Conference

Yesterday’s post featured notes from Top Digital Media Trends panel. Today will feature more highlights from the conference. The first panel, discussed yesterday, included many mentions of the importance of monetization. The “Online Video” panel discussed below included many mentions of measurement. These two concepts, monetization and measurement, are intertwined and make up the biggest issue facing digital content. I’ll try to distill the issue, but it’s important to consider the many issues related to the monetization/measurement conundrum (meaning an intricate and difficult problem, no puns needed): Content providers incur more costs to create high quality content, so they need to find a way to make revenue from users of the content; however, the users of the content have available enormous amounts of free (but mostly lower quality) content so are less willing to pay for use of content; however, the creators of content deserve payment for their intellectual property since they pour time, energy and resources into the creation of the product; however, there are no currently available highly accurate ways to measure usage of the content, so it is difficult to know how much revenue the creator of the content should be compensated. Okay, I cheated via questionable use of the semicolon, but that’s it in one sentence. This central issue of monetization/measurement is certain to come up quite often in the next several weeks. I look forward to comments on the issues.
First, some of my notes about the Keynote Interview between Mike McCurry, co-chair of Arts+Lab and former Clinton administration press secretary, and Rick Cotton, General Counsel and Executive Vice President for NBC Universal.
In the interview, Cotton says that “highly professionally produced, expensive, content” will continue to be in high demand. There are “challenges for expensive content,” such as “what will happen to the business model?” and “product counterfeiting and piracy.” Cotton says “consumers want highly produced content” and “we need to make sure nobody is stealing it.”
The next panel was “Online Video: Everyone’s Watching, So What’s Next?” Dina Kaplan, Chief Operations Officer and co-founder, blip.tv, contends that we are seeing an end of destination web sites and the rise of aggregators. Paul Levine, President of New Media at Current TV, contends that online products need to “come up with their own marketing,” which he refers to as “decentralized marketing.” The panel moderator, Adam Powers, Director, Standards & Emerging Technology, Macrovision, asked the panelists what were some of the “barriers for growth.” Lin Dai, VP for Interactive Business Development at Alloy Media & Marketing, mentioned one potential barrier as the absence of “ad format standards.” Dina Kaplan mentioned the need for a “trusted third party” to measure viewership, perhaps an organization like “Nielsen.” Jason Seiken, Senior Vice President for Interactive at PBS warns of the “newspaperization of TV,” “pointing out that TV needs to start making a profit” (my notes are unclear about whether he meant from their online content).
The next panel was “Breaking Down Social Media: Opportunities & Challenges for Content Owners, Brands & Marketers.”
Josh Resnik, VP and GM, Gannett Digital Media Network, recommends creating “a passionate following” for your content.
An audience member from the Travel Channel asked “how do you make money” from content. One panelist recommended “work with users” have an “open and honest conversation with sponsors” that is “not dominated by sponsors” so that “sponsors learn about consumers.”
Ali Partovi, CEO and co-founder of iLike, claims that “viral spread” of content “provides enormous return on investment.”
Peter Yared, CEO of iWidgets, recommends that content providers “make assets engaging.”
The moderator of the panel, Mark Fischer of Fish & Richardson, asked whether content providers should “work with existing platforms or go on your own.”
Josh Resnik recommended doing both.
An audience member asked “how to get people to pay” for content.
Ali Partovi recommended providing some free content, but “lead” the user “up the chain to buy” content.
An audience member asked how to measure ad views.
Ali Partovi responded that it was important to get quantity and quality information because it is important to “establish relationships” but that “sponsors want metrics” so it is important to “find a way to do so.”
The panel moderator asked the panelists what the audience should take away from the discussion.
Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial, said “creators of content should create brands on different platforms like Facebook” and others and to remember “you are building a brand, not a web site.”
Ali Partovi said it is important to “measure results through sales” and “putting your word out, get your message in front of people.”
Josh Resnik says it is about “passion and relationships” and “build a user base.”
Peter Yared says “get your stuff where the eyeballs are.”
Mark Fischer says to “use interactive combined with social networking.”
That’s probably enough for today. I hope you find this helpful and profitable information you can use. Tomorrow, I will discuss the rest of the panels I attended that day.

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