New formats for news

Here is an excellent report from the mediacenter about the future of newsmedia. I really could not agree more then with their description of the changes. Which are upon is in Europe just as well. But the pace is slacking in EU. Why isn't there a mediacenter like institute for the even more diverse European media market? News is of serious influence on how people perceive the world and make decisions in line with that. It is of imminent social cultural importance.

http://www.mediacenter.org/mediacenter/synapse/synapse_psp_0405.pdf

Blogs and the news: BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

Here is a valuable tip for journalists that are up to speed with the changing news media landscape: Here's what they do in the states with the influence of bloggers. So the basic idea is, be smart and look at it fresh and get those voices in your format!

BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis: "CNN has the chicks reading the geeks. MSNBC started by having bloggers actually on the air and I thought that was good (being one of them). Last week, they switched format, it seems, to have producer and nice guy Tony Maciulis do the reports: He's good at it. Everybody's reading text off a screen and, yes, it does make for a straight line.
So what's the point? Well, sure, TV wants to get the geek-cool ruboff of this blog thing. But I think it's good that they're also promoting these new voices: The more the better. Have they found the right way to do it? Not yet.
MSNBC has talked about having a blog reporter and then having bloggers on to have actual opinions. I think may end up being a good way to go.
This week, MSNBC's Connected had me on not do the blog report -- I'll miss that question: 'What's happening in the blogosphere, BlogDaddy?' -- but instead to have actual opinions about the news media and the internet.
I think we'll end up with a hybrid: Blog reports do give a fresh breeze of vox pop on the air. Bloggers as guests get to bring new perspectives and voices to TV (and radio and print). And what I still want to see is citizens creating their own reports and commentary -- vlogs, podcasts, whatever -- and getting those on the air.
: Ed Cone comments here... without the cam."

By the way: We can also confirm the take-over of '538' by Talpa as mentioned in the previous article about a Dutch mediatycoon and the question will he be modest? He's not!

Peter R. de Vries joins SMS DEBAT

National Celebrity and crimefighter Peter R. de Vries has recently decided to go into politics. It looks like he has the trust of a relevant group of civilians. Different polls have currently given him around from 5 to 9 seats in parliament and up to 22% of the votes (De Telegraaf). He wants to have a large piece of the cake or else he does not feel to have an impact and will withdraw. In the mean time we want to learn more about his ideas and so we can, because he has joined SMS DEBAT. Scholars can pose to him questions on where he wants to take his political party PRDV. And off course Peter can pose questions to them. Another reason to join this debate!

SMS DEBAT

Powerplay for position of most influential mediatycoon of Europe has started

This is really beginning to look like one of their drama scenario's; A small circle of influential European mediatycoons are fighting to gain the most influence in the (European) TV World. Berlusconi's company Mediaset is eying Endemol; is the news according to Southern European journalists. While John de Mol is currently busy building his media company from the Netherlands. And Joop van den Ende has announced to enter the market as of january 2006, when his non-competition agreement with Telefonica is ended, meanwhile their former company Endemol (van den Ende & De Mol) is sought after by Berlusconi. While the Dutch just started to build their imperium, Berlusconi already gained large influence in his home territory; "Mediaset (Berlusconi owned) dominates Italy's media landscape with private channels Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro, production outfits, digital channels, internet portals and the biggest publishing house, Publitalia. (C21media)" Despite denials the Italian press is holding on to negotiations between Mediaset and Telefonica taking place currently. The spanish have put Endemol in their shoppingwindow as of the beginning this year. "Big Brother company Endemol is the biggest format producer worldwide, with revenues for 2004 at €1.03bn, and an EBITDA of €181m. But Telefonica has already stated that it's preparing for Endemol’s flotation on the stock market towards the end of 2005 or early 2006. (C21media)" Powerplay with real influence for 'he who owns the media, owns the minds of people' (who's quote was that again?).

C21Media:

Press activity SMS DEBAT results in good internet coverage

To get more applicants and interest in the project, last week we send out a press release on SMS DEBAT. We got a lot of interest, that's good. We wanted some national news coverage, but the journalists needed larger numbers to bring this as news. Editie NL made the choice to make an item om goose instead...talking about relevance hey ;-) I know how journalism works, that is a nice item, as a closure to serious news. I was closely involved in building the success of Hart van Nederland. A format that changed the national news permanently. For now this may not be the case with SMS DEBAT, but I am having this feeling that is growing stronger all the time that I am working on this. That is that with the right effort and energy put into this, it may very well become seriously relevant. Hart van Nederland did not work out to be a success overnight, not at all. It is the users' respons that is most relevant. And that's just why I believe with SMS DEBAT we are on to something, this respons is here IF politicians join the debate in a timely manner and if questions are relevant. No jokes or funny meant statements here. It is a downright serious debate that scores highest among the young users. What shows that you should not have a preconceived opinion of young people NOT being interested in politics. From the little time I have spent on this project now I can already assure you, they ARE INTERESTED!!

Interesting Day at the European Commission to talk about games and collaborative working environments

Yesterday, I spent a day at the office of the Directorate Generale of the Information Society and Media of the EC (sounds pretty awesome hey ;) Specialist from different backgrounds; games, organisation management, interactive storytelling and crossmedia where invited to discuss the use of game structures for achieving collaborative working environments. Making work more like play seems to me as beneficial for most humans. The main conclusion was that for the Long Term the EC needs to invest in the development and research of applications and environments that enable: To empower people with building components to design and author their own collaborative working environments What can we learn from games, what makes them so engaging that we can learn from and use in collaborative working environments? A lot is the conclusion, although be aware not to copy paste games on working environments and to look at a game success does not mean it will be a success in a working environments. The co-creation element that is getting ever more important in games and crossmedia communication plays an even larger role when you look at working environments I think. People need authoring tools that are richer then e-mail, weblogs and chat. But just the success of these lies in the ability to co-create with these means in an easy way. Rich authoring tools that are extremely easy to use, intelligence that is unobtrusively helping you to design and author your own collaborative working environment. The characteristics of crossmedia communication may even apply more direct to the collaborative working environment then games. In a crossmedia environment as in the real world you need to interact in virtual environments, media channels and in the real world, the same applies to collaborative working environments being a mixture of real and virtual environments.

Dissimulations

Sometimes you stumble upon a piece that is old, 1995 and yet so very insightfull that it even gives you reflection on what is happenig today. Dissimulations is such a piece. It hunts my presumption that story is the DNA of meaning and therefore I like it.

Dissimulations

Correction: POSSIBLE take over '538' Station

I have to correct myself. The take over of radio station '538' is still not confirmed by Talpa and therefore my conclusion of Talpa buying '538' are to preliminary. The sources I have used are other blogs, and not a confirmation by Talpa (as if they are going to send me one ;-) However I think it very presumable the take-over will be confirmed later this week.

What to do about keeping measure if you can buy it all?

In Holland John de Mol has bought another radio station; '538'. This is a very popular commercial station, meaning that aside from commercial radio station no1;Sky Radio, which is also somewhat older skewed, de Mol has a very direct line to the younger radio listener in the Netherlands. Besides '538' he already owned Noordzee FM and Radio10 Gold (older audience) The 538 station, 90 % owned by investers was for sale for a while now. At this moment in the Dutch market de Mol is getting more and more inevitable. In England, the US and Italy people are already used to this, a very powerfull mediatycoon dominating media. But in Holland we did not have this situation untill now. De Mol, although very powerfull with Endemol, still had to face the programming board before he could air his products. He is very relieved not to have to face this, with his own channel. But I am beginning to feel a little bit uncomfortable by this inevitability of the man. What to do about keeping measure if you can buy it all? There is no democratic voice here about what the content should be. In the end it is only one man pulling all the strings. And what if that man is wrong about some things? After all it is very human to be wrong about things. I do not see any well paid employee telling him he is wrong. Everybody wants a nice car and a good pension? Luckily the final verdict is in the hands of the public. The further influence of the audience on the final product seems even more necessary for "the other voice", now. The public broadcasters are in a cramp now after a very long time of impasse. First there must be some kind of revolutionary change, else the already falling behind position is getting hopeless even more. Anyway, this will take too long. I think it is time to give the people more means to influence the stories that are told, and not just one very rich man. Something like Current may very well be a necessity in this market. Now.. where did I leave my red paint ?

unmediated; tools for YOU to create

Free tools for decentralised media
unmediated

Current TV

As mentioned before, this is an interesting project, where Al Gore is involved. It is an IPTV Station for people by people. The payment for delivered work (yeah they actually tell they will pay) is however unclear. Prices differ and it is not clear what you will be paid for your work or on what measures. You have to submit a quit claim do, before you enter your work, whereby you grant Current all crossmedia rights and future rights to any spin-off of your work. It seems irrelevant for "amateurs' but it is certainly relevant for the (semi) professional. You keep copyright, but IF you may have a potential success at your hands, you need to negotiate with the guys and girls from Current. Be quick they will surely give you good conditions, this is the PR they are looking for. Anyway it looks really good and.. American.

Current TV

John de Mol paints his face red

He is definitely on a path to war and the first strikes are hard for the opponents. John de Mol has a strong attraction on many established presenter in the Netherlands, or does it come down to plain old deep pockets?
He is definitely shooting the schemes of competitors to pieces, taking away anchors (people and programs) that have taken years to build. For all I can say, he may not be to interested in new projects/people himself, I am very happy with what is happening. Where there are holes they must be filled. I understand the need for establishment, especially John de Mol's, but establishment always means no room for new initiatives. Now, the Dutch broadcasters must move out of their comfort zones.

Al Gore in favour of co-creation

Former US vice president Al Gore has pledged to "transform television" with his new channel venture, which will launch in August aimed at the internet generation and feature a tie-up with über search firm Google. Gore said the channel, called Current, would be the country's first national network created by, for and with an 18-34 year-old audience.

Programming will be short-form, 15-second to five-minute segments, covering everything from fashion to music, videogames, politics and the environment. It will be produced by Current as well as its viewers, who'll be able to submit their own content via a website. 30 seconds to three minutes in length, these segments are intended to "buck conventional news practices by reporting not on what media editors decide is 'news,' but on the topics people are actual searching for right now. So news isn't what the network thinks you should know, but what the world is searching to learn."

He may have my vote

C21Media:

IPO fever in Broadcast industry

Is it a new hype forming or is it sound market movement? After the announced flow to the market ..again.. of production house Endemol, more indies are following in search of growing capital. The upcoming developments in the broadcast market are showing the powers are shifting. Maybe now the time has come that content will be king? It is definitely true the value of regular broadcastchannels is decreasing. Still they have a direct path to the viewer that newcomers need to build. And that is all depending on the content or more precise the anchors. In the Netherlands John de Mol is currently securing many a deal with high potential presenters to secure the success of his new channel. After first acquiring the loyalty if his very successfull sister he has now secured a deal with Beau van Erven Dorens (for whom I hold a weak spot after discovering in him an inspiring colleague, a long time ago). Apart from this, I think he has grown into a very valuable presenter and a skilled progam maker, that still has many talents to show. With these characters John de Mol is getting hold of the scarse creativity that will be key to success in the fast changing medialandscape.


C21Media:

Lost not a hit in NL..yet?

LOST has received good ratings in other countries. It does not seem to be picked up by the Dutch though.

Icebox.com

Conceived by its founders as a writers' haven, where the storyteller uniformly prevails, Icebox allows original works to be produced in quick fashion and in an atmosphere of unprecedented creative liberty. Along with the work of established talent, Icebox presents the best work from emerging writers.

Icebox.com

!!!SMS DEBAT!!!

Here is a personal project I have worked on the last months and that is now semi-live !!! Meaning you can see what it is all about on the website (sorry only in Dutch). SMS Debat is a daily actual debate between members of the house of representatives in the Netherlands and Dutch scholars. Currently I am busy getting the representatives to join in. As far as I know it is a first off in the world where representatives are actually using SMS to generate debate with people. eDemocracy in practice.

http://smsdebat.kennisnet.nl/

the making of Eccky Weblog

This is the making of blog of eccky, a virtual character under development by media republic. Eccky works like a tamagotchi, a virtual Character on MSN that you have to take care off. Eccky Weblog

From one of the makers of The Blair Witch, The Strand::Venice CA

From the maker of the Blair Witch, mixing real people with actors.
Take a look:

The Strand::Venice CA

share ideas..before they are claimed!!

I would like to share a couple of my crossmedia ideas, before somebody else is going to claim they where theirs. A skimming around the market is likely to be made at the moment. Trust is not my middle name, okay ;-) Been too long in this business, to know better. And if I tell, which I did, then to everyone. So here they are.
- Spindoctors; an intriguing show with reality, misbelief and cheating
- Find music talent show; low budget, high impact
- crossmedia detective, one step further then 24.
- the spiritual challenge, can you face it?

I know I cannot claim, with these short quotations. But I really hate this poor action of skimming the market, if that is the case, but like I told, trust is not my middle name. These first impressions do not tell half of the marvellous groundbreaking format that is behind at least two of these ideas mentioned. If you would like to know the whole story, contact me: info@dondersteen.nl (under NDA)

IPTV to reach 25m by 2008

IPTV to reach 25m by 2008

The world of internet television (IPTV) is set to grow from 1.9m users last year to 25.3m in 2008, according to new research, by then enjoying more than 10 times today's revenues.

A study from California's Multimedia Research forecasts IPTV subscriber revenue growth from $635m in 2004 to $7.2bn in 2008. These conclusions are reached due to several emerging factors in the US, Europe and Asia.


The report points to plans by US cablers SBC and BellSouth to deploy large IPTV networks in the US, as well as plans by Verizon to use IPTV technology for video-on-demand services to supplement its RF-based broadband video service over its fibre-to-the premise (FTTP) access network.

The study also talks up the planned introduction of video-on-demand IPTV services by China Telecom, and in many countries in Europe, where IPTV subs grew by 450k last year. Continued growth of subscribers by the major established IPTV service providers, Free in France, PCCW in Hong Kong and FastWeb in Italy, is also expected.

The forecast also identifies the top 10 regional service providers in each of four regions of Asia, Europe, North America and RoW, broken down by seven product segments for 2004-2008. "This granular approach enables system and content suppliers a quick understanding of the service providers that dominate 60% or more of the regional sectors," states Bob Larribeau, MRG's senior analyst.

The bullish growth predictions chime in with recent research from Strategy Analysts and Jupiter Research that said by 2008, 41% of European homes will subscribe to broadband, with Sweden, Switzerland and Belgium leading the way with penetration rates of between 55% and 60%.

Furthermore, the expansion of IPTV in Europe is expected to drive the growth of digital TV across Europe, lifting it to 25.7% by the end of 2004 and 111.6m by 2009. By 2010, said Jupiter, there will be 11.3m IPTV subscribers in Europe, plus 42.2m digicable homes.


C21Media:

Monique van Dusseldorp; Participation TV News | Home

Monique van Dusseldorp has been active in new media for a long time. Organizing many events on convergence like TV meets the web and TV - SMS aligning international parties. She publices this blog on participation TV.
Participation TV News | Home

SBS anounces digital strategy: 50% of all income subscriptions and non-traditional

"Announcing a 16.6% rise in SBS revenues for 2004, ceo Markus Tellenbach indicated that as much as 50% of the group's business will come from "subscriptions and non-traditional areas" within five years, outlining a significant shift in strategy, away from airtime sales, to facilitate growth in the digital environment.

Three new digital pay channels are set to launch in Holland by the end of the year, under plans unveiled today by SBS Broadcasting's chairman of the management board Patrick Tillieux.Each with programme budgets of between €3m and €6m, looping programming 24/7, the three channels are called Do It Yourself, I Love and Veronica Vibes. The first will be all about home improvement, the second a retro net airing hits from the 1970s and 1980s, and the third is a youth-skewed information service about nightlife and leisure in Holland.

With a September debut penciled in, Tillieux said he's currently in talks with platforms like cable operator UPC and others. "These channels will be platform neutral," he said, "and all of Holland's platforms are gearing up for digital services in the second half of the year." "

Today it is already clear that September will be one of the hottest months of the year in the Netherlands. Tellenbach foresees revolutionary changes in media consumption in the next five years, announcing these figures. However these are also realistic expectations considering the regions where SBS is active. It is clear SBS is positioning for digital leadership in the Nordic/Benelux and Eastern European (probably later) regions.

C21Media:
http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=5&article=23844
http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=5&article=23848
http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=23854

MediaStorm: A Multimedia Production Studio

Coming from photography and the web background this group is setting up a free to entry production of "multimedia storytelling" project, called Voices. You can submit your story until March 31.
MediaStorm: A Multimedia Production Studio

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 - LOST - The secret shall be revealed

LOST. In the Netherlands this series is about to be aired. It has a crossmedia component that I was not aware of. It has not been "marketed" that way, at least not so in the Netherlands. It almost looks like co-creation of fans. A smart way of letting people find this themselves. It seems to have something to do with the use of the number 4 in the series. This crossmedia set-up uses television as the lead and the internet used to keep attachment to the story. (a bit like the internet led people to see the movie in the blair witch approach).

In the Netherlands the format "Who is the mole" is becoming increasingly popular. With a slow start a few years ago, the broadcaster kept his belief in the format and now it has developed to become a high score program. You have to find out who is the saboteur in an ongoing team gameplay. You can join other viewers on the internet to discuss who is the mole. And the mole him/herself has a diary on the website where he/she reports on the mole's work. The public seems to become more ready for crossmedia gameplaying stories (oh joy!)

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 - LOST - The secret shall be revealed

Performance Paradigm Journal

High brow approach to changing media technology and the influence of on performance arts. If you like a filosofical approach to connotation and denotation and everything that lies in in between these fields, this may be nice;

" For the last decade or more media technologies and live performance have become increasingly interrelated and interdependent. Debates about this critical nexus have resulted in a diversity of views. While there is broad acknowledgement that this interpenetration has resulted in widespread innovation, there is also evidence of a certain anxiety about the status of live performance. Questions have often focused on the resultant status of the live body, the changing nature of the performance experience and of technology itself. The experience of the ‘live’ based on notions of presence is often promised and reinforced by the effect of a mass audience, but it is increasingly susceptible to digital subversion by the temporal disintegration and restructuring of audio and visual data"

Performance Paradigm Journal

The Dutch international position in television business

In Broadcast Magazine (a Dutch professional magazine on the television industry) Medy van der Laan, state secretary responsible for media policy in Holland, has commented on the WRR report (see my earlier report on WRR in this log). She finds it refreshing and in sink with future media developments. That is hopefull news, because the WRR report clearly sees things changing and does not want to obstruct developments in the Dutch market by the political play of public broadcast officials. Traditionally these officials of Dutch Public Broadcasting Channels have had a large say in developments and traditionally this had only been used to support their own expensively paid positions. Coming from a small country the Dutch have had a disproportional large influence on the international television market. Mainly due to innovative producers operating in the free market. In order to keep this position the market conditions must not be obstructive. Van der Laan does not want to comment elaborately on her plans, she wants to work on them in relative "silence". But it is clear from this interview that the effects of crossmedia communication and new possibilities emerging does have her attention and she seems much more aware of the fast changing media landscape, then Public Broadcast Officials.

Games and Storytelling

Mjammie .. Sonja Kangas is a board member: Take a look
Games and Storytelling

m-cult.net

A finnish view on media and culture
m-cult.net

morph-blog

Again, found by Christy and very interesting indeed, the opinions of lead players in the media market on new media usage etcetera, take a look!
morph

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Advertising | Nissan steers 24-minute ad towards younger market

'24' is good material for crossmedia communication. Nissan is taking part in the script. The new commercial communication. (you need a free registration for media guardian, but it is worth the effort)
MediaGuardian.co.uk Advertising Nissan steers 24-minute ad towards younger market

Dutch market WRR report focus on fast changing media landscape

It is to be expected, Dutch public broadcasters are not very happy with the latest report of the Scientific Counsel for the Dutch Government (WRR). You will find the report on this link,
http://www.wrr.nl/pdfdocumenten/r71.pdf
it is in Dutch and probably most relevant if you are interested in the (small) Dutch market. This report takes into account future developments of the medialandscape in an Undutch good informed manner. Changes are occuring very fast around us and I many times feel on an island when I talk to Dutch programmakers about crossmedia. They do not have a informed view on developments, at least that is what I encounter a lot. When I ask them what they think of things happening in other markets, such as the UK they don't have a good informed answer on that.
They definitely do not have an open minded attitude about talking on these changes, I think that is a sign of being scared because you know things are going to change and you will have to leave your safe spot, but you have no IDEA as to what you can expect. This WRR report however very clearly takes into account the fargoing transformation of the media landscape in the very near future. It may be clear as to where I stand here.

Sub-plots on your mobile

Holly Oaks is a UK Teens soap, that is going to offer a mobile sideline related to the main story for 1,50 (pounds) a month. Today I also mentioned 24 going mobile. 24 is excellent material for crossmedia endeavours. (I mentioned that before too, I believe)
C21Media:

Lloyd Braun, new head of Yahoo, former chairman of ABC

Portals, the next mass medium? With 350 million people visiting Yahoo every month, you might think so, claims Lloyd Braun: "Content is a key piece of our strategy, along with search, community and personalization," Lloyd Braun is Yahoo's new head of media and entertainment, and the former chairman of ABC Television. "We learn what the audience wants, and then we can suggest other content options to them before they ask," said Braun. "It is a really amazing thing when you think through what that could do to your business."

C21Media:

The Death Stories Project - front page

a request of Lisbeth Klastrup, the interesting lady from the previous post to the gaming community to help her on her research. She asks us to "tell our story about the character death experience in MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Games) that affected of annoyed us the most The Death Stories Project - front page

Another interesting Lady: Lisbeth Klastrup's homepage

I found Lisbeth at the website of Christy Dena, and this lady does some interesting work in the field of crossmedia, for a long time has done also. That is quite unique for this new field. You can download her thesis only before 14 February. After that you may still request it. Make use of this interesting offer at:
Towards a Poetics of Virtual Worlds: Multi-User Textuality and the Emergence of Story.
Her personal page that links to more of her work you may find at
http://www.itu.dk/people/klastrup/

There is something about women and crossmedia.. It's a girl thing

Vblogs present TV newsrooms with distribution avenue, potential competitor

Some handy (probably sponsored) information on setting up videoblogging services.
Vblogs present TV newsrooms with distribution avenue, potential competitor

Keep this blog posted because soon I will launch a format that I want your help with. It is going to be HUGE FUN.

Get started today at me-tv.

Here's where you get started today.. I want a camera....!NOW
me-tv: a free vogbrowser or video blog browser.

Momentshowing: VIDEO: How to make a collaborative video

Co-creation for video blogs
Momentshowing: VIDEO: How to make a collaborative video

d r e w d a v i d s o n

Another crossmedia thinker found. We are really growing an interesting community here! Would it not be fantastic to gather all these people into a project. I think we can do that!
d r e w d a v i d s o n

True insight: three future scenario's for crossmedia

Finally.. it is released, my paper with three scenario's for the future of crossmedia communication in the dynamic knowledge society.
On my website, just click the image of the report on the right lower corner and you will find the pdf. This is shared knowledge, if you use it I expect you to refer to me. Find inspiration on:
http://www.dondersteen.nl

tsunami shows further influence civilians on newsdelivery

The first images we received of the tsunami came from 'amateurs'. Because of the digitalisation of amateur devices, material can stream all over the world in an instance. Many people have been touched and moved by this gigantic disaster and it may very well be because of the nature of the images we have first seen. An innocent holiday movie, kids playing in the sand, don't we all recognize this from our private collections, followed by the devastating amazement of this enormous wall of water coming towards the shores. People where just filming this without really realising what was happening. It is like a thriller or horror. When we watch there innocent images we know what disaster is about to happen and the innocent view of the filmer is what strikes us most. Don't film...run..run..take your kids and run. Because there are camera's everywhere now we can see in detail how horrible this disaster really was. We see children washed away in an instance, seconds before they gasp at the wall of water, curious as they are of what is happening before there eyes. Personally this is what grieves me the most, the loss of innocent children who never had the strengths to hold this kind of force of nature. Nature is stunningly beautiful and cruel at the same time, that is what we see with these paradises lost.
I hope we still remember when the time comes for these people to recover and build up their homes again.