27 March 2007

The New Media

The old media was a monologue. The new media is a dialogue. It's both that simple and that messy. No longer expected to sit listening in rapt silence, we can now generate our own content and commentary.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

The good news is that we got rid of the gatekeepers at the network news bureaus. The bad news is they've been replaced with gatekeepers at Google and Yahoo.

Ron Davison said...

Thomas,
it does, though, seem like a gradual democratization of the filters. (Now is that ever an awkward phrase? - "democratization of the filters?" Sorry, but I can't even think of whom to blame for such a travesty of expression.)

Anonymous said...

HEYYYY!!!! come on now..I wasn't finished talkin about Shrillery and Osama n what not...
What'd I say somethin wrong?...
Was it the "magic negro" thing??...
Yer startin to hurt my feelings here... :( (that's a frowny dis-apponted thingy to show my vulnerability)...
I'm startin ta feel a little outta place here...I like peace signs... n the yin yang symbol n cruelty free range stuff n what not...
and I was just startin to make the point how unfair life is n how things (money n stuff) should be spread around more fairly like we usta do in the 60's...
And I promise to beat my hand gun into a plow share if I can just hang out here for a little while...
I don't recycle yet but at least I don't throw any of the beer cans away...ever ...so there's still time for me to do the right thing I guess...
I think the point that I started to doubt myself was during the Senate hearing when Al Gore said: "..the planet has a FEEEVER!!.."
Maybe if I hang out here long enough there'll be hope for me...

Ron Davison said...

Anon,
You're obviously not tone deaf - just the kind of guy who likes to holler out "free bird!" at jazz concerts. I'm sure that if you stay around here long enough your political orientation will be transformed - it happens all the time. So far, I've converted 37 wild-eyed liberals into profit-loving moderates and converted 44 mindless conservatives into thoughtful moderates. Mine is pretty much the Billy Graham of blogs - the only media yet proven to actually change people's minds rather than just pander to the like-minded. Not Rush. Not Olbermann. Just R World. You read for a full six months and I guarantee that you'll change your outlook on everything. Or your money back.

flametree said...

It's interesting to see the fights being put up by traditional media to try and remain predominant in a changing market. Most news and "current affairs" (term used very loosely due to the nature of content) shows in Aust are now practically begging their audiences to submit content - be it photos, video or story suggestions. Unfortunately, they target the lowest common denominator in an effort to maintain ratings.

Like many traditional form industries, the news media needs to re-think, re-strategise and evolve to meet the new stardards being set by end-users.

Ron Davison said...

flametree,
That's fascinating, if you think about it. Australia is going through the same thing as the US. That can mean one of two things. Either Rupert Murdoch is to blame for it all or there's some fundamental paradigm that has reached the end of its life expectancy. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

HEYYY!!! That's a pretty great idea: hollerin out "freebird" at a jazz concert..why couldn't I a thoughta that?Only problem is every time I go to a concert I wind up face down in the cheap seats tryin to remember who's on stage.
You do seem a lot like Billy Graham (I mean a younger, shinier, more talkative .....a LOT more talkative version) and I am startin to feel the vibe around here...sorta like I'd imagine a Kundalini yoga class'd be...alignin my chakra's...cleansin my mind from all those years of listenin' to Motorhead, Slayer,and Iron Maiden and a little "Big Tittie Chicken" throw'd in for good measure.
I guess my posts probably come off as one a those guys that goes ta church for the first time and doesn't know yer not supposta talk out loud...bear with me...Billy Grahams not finished with me yet.
But as long as we're discussin' this convertin' process can ya steer me towards the profitlovin'moderate type instead a the other kind ? I gotta make more money so I can buy more stuff...er donate it to the "Friends of the Tidelands Conservancy Coop and Meditation for World Peace Center" Now the 37 "wild eyed liberals" (ya sure they weren't mindless) bein' converted to profit lovin' I can see happenin'...not much of a stretch... but how in the H-E- duble tooth picks did you convert 44 mindless conservatives (ya sure they weren't wild-eyed?) in to bein' thoughtful...mindless to thoughtful...that IS somethin' my friend ...and 44 of 'em fer cryin' out loud!!
But if I change my mind on every thing isn't that a little "Jim Jonesy"? I mean I gotta kinda still have a little bit a me left after the de-programin been done. After all then I'd be all postin' things like: *in a quiet monitone* "the good news is that we got rid of the gate keepers at the network news bureaus. The bad news is.... well you get the idea.
The point is you might need some body around these parts that doesn't get their mind completely changed on everything totally by one guy??? just a thought...
Aw heck never mind alla that, let the auditing begin just give me a minute whilst I go get my kaballah water.

Ron Davison said...

Anon,
"Only problem is every time I go to a concert I wind up face down in the cheap seats tryin to remember who's on stage."
See, you're already beginning the conversion process. Confession is the first step. Stay with us and soon you'll have a worldview that doesn't require heavy drinking to be sustained.

"The point is you might need some body around these parts that doesn't get their mind completely changed on everything totally by one guy???"
No. You're wrong again, but you've come to the right place to learn. I'm quite confident that this is the inevitable next step to getting a blog - widespread conversion to the blogger's way of thinking. If this were not true, why would anyone blog? Maybe once you've stopped listening to Motorhead and Slayer you can be trusted with independent thought, but until then I think it best if you go slow on that.

Anonymous said...

Ron, Ron Ron...*sigh*...where to begin?...
"See your already begining the conversion process."

"No your wrong again, but you've come to the right place to learn"

Wow...dude...you need to get out more...you really see your self as the "Teacher and Great Dispenser of Wisdom and Knowledge"

People blog for a variety of reasons, most commonly to start a conversation with people.Exchange ideas theories and opinions and hopefully learn something in the process.Others (I'd like to think are in the minority) are "wild eyed" idealogs that yammer on like Senator Byrd on an all night bender of a filibuster and then collect a few buddies to slapp 'em on the back and tell 'em "Yeah that's what I was thinkin'"
I wanna believe ya about the 37 and 44 (some of em were wild eyed and some of'em were mindless before you rescued 'em from lives of quiet desperation) but all I see are the same 3 or 4 people just re- phrasing your ideas back atcha...
The most priceless quote of all was the one about how listenin' to Motorhead and Slayer and being capable of independent thought are mutually exclusive...."now I don't care who ya are that's funny right there."
And just for the sake of clarification when I said you need to get out more I didn't mean you had ta actually leave the basement. Just go on a few message boards and join in a few conversations. It might seem scary at first and it might seem like they're fulla "wild eyed" and "mindless" folks but they are more commonly refered to by the rest of us as people with differing opinions that might challenge our ideas, make us sharpen our arguements and teach us something in the process.

AHHH!!!... my conversion is takin a detour!...get me back on track sensei...please... I promise not ta screw up again..

Ron Davison said...

See how easy that was? You didn't dumb down your writing. You didn't resort to ad hominem attacks or racism. You even made sense. You must be so excited about this. Another lost soul converted. (45.) My work is done here.

Anonymous said...

oops! wrong again your work is just beginin...first of all I need some enlightenment on the whole "resortin' to racism" thing (just think of it as a cultural sensitivity seminar you might be conductin' for some fortune 500 company and you can just run with it.. role playin' as it were)
Got a few questions for ya perfesser:
1-have you ever done anything even remotely entrepreneurial or have you just worked for an evil corpororation your whole career?
2-regarding this whole resentment of inherited wealth (this is a 2 part question so take a deep breath) a- are you elgible for an inheritance and b- if so will you be donating it to the federal goverment or some politically correct charity?
3- if you have actually converted a total of 81 people from the outer hinterlands of the fringes of the political spectrum to being classified as moderates ( by converting them to your world view ; ergo you are a moderate) have you ever voted for a Republican at all ever in your entire life ever???. or more importantly has there been a even handed-party-blindedness (new word I just made up; woo hoo!) straight-down-the-middle approach to your voting history or did you in fact vote for Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Cliton (twice),Al Gore, and John Kerry?

I just need to know if the spiritual path of conversion that I'm embarking on is gonna wind up in moderateland or liberalville which ever one it is I assume your already the mayor so I'll run for dog catcher when I get there...

Ron Davison said...

Anon.,
Wow, good questions even, so I'll answer them as seriously as you asked them.

1
I’ve done both, which is a large part of what convinced me that the gap between independent entrepreneur and corporate employee is so large that there would be a huge opportunity for corporations to split the difference, creating hybrid roles that are part employee – part entrepreneur. You?

2.
I doubt that I’ll get an inheritance of any consequence. So far I’ve inherited a pair of binoculars and a magnifying glass; If I inherited $3 to $5 million at low or no taxes before having to pay 50% on the remainder, I'd feel pretty flush. You?

3.
Last three yes; first three no. I’ve voted for Libertarians and Green Party candidates. Of late I’ve been so repulsed by the Republicans that for the first time in my life I voted straight Democrats in the last election. I went to school with wild-eyed liberals and worked with mindless conservatives. I liked most of them from both groups – it’s just that I could never quite understand their politics.

It's an interesting question - what is a moderate? Sounds like topic worth posting on. Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

Well done my brother !!(from another mother)...now we're gettin some where *cranks up Ozzy, settles in...it's Miller time*...

Regarding the first question: the word "entrepreneur" means different things to different people. To me it means someone who is primarily responsible for developing a business from scratch, out of whole cloth, ...business plan, raisng capital and creating a fully functioning organization. Not a "consultant" or a contract worker who just performs the same function they did as a salaried indivdual for the company they just left 5 minutes ago and returns as a free agent. I assume you agree with this definition? What business did you develop?
I've been a small business owner for most of my carrer and currently I'm a partner in two businesses.
Regarding question number two: Wow so given the hypothetial situation you just described your primary sentiment would be that after having given the federal goverment half of your inheritance you would feel"flush" and that would be good enough for you...wow!.. just wow!...I don't know you very well but I'll bet you could do a much more efficient job of making sure that money got to someone in your life that was truely needy as opposed to flushing it down the sh*t hole that is the federal bureaucracy. The difference between you and me, my friend, is that I truly believe that the government is worse than the individual and the private sector in just about everything they try to accomplish (even when you factor in the Paris Hiltons of this world) Social (ponzi scheme) Security , Medicare,Welfare, Johnson's "War on poverty" all abject failures. I find it ironic that liberals will defend the free speech rights of some FDB burning an American Soldier in effigy but they won't defend the right of an individual to keep as much of their own money, real or inherited, even if they're selfish and decadent. In order to maintain a free society sometimes you have to protect the rights of someone to express themselves in a way that you might not agree with to preserve that liberty for a more principaled individual. I think my opinion on this subject is self evident (I consider it my patriotic duty to preserve as much of my assets as possible so that I can make sure my hard earned dollars do the most good)
Regarding question number three: I think you might be in denial about your liberal oreintation. Your no doubt a complex guy "free thinker" n what not but you are probably not a moderate.
*tries his best Jeff Foxworthy impersonation* "If youv'e aever subscribed to Mother Jones....you just might NOT be a moderate...(insert laff here)...If you've aever voted for a Green Party candidate, a Libertarian (aka not a chance in h*ll party) John Anderson, Bill Clinton, Al Gore AND John Kerry...you just might NOT be a moderate...(insert laff here)...If you've aever believed that hybrid cars are enviromentally resposible and that "carbon credits" are anything less than a scam to assuage liberal guilt and create a huge industry in China to build polluting factories and then get paid to tear them down..you just might NOT be a moderate...(laff again)
If your party line anti walmart, pro choice, pro ACLU, think Dennis Kusinich is slightly left of center, Think Fox News has a conservative bias, but ABC CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, NYT, LAT, etc DON'T have a liberal bias, find your self getting caught up in the Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Halibuton,Tom Delay "six degrees of separation" parlor game/rabbit hole/anger-a-thon (reminds me of the Vince Foster conspiracy theorist of yesteryear)... you just might NOT be a moderate... (okay ..only laff if ya feel like it.)
No shame in bein a liberal...we all gotta be somethin..me? I'm a conservative (HEYYY there's a shocker!!) Voted mostly for Republicans ,but I was so repulsed by the Repubs in 06 I almost stayed home. (Btw; for the record I believe FOX NEWS does have a conservative bias)

Any who, I'm kinda havin fun here so I hope yer not fixin ta ban me n what not...*still scratchin his head about the whole "racism" thing*

Anonymous said...

Or what I like to call vertical vs. horizontal communication. I had a codification system for any type of communication.

Ah... college.