I was interviewed by La Nacion, Argentina’s second largest newspaper, about the personal media revolution. It’s here:
“La información será creada por millones de personas, no por una elite.” J.D. Lasica, un referente mundial en nuevos medios, habló con LANACION.com sobre la generación digital y los cambios que se vienen.
In case you don’t read Spanish, I’ll post the Q&A in English here:
What are the main characteristics of the shift in media consumption?
Power is slowly, but inevitably, shifting from the media elite to the rest of us. Television, movies and music are being democratized.
For example, television is evolving from a one-way set of pipes delivering big media content to an ecosystem where both professional and amateur programming coexist. We’re just beginning to see the promise of Internet television, which will carry hundreds of thousands of channels created by talented amateurs.
Traditional media have no choice but to embrace these emerging forms of citizens media. The Digital Generation expects to produce and design their own media. They also want to remix and interact with traditional forms of media — movies, television, music, games — from the world they’ve grown up in. Media companies that continue to engage in a lecture model will fade into irrelevance.
Do you think that viral video sharing is a new headache for established media?
Viral video sharing is just the first wave of an important new trend: an increasing appetite by the public for home-grown voices and original programming. Viral video is a crude early manifestation of this. People will create more polished, sophisticated programming in the years ahead.
The other issue involves use of copyrighted video and music in amateur productions. User need to respect copyrights, and media companies should be more receptive to licensing their content so that the public remixes old works in intriguing new ways. This trend toward user-generated programming is real and lasting, and the broadcasters will ignore it at their peril.
Do you think that the use of personal media could help democracy? How?
Yes. Too many citizens are alienated from the political process because they believe their voices won’t matter. Empowering people through personal media has the potential to reawaken civic engagement.
Just imagine, for a moment, if hundreds of people created podcasts or video blogs about issues taking place in their communities. That will happen — sooner than you think — and I think it has the potential for a profound change in our relationship with the political establishment. Power and influence will flow to those who use it.
The music business just sees piracy in peer-to-peer file sharing programs, while others see some new ways of interaction and consumption. What’s your position?
Peer to peer will be a major part of music and video distribution for the rest of our lives. Warner Bros. recently signed a deal with BitTorrent to distribute its movies online, so we’re seeing the entertainment companies begin to accept this new reality.
The music companies always talk about piracy, but if they truly opened their catalogs to different online business strategies, they would make a lot more money — even if piracy increased at the same time — and we would be richer culturally as music became a more important part of our lives.
Unfortunately, the music labels are more interested in protecteting their entrenched business models than in trying out innovative new approaches.
Can you tell us an example of how the wiki helped you write your book?
More and more authors are inviting readers in to help collaborate on new books. In my case, I used the Darknet blog and wiki to solicit suggestions from readers about real-life examples of how the media was preventing the Digital Generation from using their legally purchased digital devices from playing legally purchased content in ways they’ve come to expect. One example was the Sony digital recorders that won’t allow you to transfer a recording to your computer.
Your weblogs are licensed through Creative Commons while your book has all rights reserved. Why the difference?
Unfortunately, very few book publishers have embraced the Creative Commons model. Mine was no exception, although I argued that they should. Fortunately, my publisher allowed me to publish several chapters on the darkent.com blog.
Have the media companies felt the impact of grassroots journalism?
We’re at the beginning of a disruptive era for media, as traditional business models come tumbling down and old institutions fumble their way through the new mediasphere of blogging, podcasting, video blogging, etc. The ideals represented by these new media forms — openness, conversation, sharing, a place for the user — will be embraced by the traditional media when they discover that it makes good business sense.
We’re entering a new era where information and entertainment will be created by millions of people, not an established elite. That should be seen by newspapers and TV and radio stations as an opportunity rather than a threat. A few news organizations have begun citizen journalism sections, showcasing original reports, photos and video. This week I’m heading to an international conference in Seoul, South Korea, to discuss how citizen journalism is changing the face of the news media.
Do you believe that there’s something that could be called a “download generation”? If yes, what are the main characteristics?
I call it the Digital Generation because more and more of our lives are being spent online, and almost all of the content we create will wind up in digital form. Some will be downloaded so that we can watch videos or listen to music on demand, while other forms of content will be streamed and accessible only when we’re connected to the Internet.
The Digital Generation will expect to interact with media on their own terms. That means, they want to watch video and listen to music and audio on any device, at any time, in any place. They also want to engage with media as interactive participants rather than passive consumers.
Which is the most interesting web application that you have seen lately? Why?
What’s fascinating is how many interesting new web applications are springing up. Look at Ning.com, which offers more than a dozen free open-source web applications. I’m partial to sites that let you annotate video, like Jumpcut.com, or collect your favorite video clips in one place, like Eyespot.com. Great stuff.
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
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