Gravity Medium » video

Closed vs. Open: Why public media struggles with new media

John Proffitt — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:30:35 +0000

Public broadcasting has always had trouble engaging in the new media world. Now NYU professor Jay Rosen has come up with an explanation that sheds light on media culture problems I’ve seen and experienced.

In a talk at the World Bank earlier this month, he offered “Rosen’s New Media Maxims,” a set of four rules or observations about the media world in which we now live. And the second maxim was particularly illuminating for me:

Open systems don’t work like closed systems; if you expect them to you’ll get nothing but misery and failure

In the case of public media, the “closed” system represents the old way of doing things: broadcasting from a single control point to a passive mass audience and allowing for virtually no feedback or participation. Or when there is a feedback channel, it’s narrow and tightly controlled. While there are regulatory reasons for controlling broadcast signals in this way, the notion of “we broadcast and you watch” pretty much permeates the culture I’ve experienced.

Online media function differently, however, because by their very nature, they’re two-way or multi-way systems. Top-down still works online, but that misses the point and the power of a networked media system. In an online world, media and conversations flow top to bottom, left to right and back again.

In moving online, most of the stations I’ve seen have done so either in a broadcast fashion or they’ve done tiny projects off to the side that don’t threaten the old system (and consequently can’t lead the company in a new direction). In many ways this makes sense — the money is still coming from broadcast-based memberships and advertising, plus the CPB is, well… the CPB and can’t put too much effort toward non-broadcast service.

Given the sturm and drang I’ve watched (and participated in) Rosen’s open/closed maxim stood out as exceptionally true. In this video excerpt, he makes a full explanation then goes into a lengthy answer to an audience question of how to bring openness to a company that’s always been closed:

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11972820&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Philosophical Differences

So it’s not a technological difference. It’s not a financial difference. Fundamentally, closed and open systems are philosophically different, possibly opposed. One embraces community, drawing in participation and “hosting” conversation and engagement. The other treats the public as a media receiver. Sure, there are some middle grounds here, but this is a big difference that has powered, silently, a lot of conversations in which I’ve participated, without realizing it.

No wonder we struggle with this. No wonder there’s both dismissal of the new as irrelevant to the mission and nevertheless pitched battles over who will control the social network engagements, who gets or shares in the online revenue, and how and when content will or won’t appear online. We’ve been experiencing the “misery and failure” of a closed system trying to adopt an open one, not understanding why it’s not working.

Rosen’s New Media Maxims

In addition to the open vs. closed systems maxim, there are three more Rosen rules, all in this extended excerpt from his talk at the World Bank. Recommended viewing.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11972971&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

The complete talk (more than 1 hour including audience Q&A) is available via YouTube here.

If CNN told the truth

John Proffitt — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:07:06 +0000

Wolf Blitzer should cry himself to sleep for the sins he visits upon our nation every day. And that goes for all the cable “news” network hosts. You too, Anderson Cooper — you’re part of the problem.

http://media.theonion.com/flash/video/embedded_player.swf
Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

It’s always good to see a CNN documentary like this.

A little web fun before Christmas

John Proffitt — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:11:54 +0000

Here’s some humorous bits and pieces to enjoy. Consider it a Christmas present!

The Web for Beginners

Beatles 3000

The Case of the Lost Case

Perspective

John Proffitt — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:48:27 +0000

Hat Tip: @gruber

Rosenblum Resurrected

John Proffitt — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:00:59 +0000

Back in February 2007 I was blown away by Michael Rosenblum, keynote speaker at the Integrated Media Association conference in Boston. I’ve shared this video on DVD, shown it to colleagues and helped the IMA post it to their web site back then. But it’s buried at the IMA site and it deserves much more play. So I’m resurrecting it here.

I was actually running the cheap camcorder at the event, in a dimly lit hotel ballroom from about 50 feet away off to the side — so the video itself is blah. But the audio is awesome because it was professionally recorded and I was able to merge the blah video with the fantastic audio. Makes all the difference.

Blurry and dim video aside, Rosenblum’s presentation is mesmerizing. His grip on historical stories brings to life the peril that’s present for traditional TV broadcasters and TV producers, including public broadcasting companies. This is must-watch stuff if you’re in any way involved in TV or video.

Length: about 1 hour. Introduction by KQED‘s Tim Olson. Download a QuickTime copy here (113MB).

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8212211&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1

Rosenblum on Video News

Sing it brother! Rosenblum instinctively understands the next wave in both local video news production and local advertising production. While working at the stations in Anchorage, I proposed that we develop a democratized advertising platform to allow folks to write their own material, submit it online and pay for it instantly. Why aren’t we doing that today?

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=8079409&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Brian Lehrer Live Interview from Rosenblum TV on Vimeo.

Rosenblum on TV Economics

Everyone in the PBS community knows that stations and the network screwed up when cable became a major national media distribution force. PBS should have been allowed an encouraged to develop a multi-channel national content distribution system tailored to the cable world. Too bad we missed that boat. And now, with hundreds of cable channels and millions of web outlets, video economics have jumped and it’s time we rethink our work.

Learning Google Wave

John Proffitt — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:17:15 +0000

Google Wave is all the rage. Not sure what it’s about? Here are the 2 things you can review to become an expert (without actually getting an account):

Google Wave Intro by Epipheo

A quick-and-dirty explanation of what some of Google Wave can be. Very popular video from the last couple of days on the social networks.

Google Wave Intro from Google – May 2009

A very long introduction, but it’s very complete and fully geeky for those that are interested.

A new ad game in town

John Proffitt — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:58:23 +0000

Awesome new entrant in the online advertising biz. And their debut self-promotion piece does more than promote — it actually teaches. Are you paying attention old-school advertisers?

How about you public media? Do you understand how the web isn’t broadcast? There are a few at NPR that get it. What about the local stations?

Mundt cuts the cord, lives to tell about it

John Proffitt — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:59:58 +0000

Bravo to Todd Mundt on both “cutting the cord” from his cable company and writing in-depth about the process and experience of consuming media — up to and including HD video — without cable (or satellite) TV service.

The mix of technologies required today are a bit daunting to anyone that wants just a plain old “boob tube” experience, but for any moderately inclined hobbyist, this is pretty accessible.

Furthermore — and this is the kicker — there’s more content out there on the ‘Net than on PBS, as lots of sources distribute directly and PBS (for various reasons, many of them good) chooses not to carry the stuff.

Read all about it here.

(For the record, Todd reports that he still uses the cable company for Internet access, just not for TV. My own experience is that my local cableco won’t sell me high speed service without a TV bundle, so I can’t fully follow his example. However, I have stopped watching BSG on TV and instead watch exclusively via hulu and DVD).

Oh, and be sure to follow Todd on Twitter, if you aren’t already.

J-Week 2008: Web Extras Toolkit

John Proffitt — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:52:52 +0000

Welcome Journalism Week 2008 visitors from Anchorage, Alaska! If you’re looking for the “Web Extras Toolkit” handout from Saturday, April 19, 2008, you’ve come to the right place.

Download the Web Extras Toolkit here
(PDF, 1.5MB)

And feel free to recommend your own toolkit additions or corrections via the site comment feature.

Twitter in Plain English

John Proffitt — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:04:09 +0000

For those of you a little confused by Twitter, everyone’s pals at Common Craft put together this intro video, another in a great series of introductory pieces on popular Internet / Web 2.0 technologies.