Editorial
On 10th May 2006, Larry Page and Sergei Brin from Google Inc. rolled out a whole new set of applications for Google search, many of which were much more in keeping with what people have come to expect from Google. With recent news that Amazon’s A9 search engine has opted to discontinue using Google’s search technology in favour of that from leading rival Microsoft, the press conference to global journalist was perhaps quite timely. Although there is nothing ground-breaking in what they presented (no Google Earth type applications, for instance), what was obvious is that Google are still finding unique and innovative ways of exploiting their 42% share of global internet searches.
For example, an upgrade to Google Desktop will be made available shortly – extending the range of “gadgets” available to the user. This certainly pushes Google further along in their obvious aim to replace the need for the standard operating system shipped with PCs. It is not hard to imagine a future where PCs are shipped with empty hard drives and that users simply download their OS of choice from the web. Certainly, Microsoft are awakening to that possibility.
Another application is Google Co-op where users can subscribe to free health information from a range of US-based health organisations. This further exemplifies Google’s desire to create provide information around the user as opposed to the other way around. Again, they are following the promise of the New Medium which endeavours to give the user what they want, when they want it – with the commercial interest of advertisers taking second place. Users can sign up to these services at www.google.com/coop/directory.
Google Notebook will allow you to save a portion of a website – like cutting out a newspaper clipping – and send it to friends via email. Again, the importance of the social network – as highlighted by the success of myspace.com and bibo.com – has not been lost on Google and this is undoubtedly another foray into that lucrative space.
Finally, there is Google Trends which is a formidable piece of programming. Available at www.google.com/trends, it allows the user examine searches for market trends and get global feedback based on Google’s search index. When you consider that you are getting a snapshot of nearly half the searches in the world, this is surely manna to marketing professionals. The results can be quite frightening from an economic perspective. For example, if you put in “Technology” in the search box, the majority of searches are coming from New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai in India with the US way down the list. European countries don’t even register. Is this a reflection of complacency on our part in the developed world? Are we soon to be replaced as leaders in the Knowledge economy by eager and limber new economies? In terms of spirituality, as one would expect, the US figures highly when the search word is “Christianity”, whereas mainly Malaysia and Indonesia rate highest in the search for “Islam”. Google Trends merely holds the mirror up.
With Page predicting that 98% of what will exist in 10 years "has yet to be done, and we won't get there by looking at what other companies are doing", it is breathtaking to consider what those applications might be and what other companies might be doing as well.
Citizen Journalism and the distrust of the Media
 Richard Dreyfus, actor and activist, talks at the We Media Global Forum |
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Between May 3rd and 4th, the We Media Global Forum took place in London, with the aim of “bringing together the trailblazers of the connected society - the thinkers, innovators, investors, executives and activists seeking to tap the potential of digital networks connecting people everywhere.” Hostedby The Media Center (http://www.mediacenter.org), a US-based non-profit think tank, in association with the BBC and Reuters, topics discussed included the power of trust in the media and citizen journalism. Speakers at the event included the actor and activist, Richard Dreyfuss, Jean-Marie Colombani, Chairman & Publisher, Le Monde, Wadah Khanfar, Director General, Al Jazeera and Mark Thompson, Director General, BBC. |
What is immediately clear from such a gathering is the global effect that digital technologies are having on the broadcast medium. In many ways it shows how technology is having a profound influence on how we interpret global events.
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As we discussed before on these pages (Issue 29), the concept of Citizen Journalism saw its genesis in the horrors of September 11th and the repercussion from that event, namely the invasion of Iraq and the July bombings in London. Suddenly global networks and internet sites were broadcasting content that was shot on handheld cameras and camera phones. The internet was abuzz with blogs and chatroom comment discussing the War on Terrorism, often contradicting the established news networks with reportage coming from connected citizens on the front. The debate threw into sharp relief the growing public consensus that the mass media was no longer trust-worthy and was too deeply tied into vested interests.
Whereas the sixties exposed the state propaganda machine, the “noughties” have perhaps exposed the capitalist propaganda machine where the media moguls do the bidding of the state so as to guard their expanding empire. This distrust has had serious implications of course for professional journalists who are, unfortunately, tarred with the same brush as their media owners, regardless of the fact that their editorial sanctity may well have remained in tact. Many a journalist has now thrown invective at the “blogging” phenomenon, claiming a lack of objectivity and balance in their amateur reportage.
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But these are just teething problems at the birth of a “New Medium”. As the television evolved, each decade saw new claims for its degenerative state. When Radio Teilifís Éireann launched in 1961, President Eamon de Valera in his opening address went on to say that "like atomic energy, it can be used for incalculable good but it can also do irreparable harm". Ironically, this was followed by a message from Cardinal d'Alton, making it clear who was in control.
The broadcast medium is an apparatus that is perhaps always controlled by someone’s agenda; that is the nature of a regulated “one to many” medium. However, the exciting thing about the New Medium is that technology enables it to be a truly pluralistic and democratic medium. In many ways it can be described as a “self-regulating” system. For instance, in the case of weblogs, where they are unreliable or badly maintained, they will inevitably drift down the meta-search index to oblivion. However, when a blog captures the popular imagination, it will rise up the index. The same goes for websites and podcasts. Great journalism will always find readers, viewers or listeners – and the fact that they are an empowered and global audience is one that should be embraced, not feared.
For print journalists, the New Medium offers them a new outlet for their ideas and thoughts. Whereas before they were constrained by column inches and sub-editorial guidelines and interference, the web enables them to engage in discourse and to accept challenge outside the safely editorialised letters page of their newspaper. That is why journalists should look to the “blogging” medium as a necessary and synergistic addendum to their print work – and as a way to build their own brand and audience outside the confines of their proprietor. It strikes The Hub that the “blogging” phenomenon is having more of an impact on print journalism then they would care to admit. Is the scramble for highly subjective columnists like David McWilliams, Eddie Hobbs and Kevin Myers not an example of “blogging” taking root in the industry that once so despised it? Certainly, McWilliams is a savvy operator when it comes to spreading his brand across multiple media, with each feeding the other. He is an author, a journalist, a current affairs television host and a consultant to boot. Not to mention that his website acts as a catch-all for his prodigious output. Could this be the same man who claimed not to understand what Digital Media was when he hosted the Digital Media awards some years ago?
So in short, it is not to say that the broadcast media as we know it will become obsolete; far from it. However, it does need to engage with the new medium if it is to hold on to its mass appeal. Broadcasters who do not understand how the New Medium works will suffer in the long run. And no, it is not just about providing websites, podcasts, blogs and chatrooms; it is about empowering your audience and allowing them to create content themselves. Journalists take note. New Media is on its way.
Between May 3 rd and 4 th, the We Media Global Forum took place in London, with the aim of “bringing together the trailblazers of the connected society - the thinkers, innovators, investors, executives and activists seeking to tap the potential of digital networks connecting people everywhere.” Hosted by The Media Center , a US-based non-profit think tank, in association with the BBC and Reuters, topics discussed included the power of trust in the media and citizen journalism. Speakers at the event included the actor and activist, Richard Dreyfuss , Jean-Marie Colombani, Chairman & Publisher, Le Monde, Wadah Khanfar, Director General, Al Jazeera and Mark Thompson, Director General, BBC.
What is immediately clear from such a gathering is the global effect that digital technologies are having on the broadcast medium. In many ways it shows how technology is having a profound influence on how we interpret global events. As we discussed before on these pages (Issue 29), the concept of Citizen Journalism saw its genesis in the horrors of September 11 th and the repercussion from that event, namely the invasion of Iraq and the July bombings in London . Suddenly global networks and internet sites were broadcasting content that was shot on handheld cameras and camera phones. The internet was abuzz with blogs and chatroom comment discussing the War on Terrorism, often contradicting the established news networks with reportage coming from connected citizens on the front. The debate threw into sharp relief the growing public consensus that the mass media was no longer trust-worthy and was too deeply tied into vested interests. Whereas the sixties exposed the state propaganda machine, the noughties have perhaps exposed the capitalist propaganda machine where the media moguls do the bidding of the state so as to guard their expanding empire. This distrust has had serious implications of course for professional journalists who are, unfortunately, tarred with the same brush as their media owners, regardless of the fact that their editorial sanctity may well have remained in tact. Many a journalist has now thrown invective at the “blogging” phenomenon, claiming a lack of objectivity and balance in their amateur reportage.
But these are just teething problems at the birth of a “New Medium”. As the television evolved, each decade saw new claims for its degenerative state. When Radio Teilifís Éireann launched in 1961, President Eamon de Valera in his opening address went on to say that "like atomic energy, it can be used for incalculable good but it can also do irreparable harm". Ironically, this was followed by a message from Cardinal d'Alton, making it clear who was in control. The broadcast medium is an apparatus that is perhaps always controlled by someone’s agenda; that is the nature of a regulated “one to many” medium. However, the exciting thing about the New Medium is that technology enables it to be a truly pluralistic and democratic medium. In many ways it can be described as a “self-regulating” system. For instance, in the case of weblogs, where they are unreliable or badly maintained, they will inevitably drift down the meta-search index to oblivion. However, when a blog captures the popular imagination, it will rise up the index. The same goes for websites and podcasts. Great journalism will always find readers, viewers or listeners – and the fact that they are an empowered and global audience is one that should be embraced, not feared.
For print journalists, the New Medium offers them a new outlet for their ideas and thoughts. Whereas before they were constrained by column inches and sub-editorial guidelines and interference, the web enables them to engage in discourse and to accept challenge outside the safely editorialised letters page of their newspaper. That is why journalists should look to the “blogging” medium as a necessary and synergistic addendum to their print work – and as a way to build their own brand and audience outside the confines of their proprietor. It strikes The Hub that the “blogging” phenomenon is having more of an impact on print journalism then they would care to admit. Is the scramble for highly subjective columnists like David McWilliams, Eddie Hobbs and Kevin Myers not an example of “blogging” taking root in the industry that once so despised it? Certainly, McWilliams is a savvy operator when it comes to spreading his brand across multiple media, with each feeding the other. He is an author, a journalist, a current affairs television host and a consultant to boot. Not to mention that his website acts as a catch-all for his prodigious output. Could this be the same man who claimed not to understand what Digital Media was when he hosted the Digital Media awards some years ago?
So in short, it is not to say that the broadcast media as we know it will become obsolete; far from it. However, it does need to engage with the New medium if it is to hold on to its mass appeal. Broadcasters who do not understand how the New Medium works will suffer in the long run. And no, It is not just about providing websites, podcasts, blogs and chatrooms; it is about empowering your audience and allowing them to create content themselves. Journalists take note. We Media is on its way.
News
Athena Media and RTE 1 Television.
Athena Media has just completed a series of TV features about Dublin for RTE 1's Dublin-focused programme Capital D. The short features 6-7 minutes have covered young people and the Catholic Church at Westland Row parish, the retired Sisters of Mercy building an eco-convent at the Mater Hospital, holistic cancer care at St Lukes in Rathgar and a day in the life Open Heart the HIV AIDS drop in centre in Dublin city. Athena Media, one of the production companies based in the Digital Depot, has also had their full arts documentary Amanda Coogan: Headbanging to Beethoven commissioned by RTE 1 Television.
Events
May 16th: Generating Demand for Broadband
Location: Royal College of Surgeons, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.
Time: 5pm
Price: Free
In an event hosted by the Irish Korea Association in conjunction with iPark London, Mr. Michael Fitzsimons (Alliance and Partner Manager EMEA at iPark) will demonstrate the approach which has made Korea the world leader in terms of broadband penetration and usage for business and residential customers. This will be of particular interest to those organisations involved and interested in the marketing of Broadband in Ireland. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session and is expected to conclude at 6.00pm approx. This will then be followed by a Wine reception. iPark London is a non-profit international business development organization creating alliances between the Korean ICT Industry and European partners.
More info: ika@gmail.com or tel: (01) 660 8800
May 16th: Novell 'Techfast' event
Location: Novell, Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18.
This Novell Identity Manger 3 Technical Breakfast will feature live demonstrations of the newest Novell Identity and Access Management Solutions, IDM3. The event offers an opportunity to meet one-on-one with Novell IDM Specialists and to learn about the advantages IDM3 can bring your organisation.
More info: Tel. +353 1 605 8000 http://www.novell.com/uk/idm3techfast
May 18th: Innovation in Marketing
Location: The Radisson Hotel, Sligo.
Time: 7pm
Paddy Power, Managing Director Paddy Power Bookmakers, Pat Mc Donagh, Supermacs and Damian Devaney, Chairman of The Marketing Institute, discuss Innovation in Marketing
More info: mtc@mii.ie or Tel. 01 295 2355 http://www.mii.ie/?id=35&eventID=401
May 18th: ISA Annual Software Conference 2006
Location: The Mansion House, Dawson St, Dublin 2.
Price: EUR200 members, EUR250 non-members
Time: 8am - 2pm
The Irish Software Association (ISA) is the principal trade association for the software industry in Ireland. Our core mission is to promote the common interests of the software sector as a whole as well as serving as a key resource to member companies by providing an organised forum for the exchange of ideas, sharing of resources and promotion of industry goals and influencing public policy. The title of the 2006 event is "New Models - New Approaches for tomorrow’s successes". For a full programme visit the Irish Software Association website.
More info: liz.clear@ibec.ie or + 353 1 6051582 http://www.software.ie/ibec/Events.nsf
May 25th: Internet Marketing for 21st Century Businesses
Location: Park Inn Hotel, Dundalk, Co Louth.
Time: 9.15am-1pm
Condensed into just one half-day, this seminar will help you discover some of the most powerful sales lead generation tactics available on the internet. It will give you ideas on things that work, things that don't work, things you need to be careful of and things that, when they come off, can be truly dramatic.
More info: Jcoburn@praxisnow.ie or http://www.praxisnow.ie/seminars.html
May 25th: Breakfast Briefing -- Opportunities in China
Location: RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Price: EUR20 members, EUR35 non members
Time: 8am
Opportunities in China. Investing in China chaired by Dick Spring with presenters from Enterprise Ireland China and Treasury Holdings.
More info: info@irelandchina.org 01 661 2182 http://www.irelandchina.org
01 661 2315(fax)
May 25th: Annual IIA Congress
Location: Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel, Killiney, Dublin 18.
Time: 9.30am - 5pm
Price: EUR195 (M) EUR250 (NM)
This event features speakers from global brand names such as Google, eBay, Yahoo and Microsoft. The theme of this year's is Content Inform Promote - Monetising your online business. Delegates will hear from leading thinkers and practitioners tell how they see the internet becoming monetised and how your business can capitalise. If you are engaged in any form of online business then this congress is of relevance to you.
More info: events@iia.ie or Tel. +353 (0)1 4535707
http://www.iia.ie/events.asp?eventid=88
May 25th: Business Oriented IT - Dynamic Infrastructure Management
Location: The Guinness Storehouse, St James Gate, Dublin 8.
Time: 9am - 4.40pm
Price: EUR550 (ex VAT)
IDCs Business-Orientated IT - Dynamic Infrastructure Management Conference 2006 has been specifically developed to inform and update senior IT professionals on the latest trends and deployments of infrastructure technologies. At this conference, IDC will provide a 360-degree view of IT infrastructure, instead of simply focusing on isolated server or storage hardware products.
More info: vweithofer@idc.com or Tel. +44 208 9877166
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=IDC_P11667
May 26th: 8th Annual Telecoms Industry Charity Ball
Location: Berkeley Court Hotel, Landsowne Road, Dublin 4.
Time: 7.30pm
This event is supported by BT Ireland, eircom, ESB Telecoms, Magnum Opus, Meteor, O2, Vodafone and the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. A black tie event, this year the proceeds from the Auction and Treasure Chest Quest will be donated to Down Syndrome Ireland. Down Syndrome Ireland is a national charity representing people, their families living with, and caring for, people with the condition. Entertainment will be provided by "Johnnie be Goode".
More info: Carolyn Doumeni +353 1 6051528 http://www.tif.ie/ibec/Events.nsf/wvTIF
June 1st: I.T. Security 2006: Defending the Network
Location: The Radisson Hotel, Dublin 4.
Time: 9am
Price: No Charge
Entropy invites you to a half day seminar to discuss some of the most pressing security challenges facing IT managers today. The Topics: Wireless Security, eCrime and Web Threats, Intrusion Prevention, End Point Security and Anti-Spam.
More info: events@entropy.ie or Tel. 01 294 0199 Fax. |01 294 0121
www.entropy.ie
June 8th: IT@CORK Web2.0 Conference
Location: Radisson Hotel, Little Island, Cork.
Time: 7pm
Price: Members: Free, Non-members: EUR50
IT@Cork - the not-for-profit networking organisation for IT professionals - is holding a half-day conference on Web 2.0. The conference features international speakers Salim Ismail, co-founder of PubSub and Shel Israel, co-author with Robert Scoble of Naked Conversations, currently writing a book on Web 2.0. Irish speakers include Fergus Burns, founder and CEO of Nooked and local Web 2.0 developer Walter Higgins of pxn8.com. Microsoft, who are main sponsors for the event, are represented by Rob Burke. Maximum number of places available is 100 so early booking is advised.
More info: admin@itcork.ie or tel. +353 21 2307011 Fax. +353 21 2307046
http://www.itcork.ie/index.cfm?page=events&eventId=68