Research is often used to generate a bit of favourable PR. These can be topical, challenging, entertaining, or desperate attempts to convince. Here are some survey findings from Vodafone should probably have been marked internal use only. Its patronising of women got panned here and here.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
It’s good to see the highly irreverent or always entertaining Register taking up the issue of the UK Government’s intention to introduc compulsory ID cards. They provide detailed analysis of how the costs are going to be covered and draw attention to this mega-project in light of the Public Accounts Committee’s report about consistent poor delivery of Government IT projects. Then, in an example of where the net IS empowering people, they point us to sign up to No2ID’s pledge on pledgebank where over 10,000 have now pledged to not to register for ID cards.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
The Technology, Entertainment, Design conference has just met at Oxford. It had an exciting line-up and some great looking topics – ideas big enough to change the world – but was really pricey. The BBC provide a nice overview. The basic thrust is that distributed technology enables creative people to collaborate and this will revolutionise relationships between individuals and institutions. Sound familiar? Wikipedia, open source, peer-to-peer, blogs are all examples of how technology has empowered individuals to bypass corporates but they will be marginalised, co-opted or bought out without political change that moves power away from corporates as the article says:
Big companies are now seeing the economic opportunity of this kind of open, collaborative production, by the people, making social production a fact and not just a fad.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
The music publishing industry is still failing to grasp the full opportunity that digital downloads present and frequently sees them as a threat. As part of its Beethoven Experience the BBC offered people a 7-day license to download and listen to all nine of his symphonies. The Independent reports that it has been very popular with over 1 million downloads during the trial. This prompted a label to state that the BBC is ‘devaluing the perceived value of music’. Wendy Selzer makes clear how short-sighted that is. Classical music needs to be promoted and the BBC has just done labels a favour.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
One of the unexpected consequences of camera- and video-phones is the recruitment of the general public into journalism. The recent bombings in London within seconds produced a grainy image of shocked commuters staggering out of a tube train. A video of tube passengers trying to find their way out has been played endlessly on TV news. The journalist’s image of the double-decker bus ripped open was soon over all our TV screens and then we saw a mobile photo 30 seconds after the blast, then a video a few seconds after (clip 4), and then today the Sunday Mirror and the News of the World led with one taken, they claim, one second after, with the driver staggering from the bus and unbelievably, top deck passengers looking dazed but unharmed. Our need for pictures and video of the actual event is so much greater than post-event commentary, this can only increase the use of mobile image capture. The Hollywood Reporter discusses the issue and ends with a quote from one of Flickr’s founders:
“What we’re seeing is that instant publishing has seeped into traditional journalistic practice.”
What we’re also seeing is these images seeping into traditional police detective work.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
Publishing may beneift from the growing use of audio downloads and mp3 players in the form of audio books. The International Herald Tribune discusses the growing market for the spoken word and moves by the New York Library, Waterstones and Amazon to take advantage of it.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
I have just been playing with Google Earth. It starts with a picture of the planet and enables you to zoom in on indvidual buildings, though that function only seems to work for major conurbations. It also integrates the names of natural features, buildings, roads, and a host of retail services. Most entertaining of all is the ability to fly to different locations and tilt the view. Go to Santiago, Chile and see the Andes. Very impressive.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
The British Library has announced a strategy for the digitisation of research materials and estimates that 90% of newly published material will be available digitally by 2020. It will also include past works that have recently been digitised.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
How many times have I read that a new technology was going to shake the foundations of an industry? A lot – and the latest is from Voxco who compound their hyperbole with techno-babble about Voice over IP:
The opportunities inherent within this new paradigm require companies to rethink their infrastructure and workflow, pointing to a future where distributed resources leverage a centralized, multi-lingual and multi-modal platform.
Que? Voice over IP will come but companies, including MR companies, are still waiting for proof that it is robust and that they will get the return on investment.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
Not only do UK geeks have money but 33% are female, they go out more than most and take lots of holidays. Yeah, right. It will be interesting to see how the research was done – Sci Fi TV commissioned the survey and are “blown away” by the findings that are amazingly advertiser-friendly.
Love it? Hate it? We want to know: Leave us a comment (0 so far)
|
||
