Whew! The Future of Media Summit 2008 was exhausting yesterday! I’ll be writing something this morning, but I’m not sure what yet. Stand by. Meanwhile you can get a taste of the action by reading Mark Pesce’s thoughts on the Future of Live Television (Part 1, Part 2), and Erin Moss’ notes on the Sydney Future of Journalism session and plenty more linked from the Future of Media Blog. Plus of course there’s the Summize feed of everyone’s Twitter traffic.
Future of Media Summit 2008: live blogging etc
OK, I haven’t even regurgitated all the information I devoured at PubCamp Sydney and the Politics & Technology Forum, and now I’ll be spending all day tomorrow at the Future of Media Summit 2008. Get ready for the overload!
I’m not quite sure exactly where I fit into this. However I do know that I’ll be one of several people providing a Twitter feed tagged #fom08, and Mark Pesce wanted to make sure I had a live videophone feed via Qik, which I do now.
The attendee list is a veritable Who’s Who of New Media Cleverness, plus me. So something interesting is bound to happen… stay tuned!
Oh, and for some bedtime reading, try the Future of Media Report 2008 [PDF].Update 22 March 2014: Technologies come, and technologies go. Qik is no more. Its video messaging functions have been absorbed into Skype, and Qik will cease to exist on 30 April 2014 — although videos embedded in websites are replaced with the message “video unavailable”. The future of the media doesn’t last very long at all.]
I rarely remember my dreams…
… but last night I did. I had to present a TV news program and it was going very, very badly. Interpretations, please!
It was my first day as presenter of an established program called News Tower. The presenters’ desk was stupid. Me and my overly-blonde female co-host had to peer out between mock embattlements as if our News Tower was a medieval castle.
When I got my copy of the script just minutes before show time it was hand-written on scraps of paper, and I could barely read the appalling writing. The pages were all out of order, and the text was over-written with corrections and arrows showing how the sequence had been changed. When I asked whether the Autocue copy was typed OK, I got a blank look as if “Autocue” and “typing” were unknown words. And indeed, the camera lens watching me was naked: no cueing system could be seen.
My week through Twitter
As we begin a new and somewhat rainy Monday here in Sydney, it’s worth reflecting on my world as revealed through Twitter.
- If only cats ate cockroaches my two most significant household chores would cancel out.
- The only thing a VCR is good for is to watch old porno movies.
- “Luxurious possum fur” is an oxymoron.
- Twitter is (like all networks) just an amplifier. Natural news-bringers bring news. Natural wankers wank.
- Total Eclipse of the Heart has the most sensible music video of any song ever.
- “Wynyard Hotel, the sign saying ‘restrooms maintained to highest standard’ doesn’t stop stale urine smell.”
- As we all know, cardio fitness is improved through gin.
- “Do not insert in ear canal” is sage advice.
Now what sort of impression of me does that give? And what will this week bring?
[Credit: Cartoon Twitter-bird courtesy of Hugh MacLeod. Like all of Hugh’s cartoons published online, it’s free to use.]
At Mobile Content World tomorrow
For my sins, I now have a media pass to the Mobile Content World Australasia conference at Sydney’s Star City Casino. I missed Day 1 today, but from the programme Day 2 will be more interesting from my perspective. Centrally-planned control-freak TV organisations and telcos try to control what’s on mobile phone screens. Fail. We control what’s on our screens, thank you very much! From one clueful attendee today, “Folks all seem like deers in the iPhone headlights.”
Eurovision at the Pub tonight!
Only hours to go! Eurovision at the Pub is tonight at our local “Irish” pub, Kelly’s On King, 258 King Street, Newtown. The SBS broadcast starts at 7.30pm, but we’ll be there from 5pm or so to, um, ensure sufficient fuel for a long evening of big hair, tacky costumes and dodgy choreography.
There’s a Facebook event page, but even if you don’t use Facebook please RSVP here or to my Twitter stream or somehow. The more confirmed guests, the more free stuff the pub gives us.
I’ll be Twittering the event, as will many others, with the tag #eurovision. If I have enough bandwidth, I’ll also provide an audio commentary via Ustream.