Hyper Island frågar om framtiden

Och vi är många som försöker svara. Hittills har jag hittat poster från Richard Gatarski och Walter Naeslund, men det lär komma mer. Jag tror det kan vara intressant för Mindparkare eftersom frågan i allra högsta grad kretsar kring medierna. Inte bara ur det traditionella perspektivet, att man diskuterar i största allmänhet, utan också för att man kan ana att det här kommer att utgöra en del av grunden för utbildningen framöver på Hyper Island. Och om vi får det vi önskar, så vill det till att vi önskar rätt saker…

Jag har fått en uppsättning frågor som jag svarat på via mail, och en variant på frågorna som jag besvarade via en skype-session (det hörs att det är en söndag, efter en lång arbetshelg). Har du bra simultankapacitet kan du lyssna på den ena och läsa den andra, typ samtidigt.

Hyper Island – Skypeintervju om digitala medier och framtiden by jardenberg

Q: What are the biggest trends in digital media right now?
A: Almost coming out of the hype are the social networks. My mom is on Facebook. So with that said, with the social networks becoming mainstream, the next movement is a consequence of that: Sharing. Almost everyone is sharing, with almost everyone, in almost any kind of way, in almost any kind of media – and increasingly so in realtime. When technology moves out of the way as an obstacle we can see true human motivators shining thru.

Again: ”the stories we tell are almost always more interesting then the lives we live”. But it also works in the other direction. I’m sure the ever present status update effects how we live our lives. Transparency drives honesty, so to come thru as interesting, we have to try to be interesting. There is a fundamental shift in attitude going on.

And ”digital” is just the enabler.

BTW, there is also a big movement in refining the ”old web”. Let’s not fool ourselves that it’s all about realtime. In some areas slow, accurate, developed information is more valuable than NOW! It’s a sliding scale.

Q: What is the next big thing (the ”new” Facebook/Twitter, for example)?
A: I don’t really care to much about predictions like that. But if I must, I would say Google Wave will make great impact. If it gets the break it deserves, Wave will solve a lot of the problems we are struggling with in daily life. We need to integrate all our communication is a much more seamless way than we do today, and I think Wave could be the answer. To use SMS in in our phone and MSN on our computer is just plain silly, as is to use mail for one-on-one and then switch tools to collaborate in a larger group. The tools and the technology will move further into the background.

But there is a great barrier to cross, and my biggest hope is that Facebook will help out, instead of putting up a fight. The next 12 months will be extremely interesting to follow.

Another thing that is real close to happening is the long overdue matter of identities and all associated with the holy ”me!”. Open Stack is moving along nicely. I’m happy to see that happening, finally, because it will change everything for the better. We need these issues to be simplified, and now they will.

Q: What do you predict will happen in the future with the digital media (for example with real-time/mashups)?
A: There will be a clear divide between content providers and aggregators. You are either or, and both parties can be extremely successful. Digital media will evolve in symbiosis.

Q: Are Flash dying? If “yes”, will it be replaced and with what?
A: It’s not dying, but I hope we have seen the last all-flash site real soon. It should be used as video, images etc – to enhance or explain a specific piece. The foundation of the web today (HTML/XHTML, CSS, AJAX etc) are more than competent enough to give us a great user experience, and a beautiful one to.

Q: How are the finance crises affecting the media industry?
A: It speeds up the decline in a number of ways. Revenue is way down, and the panic that is a result moves focus away from anything close to evolution. In attitude we are back to the dark years of 2001 again. The current paywall discussion is a great example of that. In a healthy and sound environment that would not even by talked about, it’s that ridiculous and dangerous.

The industry should of course keep focused on the most important issue of them all: ”how to stay relevant tomorrow, and how to have a crowd large and engaged enough for anyone to care about”. It is absolutely obvious that we should sell our audience and not our content, but fear and panic makes for strange decisions.

Q: What are the agencies biggest challenges for the future, and how will they handle them?
A: The number one challenge is the simple idea that an industry to big to bend is bound to break. And I really don’t know how they will handle it. But I do know what they, in my opinion, ought to do…

Q: What compentences will the media industry be looking for?
A: What they need is people with the right attitude. People that walk the talk of the new times, and that understands the need to evolve. Besides attitude, the number one competence is the ability to make stories tellable. Like an advanced editor, that not only works with red ink. Not the filter or the gatekeeper, but the enabler of the story for a larger audience. With millions of stories beeing told every minute, each and every one with an interested crowd of a few, there will be an opening to expand on some of those. Find the story worth telling, and tell it better then anyone else. That will make yu a good citizen in the community of the storytelling. Therein lays the future of what everyone tends to call ”good journalism”.

Everything else is secondary.

Ohh, and one more thing. Once traditional media has found, captured and made a big enough crowd happy to be in a relationship with them – it’s time to call in the professors. Bring in the recruits from Google, bring in he übersmart Chief of Economy. If things go well with the first phase, the need for REAL business developers will be enormous in the years to come.

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