Nico Macdonald Reporting

Epoch Hothouse: Business and communications in 2010

Epoch Hothouse: Business and communications in 2010

December 3, 2009

Overview

The launch event of corporate reputation and business communications agency Epoch's Business and communications Hothouse 'explored the nexus of world events and forecast the trends shaping the coming year'. Epoch's strapline is 'Challenging conventional thinking through curiosity about the future' and it seeks to raise the quality of insight and debate to help its clients beyond shaping messages. [Disclosure: I collaborate and consult with Epoch.] Presenting were James Woudhuysen [Twitter], Professor of forecasting and innovation, De Montfort University; Paul Mason [Twitter], Economics Editor, BBC Newsnight; Adam Boulton [Twitter/Boulton & Co. blog], Political Editor, Sky News; and Bronwen Maddox, Chief Foreign Commentator, The Times. Epoch MD Chris Clarke introduced the event and outlined Epoch's perspectives.

Introductions

1. Chris Clarke: New business psyche: demonising risk, more shareholder involvement, demand for radical transparency as people expect businesses to act more like government bodies than commercial enterprises
2. Chris Clarke: Some of most important and successful brands were developed in a downturn. The same will be true of the dominant brands of C21, whether born in the West or the East
3. James Woudhuysen: Government increasingly focuses research funding based on impact. But where was the impact of Einstein's 1905 paper that proposed E=mc2 at the time or in Switzerland?
4. James Woudhuysen: Innovation used to mean saving time and labour, new processes, and other universals such as portability, maintainability, versatility. Today it is about about minimising your impact.
5. James Woudhuysen: There may be only one earth in carbon fuels, but there is more than one earth in in artificial fuels.
6. James Woudhuysen: 'Scale is beautiful': let's make that our slogan. See Japanese factory houses, Chinese cleaner coal; Chinese electric cars with 120 mile range after 10 minutes charging; and China's high speed rail network which is a continental endeavour they are building something new rather than bailing out the banks.
7. Paul Mason: In 2010 we are entering the decade of political economy.
8. Paul Mason: Consumers' technology obsession is new. Today my definition of a slump when they take your mobile away because you can no longer afford it.
9. Paul Mason: We have had a century of finance 'taking the piss' and government making its safety net more and more flexible. If you read one thing on the financial crisis read Andrew Haldane's speech Banking on the State', 24 September 2009 [Bank of England|Publications|Speeches|By Date|2009].
10. Adam Boulton: The impact of sleaze and loss of confidence in government will lead to very different reactions in different constituencies. We will see the first Green MP in Brighton, and perhaps a UKIP MP.
11. Adam Boulton: Are models of social leadership becoming more like West than China? Obama has moved politics from top-down spin, dragging people along, to explaining and laying out one's position to shift opinion. David Cameron has noticed.
12. Bronwen Maddox: If you are wondering who will re-build Iraq and Afghanistan, it is China looking for unresolved conflicts in which to play a part.
13. Bronwen Maddox: [Region by region] China is doing well, though will feel like a poor country for some time. However, in India there is a failure to address fiscal problems and create economic stimulus, or tackle corruption. Countries in Africa, such as Rwanda, are getting investment to do what a half century of development failed to do.

Review

This was one of the most stimulating discussions of global economic, social and political developments I have taken part in recently, though the presentation and discussion didn't suggest many concrete measures organisations might take in response. The overall scope was good, from long term futures and large scale innovation to financial and social analysis, the impact at the political level in the UK along with a global review of challenges. In the discussion, setting Mason to address Woudhuysen's thesis, I asked whether to the extent the financial crisis Mason described is a product of the failure of innovation and investment in the 'real economy', Woudhuysen's proposes the right solution, and what are the barriers might be to it working in the UK? Mason noted that we had had free market policies in the West since 1989 [the end of state socialism] and seen the 'financialisation of society'. While we had the seeds of our innovative and economic future in network technologies government didn't cut off the financial boom and allow old industries to die soon enough, and we now have the novel situation of an old wave is overlapping a new wave, which might lead to low growth for 15 years. He questioned whether the West was not innovative, arguing that the East is good at implementation but not innovation. Woudhuysen questioned this based on the examples around transport from his introduction, while Mason countered that the innovations had come from the West. Mason is on balance right, though Woudhuysen noted the Chinese are able to realise innovations as they believe in technology and innovation and don't have opposition from Greens.

Documentation

Nico Macdonald's and others' Tweets on the event tagged '#HothousePanel' The Epoch Hothouse Panel page [Pictures to come]

Future events

Innovation Agenda group events on Upcoming.org

Designer Breakfast: New Talents for the New Economy? (Momentum, London)

For Designer Breakfasts I chaired an event entitled New talents for a new economy: What does it mean? which took place on the morning of 15 May at Momentum in Clerkenwell. (Event information on Upcoming.org.) The event was hung on the DCMS proposals in the Creative Britain – New Talents for the New Economy report report. These notes were taken during the event. They are not to be cited as direct quotes.

Jeremy Myerson, Director, Helen Hamlyn Centre and InnovationRCA, Royal College of Art

Design sits on a faultline between public and private. Between arts and science models. We used to have Department of National Heritage (which designers didn’t want anything to do with). Then the Department for Trade and Industry: John Butcher was a good minister for design, but others were increasingly incompetent. Then design became a cultural phenomenon. Designated a creative industry by New Labour [when it came to power]. Design hasn’t found a distinct place. Smaller design firms [missed comment]. When I look at this report “I am filled with gloom”. Apprenticeships in Monkey Devil Design along with famous brands. [Design an afterthought?] What fills me with hope is the DIUS research into creative industries. Design is still struggling for its space. These initiatives are too big and broad to be useful to SMEs. But Knowledge Transfer Networks (KTNs) may be useful. (See John Cass’s remarks.)

Jon Kingsbury, Director, Creative Economy Innovation Programme, NESTA

We talk about the Creative Economy as it is more trendy than creative industries. We aim to make the most of UK talent and avoid risk of being sidelined by China, India, etc. [We are aware of the need] to operate at scale. How to help companies without current skills to [scale]? [Significant that] DIUS and DBERR involved, and Gordon Brown wrote the foreword. Recognises wider benefits. See NESTA research from February: lots of creative activity in areas such as finance. Skills of creative people are very important. See Richard Florida on the creative class bringing in other useful people from the knowledge economy, including science, healthcare, technology. NESTA is running pilots in: fixing fragmented [missed], lack of access to business skills, mentoring, lack of heroes, lack of time for training. (See KTN disucssion). Opportunities in collaboration, inter-disciplinary [issues]. What is the digital demand impact on film? Hollywood won’t look into this. But we [in the UK] can. £3M NESTA fund on how industries should prepare. [New development of] designers going straight to market, such as my wife, who is a textile designer maker.

John Cass, Business Development Manager for Creative Industries, Imperial College London

Categorisation of creative industries [into one group was important] in order to map to sectors such as construction [in scale]. As such, it should be able to leverage stronger voice. But design is only a small part. Challenge of generating a common narrative about what affects us in order to leverage big policy changes, without losing specificity. And role of KTNs. See also the Design London programme. Design is an enormous consumer of technology innovation abut also a lever for innovation in other sectors. Innovation takes place within industry and also in partnering to deliver innovation in other sectors.

Lesley Morris, Head of Design Skills, Design Council

Should design be involved in creative industries? Creative industries is largely about visual arts and performing culture. The is not a faultline but a huge crack [between them and design]. Design is an industry of two halves: in house designers are not part of the creative industries but agencies are. Benefits of connecting [missed comment].

Discussion

Garrick Jones, LSE/The LUDIC Group: Ghana UNCTAD Creative Economy report fed by New Talents for the New Economy. See Andy Pratt work at the LSE. Design and education: design next to flower arranging, heritage. Need to established that design has generative impact, measured by economists, then it gets funding. Creative functions: have generative impact, that is: people with these skills can go anywhere [and play other roles].
Ben Terrett, The Design Conspiracy: hard to think what government has done [for SMEs]. Anything would be helpful. We have no problem finding young talent. But it is a problem getting business to understand what design is. Where are examples of good design practice in government?
Richard Ward, ex-creative director, The Team: [ordinary] people don’t know what design is. But they know what advertising is! There is not a crack but a ravine. [In response to question from the chair…] My criticisms are of the report per se.
Martyn Perks, design consultant and speaker: but it is your job to sell to clients
Chair: is it role of government to play this role?
Martyn Perks: we should be pleased design is being talked about. But the bigger question is: are we innovative at the level of industry? Design is only part of the question. Industry is now obsessed with metrics. But how about creative decision making? We need to go beyond design, [take] longer steps.
Liz Yates, works with post-graduate students at University of the Arts in professional practice: the report assumes there is a problem with supply. But the problem is with demand! We need to stimulate demand. See Design Council [work] on public sector procurement.
Pippa Crawford, Designer Breakfasts: less about what design is but what design thinking is: the strategic power of design as problem solving
Richard Ward: it is about comprehensive [missed comment]
Chair: educating clients is not a new problem. The Design Council been doing this for 15 years.
Mat Hunter, IDEO, adjunct professor at Tanaka Business School: the d.school at Stanford is as much about educating next generation of clients [as educating students]. Only 25% of our business is in UK as it is hard to get [innovative clients]. [With respect to our] role in investing in intellectual property (IP) and deferring fees: hard to pick winners [thus not easy for small design agencies to do].
Chair: report doesn’t actually pick up on this IP model
Mike Abrahams, Designer Breakfasts: small businesses create 70% of the income [of the design sector]. There needs to be a report aimed at small business. We have a model of payment by increase in sales. Chair: the report notes that ‘UK Trade & Investment will lead a five-year strategy to enhance the international competitive position of the UK’s creative industries’. Mike: but I would have to be consultant to play that role and would lose hands on design experience. New technology doesn’t help [as it makes work more fragmented (?)].
Naomi Gornick, University of Dundee, and works with Lesley at the Design Council: Liz’s premise of working with small teams of designers and clients’ lack of understanding of [missed comment]. Report needs to focus on education teaching designers to communicate better. Chair: the report proposes that ‘further and higher education to provide end- to-end development of creative skills for people aged from 14 through to 25’. Does this address communication? [Need to check]
Lydia Thornley, designer: designers are natural consortium workers. [Importance of] informal knowledge transfer. More ways to compete globally than as a consortium. Chair: where would one go to find out what is happening in a particular area?
Amanda Tatham, Designer Breakfasts: work for a fee is going out [of fashion]. Strategic thinking is more important. Design thinking is practiced in business schools. At the Sir George Cox Designer Breakfast event in January we talked about designers talking business and articulating value. It a training issue? Chair: at Design London designers learn about business, and MBAs learn about design.
Lesley: the Design Skills Alliance is looking at skills and how to explain design process and methods. It is also collecting examples.
Liz: I don’t understand why we don’t teach marketing as part of design curriculum
Madeleine Cooper: we have moved from Dip AD to BAs. We design a milk carton, but what do we know about the milk in the carton we create [check]. People don’t know their value as it is never measured against another industry. We don’t engage with clients as we are an auxiliary practice.
John Cass: look at how management consultancy successfully evolved in 90s. A management consultant is a business person: maximising, passionate, looking at cost saving or growth strategies. Design is often about lifestyle, creative control, respect. At the heart of the communication problem.
Chair: [On lifestyles] Impact of recession: positive (companies look for more consultancy) and negative (suppliers are easiest to cut). Do we need government help?
Tobi Schneidler, Maoworks: who is running the economy? Never see any designers! Why is that? From low cost designers to strategic. We need to move design further up value chain. Examples in business highlighted, features business in design schools.
Sam Howie, BA in furniture and product design, New Creative Ventures with London Business School: putting together business plan. Looking at using creative graduates in consultancies for two years after graduation. How to speak to these markets/small businesses and marketing to those people. [To find out more contact [email protected]]
Mat Hunter: whether you recruit or network your way to this. Depth and breadth. See Tom Hume and Jame Moed who are MBAs at IDEO London, who communicate to clients better that designers do, but we design better. Hire beyond th design discipline. But how might his work for five person agency. Networking or hiring people. Jon: will the non-designers they end up being the leaders of IDEO? Chair: didn’t Wolff Olins follow a similar strategy in the late 80s/early 90s.
John: no one ever got fired for hiring PwC or IDEO. Need to scale up in UK design industry.
Chair: could discuss further: Does the Creative Economy Programme indicate an understanding of current design thinking? Are the terms creative industries and cultural industries meaningful and useful? Is there a credible model for UK plc operating as a 'creative island', servicing manufacturing-oriented economies? What are the (other) barriers to the application of creativity and innovation in the UK economy?

Technorati Tags: NewTalents

Debate: New Media is Killing Journalism? (Frontline Club)

This debate was part of World Press Freedom Day. Event information on Upcoming.org Notes posted during the event. These notes are not to be cited as direct quotes. The event was Webcast and the video has been made available as a streamed video. The audio may also be made available via the Events Podcast.

Moderator: William Horsley

Former BBC Foreign Affairs Correspondent and current UK Chairman of the Association of European Journalists

Need to decisively demonstrate the motion if you are to vote for it.

For: Andrew Keen

Author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture

Journalism is not opinion: paid collection and distribution of information
New media is not killing opinion, but need to distinguish from journalism
Not against technology. New media means Web 2.0: celebration of disintermediation, freeing us from mainstream media that stands between us and the audience. Turns the media into the blogosphere. Death of professional newspaper business and journalist.
New media doesn't support a viable ecosystem

Against: Robin Lustig

Presenter of Newshour on BBC World Service and the World Tonight on BBC Radio 4

Does the airport bookstore kill literature, or rap poetry?
[Cites former US Today publisher on more people accessing news] When I started you could only access me in certain places. "Now you can no longer get away from me!" And I am much better informed. Thank God for Google, etc.
If Andrew were right the Financial Times would be dying. But it isn't. [Cites Bill Keller in Hugh Young lecture...] Costs and dangers of retaining reporters can't be replicated by bloggers. ocus on accuracy on accuracy rather than speed.
User-generated content: "I loathe it, I hate it" but is it a threat to journalism? No.
[Cites Peter Horrocks, BBC...] Only 1% of our visitors post. Keep it in proportion. [Cites Richard Sambrook, BBC...] On Bangladesh boat trip that had 26 Twitter followers. The message not medium is key and this will keep demand going.

For: Kim Fletcher

Former editor of The Independent on Sunday and editorial director of the Telegraph group

BBC has a unique model and can act differently
Journalism is opinion as well.
How could one be against this motion. I love the pamphleteers' free-for-all.
Journalists shouldn't be keeping people out of the marketplace.
There is a really important social purpose of journalism: shining a light in dark corners.
The money is leaching out of journalism. [Reflects on decline in quality of training and increase in demands on journalism practice.] New media is pulling the money from traditional journalism.
"The Internet is completely undermining... journalism and it will continue to do so."

Against: Nazenin Ansari

Diplomatic editor of the London edition of Kayhan (London), a weekly Persian language newspaper and President of the Foreign Press Association.

[Describes impact on journalism of Iranian Revolution.] The scourge of journalism is not new media but the Iranian regime.
[Describes..] Transcribing from the virtual domain to the actual one.
For an enterprise to succeed it has to be relevant to the community. Iranian journalism has a sense of purpose far beyond remuneration. "Journalism in Iran is flourishing."

Discussion

Ivor Gabe, UNESCO/University of Bedfordshire: New media, including on mobile phones transforming Africa. Distinguish from UK. But will have to vote against the motion.
John Kelly, Washington Post columnist spending the year at the Reuters Institute at Oxford: Don't fall for victim mentality! Need to incorporate new media into journalism. Nick Davies might argue that PRs are killing journalism, Adrian Monck might argue that bad business decisions are responsible. And journalists are also killing journalism, eg: Jayson Blair. Bloggers don't want to kill journalism: it is the teat on which they suckle. People want transparency and interaction. Note that Jeff Jarvis has a print column and book to be published. Oppose motion.
Palati Mimi [sp?], exiled journalist: Blogger play a role in providing information that journalists aren't [?]
John Owen, City University: [to Andrew] Are you not reading Institute of War and Peace, etc. Who is paying the big salaries to columnists not journalists, and handing out free newspapers?
Hillary MacAskill [sp?], freelance journalist: distinguish communication and journalism. Internet made communication easier [?].
Keen: This is about the West [not Africa] and Web 2.0. Ariana Huffington is becoming a new Sulzberger, the Huffington Post is creating a new form of journalism, doing away with professional journalism.
Stuart Ross, University of Westminster student: investment from advertising. Keen: the money isn't there online.
Charlie Beckett, POLIS: distinguish journalism and journalist. People need more information and data than before and will even do things for free. Task of journalism is not to save jobs. Stand by journalism but embrace networked journalism and engage with the public. Offers best chance to create relevant product and re-engage trust in journalism. Share the power: does mean loss of authority) but reward will be something the public value. Against the motion.
[firstname] MacBride [sp?]: La Ligne, Bridges, and 007. New media is a bridge. Mexicans lived for years in fear of expressing opinions that were out of line. People are reaching out. Oppose motion.
Valle Toord [sp?], associated with Hungarian radio: new media has lead to content being impoverished. People stealing content from the Internet. Don't want analysis. Interested only in clicks on the page.
[11:00] Kim Moggergy, ex-BBC World Service Trust: [missed]
Ashley Norris, Shiny Media: new media emerged for a reason: dissatisfaction with existing media. Lack of trust. Look at magazines, not just newspapers. Young people fed up with being talked down to. Economic models: this will sort itself out in long run. Quality content will always appeal. [Investment] will move from other places.
Lustig: we will adapt. Media can co-exist. See Iain Dale, Politico.com. Not the death of journalism. Wait until you get classified ads on new media sites: job, houses, cars. Will take money from newspapers, but trick is to get things to merge.
Nick Jones, ex-BBC: threat to impartial reporting. Danger of light touch regulation of Internet: we are heading for politically partisan TV via the Internet; eg: Lord Levy TV clips taken from Mail site.
Fletcher: distinguish debate about freedom of expression. We are seeing a reduction in quality. Simon Heffer doesn't make a great TV figure. Has always been an agreement between advertisers and media: we pay, you ]get on with it]. We are just filling up sites with 'content'. Lustig: is Telegraph TV really killing journalism? Fletcher: taking resources from real journalism.
Donnacha DeLong: there is proper journalism online, from BBC, RTE, Guardian. But others are 'cool hunting' and stretching themselves thinly.
Keen: debate about an economic statement. Norris is right that we are seeing a cultural revolution against the authority of the journalist. Do you want the future to be networks of people on Facebook sharing news? People only trust their friends, not the journalist. Newspapers turning journalists into bloggers. Dan Gillmor terrible phrase about audience knowing more than me. See Mark Cuban on journalists losing authority by becoming bloggers.
Ansari: journalism is [missed]
Owen, Washington Post [?]:
Nico Macdonald: Talking about the West only, not Africa, Iran. Ashley Norris is right: "new media emerged for a reason: dissatisfaction with existing media. Lack of trust". Problem is not with journalism but with collapse of big ideas in society and role of media in reporting, investigating and analysing. As politician have lost authority media has stepped in to be the opposition. Problem of journalism can only be solved in political sphere. [Great potential then.] Opposing motion. Keen: trust is the big idea
Fletcher: more comfortable with little ideas than big ideas.
[11:30] Jeremy Dear, General Secretary, NUJ: potential of new media. See Rodney King, London bombings. But potential vs reality. Media organisations not training people sufficiently or giving them sufficient time. Companies that reward shareholders rather than investing in quality content are the problem.
Paul Aredale [sp?], City University and Reuters Foundation: people not spending money on journalism as quantity not quality is key. Media owners can give money to shareholders if put out poorer content.
Victor Keegan, Guardian: motion is whether new media is killing journalism, not paid journalism. Problem of lack of micro-payment system, but give it time. Fantastic opportunities.
Fiona Clary [?], Press TV [Iran's English language channel]: could blogging be a substitute
Nisara Dishan [sp?]: disagree with the motion. We can't go back: need to adapt to new technology.

Summing up

Ansari: multitude of sources we can check. Change is good. Can improve quality of journalism.
Fletcher: need to address specifics of the motion. Proprietors won't change model as they don't know what they are doing. See Jeff Zucker of NBC on changing analogue dollars into digital cents. Looking for ways to save money. New media is [dynamic] that is killing journalism.
Lustig: Talking Point went to Have Your Say (phone in) which was interesting for a time. New media isn't killing journalism, though having an effect. Local papers weak? T'was ever thus. We know more about Tibet and Burma than we did about Rwanda. Most of what is out there is good.
Keen: you all like new media but that isn't the issue. But we are talking about a historical fact. Not whether it is good or bad.

This happened: 3rd event (Roxy Bar & Screen, London)

Jack Schulze presents... Olinda
Originally uploaded by alexandra666

The 3rd This happened took place at the Roxy Bar & Screen in London, and had presentations from Jussi Ängeslevä, Schulze & Webb, Kenichi Okada and Snug & Outdoor. This happened is a "series of events focusing on the stories behind interaction design [delving] into projects that exist today, how their concepts and production process can help inform future work". It was started by Chris O'Shea (Pixelsumo), Joel Gethin Lewis (United Visual Artists) and Andreas Muller (Nanika). In some ways it is a successor to the Experience Design events I programmed from 2000–2006, in particular the show and tell and project-based presentations that characterised the earlier events. Notably, this event focused entirely beyond the screen, and no Web site designs were shown. Interaction is now quite naturally discussed in the context of objects and physical systems. Of course, this was always the case the the Royal College of Art and other institutions from which a number of the presenters graduated. The Web was a kind of sub-story in this narrative.

The organisers also talk about the need to "get to know some people beyond the screen", and with 120 people squeezing into the Roxy this objective was certainly achieved. It is amazing that one can put on such an event today and get this level of interest. The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) is also planning London-based events which I am sure will be well attended, albeit by a slightly more studious crowd. Interaction design has really come of age.

My notes remain in item format, and only capture the key points. For biographies please refer to the event programme:

Jussi Ängeslevä

Ängeslevä "talked about the process of creating Duality at ART+COM, a public space art installation in Tokyo".

• "To do new media innovation today you really have to get your hands dirty"
• Lessons? Manufacturers were working blind, not clear what we were trying to achieve. They weren't up front about concerns.

Schulze & Webb

Jack Schulze "discussed the Olinda project, a prototype DAB radio that shares listening with friends, is customisable with modular hardware, and aims to provoke discussion on the future and design of radios for the home".

• "You have to make a drawing of it if you want someone to pay you to make something"
• Cites Chris Heathcote on designing for flows of information as opposed to products
• Project aimed at embodying sociality and revealing flows
• We are working with model maker Paul South, ex-IDEO, to make prototypes. Hardware API will be open.
• Lessons? Make a working hardware rig before drawing anything

Kenichi Okada

Okada "talked about the process of creating Animal Superpowers, a series of toys as sensory enhancements for kids to experience special abilities such as 50x magnified ant vision, the perspective and voice of a giraffe and sensing tsunamis".

Snug & Outdoor

Hattie Coppard of Snug & Outdoor "discussed the design & development of Snug, a family of large-scale modular objects that children can use in any combination to create their own dynamic play landscapes".

• The value of funding (from NESTA and other) was that it gave us time to think
• We worked with writers on stories: arenas, pathways, obstacles, territories, gateways, private spaces, and so on.
• On testing: we adapted the objects to allow all things to connect
• "Every time the children do something different from what you would imagine"
• We designed the system so there are no hidden traps (hand, neck, etc)

What's in a name? The History and Future of the Domain Name System (The Royal Society)

What's in a name? The History and Future of the Domain Name System [Upcoming.org], an Oxford Internet Institute event organised in collaboration with and sponsored by Afilias and .ASIA, took place at the The Royal Society in London on 28 January 2008.

The event was intended to look at the history and future of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS), looking back at 25 years of the DNS, but also at the 10 years of its management under ICANN, and consider possible future developments. My reflections follow a report on the introductions and the Q&A. The event was recorded and a Webcast is available.

The keynote was delivered by Paul Mockapetris, inventor of the Domain Name System, and Board Chair of Nominum; panelists were Lynn St Amour, CEO and President of ISOC; Mike Roberts, first ICANN CEO, and Managing Director The Darwin Group Inc.; Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, OII; Edmon Chung, CEO of The DotAsia Organisation (.ASIA); Dennis Jennings, ICANN Board; and Markus Kummer, Head of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat (chair).

Introductions

Key points from the speakers follow. Points noted pick up on current challenges, features leading to innovation, and unusual perspectives. These notes are not to be cited as direct quotes:

Paul Mockapetris: in 1983 [when the network moved from Network Control Protocol to use TCP/IP protocols], everything was up for grabs 'in the Internet stack'. 'There were many many things to re-think', such as whether email should be part of FTP. We know DNS is not a directory... but now we have Google anyway... The easiest way to compromise was to ignore everyone's proposals. When questioned I said: 'It was big of you to admit I didn't used your work'. This worked every time... The first new application on DNS was MX [mail routing] designed by Craig Partridge. Version 3 was the first to be successful. Developments since then include more complex pages, such as MySpace, which require more lookups... What seems important now? Problems that make DNS binding less trustworthy... What seems important to the author? In 1983 we said Let everyone/thing own a name, publish their data, let anyone retrieve it. In 2008: Take names away from undesirables, guaranteening integrity between source and destination... ICANN is just politics... Don't worry about overloading DNS. The real world pushes back, excesses provoke reform.

Lynn St Amour: [discusses the problems of not delivering end-to-end connectivity, national walled gardens, etc]. We shouldn't consider policy goals and technical issues in isolation.

Mike Roberts: the Internet we have is not the Internet we started with – we now have 20 billion name resolutions per day. We can't assume scaling will continue successfully. "We want [expect?] to end up being as fossilised as the telco engineers we have kind of done out of a job"... If you ask them what they want, and to the extent they can answer, users want an efficient, apolitical system... Some DNS issues: the weakness of political institutions means that ICANN itself is weak. What kind of political instituions might we create to do something about this?... Positive steps forward: independence for ICANN; separate its economic and other functions; successful distribution of Internet infrastruture, such as root servers.

Edmon Chung: [discusses new gTLD and IBN. Discusses the impact of multiple TLDs pointing to same site. Discusses complex issues around who controls nomenclature in new non-Latin-script domain names.] We still need to explain to people that a domain is not a Web site.

Comments from Mockapetris: [story of assigning top level country domain codes] "We don't want to get into the business of deciding who a country is" [Postel?]. On the introduction the dotcom suffix, we said "if it doesn't catch on we can always delete it!".

Dennis Jennings: We should have as many gTLDs as we can. Issues: TLDs: how to resolve conflicts? How do deal with offensive names? Whether to allow corporate strings, such as Coca-Cola? Or single character gTLDs. IDNs: issue of browsers breaking. Does idea of country codes in, for instance Cyrillic, make sense? Why should France not control .france in Chinese? Are ccTLDs properties of the sovereign territory or of ICANN? What influences would other languages have on, for instance, Cyrillic TLDs? We need to deal with multiple languages and scripts. You can't do both at once. So which first?

Jonathan Zittrain: The Internet works in practice but not in theory! If we were to design the Internet for a global audience for today it would look nothing like it does, for instance the idea of best efforts routing. The philosophy of the pioneers was rough consensus and running code. Votes were based on a hum! The assumption was that people are reasonable and nice, leading to no requirement for a login to the Internet. The concepts of Requests for Comment (RFCs) that end up becoming standards and not subject to comment. Someone [Jon Postel'srunning a system that wears sandals and doesn't want to make money [is hard for people to countenance]. [Discusses Postel's authority to change top level country suffixes, and tells the story of Postel 'hijacking' the root server.] ICANN was meant to be the answer to catastrophic success. Other possibilities: see the ITU's Focus Group on Next Generation Networks, which is not much of a break, seeking end-to-end quality of service, and compliance with all regulatory requirements (such as for emergency services). With the end of end-to-end, we stand to lose Skype, etc.

Questions and Answers

Questions addressed the impact of spam; lousy management of DNS; IPv6; the myth of the openness of the processes described; the impact of governments allowing only ccTLDs; and the possibility of registrar failure. And Bill Manning recounted the story of the Internet explosion, and concluded that we can't ignore constituencies, such as government, just because they don't play by 'our' rules.

Mockapetris noted that you don't know if something is spam until you read it, but that we could authenticate and prioritise mail. DNS is ready for IPv6, he said, but it [IPv4?] is a victim of its own success. He encouraged people to demand openness from ICANN. St Amour argued that you can't change too fast as the intelligence is at the edge of the network and you can't mandate change. Also, that we should aim for solutions with 'least surprise'. Jennings argued that ICANN is the most open organisation you will find. He asserted that there will be failures in the systems and we have yet to test some failure scenarios, such as the reclamation of a TLD. Roberts said that progress on Internet will be a product of political consensus, and noted that the old [more informal] model is just 'memory lane'.

In conclusion St Amour noted that the Internet wouldn't have developed if scrutiny had been as wide and public as it is today and asked the audience to "Remain open to the absurdity and possible lunacy of the Internet". A number of panelists endorsed her sentiments.

Reflections

The proliferation of TLDs seems to be both problematic and academic. For instance, the .mobi TLD is a workaround for a failure of Web technology. That is, the failure to code and design pages to at least 'fail gracefully' on mobile browsers, and at best structure them such that, by identifying the browser agent, code can be delivered that is optimised for that device. (The proliferation of of 'm.' hosts, such as m.twitter.com is another symptom of the same problem.) But perhaps I am just stuck in the an out-of-date 'perfect' model of Web code servering.

I was also struck by Jennings's comment that we should have as many gTLDs as we can, and Chung's about the impact of multiple TLDs pointing to same site. As Mockapetris pointed out, we now have Google as a our [ad hoc] Web database. Google has delivered what companies such as RealNames tried and failed to deliver: natural language shortcuts to Web sites. The Inquisitor plug-in for Safari (the default browser on MacOS) gets even closer to this with its eery real time prediction of the site for which one is searching.

But the reality is that the more TLDs one has pointing to same site the worse Google PageRank is likely to work (unless Google has developed some amazing TLD aggregation algorithm), and the more difficult it will be to find sites using this new navigation model. In addition, more and more material is encountered not on the owner's site but in other spaces to which it is syndicated, such as Facebook, making TLDs less important. We are also circumventing TLDs in other ways, for instance by using barcodes read by mobile phones to get to online information. (See Google's Newspaper Ads: Big Hopes For Small Barcodes, Silicon Alley Insider, January 29, 2008.)

Facebook also figures in the discussion of junk mail, having provided a way of ensuring one only receives communications from trusted parties. (As an aside, I agreed with Mockapetris's comment that "you don't know if something is spam until you read it".) While the current Facebook model has its limitations, some kind of social network authentication is likely to be a more important tool in dealing with junk mail than playing around at the DNS level.

Overall, this event was very valuable, being both informative, and stimulating me to think in new ways about this thing we take for granted: the Domain Name System.

Other reports

Report by John at domain registrar 123-reg. Write up in Nico Macdonald Reporting journal. Review by Becky Hogge in the New Statesman.

Bop! What is the Creative Workplace? conference (CSM Innovation Centre, London)

Reporting on the Bop! What is the Creative Workplace? challenges for design, business and strategic HR in the knowledge economy (Central Saint Martins Innovation Centre, Southampton Row, London)

Tricia Austin, Bop! co-investigator, Course Director, MA Creative Practice For Narrative Environments, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design

People are dissatisfied with their workspaces. We need to innovate in the global knowledge economy Not just talking about the creative studio but the workplace. We also want to demonstrate the Bop! research outputs.

Keynote: Dr Frank Duffy, Founder, DEGW: Building on Memory or Building or the Future?

When I was training there was a lot of attention paid to design of housing, but no idea of user input into office design. Assumed we knew what offices were. Found reference by Reyner Banham in about Bureau Landschaft (office landscaping. Also influenced by US thinking on office space planning. Then worked with IBM. Challenge of understanding how differentiated European needs and expectations were.

Conventions in use of space and time. Step change taking place that is equivalent to that of the industrial revolution. Amazed about how inhibiting office building can be. Architecture/space planning has failed to solve many problems in this area. How to use space in a catalytic, creative way. The three Es: Efficiency, effectiveness and expression. [Key]

British Museum masterplan project: about memory, interface with the public. What do places do? what are they for? Buildings are "built out of time" not steel and glass. Challenges of new temporal and spatial conventions. What justifies space in an increasingly virtual world? [Key]

See comments by Richard Sennett in a recent lecture. Erosion of public space, over-determined forms and gross scale are all indictments of current building. Invisible processes generate highly visible disasters: Chain of investors; chain of planners and architects; chain of corporate real estate, facilities managers, IT, etc. Unpicking these is a big intellectual task for us. Don't re-invent C20.

Buildings and time

Christopher Alexander: "A building or town will be alive to the extent that it is governed by the Timeless Way" see The timeless way of building . And Stewart Brand on what happens to buildings after they are built in How Buildings Learn. Levels of design: Shell (50 years); Services (15 years); Scenery (5 years); Sets (5 days). Brand picked up on the separation of delivery systems. Add up the costs and you will find that "architecture is a branch of interior design".

See the Centraal Beheer, Herman Hertzberger, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, 1972, allowing people to bring in their artifacts [check]. The Larkin Building, Frank Lloyd Wright, Buffalo NY, 1904 (demolished). Architecture is inevitably about politics and values. See limited degrees of freedom of certain employees.

The evolution of the office building

Taylorist office: post-craft, human being as a unit of production. Scientific management. Dominant office type "being replicated as we speak. The Social Democratic Office: post-WWII, reaction against totalitarianism (see Hertzberger, and Niels Torp SAS offices, Stockholm 1988). The Networked Office: made possible by robust, reliable, powerful, ubiquitous C21 IT.

Why are there so many cubicles ('cubes') in US offices? The delivery mechanism. SAS offices is about equality. Has a street that links the buildings, boardroom ("the theatre of decision-making") is transparent. Taylorist office assumes work is about concentration, not collaboration; that buildings are about exchange. Social Democratic Office could only happen in countries in which there is long term investment, privately held companies, democratic values [check all], etc.

New temporal and spatial conventions

MIT Professor Bill Mitchell's iron laws on workplace a product of synchrony and co-location. But work is incredibly mobile today with ubiquitous networks. More shared than individually owned spaces, for face-to-face work with large numbers of people. Role of physical environment in communicating to employees [check]: "If you want to make people miserable and unhappy use architecture".

New real estate strategies: core and non-core space. But mobile working is not new. See the worklife of Samuel Pepys (see Pepys' Diary). And the invention of the coffee house for 'semi-programmed' interactions and the 'happy accident' (Dr Johnson).

The justification of place in an increasingly virtual world

Virtual - Physical. See Starbucks as a semi-permanent, privileged environment. In reality it points out a gap in the architecture of cities. [Notes that advanced telepresence systems are quite compelling.]

How do you justify place in an increasingly virtual world? Memory; Chance; Sociability; Meaning. What Lewis Mumford (books) called 'the Culture of Cities'. Why are London and New York still so successful in C21? They are dense, multiple, overlapping networks. Distribution of space in C17 Rome (and other cities) included much semi-permeable space. Soho vs Canary Wharf. Former is economically successful, while latter is too much about security. Bank of England (Soane, 1820) was a fortress but was toplit, like the Pantheon, and (originally) semi-permeable, for transactions with its customers.

Reversing Sennett's critique

• Appropriate scale: smaller, cheaper...
• Building that can learn
• More permeable public and semi-public urban space

"Buildings should justify themselves by the ideas they generate"

Design Dilemmas: Retaining a creative workplace as you grow

Chair: Philip Ross

Rakhi Rajani, the Bop! design research team

[Report on photographic-/interview-based research on creative studios]

How to design the workspace to support creative thinking: Ben Adams

What does your lobby say about you? We need to "lobby hard for lobbies".
Importance of keeping it calm
Toilets are important
Discusses ex-Emap building in Bowling Green Lane and how to unify it and make it more efficient. Also, what to do with 25 year lease
Lucien Freud's house/studio hasn't been 'over-refurbished'

Does increasing the scale of a creative workplace reduce the creative output?, Enrico Caruso (Gensler)

To establish if a space is performing need to look at: People/Identity – Space – Performance – Process - Technology

[Reports on Workplace survey findings]

Gensler, SF office: has communal spaces for chance encourages but also for telling a story [check]. Need for people to be able to adapt spaces.

[Missed a section]

Technology as an enabler: not a replacement for face to face. Example of Corinthian Television (client of Disney). Moved to Chiswick Park. Evaluation: staff retention has increased 150%

Lessons:

• Need to acknowledge the user
• It is about collaboration
• More and more space are about telling a story of the brands

Discussion

Questions from David Excell, Innovaro; Frank Duffy; Nicola [?], HR magazine; Dale Russell, Central Saint Martin's visiting professor. Discussion of whether only creative people need creative workspaces; whether need to tell a story is an issue at all scales; impact of home working, mobile devices and work/life balance; balance of work vs meeting spaces; the limits of the designers role and the risk of too much sharing.

What is the optimal number for a creative community? Enrico: 35 or so. Rakhi: above 4-5 leads to 'meeting fests' to allow people to catch up. Ben: 3-10 seem to be able to work effectively.

What Web 2.0 means for the Creative Workplace Environment, David Excell, Head of TMT/innovation strategy, Innovaro

Innovation is creativity plus implementation

Value of social networks:

• Creative input from extended social networks. Can now post questions to your extended network on LinkedIn
• Who knows what about what. Who are the hubs of knowledge? See Creative Path for determining which colleague has the best connections to a possible client, and Trampoline Systems used to figure out who knows what.
• Facilitating the 'free agent nation' between people who need/have IP
• Access to distribution/promotional channels

Rapid prototyping and testing, eg: BBC Backstage, Google Labs, use of Second Life in prototyping new hotel concept by Starwood Hotels.

InnoCentive, Nine Sigma for innovation. MySpace and Radiohead In Rainbows models for music business.

What does this mean for the creative workspace? [Shows traditional cubicles vs Google offices.] Need for getting things to happen. Cubeville 2.0. See MIT Things that Think programme, eg: Serendipity tool for matching interests, UbER-Badge, helping you to meet people it might take you longer to meet otherwise. .

Discussion

Questions from Nico Macdonald, Frank Duffy and others on whether Facebook is actually 'cube'-like; the lack of 'at handness' and context of use of information sharing tools such as Facebook; whether it wise to allow geeks to design our social interactions; and why when we have the technology in our phones already, eg: Bluetooth, we don't do these things already. Speaker: when you get the interaction design right that is when the real power can be realised.

See DAON's biometrics tools
HR: what are they there for? Motivating employees, who are not engagement by management but are by saving the planet.
IBM Second Life tools for teaching employees about processes. But work should be work
Technological innovation is not the same as being creative. And creativity is not the same as play (to Rakhi).
See my book

The story so far

To Frank:
The office can't make people creative. Danger of design determinism ("We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us" Winston Churchill). See Hilary Cottam on properly designed furniture improving education.

Expressive values preferred to efficiency [check]
Interstices are badly handled
See my book Why is construction so backward (John Wiley & Sons, 2004)

To Enrico:
Community is something you grow up in, and get the hell out of (John Perry Barlow)

To David:
Need or for spaces for rapid prototyping is good. Walls of Stickies doesn't do the business when you need to effectively deliver.
BBC wants to have best buildings as it is the most creative organisation. But everyone wants to be the most creative organisation.

See Linda Gratton effusive Hot Spots book. But in the knowledge economy why does Gordon Brown deny knowledge around recently scandals. Networking doesn't end hierarchy. At InterSections argued that innovation is the combination of other ideas. But this won't produce the theory of relativity, or a maglev train from London to Manchester.

Harvard Business Review (where you read tomorrow's news today) is talking up inter-generational differences despite their being (see The Next 20 Years, Neil Howe and William Strauss) more attenuated today. A product of lack of adult confidence. Do not patronise the youth, etc. Talk up what innovation really is, such as Saul Bass's Psycho titles. [Quotes Marcus Aurelius on human strength.]

Why do we have so little leadership [check]. See OECD Main Science and Technology indicators. See BERR Scoreboard, November 2007. Grant to UK robotics about that of the cost of a Chelsea house.

We do live in a culture of fear, even in the creative industries. Believe that the communication rather than production of knowledge is the main event. It isn't (despite McLuhan). See Rachel Carson Silent Spring. Wary of science and technology, scientific method, rather we like the play of scientific paradigms (Kuhn). If you are afraid of unknown unknowns how do you move forward? [Presentation cut short due to AV failure.]

Discussion

[Question not noted.] Speaker: funky-ness doesn't change the world. A space can't substitute for a proper R&D budget. Not against Stickies, etc. Don't like blue funk. Real innovation is hard work. Question: other than budgets, what can be a platform for innovation? Speaker: see perhaps pharmaceuticals [check]. See Eric Burn Games People Play (1966) on idea that much interaction that is assumed to be creative is really about people 'stroking each other', ie: no external value. Nico Macdonald: what changes in nature of leadership, and if there are changes what has driven them? Speaker: see Jim Collins From Good to Great and rethink of the celebrity CEO. Warren Bennis argued for more emotive leadership, and this is also seen in political leaders such as Blair.

[Notes for afternoon session available on request.]

Ofcom/Reuters Institute New News, Future News conference

Reporting on the Ofcom/Reuters Institute ‘New News, Future News’ conference at Reuters Global HQ in Canary Wharf, November 23, 2007. Notes posted during the event. These notes are not to be cited as direct quotes.

Welcome and introduction: key themes for the day

Ed Richards, Chief Executive, Ofcom New News, Future News document

• Plurality in an age of proliferation: does it need explicit regulatory intervention when it delivers value anyway to broadcasters
• Diversity of perspective and risk of disengagement: some decline in disengagement, and serious in some areas, including the young and some ethic minorities; issues of how groups presented in the media. (See Dispatches undercover reporting on mosques.)
• Impartiality: potential for stifling innovation, and denying access to other views of the world
• Nations and regions: viewers attach high value to these areas, especially today in nations

Disengagement among the young and ethnic minorities

Introduced by Alison Preston, Senior Research Officer, Ofcom Strong sense of apathy, though not around certain areas such as news. News media seen as an extension of authority. Factors:

• Dominance of non-English parents
• Reliance on word of mouth
• [Missed others]

The Moral Maze: Disengagement

Chair: Ian Hargreaves, Senior Partner, Ofcom Panel

• Claire Fox, Director, Institute of Ideas
• Pam Giddy, Ofcom Content Board
• David Mannion, Editor in Chief, ITV News
• David Yelland, Brunswick Group LLP Public Relations

Claire: Youth engagement tends to be patronising. Danger of 'relevant' news. "Hold your nerve is my advice". Peter: Need to do what we can to engage that wider audience Pam: Need for broadcasters to serve all audiences. We abandon young people and minority communities at our peril. David: Fewer excuses for disengagement than ever. Successful people are curious. Drift to Internet doesn't mean a drift away from news.

Witnesses

Richard D North, Journalist and Commentator

Chair: [what is your position?] Scrap Ofcom as well! Wouldn't be a problem if broadcasting were stopped. News fetishises information. Takes days for the news to say anything sensible about what has happened.
Peter: Role of Internet in helping people reinforce their prejudices
Get rid of the agonised public space
Claire: Need for paternalistic role of telling us something is important, such as what is happening in Burma? Is it an ideal worth having.
Let chaos/the market deal with it
Pam: Value in the BBC's rigourousness
For example, BBC climate change coverage is [poor]

Stacey, youth worker, Manchester

Claire: More positive stories on youth? And others, such as MPs?
Yes, though should still report negative stories
Claire: Who would you trust to deliver better news?
View that there are only tokenistic non-white, etc, news reporters.
Claire: Why would young person be better reporter?
When each channel has a different view on the news which do I trust?
Claire: Surely you are then asking for more diverse views from the young, etc.
All reporters sound like the Queen!
Claire: Are young working class people incapable of understanding this?
Problem is poor education for understanding news
David: Experience editing the Sun was that only way could increase sales was to run stories on Big Brother. Responsibility of young people to educate themselves, eg: I discovered Radio 4 when I was a kid
Why is it up to us to go out and find the news
David: It is up to you to decide [check]

Taschen, doing A-levels, lives in Brixton

Pam: Are you happy with news?
Doesn't it in with my life
Pam: Should young people be expected to watch news?
Should have the choice Peter: What kinds of stories should we cover more or less?
Less on celebrity and reality TV. If you want to know about that you watch the programme or buy OK magazine
Peter: But if young people want those stories?
They can get that online. General viewers shouldn't be forced to watch it.

Salma Yusef, Crime Prosecution Service, training to be a barrister

Chair: Correct balance?
Lack of positive stories
Chair: Al Jazeera more trustworthy than the BBC?
Absolutely!
David: In event of terrorist attack in UK why would you turn to Al Jazeera over BBC?
Al Jazeera might really look at the root of the problem. Wouldn't associate it with religion.
David: Image problem for Islam? Don't get universal condemnation by Islamic organisations [when there are attrocities].
Need to look at causes. No religious motivation. David: Would it have been wrong to report attack on Twin Towers as a Muslim attack given history?
Report as attack on human values
Peter: How much more Muslim representation responding in these situations needed on BBC?
Don't just rely on [usual suspects] such as the Muslim Council of Britain. Think about impact if you don't present a fair and balanced way.

David Goodhart, Prospect magazine

Chair: Where do you stand?
Danger of fragmenting public space and single conversation by diversifying news. Young people tend to have paranoid and conspiracy view young people had, made worse with ethnic minority groups.
Pam: Not watching news maps to the decline of voting
[Missed some comments]
Coverage of 7/7 was exemplary... There are objective facts that [need to be presented]. Always going or the slant [is not appropriate].
Claire: Are you preaching complacency?
We have gone a long way to fragmenting the message. "We have a balkanised media" and should try to shore up an authoritative voice.
Peter: Support shared set of facts, but need to response to fragmented debates that flows from a shared set of facts.
Do that in other formats, such a current affairs, but not mainstream news [Key]
David: Should we hope to see all quality newspapers read in schools? [check]
Yes. But not something the media itself can address. Broader social [issue]. [Key]
Chair: Final comments
Basically getting things right. rise of market, political converegnce with more technocratic politics that requires more effort, a framework, to understand [Key]

Audience discussion

Steve Barnett, University of Westminster: Three issues: Disengagement: no worse that when I was a student. Role of TV in addressing this: is it capable of or should it be obliged to address this. And what has this to do with impartiality requirements. No evidence that impartiality causes disengagement.

Summing up

Peter: Need to get used to hearing things we don't want to hear, such as entertainment news
Pam: People want a space where news is unpacked for them. People have changed, society has changed, and we need to chill.
David: You need to try pretty hard to disengage from the media in this country
Claire: Youth are being used a stage army to push celebrity news and they don't even want it. But could just say: You are a teenager and we aren't going to [accede to your demand]. "Young people deserve complexity whether they want it or not". There is a possibility and and ideal of [presenting a] universal perspective, the quest for the truth. News is not a social service: it is meant to tell you the truth about what is happening in the world. It might have done it badly for years, but we should try. If it did young people might respect it. Institutions panicking in the face of a changing world.
Peter: Respectful view of audiences and responding to what audiences are looking for. The news needs to be what editorial judgement considers important, but also what people want.

Nations, regions and local news

Chair: Ofcom
The Business of the Nations and Regions: What do we want and can we afford it?

Introduced by John Glover, Senior Programme Executive, Ofcom

People want more local news, and more political news [check]

Bobby Hain, Managing Director, SMG Television

[Discusses structure of STV news in Scotland, and challenges of last year]
Discusses production cost of news
Possibilities: sponsored sections of non-news elements of programmes, 'aggregated eyeballs' [and others]
Sense that Scotland requires its own dedicated news services

Mark Dodson, Chief Executive, Channel M

There is a thirst for local news and content and odd that broadcasters are moving away from it
[Shows video clips]
Our news talks to people not at them
[Discusses low costs achieved in local TV production]
"We make incredible inroads into the community". People are getting on TV who would never have been on ITV.
Issue of 'our currency' [viewer stats] not being accepted by advertisers

Charles McGhee, Editor, Glasgow Herald

We no longer enjoy a media monopoly and are being challenged by upstarts
Why no 'devolution bounce' in Scotland? Drop in factual broadcasting in Scotland. In newspapers, steady decline in Scottish papers, including the Daily Record (once had the highest penetration of any title in Western Europe).
Reporting on Scottish affairs tending to appear only in Scottish editions
How to move forward: [missed one], partner with broadcasters, target audiences, grow digital across a range of platforms.
We have a standalone S1 online service. Almost not worth trying to engage young people in print (Yes, the case over many generations) but trying to engage them in digital with a focus on [areas of interest to them].
Re-launching site with rich content, micro-sites, video
Future: [missed on], complementary use of platforms, strategic positioning

Bill Hague, Senior Vice President, Magid Associates: A North American Perspective: Why Local Matters

Local stations have very high margins
Local news stations an important source of news [check]
What do people want? Weather (especially in times of severe weather), not international news. Local is very local.
Viewers by generation: [show generation-based sources for Boomers, Generation Xers, and Adult Millennials]. TV still has primacy. Shows such as Jon Stewart seen as a top source of news by Adult Millennials. [Key] Newspapers more important for news in UK. Newscast of record is moving to late show, local news and early morning. Women more interested in breaking hard news.
Growth of political advertising.
Content is king for local broadcasters. Move to hyper-localism, eg: street mapping of weather. [Key]

Panel discussion

[Discussion of (end of/new) advertising models]

Audience discussion

[Missed question] Mark: [discusses CRR (Contracts Rights Renewal) and idea of aggregating local advertising across country] Tim Gardam: Impact of local competition from BBC
Bobby: See Gallic Digital project [check]
Nick Toon, C4:
John Lloyd: Do people who take more local news take less international news?
Bill: Not a zero sum game. We are just consuming a lot more news. [Notes simplicity of Google interface.] Rising tide has raised all ships.
Robert Beveridge, Napier University: [on where/how public sector news requirement should be delivered]
Mark: ITV no longer geared up for local news. Costs per hour still too high.
Chair: Broadband solutions?
Mark: Not seen anyone able to monetise a broadband TV station. We are acting as a bridge, from a service they can recognise to a narrowcast future
Dave Rushton, Institute of Local Television: Possibility of STV failing to properly service any of its audiences properly [?]
Chair: Haven't discussed radio today

The issue of impartiality

Steve Perkins, Head of Public Service Broadcasting Content, Ofcom [Missed start]
Much continuity of news stories across channels, not entirely down to regulatory requirements
More skepticism about impartiality, perhaps partly because of media literacy
Accuracy considered more important that impartiality

Debate: “This House believes that, when it comes to news, diversity is more important than impartiality”

Chair: Richard Holme, House of Lords

For: Stephan Shakespeare, 18 Doughty Street

Impartiality is a middle class fetish. See number of BBC people showing themselves as liberal on Facebook.
Brain doesn't allow these feelings to come out in choices made
It is possible and desirable to present an impartial report on stories
We have no definition of impartiality which helps decide between Madeleine McCann story and inheritance tax
Self-supression of views: where can this come from? Top down media. Impartiality will exclude large parts of your audience. Unacceptable views become acceptable.
18 Doughty Street doesn't attempt to be even-handed. Fewer and fewer people watch mainstream TV.
Prefer concept of fairness through diversity.

Against: Paul Murphy MP

Good interviewers are politically impartial, but diverse in [approaches]
In Northern Ireland there were typically two newspapers: one for Unionist the other for [Republican]. Resolution was helped by [impartiality] of media [check].
Why put in jeopardy our impartial broadcast media which is the envy of the world Is it argued that impartiality is dull? Or...
No one has ever said to me that there should be a change
Keeping impartiality will retain public trust
You can trust broadcasters even if you don't think they are being impartial

1. [Issue of how you regulate stories you regulator doesn't see?]
2. Do broadcasters tend to pick subjects that are easier to cover impartiality, such as politics?
3. 'Due impartiality': who decides? Broadcasters. More misleading for the audience that someone else is deciding impartiality. Be explicit. Let the audience decide. [Check]
4. Look at terms of debate: more important than...Making it the overall goal is wrong. Impartiality is only important when there is an absence of diversity. Regulators shouldn't let audiences believe they live in a protected environment. Audiences are distrustful of broadcasting's professional mystique.

For: Tim Suter, Ofcom

Impartiality is an anachronism. Regulators ind it hard to throw rules away. Rare chance to start from the beginning.
Legacy of lack of bandwidth/opportunities to respond
[Missed point]
Apart from last point, these are no longer issues

Against: Richard Tait, Director of Journalism, Cardiff School of Journalism

1. [Describes lack of impartiality in US network coverage of Iraq War
2. People get the value of impartiality as an aspiration, even if it is not achieved. Not desirable to present black and ethic minority audiences biased news.
3. Old fashioned view of what impartiality is. We have moved on from the 'on the one hand, on the other hand approach. See recent BBC report [the Wagon Wheels report?] True impartiality is about fairly reflecting diversity. The tools and technologies are there to bring impartial journalism to areas in which it doesn't yet exist.

Audience discussion

Steve Barnett, University of Westminster: "This debate has been mugged by Ofcom". The research is flawed and has been misinterpreted. (Comparing figures from one year an another.) There are no empirical conclusions that can be drawn from this research. Is Ofcom going to be taking sides, or presenting evidence to inform debate?
Head of news research, Channel 4: [Critiques research.] Research for 'What Muslims want' showed how many Muslims believe in conspiracy theories and I don't want to see a Muslim channel established to promote these views.
Peter Horrocks: Similar stories doesn't mean there is no diversity of approaches. Even if no rules, broadcasters would continue with impartiality as it is in their interest.
Tim Gardam, Oxford University: [...] When democracy was growing fastest in the UK, in the 1920s, we had no regulation. Wary of restricting diversity today. [Discusses Ofcom ruling on Fox News.]
Adrian Monck, City University: This research is leading in one particular direction and is less straight forward than we are lead to believe.
Dave Rushton, Institute for Local Television [check]:
Vicki Nash, Ofcom Scotland: Are both unrealistic as absolute concepts?
Stephen Whittle, BTSR: In Azerbaijan ot just the government speaking but the opposition.

Summing up

Chair: Motion overwhelmingly defeated

Quality, plurality and platforms – and other themes from the day

Chair: Tim Gardam, Chair, Reuters Institute
Issue of disengagement in a period when news is more prevalent than ever, and lack of sense of responsibility for keeping in touch.

Kristina Glushkova [check], Ofcom

[Discusses statistics around news use.] Online use for traditional ends, eg: reading stories.

Peter Philips, Ofcom

[Didn't fully note]
Plurality: see Burmese protests: traditional journalism and eye-witnness accounts along with user-generated images.
Competition has pushed up by quality Don
Nations and regions more pessimistic
Viewers value impartiality

Simon Bucks, Sky News

Relentless expansionism of BBC, eg: News 24 against Sky News. This has had an impact on profitability.
We have no requirement to plurality. We also supply news to other broadcasters.
Sky News may appeal to young people as it is [less formal?].
Video on demand will change.
The people who should be here and aren't are Google

Mark Byford, Deputy Director General, BBC

[Didn't fully note]
We can strengthen our position, with the value staying [complete]
Not just about us, but bloggers. We want competition. Greater ranges of voice for UK citizens.
Got to be more open, transparent and trustworthy

Simon Waldman, Director of Digital Strategy and Development, Guardian Media Group

Building up outlets in other areas, such as Real Radio Scotland
Will be more plurality within contribution
New forms of vertical integration: on the desktop, eg: MSNBC ticker/feed in Windows; Google is effectively the operating system for the Web, see Google News; mobile devices
There will be a lot more content out there but will be distilled by fewer [platforms]
Three strongest UK news brands in US are: BBC, Guardian and Daily Mail. Tremendous cause for excitement but need to be able to deliver.
But who will provide quality, and investigative reporting?

Mark Wood, Chief Executive, ITN

News coverage immeasurably better than in the past with respect to
News at 10 coming back. Channel 4 News successful and has a younger audience
Lots of work to do on covering stories
Changes: Guardian, etc, will be big players in future. Having partial news won't be an issue as audiences understand.
Challenges of engaging with disengaged audiences
Brining in audiences to [us?]
But economic models are no longer work. Need new business models.
Most exciting medium and one in which we can ensure plurality.

Panel discussion

Chair: problem of BBC trying to be authoritative in a society where people accept authority
Mark Byford: We are trusted, but have learned. Eg: around 7/7 that sticking to police point of view undermined trust. We also need to be prepared to link to other blog
Chair: has commitment to impartiality constrained plurality [check]
Simon: Historical situation was different, with limited bandwidth

Audience discussion

Mandy McCormack, Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust: Panel of middle-aged white men is not very plural [check]. Very self-referential. Needs to be a wider appreciation of the changes going on in the industry. [Interesting point, but needs clarification.]
Claire Fox: Issue of context. Beyond news, we had news analysis programmes, etc, to help people understand the news. Factual programming now is often lifestyle, or [propagandistic], eg: Honey, We're Killing the Kids. A more complicated picture. Post-ideological age of politics in which all parties agree. So, how do you bring in other voices to genuinely create critical thinking when politicians aren't delivering, but for the nation debating these things is important.
Martin Moore, Media Standards Trust: Losing plurality as news organisations not actively going to seek voices that aren't represented.

Summing up

Simon Bucks: We are all middle-aged white men. Need more voices inside our newsrooms. Variety of consumers by platform. See experiment with Sky.com TV. But should one be leading on Madeleine McCann every day? Need more diverse news gatherers/treaters.
Mark: Challenging orthodoxy is what Channel 4 is. We are diversifying, not homogenising. "Journalistic filter is so vital in adding the trust element". This is where our future is as news providers and commercially.
Simon Waldman: We sometimes focus too much on blogging. Around tsunami, input was from tourists, and we didn't hear what was happening where tourists weren't, such as Banda Aceh. Just because we haven't heard from someone, or they haven't sent us a video, doesn't mean it is not going on. [Key] The core news story has remained remarkably resilient. [Key] Bloggers pinched the whole ideom of news stories.
Mark Byford: Should be confident that news is wanted and valued by the public.
Peter Philips: [...] Google News shows relative homogeneity of news providers [check]. Benefit of competition between strong news organisations. This will drive the kind of innovation we need to address issues such as homogeneity.

Summing up

John Lloyd, Reuters Institute, Ofcom Disengagement can be a choice. Maybe there is no way of avoiding the Balkanisation of broadcasting.
Will the regional broadcaster trump the national broadcaster? Is ITV's 50s model on the way out. Impartiality vs diversity debate: I didn't vote. Most compelling was Paul Murphy's comment that the need for someone trying to be objective was of greater value. We do need diversity. We have diversity already. See Claire Fox's point on needing hard reporting, searching for the truth, probably never getting to it. Objectivity gives reporting its public right, though the broadcaster should try to be all things to all people.
Last session: Google will even more determine what we watch... Argument in new book that new media are even more hierarchical than old, with people going to more restricted [views].
Is there a 'group essentialism' embodied in the idea that there is a particular view from ethnic minority and other groups?

2007 London Media Summit (London Business School)

Report by Nico Macdonaldon on the 2007 London Media Summit, which took place on 16 November 2007 at the London Business School.

The London Media Summit is an international forum for exploring groundbreaking ideas and future trends across all areas of media. Organised by the Media Club of London Business School, Europe’s top graduate school of business, it draws together current and future leaders of the industry to develop innovative thinking.

Notes posted during the event. These notes are not to be cited as direct quotes. Trevor Cook has posted more edited and reflective notes on most of the sessions.

Keynote: Steve Purdham, CEO and founding investor, WE7

– "People hate adverts... but the love free better."
– Why am I here? Experience building global businesses in Internet area. Chaos is opportunity.
– Music industry is very complex
– iTunes forced move from album to track model
– People pay a fortune for vinyl as it is touchable. We are magpies.
– Most people don't like to anticipate change, as change hurts
– Industries usually decline due to falling demand. But demand isn't falling in the music industry.
– Music industry doesn't want to put consumer in control, but Internet has done this. "If you don't listen to your customers, you get screwed." [Key]
– [Cites Edgar Bronfman at GSMA conference on why music industry shouldn't have gone to war with music consumers.]
– Consumers walked around DRM. They push back on the restrictions DRM imposes. "The implementation was too late, and different in every environment."
– 360 degree strategy? Only works for the artist. Not about enforcing roles, but partnerships with the artists. [See new models: Paul McCartney using Starbucks. Prince using newspapers, Radiohead making more from allowing fans to pay what they choose. Madonnna.]
– Existing players aren't dead: have experience, assets, ability to buy their way out of jail
– How can we mine the full potential of a consumer. Whatever is their desire for music worth over a year. If you won't pay the full amount, who will? Pay by [urgency], advertising support, gift vouchers. Radiohead left a load of money on the table, but it was good marketing.
– Technology will keep improving. What will happen to licensing models when downloading and streaming are no different? Will downloading rates restrict [innovation]? [Key]
– Music is emotionally powerful

Panel 4: Is IP the spoilsport of the media playground?

[Not attended]

Panel 3: IPTV 2.0: Where next for IPTV?

Jonathan Sykes, Managing Director, Tiscali TV

Annelies van den Belt, Managing Director, ITV Broadband
– Consider ITV broadband to be most advanced IPTV platform: does simulcast, live, 30 day catchup
– Things keep changing. "We need to work hard to bring new product development to the heart of the business".

Rod Henwood, New Business Director, Channel 4

Andrew Burke, Partner, Snowy Road Ventures

Tim Davie, Director of Marketing, BBC 
– I don't understand technology and don't want to. I focus on audiences. And on best service, let the audience decide which is the best download service.

Panel discussion

• [Missed question]
– Jonathan: we all know where we are going to get there: IPTV and TV experience is intertwined. Question is what will be the customer journey. Telcos are getting there (BT Vision). ISPs have to get there. Sky will use it for back channel. Broadcasters are getting there (4oD). Then Google: how to get YouTube onto IPTV with its platform demands?
– Andrew: IPTV started as an alternative to broadcast, eg: PCCW in Hong Kong and re-packaging existing content. Then VoD. But interesting thing is when back channel is used. Also hybrid 'closed' content and 'over the top' content [explain!]. With BT Vision I thought we had it stitched up as we were the only people who could deliver reliable service. How the consumer ultimately consumes it is wide open.
– Annelies: [...] YouTube has made people aware of possibility of TV on the Web. Potential with sales of flat screen TV.
– Tim: will be a radical shift in where people go. Clearout of weak channels with aggregation. What iTunes did and Microsoft with the BBC. Value of strong brand that is good aggregator, though if Joost gets it right. "Good editors will be more valuable than ever before" with more content [Key]. Average content will be toast.
– Rod: 1: on demand will grow. 2: trade-off between free and pay needs to be worked out but people prepared to pay for on demand viewing. 3: new entrants disruptive. Opportunities: moving early to establish brand as an aggregator and seen as multimedia not just TV. Winners and losers: look to leverage: customer base, great content. brand, device, or service. IPTV vs Web TV: we are making profits from cable operators and ploughing them into Web TV.
• To what extent can [Web 2.0] capabilities be leveraged in [regular TV]?
– Tim: some will migrate but be different. Need quality personalisation ('the right type of recommendation'). See Amazon leverage of Listmania vs [collaborative filtering]. [Key] Will be on people's own terms, not being force fed. Many people will over-engineer the whole thing.
– Annelies: Web 2.0 is hype. Newspapers have had editors letters for years, with editors even writing back. The principles are all the same. Need to learn about being close to our audience. Most popular sites [don't trumpet features] but are well run.
– Jonathan: 1: no good way of sharing video with family via TV. 2: over-supply of mediocre TV. 3: finding right TV recommendation model, which isn't collaborative filtering. "The winners in this business will be the people who are consumer-centric".
– Rod: we need to know the market we are addressing, and not beat ourselves up for not inventing YouTube. "New entrants have got wider permission from consumers in terms of where they can go". [Key] Obsession about the consumer is more important for broadcasters, as not very good at it traditionally. Get ingrained instant response to consumer needs.
– Andrew: quality beats choice. Herbert Simon on the attention economy. Collaborative filtering done well on LoveFilm. See Innok [?] VoD for students. Wide content for small screen is key... Sky chose not to chance their UI more than once a year as cost of change (calls to call centre) were enormous. Need to find a more mainstream solution [?].
– Tim: LoveFilm's success is in finding the right film for you. More important than one might expect. 
• If you make the experience painless enough through technology you can be successful. See Amazon Unbox.
– Ron: need clearly articulated service with good delivery [execution]
• Coordinated device strategy: same on each or differentiated?
– Annelies: ask where something will be relevant, invest in infrastructure to make things simple (eg: telcos needing multiple entry points for content supply when I was at News International)
– Jonathan: Sky done it best, eg: PC interface to movies on hard drive [Sky+?]. Make it easy for consumers to get to me wherever they are. [Key] Broadcasters should be editor of choice. Vodafone Live just wasn't interesting to the consumer. Need to be consumer-centric over platform-centric.
– Andrew: make sure brand [consumer experience] is good. Sky doing well, having held back. Avoid just chucking stuff out to the consumer: you lose track Quality is also service, marketing, support. "Don't just keep throwing stuff over the wall and expect consumers to believe we are innovators."
– Tim: see what we are doing with Newsnight, on mobile (clear what is relevant). If you know what you stand for and are consistent in terms of brand, executional flexibility can come. Masses of learning on drama vs news, that [was a more natural fit].
– Ron: businesses more part of value chain, forcing us to cover more issues. iTunes/iPod "is a cohesive ecosystem". Appetite to consumer stuff on PC for free, limited willingness to pay, and possibility for business models] around moving content across platforms. [Key]

Discussion

• Learnings from 2' vs 10' experience
– Ron: PC an TV viewing in same timeframe. Trails for shows result in immediate spike in VoD service. Consumption on PC seen as less seamless than using remote control.
– Tim: defining point is behaviour. Active vs passive. Will be trend towards active usage, but will vary.
– Andrew: 1-to-many vs 1-to-1.
• Simon Torrenson [sp?], BT: what will be the killer app?
– Andrew: last.fm model on TV: the advocacy model with people you trust. The beta culture doesn't work on TV.
– Annelies: problem of metrics
– Tim: see how the Blackberry has taken off. Value of live update, eg: from Media Guardian information that is fresh and valid and personalised
– Ron: connecting pieces of content intelligently
• Nico Macdonald: [to Tim, Ron] We have talked about platform but not what it delivers, or what impact that has. Media industry should be better with customers on service but should lead audiences on content. Could answer these questions better and judge success if we knew what is media for (the Paxman Edinburgh TV Festival question). Are we heading for that with the solutions we have discussed here?
– Tim: we are passionate about audiences but won't let creativity be lead by audiences. Blue Planet, etc, didn't come out of audience research. [Last part of question restated.] Not sure what you mean. Our content is fine [?].   
– Rod: [missed]
– Annelies: need to have quality content to start with
– Tim: pity when good shows are broadcast and then disappears. But good programmes are bubbling up with iPlayer, eg: Panorama Afghanistan documentary.
– Andrew: [to Tim] in five years we won't talk about audiences
• Greg Brookes, Media and Marketing magazine: net neutrality issues?
– Jonathan: [missed]
– Andrew: there will be a two tier service... See impact of BT C21 network... Importance of HD is a long discussion.
– Tim: our service offer is the best content, and adding value to the service
• HD TV?
– Andrew: won't work on the Web
– Tim: will be standard. We care about basic TV in the UK being good. 
– Jonathan: there was no demand for HD in this market!

Keynote: Mark Wood, Chief Executive, ITN

– Creating Setanta Sport 24 hour sports news channel
– See upswing of Channel 4 News and ITV faith in new News at Ten
• ITN News
– Moving to digital news-gathering, to broadcast ready, and digital productions systems
– Introduced the one wo/man news channel with 15 minute looped channel on a phone. One person produces: selecting material from server, voiceover, piece to camera, production.
– We are all having to get used to UGC content. [Shows video of Glasgow airport bombing.] [Discussions commercial issues.] We now get the pictures more often than we used to. Also need to be able to authenticate material. See Uploaded news bloggers network.
– People will look at crude footage as long as it tells a story. But still need strong journalists to get the stories, put them in context and verify stories, increasingly from UGC contributors.
– Up-skilling your staff and reducing cost base
– [Shows Telegraph TV video] We helped the Telegraph make video more watchable, bring graphic and archive footage. This programme is widely watched in the City as people want to know what the Telegraph is saying. Hard to learn how to be televisual. Also issue of pacing broadcasts.
– Also distributing more directly, inc. to Bebo, YouTube (see ITN channel) and Joost. Starting to see advertising made for the medium (ads have to be short or not intrusive in some other way). Expect ad revenue to grow quickly, from a low start.
– ITN News on 3G phones for [a number] of years. Have learned a lot from this about packaging news for a younger audience, who may not be immediately interested in Gordon Brown
• ITN Source
– Includes Reuters, Channel 4 News, British Pathe Fox News and Movietone
– Key markets: broadcasters, new media companies, and increasingly education
– Enormous growth anticipated with increased use of video

Discussion

• Nico Macdonald: what was your thinking about how to help people navigate this large dataset, going beyond the Google 1,000s of items
– Quality of (human created) meta data is vital. Also using data from what is most popular. And creating channels around subjects. Can get metadata outsourced (to India) and can be good but sometimes problems identifying significant people in footage 
• Is news-gathering retrenching
– Appetite for foreign news and analysis growing. Compliance key as risk of being sued is greater, so professionalising journalists with qualifications.
• Robin Ashton, ESPN: syndication alternative or driver to ITN.co.uk?
– We are B2B and like to drive people to C4 or ITV. Stuff on Bebo, etc, more about revenue generation.
– [Not related to question] How to deal with rights of people who don't want to have video of them online. [Shows Rolling Stones - Little Red Rooster on RSG video on YouTube] Commercial impact of stuff getting out with no control.

Panel 2: Targeting creative ventures - where will investors go next?

[Not attended]

Panel 1: Compromised content or immersive experience?

"In this panel, media executives from the worlds of advertising, content and new media will discuss the positive and negative impact of the convergence of the online and offline world on today's content"

Chair: John Bates

Nick Wrenn, Managing Editor, CNN International
– Danger of hoaxes
– Does media stifle debate and proper thought

Jamie Kantrowicz, SVP Marketing & Content, MySpace Europe
– UGC isn't just stealing content but [has value itself]
– Value for offline companies of MySpace or online. Can't expect customers to come to you.

Brendan Condon, Managing Director, Advertising.com
– I am involved in monetising content, inc. across any 3rd party advertising house

John Davy, Jongleurs
– Moved from owning clubs to exploiting rights
– Issues: how to exploit content [?]. Whether to moderate content, and split off premium, and legal issues. Also producing an IPTV channel. And artists publisher, merchandiser and live representatives.
– Tensions between content and talent

Panel discussion

• Issue of moderation
– Nick: "I don't want to be associated with moronic trash that gets posted on the Internet"
– Jamie: online will reflect what is going on in society. But communities are already somewhat self-policiing. [Discusses Nike early role in MySpace on post-purchase customer relationship/advice.]
– Brendan: advertisers very wary about effect of un-moderated UGC on their brand
– Nick: [interesting point about re-designing site to address new needs for stats (?)]
• Conflict of ads and content?
– Nick: users are becoming very savvy and quickly determine if an ad is relevant to them
– Jamie: users using an iPod background on MySpace is amazing branding
– Nick: need to target sophisticated users in a non-identifiable way [ie: not scanning their emails literally]
– Jamie: real power in marketing is in the dialogue in communities
– John: danger of advertising moving into sponsorship area[?]
– Nick: know when line has been crossed between advertising and content [?] [Key]

Discussion

• [Who?], Burston Marsetllar: protecting IP rights of content 
– Nick: needs to be more discussion within the industry
– John: do you want a moral or commercial answer?! [Missed next point.]
– Jamie: we have a strict take-down policy. How to allow multiple partners to benefit from revenue streams.
– John: with correct meta-tagging we may be able to do this
– Brendan: the old water-cooler moment didn't allow you to share the actual thing. Consumers are now saying 'This is how we want to communicate'.
• Greg Brooks, C2 Communications; opting out of tracking or behavioural targeting
– Brendan: advertisers need to deliver engaging continue... Consumers have to realise that if they are getting free content
• Nico Macdonald: meta information that allows for content or be monetised is interesting. See Ashley Highfield, BBC Future Media & Technology, on BBC content free to use in UK but with an advert in the US. But need ease of use, which we don't have with UK video on demand. Or is the model more likely to be content free and value elsewhere, eg: Prince album free and income from touring. To CNN: we are putting old wine in new bottles and it is easy to rip off. Should we be creating material that is of the medium?   
– Nick: "For some old brands, tackling new media is like watching your uncle dance at a wedding". Need to be relevant to people. Needs to be some business plan to avoid failing quickly. Need to be more cautious. New viewers and new ways o doing it. See Finnish shooting: coverage done by younger Web developers, who researched social networking sites and found videos before they were taken down. Second nature for them to upload this stuff, more familiar than TV. Our advertisers want cross platform exposure.
– John: products that are difficult to use will find people don't come back
• Nico Macdonald: [clarification] Where is the leadership from the media sector in ease of use 
• Chair: Get it right [ease of use]
• Susan Dean, BBC: distinction of traditional advertising [?]. Issue of regulation, eg: children's TV. 
– Brendan: should be no regulation regarding content providing within the law
– Jamie: we do work within the law. Content hosted in US. Have 500 people viewing content every day. Finnish video didn't break the law but did help police apprehend criminal from profile.
• Jonathan [?], [affiliation]: appropriate content for appropriate medium (extending earlier question). Mobile content, multiple platforms, monetising.
– Nick: using mobile for news and sport. Still need some re-purposing. Putting video on mobile, but people still want WAP model of text, not even pictures. Will differ market to market, eg: Africa.
– Jamie: "People aren't interested in watching 30 minutes of video through a stream yet". We use mobile for communication. 
– Brendan: we purchased Third Screen Media to deliver text and video to mobile. But we are not the generation for mobile. In Japan [nearfield communication] used to purchase sodas. Also in developing world will be more important. And screens will get better, etc.
– Nick: breaking news via SMS is still key
– Jamie: success of Sky News on mobile
– John: [...] we had to re-shoot content specially. Content provision will need to be done in a dual way.
• Mark [who?], BBC: on- and offline activity [around CRM]. People want tickets to Strictly Come Dancing filming. In the past, a single could be a loss leader for an album. Now album could be a loss leader for a tour.
– John: use to be told that 'Live is dead'. But giving away free stuff to drive consumers to real experiences is key... "People paying for Second Life avatar gigs! We can only gasp sometimes, sit back and let this stuff happen".   
– Jamie: "live is alive and well"
– Brendan: see Kate Modern, which was online only. Will be UGC online and [professionally produced] content. [Key] 
– Jamie: we are working on new [content forms]. It is going on now. [Key]
– Nick to Brendan: problem of things becoming too popular? Brendan: see Burger King attempt to use MySpace. See Loopt. Up to use as major media providers that we keep in touch with these kinds of consumers, as they will
• Stephanie Chamberlain, project management consultant: future of advertising in product placement?
– Nick: CNN launched news-gathering hub in Second Life last week. "Second Life... is for people who are not really happy with their first life!" [Key] Shouldn't be rushing to monetise this immediately.
– Brendan: need to be creative to use new platforms, or will experience backlash. Definitely monetisable in future.
– John: looking at comics and payment in Second Life
– Jamie: we are far from making money from video advertising. See Mark Penn 'Microtrends' book on marketing to people. Behavioural targeting going forward... "The world is moving towards free."
• Anand Verma, Sapient: longevity of Facebook and MySpace given current rates of growth?
– Nick: we were told CNN wouldn't survive as well...
– Brendan: Fortune, Life and People all started as sections in Time magazine. Make the most of successful sub-brands.
– John: we are finding new ways of interacting with people
– Jamie: there will always be big winners but also more nice audience. The Web is becoming a socialised experience. Use of widgets to drive data. Networking of how we see the Internet [?].

Keynote: Tim Brooks, Guardian News & Media

– Is the Internet just another medium (as you have heard today)?
– ITV launch had a more rapid and profound effect on UK ad market, getting 25% of ad market in 7 years. Managing an 'old' media company in the 1950s probably felt like a perfect storm.
1: Overall ad revenue for newspapers didn't fall.
2: No media companies succeeded (cinema chains and technology companies [Redifusion]).
3: No non-UK companies as ITV license UK only, unlike today
4: Overall cost makeup for Web 2.0 business can focus on sales and marketing as content creation and distribution costs are low. See Google UK (1.3 Bn revenue in UK this year on 500 staff) vs radio industry (£582 M for 9,100 staff). Nationality is important as precious little of Google revenue invested in UK content.
– Support Google but don't support DoubleClick acquisition
– [Shows Pew research on (decline) of newspaper readership] [Shows nation press circulation 1955-2007] [Shows profits of national quality press, showing all losing money]
– See decline of one time star Emap. Decline of music sales. Problem for content aggregation businesses is decline in scale.
– "Will you still tune to E4 when you can download The Sopranos directly?" See Japanese HD over IP model Vudu.com movie model.
– Online is not about bland aggregation but [point of view]
– From 6m/quarter to 18m/month consuming out products
– Media companies will only survive if what they produce is Distinctive, Authentic, Trusted and Original content. Which is why Murdoch bought WSJ. The species that are most responsive to change are the ones that survive [Darwin].
– [Shows Baghdad 'A Doctor's Story']

Discussion

• Natalie, Media Age: to what extent are you cannibalising your offline offering? And do you care?
– A bit like the BBC, we don't really care. We would still be losing sale if were weren't online. Online also bringing in younger audience.
• Andrew [who?], LBS: to what extent can you become a news distribution organisations.
– Can't compete with Reuters, AP, CNN, etc. But won't see new entrants. They have adapted well, eg: we show Reuters video on site.
• Follow-up by Andrew: on open source news
– Dangers of opening up site, eg: Comment is Free, people sending us news where we are not sure o their fact checking or motivations. "I am not a big believer in open source news. I believe it will end in legal grief for people who go down that track."
• What will generations look like 20 years from now, eg: young people not being able to spell?
– Number of news consumers continues to increase
• Guy Elliott [sp?], Sapient: someone has to create the content. If they go out of business how will the ecosystem re-balance.
– [Missed reply]
• [Who?], Reuters: will creating distinctive content get us through?
– Successful business are essentially
• Jonathan [who?], strategy consultants: impact on quality press of free papers?
– Free papers in London are bleeding money and killing the Evening Standard. 93% drop in paid for newspapers in London. This is bad for newspapers.
• [Who?/Affiliation?] Have you given up on charging for content?
– Never gave up on it, but never embraced it. Decisions taken by sagacious people before my time. See WSJ going free to access.

Keynote: Derek Morris, Zenith Optimedia

– We are just merchants. We don't invest in assets. We don't make it happen, we just stick it together.
– It is disruption and opportunity
– Ecology vs economy
– There is just more. Consumers better informed. No longer a 'push to...' economy. Also danger of getting caught [doing something wrong].
– Used to be able to get to 50% of the population with one slot: Saturday night at the Palladium. Now more media items (magazine) and more media (Internet, etc). Decline of recall of advertising. More brands and products.
– Consumer has always been in control [shows Zenith advert for TV remote control from 50s. But now it is instant, and now all powerful. [Key]
– Is my industry keener on talking about change than getting on with it
– Digerati pushing us to believe old media is dying. But it is an ecology not an economy.
– Remember when TV was going to destroy the newspaper? Today would destroy (tabloids at least) if you took the TV out of it.
– The Web will not kill these media, it will just be the highway to bring these media to us. Need for single minded, cross platform communication they [consumers?] can own.
– [YouTube may get a lot of views but still not same impacts advertising around Coronation Street]
– [Quote from Coca Cola "creativity is vital, and so is a broader, holistic view" of how to reach the consumer.]
– But little research that presents a holistic point of view [print, broadcast, online, outdoor (check?)]. We setup such a programme: 287,00 interviews, 33 countries. Shows need for experiential marketing (esp. for undifferentiated products), brand advocacy and word of mouth.
– Need to move from ratings and tonnage. YouTube has exposure but not impact [check?] [Key]
– Guardian making progress. Need change from media owners.
– We do need to bring content and channel back together [Key: but needs explaining]
– Data is king and has to have status
– Clients love the Internet, but in reality are moving towards "short-term, countable response". Advertising and marketing people didn't come into business to work with data, but will need to.
– Moore's Law shows force is unstoppable
– [Discusses American Idol and Fructis ad] 
– [Shows Nike Mambo ad] No budget
– All media survive, some is fantastic, and bedrock of consumer communications... We have all
got to get comfortable with data.

Discussion

• Patrick Barwise: danger of focusing on creativity and failing to execute
– Still a role for fame. Will have 1-to-1 but also need fame and collective experiences. 
• [Missed question and answer]
• Nico Macdonald: what do you mean by "need to bring content and channel back together"?
– Need to marry insights into consumers/channels with great content (the 40 second ad of old). We have split them up, and I don't think they will come together again, but they need to [learn to collaborate better]. 
• Mark Kellaher [sp?], BBC marketing: will old media really survive?
– 800m views on Corrie is a hard fact. [Future evangelists.] Isn't video on demand just television?! Convergence will be back "My mum will call it telly". TV brings people together, eg: Dr Who. May be a new highway, but still great entertainment.
• Alan Burmah [sp?], Sapient: how does intellectual property work, eg: person from Sheffield who created Apple ad?
– Not sure. See Current.tv. I have no idea about intellectual property. Need to find a way to get some
• Greg [who?], Media and Marketing magazine: are social networks where we will get the collective references you mentioned and disintermediate your business?
– People still want great content. I don't see the average Joe being able to do this.

Institute of Design Strategy Conference 2007 (Chicago)

The Institute of Design Strategy Conference 2007. The conference is an ambitious and stimulating event, now in its fourth year. See my (remote) report on the first event: 'Report: HITS is a welcome Collaboration of Design and Business' Hugh Dubberly, S. Joy Mountford, Ian McClelland, and Nico Macdonald (ed) Usability News, 8 November 2004 [fully linked draft of article]

See the speaker biographies on the conference site. These notes are not to be cited as direct quotes. In the meantime, see the ID Strategy Conference 2007 blog being edited by John Maeda and Becky Bermont. See photos from the conference in the entry on Upcoming.org.

Christopher Meyer, CEO, Monitor Network

Will talk about four things:

1. Compared to last year: Business really likes design now; speed of change demands it: industrial to information economy: from science, technology, business, organisational change. Evolution of what has been asked of design: what works > what competes > human-centred innovation.
2. Design thinking: What is design thinking: systems thinking. "I am not sure the design community is the leader in that particularly". Fitness-Search space landscape: businesses have a hard time seeing there is a higher peak
   
3. Simulations are great story tellers. Generates more reliability in minds of people who are after that.
4. Implication on where to play and how to flourish: Thrive rather than win. From mystery > heuristics > algorithms > code. Heuristics aren't marketable, algorithms are

Good news: business people are coming your way, and this won't change soon. After information curves is coming nanotech and molecular science. "Design is going to be in a period of ascendancy" but don't be complacent. Your thinking... will help you adapt.

Josephine Green, Senior Director of Trends and Strategy, Philips Design

• Designers are disruptive. Peter Drucker on Western societies being disruptive every 50 years
• What drives the future? We have colonised the empty space of the future with technology. (See Carlotta Perez book.) Problem of selling more stuff at a time when we should be re-thinking stuffGDP implies "the future is an empty space: we chuck more and more stuf at it"
• New metrics: Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare. On happiness: we aren't happier than ever. Do we want to make people at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) wealthier?
• What is quality of life? Cut off point of QoL is surprisingly low
• Eckhart Tolle '<a href="http://www.soulfulliving.com/stillness_speaks.htm">Stillnes Speaks</a>' on the transformation of human consciousness
• "The Millennium Kids doing a million things in the digital world"
• See the 'Cultural Creatives' Paul Ray: on how 50m people changing the world by carrying the values of the future
• From mass consumption to mass creativity
• Intelligence is moving out of boxes into walls, clothes, etc.
• Beyond defining by what I consume to 'How can I best take advantage of...'.
• Solutions: Deep customisation; Enabling Tools
• Designers are great at re-framing questions
• From standalone to connected systems. Need to re-invent the "structures from the old industrial paradigms". From market to social innovation.
• Healthcare: crisis in EU and US. Biggest industries of C21 will be social industries: health, education, well-being
• An ecology of growth: "We cannot live in the way we have been living: we know that"
• Wolfgang Sachs 'Globalisation and Sustainability' The Wuppertal Institute, Germany: 'sufficiency' is about not giving more but taking less. "We need 11 planets if we go on like this". Otherwise "we will be finished" [Later] "otherwise we are in one hell of a mess"/
• From Manuacturing to Experience-driven, to Transformation: people/network driven. From installation period (first 20-30 years) to deployement period of eco-growth.
• [Diagram: Researching the future / Engaging with the Future / Co-creating the future / Envisaging the future]
• Towards being a socially lead company. See Karma Capitalism in Hamburg. To social innovation. Social entrepreneurs may be the new actors in the future.

Connie Duckworth, President and Chairman, Arzu, Inc.

• [Shows video about situation in Afghanistan and the role of <a href="http://www.arzurugs.org/">Arzu Rugs</a> in creating work for Afghan women]
• Approached the Institute of Design: told us to emphasise the quality of the design and inputs, focus on environmental and employment impact [check]
• One weaver said "I weave so my daughter won't have to"
• Design thinking is absolutely critical to solving these problems

William Kramer, Deputy Director of Dvpt. through Enterprise and Senior Fellow, World Resources Institute

• We live rather precariously with the weight of 4 Bn poor people bearing down on us
• Lack of quantitative data about customers in the developing world
• Most people work in the informal economy. Informality is a terrible trap as you stand outside the law, are unable to leverage assets. You cannot grow in the informal economy.
• Don't you want in fact to make poor people richer
• It is important to work out how to operationalise innovation in a new kind of market

Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine; author, The Long Tail

• Carver Mead at CalTech: 'waste is good'. Taught people to waste transistors
• Unit cost of storage is falling. So why does our new Voice over IP system tell me my mailbox is full?
• For the first time in history, complexity is free.
• In an abundance model we no longer need to predict demand but just meausre it
• Apple allowed you to put your whole music collection, addressing the challenge that "I can't predict my own demand, so give me all of it!"
• A hyperlink is a vote
• We [at Wired] could run the stories online, where we have infinite shelf space, but we still have to get over the dollar-a-word problem
• C20 managment built around scarcity. Need to push innovation out to the margins as cost of experimentation and failure is so low

Denis Weil, Vice President, Innovation and Concept Development, McDonald's Corp 'Design thinking and practice at McDonald's: An update' [para]

• Service design goes to system design: organisationally, the offer is actually a system
• Value of design thinking in visualising, particulary for an experience such as a restaurant and the related activities
• At a McDonald's restaurant, the back of the building is a manufacturing business, front is a service business
• We co-produce our experience with our customers, hence participatory design
• Working on the next generation operating platform (like 'Intel inside')
• When customers hear beeping they assume it is a microwave, as that is what they have in their homes
• We are moving away from transactional (Post Office) experience
• We continuously have to do system design and have developed a strong operations research practice
• Best thing that happened to design was when we Integrated with the operations development group
• They were able to 'prototype the backend' and I said 'What if we could prototype the front end?'

David Lawrence, Senior Manager, Bicycle Product Development and Marketing, Shimano America

• We were really designing bikes or ourselves. How to desgin a bike for someone else, eg: your Mom?
• How to drive change when we are successul, cf SK Telecom.
• Took Trek to IDEO so they would believe what we were telling them. They validated what we told them.

Summing up: Larry Keeley, President, Doblin Inc.

• Our industry captains (Jim Hackett and Bumshik Hong) are prepared to show uncertainty
• On Hasso Plattner: See BizTube idea: combinations of objects ('composites') that are smart little goals.
• On Dale Fahnstrom: Note how few people in the world can still conceive and make stuff.
• The Institute of Design had its cult around 'design planning'. Now we see business leaders who don't know what to do. We will be meaningful to people "who are in that kind of pain".
• Rotman is first business school to re-invent itself: beyond being good analysts to synthesis.

Roger Martin, Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto 'Designing in Hostile Territory'

• The fundamental tension: Reliability vs Validity: Why does this matter to the world of design? Business people live in a world of reliability
• Five things for designers: Take design unfriendliness as a design challenge 2: Empathise with the design-unfriendly elements 3: Speak the language of reliability: you think they are disagreeing with you, but in fact they don't understand a word you have said 4: Use analogies and stories: best way of mapping reliability to validity by connecting to past data 5: Bite of as small a piece as possible to generate proof
• Strategy is about shortening your odds
• Things arrive as a mystery. Then becomes a heuristic, eg: perspective, then becomes an algorithm and get coded

Connie Yowell, Director for Digital Media, Learning & Education, MacArthur Foundation

• "Design is an incredibly important dispostion of young people to have" in a world that will be increasing designed.

Matthew Holloway, Vice President, Design Services Team, SAP

• We were asked by HR to re-design their process tool. But it wasn't the tool but the policies that needed to be re-designed.
• Need for self-confidence in design
• Designers are often second class citizens
• We encourage people to 'Listen to make/Make to think': the artifact is key. Better to have a conversation about a 'thing' as you move the conversation from me vs your idea to me and you talking about 'this thing'.
• Our biggest impact is in helping other teams make impact. We want to enable other success. "We come across as not having an agenda... As being really nice guys."
• Designers also play a role as a connectors

Hasso Plattner, Co-founder, SAP

• I only use systems when I can do so without reading the manual
• In product development, we modeled every business function/process/screen, using pictures and text. We modeled interaction points with humans and other systems.
• Need horizontal communication. Problem of getting people to talk. We need people to explain new ideas in the form of models so it is captured and people can contribute.
• We will never be able to anticipate everything, so tools must be adaptable
• Learning design philosophy is absolutely necessary.
• Presented to a local company and they said 'For the first time we believe SAP understands what we need'. We had presented a working prototype.

Bumshik Hong, Vice President, Innovation & New Business Development, SK Telecom 'Growth Through Human-Centred Innovation'

• Our innovation model is evolving towards human centred innovation
• Stopped asking how we are going to expand our market share. Asked instead, how are we going to create the market?
• We have had a discussion of convergence of industries. We want to talk about convergence of needs.
• Korean telcos still seen as very creative, and lots of graduates want to work for them

Jim Hackett, CEO and President, Steelcase Inc 'Strategic/Critical Thinking'

• The notion of design thinking was the most important thing I could learn about
• Sarbannes-Oxley has taught us to be ready: 9/11 forced people to shorten their horizons. But in crises we need to do design-type thinking.

Introduction: Patrick Whitney, conference chair Director and Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor, IIT Institute of Design

• Apple and Steve jobs are a great example of not so much user-centred design but CEO-centred design

Oxford Media Convention 2007, January 18, 2007

Today I will be reporting on the Oxford Media Convention 2007, subtitled 'Beyond broadcast: responding to change'. My first post will now be made this evening. (Too hard to take notes, ask questions and talk to people.)