Month: April 2009
The End of an April
Dedicating more and more time to my music projects I have been considering the much changed online media landscape I now inhabit.
Podcasting has changed, and the practises of media makers have evolved out of recognition.
I seriously doubt that the core community of podcasting per se that once existed still exists. It’s been diluted, members have drifted away into other activities, media making habits have changed. With widespread broadband, non-linear delivery is less important, and with streaming services such Mogulus, UStream, Bambuser and Qik, and ever more efficient computers, self-powered live broadcast is now normal.
The content has changed, too. PR, marketing and mainstream media types now enforce old-style, predictable conformity upon this once free, wild and hugely entertaining frontier. Old style Blogging, which kicked off this social media revolution, has been largely replaced by mich lighter, less time-intensive, less literary forms such as Twitter and Tumblr, at least among the large community of non-writers. Carefully produced programmes by passionate amateurs with normal sounding voices are now made by media corporations. Not only do BBC announcers no longer speak the Queen’s English, they make the same kinds of pronunciation gaffes as the ill-educated public.
But all is not lost. Though I hereby pronounce the online media revolution phase one to be finished, revolution phase two began a while back, and its results will be upon us before we even notice. I do have some clear ideas about how this next phase will manifest, but I’m not in a position to share them here. Instead, look for clues in your sock drawer, which as everyone knows, is where lost things gather.
