Nielsen 2.0?

Hey! Nielsen is a new venture by the Nielsen group to help bring their reports back to the current ages. The website is a social networking portal for blogging, commenting, and rating worthy news and opinions for vast world of media.

How does it work?

"Using data from real users, Hey! Nielsen generates a Hey! Nielsen score -- a real-time indicator of a topic's impact, influence, and value. As users submit feedback, the score is created from a number of factors such as user response, blog buzz, and news coverage, as well as raw data from our sister sites Billboard.com, HollywoodReporter.com, and BlogPulse.com."

How much weight?

It will be interesting to see how much faith they put into this rating system compared to the traditional Nielsen rating. Its certainly offers a new perspective and the average of the ratings will probably be a good middle ground as to where to public really is in the current digital revolution.

DataPortability is an effort by a group of volunteers and Internet application vendors to promote the capability to control, share, and move data from one system to another. DataPortability is the idea that users should be able to move, share, and control their identity, photos, videos and all other forms of personal data.

The project aims to document the best practices for integrating existing open standards and protocols to enable end-to-end data portability between online tools, vendors, and services.

Watch video here.

A few initiatives like this have been started, but the most important factor for success is to see how social networks adapt to a companie's standard. Currently, I see DataPortability forging ahead with adaption from facebook, twitter, netvibes, and linedIn. I believe all the "competitors" for this "portability" market are collaborating and are ultimately looking for the greater good of online practices, ethics and standards.

Here is a list of similar efforts that are trying to unify a standard:

OpenID

"A free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet."

OAuth

"An open protocol to allow secure API authentication in a simple and standard method from desktop and web applications."

Microformats

"Microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. Instead of throwing away what works today, microformats intend to solve simpler problems first by adapting to current behaviors and usage patterns."

Xmpp

"Xmpp is an open XML technology for real-time communication, which powers a wide range of applications including instant messaging, presence, media session management, shared editing, whiteboarding, collaboration, lightweight middleware, content syndication, and generalized XML routing."

Internet TV is such a powerful idea. The ability to effectively interact with such a rich and historic media is the next great challenge.

Traditional TV is Mindless... in a Good Way.

The TV has a special place that internet TV has not quite taken, but could very easily. I began to really think about how I would separate them in my mind. I personally like the TV because it's mindless. After a long day of work, nothing is better than flipping through the channels and just settling on something. I become more engaged very quickly once I find something, and satisfaction has been met. After a long day of work, and I go to Hulu and select TV shows, I'm suddenly faced with more decisions and analysis than I had the last hours of work! If you're following a series, no problem, but if you need moving picture as a buffer, the television is mindless and perfect.

Meet in the Middle

The TV and other media that are not too interactive offer this relaxed interaction. If Hulu would offer a "Surfing" mode so that when you log in, a TV show is already streaming, and not necessarily in the beginning, I think this would show some interesting results. The ability to flip through shows that are streaming currently, and then a "start over" button at the bottom. It's these "less decisions, more relaxing" approaches that will allow users (older demographic especially) to meet in the middle and still see internet TV as as television, and not a cue of media. Technology has allowed Internet TV to completely reinvent itself, but should consider the fundamentals of what makes a typical TV experience what it is... It's mindless and easy. Let me know what you think.

Last week I wrote a little bit about Internet TV and how I feel it will and currently is changing the social landscape that has been built around the television shows we have come to know and love. I found this podcast today and thought it might be an interesting follow up to where I left off last week.

I was intrigued by this episode for a couple of reasons, one being that the future of television right now is really up in the air. Technologies have emerged over the past couple of years (ie. Internet TV) that are just starting to take off, and there's still room for improvement making the future of television anyone's game. The message board for this episode follows suit with a conversation which suggests several different paths television could go.

Passive Viewing v. Interactive Viewing

A theme that I saw emerge is the preference of users when choosing between the passive experience of television and the interactive experience of the internet. As I started to think about the difference between a passive experience with a television and an interactive experience with a television two things came to mind:

1. The fact that "64 percent of people between the ages of 9 and 17 aren't just glued to the couch while the TV is on—they're going online at the same time."
2. A recent study showed that video streamed by broadcast TV websites are two times as likely to be watched by a female than by a male. At the same time videos on Consumer Generated Media websites (ie. YouTube) were twice as likely to be viewed by males than females.

Statistics like these make me wonder if the future of television is a purely interactive experience. After all there is something to be said for kicking back with a beer and watching your favorite television show, without have to respond interactively to the content put forth by the show. That being said I have no idea how what kind of interactions might be available in regards to the TV, or what kind of interactions would add value to the traditional passive experience. As for right now I'm not willing to abandon the passive experience for an interactive one...right now I want them to co-exist.

Adaptation Obstacles

There is no doubt about the fact that the formats and distribution methods for television are going to change. These new changes however are posing several obstacles which are preventing consumers from fully adapting these new technologies.

1. "On average around one-third of consumers with broadband access said they watch less television since going online. Conversely, internet access appears to have a positive effect on radio listening..." Multi-tasking is quickly becoming a way of life, despite the fact that watching television is indeed a passive experience, it is possible that two visual experience at the same time may be too much for some consumers.
2. A lot of hype has surrounded the idea of TV on the mobile phone. The hype hasn't transitioned into anything valuable though. Multiple studies show that the idea of mobile TV just hasn't caught on quite yet. Hindrances include things such as screen size and video quality -- why watch a movie or TV show on your tiny cell phone screen when you could watch it on your 42" HD TV?
3. Image quality is a huge issue across the board with newer distribution methods. I expect this will improve quickly, especially since Adobe released a newer compression method for .flvs

Puberty Sucks

Television right now is going through a transitional period. If it were a growing human it would be at that awkward stage where their voice squeaks and they haven't quite adjusted to their growing body. But the way consumers ingest television is in fact changing and at an extremely fast pace, television networks and content providers are going to have to figure out exactly how they can become part of these new mediums so that they grow along with the consumers of today and tomorrow.

Following Madonna's Example

In truth television is in need of a re-invention. When Madonna comes out with a new record she reinvents herself, which is why after all these years...despite her age...she still is able to actually sell those records she produces. It is her new, reincarnated form that the consumer is buying...imbued with the spirit of the old Madonna, but fresher and better, more in-tune with the spirit of the current time.

Television would do well to use Madonna as a model for reinvention. I don't think consumers want to do away with the traditional passive viewing experience, but I think they would like to have the option of viewing that experience through multiple modes. As far as interactivity goes it is possible that experiences which require user input could be most successful as a supplement to the passive experience or co-exist with the passive experience to service a different kind of viewer. When it comes to new formats, distribution methods, and interactive viewing experiences one thing is for sure -- they MUST be easy to use and easily integrated into the consumers daily life.

However television is reinvented it has to offer consumers something new, something that works its self into our cultures new lifestyle of multitasking and heightened communication, making life easier and consumption of content easier. While I don't think any of what is out there has reached this mark yet, I think things such as internet TV are rapidly approaching this mark, allowing it to penetrate the consumer market before other methods...meaning more money and more attention.

In our culture today the internet and technology have become an ever present force in our lives. Whether were waiting in our car during rush hour, talking on a cellphone to a friend, using the internet to retrieve our email or setting our home security system we have come to embrace some aspect of technology in our lives. This has made our society one that expects outcome at a moments notice and wants information pertinent to them at any time, anywhere they are.

As the Internet has developed it has in some ways allowed us to reclaim knowledge. Information that once would have been a chore to find or limited to those doing scholarly research is now available to anyone at anytime from anywhere. Unlike the information that may be provided to a person by news media, a library or a school, a Google search could yield several different hits on a topic all from different points of view. This kind of access to information gives a power to the average person that they haven't had before. The advent of Web 2.0 (yes I know it's a cliché) has in many ways restored their voice and individuality.

Possibly one of the most important things that Web 2.0 does is 'harness the power of a collective intelligence' and embrace the 'wisdom of the crowd'. While this may seem like an easy thing to overlook, many of the websites we use today exemplify these two things. Some examples might be Amazon, Wikipedia, Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Not only did Web 2.0 set out to collect and harness our intelligence but it also embraced the idea that people (and that means anyone) have a voice that should be heard. Blogs have allowed the average person to publish their thoughts, feelings, opinions and knowledge online for the world to see. Ideas, concepts, philosophy, journalism, writing, and art are all methods of expression and intelligence that are no longer limited to those who have a degree in their respective subject matter or to those with the money to publicize their thoughts. Blogs have in so many ways made truth, intelligence, ideas and expression a level playing field. And while there is a slight learning curve for those who are less familiar with technology, our culture is beginning to change because of this.

News Media
The internet has given people the power of choice back to the 'audience', they can now seek out the news that is important to them. News media networks such as CNN are adapting to suite a new breed of audience. Projects such as iReport embrace the 'collective knowledge' of their audience empowering them to submit news stories that are important to them.

Politics
Social media has completely changed the way the average citizen has the power to change their country through politics. The recent presidential campaign of Barack Obama has in many ways set a new standard for citizen involvement. By using various social media websites Obama's campaign allows people to campaign for him without ever leaving their couch via buddy icons, YouTube videos, Facebook groups etc. This new form of advertising allows any citizen the power to support Obama and promote Obama, even if they don't get out of the house and vote for Obama. By harnessing the voices of individuals he has created a buzz that could potentially land him in the White House.

The point is, the citizen is much less limited today as far as the reach of their own personal message goes than they ever were before. What used to be considered the audience is no longer the audience anymore, it is a voice that expects to be heard.

The world of Web 2.0 is also the world of what Dan Gillmor calls "we, the media," a world in which "the former audience", not a few people in a back room, decides what's important.

-A quote from Tim O'Reilly's article What is Web 2.0?

I expect watching the influences of these ideologies extend further into our culture will be an interesting experience. It is possible that media 10 years from now will look nothing like the media we know now as the citizens media grows.

In a time when information is momentary, ever-evolving, and growing at such extreme rates, It is important to explore where it is coming from, and where it wants to go.

I began to look at what was around me at any given moment. The mobile phone in my pocket. The ipod in my bag. The laptop that follows me everywhere. The TV I watch on my computer. The radio I listen to on my computer . The podcasts that give me news, and knowledge of whatever I want. The accessibility of it all. The customization of it all. The growth of it all. The New Media that was mimicking the old media, but now paving the way for a new way of giving and receiving information.

As I began to explore a little deeper, and break down The Flow, I saw trends in the goals of this media. It wants to get smarter and faster, larger and deeper, easier and closer. As a GenY, I have the knowledge of the world a click away, and I have had this as far as I can remember.

Describing the Flow:

Easy to Understand

The web is growing into the semantic web, an evolving extension of the World Wide Web in which web content can be expressed not only in natural language, but also in a form that can be understood, interpreted and used by software agents, thus permitting them to find, share and integrate information more easily.

Made by Us

Open source is a philosophy of software distribution that allows anyone to read and modify the program's source code. Because anyone can modify the source code, bug fixes, improvements or implementation of new specific features occur rapidly.

Always In It.

Pervasive computing is a ubiquitous, wireless, always-on, networked world. A mobile device becomes a tool of locating, comparing, sharing, and learning within a shared network. Everything is reachable, and you can reach it.
at any time.

Mark Weiser considered this the end goal, but not without laying down the 3 vital components for this to be reachable.

cheap and low-power devices - Prices drop and the computing power and battery life in these devices offer more time and capabilities within the network.

a network infrastructure - A community must exist, and the ease and stability of the network must offer the public extreme ease of use and reliability.

pervasive applications - A system of connecting the user with the network. As the technology grows, these applications will adapt and change rapidly.

Always Around It.

Ubiquitous Computing is about the new types of computers invisibly embedded into our everyday environment. Rather than explicitly being the "user" of a computer a human will implicitly profit from services running between computers without even taking notice of them.

calm technology - Weiser envisioned computation primarily in the background where it may not even be noticed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web
www.generic.jo/glossary.aspx - open source