Wednesday night I attended the ITANS (Information Technology Industry Alliance Of Nova Scotia) annual dinner. The guest speaker was Ken Rutkowski, media personality, strategist and consultant. The theme of his talk was on the future of media. A couple of cool things came out - one - it's gonna be a busy future, and two - I'm mostly there now!Ken started his talk by describing old media (TV, newspapers etc.) and new media (Web, RSS, blogs, YouTube etc.) and their products - old media's product is content, while new media's product is the audience - the customer is the advertiser (makes sense - hits is one of the measures of success for an online presence). This distinction may be a little simplistic, but it allows for an identification f new media.
Mobile devices, in particular cell phones (smart devices) is where it is at for the future of media. By 2010 there will 2 billion Nokia cell phones alone in circulation - cell phone penetration is growing and in some nations is well over 90%. I've talked about this in past posts and it's interesting to here an industry expert say the same thing. In my mind it's mobile devices that are the future of education, allowing learners to learn where, when, what, and how they want to.
Ken went on to talk about RSS and push technology, how RSS is pushing information - the customer is the product. I'm a big fan of RSS - push technology is the only way these days to make sense of the sea of information that we are swimming in. Content is everywhere - podcasts, YouTube etc.
Ken then did something very cool- the rest of his presentation consisted of him using Skype to contact "some of his friends", industry experts and personalities who shared their thoughts with us on the future of media. His friends included:
- Ralph Simon - creator of the ring tone
- Johnathan Wendel - professional gamer (Fatality)
- James Sun - CEO of Zoodango - a social networking site that facilitates both online and F2F social networking
- Scott Page - former member of Pink Floyd and Supertramp, now involved in Web-based technology allowing bands to communicate with their fans
The common thread from each of these incredible people is that it's content and mobility, along with penetration that is going to be the future of social media. Businesses and individuals need to get out there and be active parts of this always on environment - be part of community.
Thanks to ITANS and the organizers for a great evening and a wonderful dinner. I know that the students that we brought along had an amazing time - they saw a glimpse into the future - where they will be working and living, and that is too cool...
4 comments:
Good presentation, great event and great post!
It certainly was - lots of food for thought and a very interesting use of technology to add some nice interaction to the presentation. Who knew Skype was a presentation tool?
I tried to show how important it is to be in the "NOW" of tech. Gadgets, The Internet and even bandwidth is constantly increasing in speed & capability and we need to always know the potential and how to embrace it.
I wish I had more time to show other cool stuff!!!!
Ken
And I think you did a great job too Ken - I loved the use of Skype as part of your presentation - a great way to collaboratively present - and it's collaboration that will ultimately differentiate the future of the Web, mobile applications (the iPhone is the future of learning), and how we will manage information.
It's important to have people like you and others who are future gazing while illustrating the current art of the possible. Thank you for a great evening!
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