The Future Of Media...

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...

The 7th Mass Media: Mobile

There has been a lot written about the creation and use of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). I believe that they are the future of adult education, providing flexible, customized and personalized learning environments, allowing learners to learn what where, when, and how they want to learn.

I have also been reading a lot and hearing a lot about the use of mobile devices as deliverers of PLEs. Here is a great post that talks about mass media and that mobile devices have become the 7th mass media. It is the blog of the book "Communities Dominate Brands - Business and Marketing Challenges for the21st century".

The following quote from the post caught my eye - "the mobile is the 7th Mass Media is as profound as Gutenberg inventing moveable type". People are using more mobile devices than computers or any other device to connect with each other and to access information (Pew Internet Report - PDF), and if you combine this use of mobile devices with the creation of PLES, couldn't you have the "perfect storm" of learning? I certainly think so. All I know is that I have to spend more time getting to understand how I can create and deliver learning opportunities, resources, and environments to learners using mobile devices.

Will the iPhone and the other next generation devices be the next great thing in learning? Hmmm...

Photo "1000 Mobiles" by Gaetan Lee