KEYNOTE LUNCHEON
Speaker:
Shelly Palmer
Author of "Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV"
Host, "Media 3.0 with Shelly Palmer" on PBS

This was the most engaging and dynamic keynote speaker I've seen at an Alliance conference. But the message he had to deliver might have been a bit uncomfortable for some in the crowd.

Palmer began by insisting that we in the public-access industry are in the profession of advanced media creation. Our model is the most flexible and dynamic, allowing us the freedom to innovate and explore various production and distribution techniques that the mainstream media has been hesitant to adopt. He says we need to embrace that profession, rather than shy away from it.

October 12, 2005 is a date of great significance to the media community. That was the day, "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" were offered for download as part of the iTunes Music Store. This sparked the arrival of the IP model of consumer-targeted media distribution, and it will not ever go away. It may change, but it will never go away.

He also warned the audience about six particular media buzzwords which should be examined more closely:

1. Mobile Video
Palmer says this term describes nothing more than a parlor trick, rather than a paradigm shift. Clipcasts and Streamcasts are the only distribution models currently available, and should not be seen as a replacement of conventional television.

2. IPTV - Internet Protocol TeleVision
So far, this transport model which uses the internet to transmit video and audio date is for the most part only found in closed systems, known as CDN's (Closed Distribution Networks). While showing some promise as the dominant form of broadband video and audio distribution, the jury is still out on how the media industry will handle how the end-user receives this type of signal.

3. Broadband Video
IP Video, which uses the public internet (as opposed to the closed systems of IPTV) is the most democratic form of data transmission. While bandwidth restricts quality and quantity to some degree, anyone can send and receive almost any kind of data signal.

4. Podcasting
RSS is the single most important term any access staff person, director, or board member will ever encounter. This allows for directed content distribution, consumer control of content, and audience building and tracking potential all with one service. Distributors control content, subscribers control selection, and producers can view statistics on audience numbers and build in interaction.

5. Mesh Networks
This is related to bit-torrent technology, in which one file in a client-server node is connected to two or more other computers which host the same file. This makes blindingly fast downloads possible over broadband connections, without putting too much stress on a single server unit. This is the technology many are looking at as the way around bandwidth problems in the distribution of large media files.

6. Net Neutrality
Shelly questioned whether fighting for Net Neutrality was a battle which could be won. If the current business model stays in place in the media and ISP business, then it certainly seems as if extra charges for differing levels of service may become the norm for the internet.

On-demand video services will NOT replace television until bandwidth concerns can be addressed. Instead the current broadcast model and on-demand models will work together to co-exist. This means one important, overriding principle must be accepted by Access stations:

Access is NOT in the television business. Access is in the CONTENT business. The medium should NOT be the primary focus of concern for access centers. Social Networking and Collaborative Filtering are areas which need to be embraced and actively encouraged at access centers...or else the role of access nationwide will be diminished, and ultimately erased.

This was a rousing call to action, and to some a disturbing glimpse at the future. When Palmer finished, I was on my feet along with several others giving him our applause. But most of the room merely clapped politely...many with some puzzled looks on their faces. From the vantage point of the balcony alone, one could tell easily who GOT the message...and who didn't. Most of those who did get the message were those under the age of 35.

Not to diminish the follow-up speaker at all...but Jack Stanley simply didn't have the same impactful message as Palmer.
Stanley instead talked about his work as an audio archivist, using the same recording technology as Thomas Edison - wax cylinders.
What was interesting to note, is that those original wax cylinders have been the most sturdy and dependable storage mediums for audio information. Since they're not magnetic, they can't be erased by any EM signals or bursts. Since they're not optical data, they don't suffer the same degradation from lasing technology that CD's and DVD's suffer.
The only thing you had to worry about, he joked, was that they might melt on a very hot summer day.

I also found it interesting that he brought up a very telling point about media savvy. The word "Hello" does not appear in any dictionary until after the invention of the telephone.
Alexander Graham Bell was firm on his insistence that the greeting used when answering the telephone was a hearrty, "Hoy, Hoy!"
Edison, who in his heart despised Bell, lobbied for the greeting "Hello!".
Edison won that fight, and how we greet one another, and answer the telephone today have become one and the same. An interesting observation about how pervasive the impact of new communications technology can be on our societies.

After that, I drank a cup of coffee, and dashed off to the last of the workshop sessions - Mapping and Utlilizing Community Resources.