Skirmishes on the web 2.0 Media Battlefield.

Media enterprises large and small are struggling to sort out how the future will look. The overarching question, what role will existing media companies have when the transformation to web 2.0 is complete.

It's far to early to make anything other than wild guesses, but a handful of things happened in the past week that are worth noting and exploring.

First, Viacom after months of negotiating with YouTube, decided to pull their clips off the video sharing site and go their own way. Now lots of folks cried foul, among them Jeff Jarvis who simply proclaimed the decision 'stupid.' I agree with Jeff about lots of things, and painting Viacom as the big media bad guy is easy to do. But in this case, I can see both sides. Certainly YouTube has the bulk of the video traffic on web now, and as the incumbent - they've got a ton of momentum. But Viacom doesn't need YouTube to remain a healthy vibrant business. Their revenue comes from television advertising, and YouTube hasn't yet sorted out its revenue model (though they most surely will). So, until that time - the negotiation between Viacom and YouTube isn't easy - they're both trying to stake a claim on future revenues, without any clear sense of what those revenues may be. So Viacom decided not to participate in the YouTube model - right now. Fair enough. At the same time Viacom is allowing their videos to be linked to and shared, just using their site as the source (hence retaining the traffic). Ok, sure they're not going to get the huge hits that YouTube will deliver, but Viacom isn't retreating from the emerging web 2.0 ecosystem, just trying to figure it out while retaining some control in the short term. Seems fair enough to me.

At the same time, there was a skirmish that's worth noting between a well known New York Restauranteur and the New York Times. Jeffrey Chodorow is the owner of China Grill Mangment - and probably best known for his role as the 'bad guy' in the reality show "The Restaurant". The series featured Rocco DiSpirito as he started his new restaurant Rocco's, and Chodorow as the 'money' who rolled up in a long black limo and got out wearing all black to threaten Rocco. You have to wonder if Chodorow knew he was being cast as the bad guy, but in any case - that was how it ended up on NBC.

So now, flash foward - and Chodorow is open a new resturaunt in NYC - Kobe Club. And the New York Times sends reviewer Frank Bruni around to review the establishment. Bruni didn't like the place, and savaged it in the Times. And Chodorow decided to fire back, with a full page article (ironically also in the Times) claiming that the Times was out to get him, and that his resturaunt had been unfairly treated by Bruni. Read the full page screed for yourself. Without eating there, it's hard to say - - but yikes, Kobe Club got "0" stars. Harsh.

So what does this have to do with web 2.0? Well, Chodorow may have had to give his nemesis the Times 40k for the full page spread, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have access to his own means of self expression. To quote his letter to the times:

"In the interest of fairness, I am introducing my personal blog, which will be a compilation of my food-related experiences and musings and a special section entitled Following Frank and After Adam, in which I will make a follow-up visit to the restaurants they write about for the purpose of reviewing their reviews. My blog will appear at www.chinagrillmgt.com/blog/. My friends in the restaurant business have warned me that there will be further retaliation against me for speaking up. So be it."

Wow. He's going to review the Times resturaunt reviewer. That can't end well. Gawker has a piece on the fued here. And New York Magazine has an interview with him here. I

So, what's REALLY interesting here are the comments on Chodorow's blog:

Read The Comments Here.

They're really interesting. Passionate, pissed off, personal. Probably painful. But boy, there's alot going on in restaurant land that i didn't know about. I wonder if the Times would let such free wheeling public discourse fly on its blogs? Hmmm....

Which brings me to the thing that ties it all together. It's a video about the meaning of web 2.0, that really tells the story of how media, communication, and interaction is changing. It's made byMike Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. Watch it for yourself - and see if you don't think that it actually makes a whole lot of sense.

There are a few things worth noting about this video. First, it is a remarkably effective way to communicate an idea (even if you don't agree with Wesch's evaluation of what is going on). Second, it was posted January 31st, 2007 and has been viewed on YouTube 1,453,342 times. Hmmm... pretty remarkable audience for a video that you can't classify as 'entertainment' by any stretch of the imagination. And finally, how did i find out about this video - so that i could post it on my blog, and share it with you? Well, my 17 year old son Max forwarded me a link at 2:30am. He thought i aught to see it. So, other than the fact that he was watching videos at 2:30 in the morning, i think he's right.

Viacom. New York Times. YouTube. Hmm... maybe Chodorow aught to start a video blog... now that would be a way to redeem himself for his sinister role on The Restaurant, don't you think?

I remember seeing the The Day After Tomorrow and thinking it was an environmental scare tactic. Horrible storms, dramatic climate change, and hail the size of cinder blocks. Nonsense. Sure, i knew that Global Warming was a serious problem, but that movie seemed to me to be an exaggeration. Or so I thought.

But now, i can't help but notice the extremes in weather. 70 degree days in the middle of December in New York City. 8 ft of snow in upstate New York. Extreme cold, powerful tornadoes, melting glaciers. The kinds of extremes that would have in the past made me think of the power of nature, now our too much of a forecast to be anything but depressing.

When did this change? For me, it was in Monterey California in 20067- when Al gore presented his now famous PowerPoint to a room of reasonably enlightened enlightened individuals at the TED conference.

Gore was at first compelling, then persistent, and finally relentless. It was tough medicine. I squirmed in my seat. But it reached me. So much so that went to see the movie when it came out. And Inconvenient Truth has set a new bar for documentary impact. As it should.

Sure- the film began to feel a bit like a Presidential platform. So what. It was leadership. It was bold. It was an issue that wasn't 'sexy' - and Gore brought it home.

Gore drove a stake through he heart of the pseudo-scientists who wanted to continue to 'study' Global Warming. he created an atmosphere that allowed NASA climatologists to come out and expose that the Bush Administration's censorship of scientific studies. He turned the media from coverage of the 'debate' to coverage of the issue.

So when he announced in an interview reported by the Here's the AP report that he couldn't imagine any situation in which he'd run, I was sad. Not because I thought he'd win, but because having his voice in the process gave climate change a seat at the table. Its not Hillary's issue, or Obama's, or Edwards' and certainly not McCain or Giuliani.

So Gore going to be missed.

Unless whoever wins in '08 makes climate change a priority, and creates a "Manhattan Project" to focus on it with drive, resources, and conviction.

Hmm... I wonder who could lead that effort?

If you were the Governor of New York, and you'd just been sworn into office, what would your first act be?
Well - for Elliot Spitzer, the decision he made should prove to be both a clue about the kind of Governor he'll be and what the future of politics may hold.

I'm talking about Executive Order #3.

Executive Order #3 orders all New York agencies to broadcast all of their public meetings on the Internet. Wow. A Governor who does more than stump about the future of technology - here's a move that has the potential to radically change lawmaking in New York State.

Think about it. Sure there's CSPAN already - but broadcasting of long boring hearings in real time on TV hasn't had the kind of impact that changed government. Why? Because it wasn't searchable, blogable, emailable, or sharable. In point of fact - it didn't change accountability since it wasn't interactive.

But Executive Order #3 changes that. Webcast video is by its nature a long lasting public record that will be quickly archived, shared, searched, compared and used to encourage participation.

The order reads in part: "PROMOTION OF PUBLIC ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT DECISIONMAKING WHEREAS advances in technology allow for the broadcast of meetings on the Internet through the use of webcasting; By March 1, 2007, every agency and public authority shall submit to the Secretary to the Governor a plan that: (a) identifies all meetings of such agency or authority that are subject to the Open Meetings Law; and (b) specifies a timetable for ensuring that all such meetings are broadcast on the Internet.

This raises a bunch of interstesting questions. First of all, is New York ahead or behind the rest of the country. That's kind of hard to say. Here's what the last research I was able to find says (it's from Texas).

"Gartner Group predicts 'By 2004, 80 percent of state and local governments will use the Internet to deliver C-SPAN-like coverage of legislative meetings and interactive virtual town meetings. By 2004, 90 percent of global 2000 enterprises will use webcasting to broadcast live events such as shareholder meetings, quarterly financial announcements and CEO addresses.'

A survey of state legislature (2000) Web sites found the following statistics:

18 states broadcast over television, primarily on public broadcasting channels
14 states, including Texas, broadcast audio and video via the Web
11 states provide broadcast audio only
10 states provide audio and/or video archives
2 states, South Carolina and Minnesota, provide closed-captioned webcasts
No state broadcasts all, or even a majority, of its agencies' open meetings
No state provides indexes for individual video or audio files
So, that was six years ago - and it seems like things may have dragged to a halt since then. But then, there's this bright light of government sunshine:

"Government decision-making procedures are available to view on a mobile phone. From now on, to ensure publicity and transparency, the Government will have its meetings broadcast live through mobile Internet. Omnitel users can follow Government discussions and decision-making process at Omni SurfPort mobile Internet portal"

"Government activities are open to the public. Live webcasts of our meetings in session have been attracting wide interest. Now, with live meeting delivery via mobile phones, Government activities become accessible practically any time. This is the publicity we want, and we are going to keep it up in the future".

Sound good? That's news from 2006 - from Lithuania. Ok. You get the idea. There hasn't been a ton of movemnet toward openness in the US in the past six years. But Spitzer could change all that.

It's all in HOW Exec Order #3 is acted upon. Will the videos be on an open platform? Will they require a log in to view? Will they use Flash Video (or a more closed system like Windows media or quicktime). Will they be properly indexed and searchable? Will individual agencies be able to set up their own complex, hard to navigate, badly designed sites that create a whole series of government video fiefdoms? Or - will Spitzer drive government video to a new standard of openness, sharing, and public accessibility? It's hard to know what the plan is to implement Executive Order #3... but it's a hopeful sign.

Because once citizens can access the process of government, who knows, they may feel like they've got an opportunity to be heard. And that would be a great use of technology.

WeMedia. Thoughts and Pix
February 10, 2007
Since my last visit with the WeMedia team, things are different. In an important way.

It's changed. the WE in WeMEDIA got bigger, the 'MEDIA', got smaller. Or more intimate, more more focused. Not sure which.

Photo: WeMedia founders Dale Peskin and Andrew Nachison. (by JD Lasica) Maybe the best person I caught up with was JD Lasica, who's been the best early warning radar in the space anyone could have. He was writing about UNfiltered for AJR back in '97, and really build OurMedia long before YouTube took off. Here's a picture from his flickr page of us at lunch:

The closest thing to a 'star' of the conference was Craig Newmark, who said absolutely nothing - but did so with a sly smile and charm. The fact that Craig's list is the 800 pound gorilla doesn't mean that it will become a community news company. In fact, it probably is exactly what it should be right now. But someone - will create a craigs list for local news. And it won't come out of the think tanks or the media company development labs. There's just too much talk about 'trust' and 'training' and 'good journalism' and thing that seem quaint and oddly out of step. My friend Shelly Palmer and I had breakfast before i went to we media - and he told me with absolute confidence that he only wants to engage with companies that are - to quote him "Playing with live ammo." I flinched for a second when he said it, mostly because of Iraq being on my mind, but that aside he's right of course. Trying things, giving visitors tools, letting the new bandwidth and platforms find their way in the world is what it's all about. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Magnify.net are all learning a ton from letting people play with their services. Heck, Facebook got slapped silly when it added some features that it's users didn't want. So live ammo is where it's at.

Which brings me back to WE media. Here's JD's Photo Set There were some folks doing interesting things - for sure. But Robin Miller (aka RobLimo) kind of put it all in perspective in this clip from Andy Carvin -

[Click To Play]
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A brief discussion on humanity's two oldest forms of recreation, as told by Robin Miller, aka Roblimo. Robin is a former Vietnam vet and NYC taxi driver; he's also the editor of Slashdot. -andy

But still - on newspaper side in particular, there's lots of hand wringing and MBAs doing studies. Guys - those times are so over. It's time to get in the game. It's time to start learning - and stop guessing. That's why i admire what the Weather Channel is doing. Heck, they've got folks submitting videos. They're inviting people to play. And they've got folks like Wild Bill who are going to tell the weather his way.

My Pal, and Magnify advisory board member - Alan Weber was there.

CIMG0850.JPG

He's been working on his next thing, and we finally had a chance to sit down and hear the whole pitch. Wow. I'm in. He ran a great panel (blogged earlier) on funding and such. Boy, the lesson is that there are no models yet. Thats for sure.

Thursday night i sat on a panel about community media, moderated by Lauren Cornell of Rhizome.org. My long time friend and OurMedia founder JD Lasica was on there as well as Christine from HappySlip and the team from Umiami who's working some fiction video site concepts. It was really interesting to be talking about filmmaking and storytelling rather than platforms for a change. And the Mohito's were good as well.

February 08, 2007
At the WeMedia Conference in Washington in 2005 - i spoke in detail about the vision of what was the basis of Magnify.net.

In preparing to go to Miami, i re-readwhat i said. Here's the synopsis from the WeMedia website:

"Steven Rosenbaum, managing partner of Magnify Media told attendees of The Media Center's Cross-Platform media teams event "the people that are used to making content in an older model are the ones least likely to want to reinvent things on their watch, particularly if they have a mortgage or kids in college." He then demonstrated how easy some new content creation can be and shared lessons he's learned from 20 years in TV news, his work with MTV and how to capitalize on a peer review filter model for content."

Boy - that seems like a long time ago.

I'm sitting in a auditorium at the University of Miami. The debate seems to be over. Change is in the air. The Mainstream Media (msm) voices are humbled, trying to engage, trying to figure it out. The rep from MTV is the closest thing to 'mainstream' media. Instead, the focus is on a phrase i've never heard before - "acts of journalism" - with a clear understanding that audiences are going to be a major forces in content creation. Wow.

On Stage Shel Israel is on stage. He's spot on about the romantic connection that people have to 'crushed berries on dead trees' (ink on paper). He says "the power is shifting from Boardrooms to people who are the most engaged and 'most generous' in what they're sharing with a community. It's spot on. There is power in participation. Farai Chidea from News and Notes on NPR is talking about how to reward good behavior.

February 08, 2007
We're in the afternoon session - Alan Weber is moderating a panel on how the business side is evolving. It's a neat group - Jeff Clavier, SoftTechVC / Jeff Taylor, Monster and Eons, Fernando Esplueas, VOY / Chris Ahearn, Reuters / Brian O’Malley, Battery Ventures

The question was just posed by Reuters - "Will there be a Craig's List of news", and Alan, wisely - threw the question to Craig Newmark who was in the audience. Long silence, and then craig said - "not from us." That was all he's say - turning the conversation to the "ducks on the lawn." Funny.

The conversation shifts to advertising. How does content generate ads.

I think the word Advertising needs to be replaced by something else. The sites that i visit, and the links I click on are telling me things i need to know, offering me links to products i may be looking for. If i need to buy memory for my computer, i don't think of a link to memory4less.com is an anoyance. It's a service.

Joe Biden.

The dust up over the past few days sent me back to the outtakes from "Inside The Bubble", about the 2004 election, to see if my memory served me correctly.

Standing among a scrum of reporters, Biden has a telling interaction with ABC's Dan Harris about listening to your own voice and not being micromanaged by the consultants.

Harris: "Forgive me for asking this because I know you're trying to stay on message... Watching this campaign it seems like there's a shift as to what the strategy is"

Biden: "Look, who gives a shit. Where you think - or anybody thinks - there going to stick to a message. What is important is what is coming out of his mouth. The story is what is coming out of his mouth."
Well, that certainly was true of Biden in the past 48 hours.

Biden: "... not whether Joe Lockhart got trumped by me or anyone else to change the message. That ain't the story."

Here's the exchange:
Here's the thing. At the end of the exchange, Biden says: "Well, what do I know - I didn't get out of Iowa." At the time, his tone and the raw, unvarnished nature of his comments were a breath of fresh air. You can see the reporters gulping down his words - just enjoying hearing a human being speak without a prompter or a press aid tugging at their sleeve. I confess, I was one of them. I remember saying to folks in the edit room - " boy it would be great for him to run." But now he's running, and it doesn't seem so great any more. In fact his shoot from the hip style seems to have already morphed into a 'shoot your mouth off' style. Heck, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that Barack Obama and his place the the spectrum of African American candidates is probably not a great place to start your campaign.
Back in 2004 - during this particular Biden rant, he says: "Look, what you do when you haven't run before is you think that the guys that are managing you are smarter than you in terms of - not the substance - but the "this it the way that the the press will respond". Who gives a God Damn how you'll respond (speaking to reporters). /reporters laugh/ . I don't give a God Damn how you respond - as long as you print what i said." Yikes. Seems like they took him up on that one.
video

So the question is, does the Biden thing mean that we don't have room for politicians who can speak straight, speak their mind, and not always be politically correct? After watching these clips again - i don't think so. On the contrary - I think that he comes off as a man who speaks before he thinks. After all - God Damn is probably not an 'on the record comment for anyone in politics. Note in the clip everyone scribbling notes in reporters note books, this was not off-the-record moment captured on tape.
more video

2008 is right around the corner, and as hungry as the public is for a politician that can speak in sentences in stead of sound bites - there's too much at stake for this kind of off-the-cuff campaigning. Sorry Joe, not this time.

Joe Biden Talks Dunkin Donuts

February 03, 2007
So, we've survived.

The booth team is exhausted, the pile of cards is huge. The buzz is great. And we're ready to be back home.

Ok, so for those of you who don' t know how valuable VC's can be - here's the best example yet of what a VC can do... Here's David Baum of Stage 1 Ventures. He's been stalking me throught DEMO asking for a piece of company swag. No, to be fair DEMO has a strict 'no swag' policy - so we didn't bring the new shirts along en mass. We brought along a few - just for the team... and David wanted to 'fly our colors'. So, after a long day with little sleep how can I refuse?
How Many VC's give you the shirt off their back?BAUM SHIRT2David Baum is Magnified - and feeling it!

Hey, he gave me the shirt off his back - literally. Ok, so explaining why I had another man's clothes in my luggage may take a bit of work when I get back home... but i'm sold on the value of Venture Capital... Hey David - make sure you wear that shirt at every tech conference you go to for the next year. And for VC's that are reading this - if you come into our next round... you can get a Magnify.net shirt as well. Hey, now that's a pretty good offer.

There's no doubt that a big event like this provides focus, and we were able to achieve an amazing amount of work in the past six weeks. Putting the marketing team and the product team in the same room day after day really helped us think deeply about the message of the platform.

We're going to have a bunch more thoughts about DEMO, about our new friends in the space, and about the need to have a language about the evolution of services that are growing around video. But that's for later this week.

February 03, 2007
Long before the buzz was all over blogs and the net, my pals Andrew and Dale have been pushing the envelope in participatory media.

Now they've created a new organization - ifocos, and they're continuing thier tradition of convening a remarkable group of people to talk about the evolution of media. This week's conference at the University of Miami is called WeMedia.

Here's how they describe the conference:

We Media Miami explores and fosters the use of digital media to build and improve real communities in a connected society.

This is the third year for the We Media conference. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore spoke at We Media 05 hosted by The Associated Press in New York; BBC Managing Director Mark Thompson, Reuters CEO Tom Glocer, actor Richard Dreyfuss and Nitin Desai of the United Nations participated in the We Media Global Forum in 2006 hosted by Reuters and the BBC in London.

In Miami, the conference will focus on two connected themes:

Community: How can media and communications in a multitude of forms, produced or influenced by an ever-expanding multitude of sources, serve and strengthen the communities where people live?

Investment: In a shifting communications marketplace, how will investors, public and private funders or new formulations of social entrepreneurship pay for and sustain the civic enterprises of news and information?

The program includes a series of roundtable discussions and a variety of participatory activities involving communities, individuals and organizations to help participants understand and address the challenges of a changing multi-media world, and to stimulate innovation and investment in projects and services that strengthen communities.

I'll be in Miami Thursday and Friday, and look forward to seeing some folks who are excited about the future of content creation and curation.

February 01, 2007
So, it's 'D' day (demo day).

And we're all ready to go. The day started at 7:30am, with an hour of continental breakfast - which was a great way to meet folks, get comfortable with other demo folks, and drink coffee (lots).

WATCH THE VIDEO

Then, at 8:30 the day begins and the general session is off and running. I'll blog some of the companies that i am particularly excite about later, but at this point suffice it to say that video was center stage. By 10:30, we were off the to Pavilion - sharing Magnify with a steady flow of visitors from the media, the venture community, and biz dev partners.

I have to say that i wasn't able to listen to the folks that were on in our group of companies - it was just to nerve wracking. But then, before i could spend any time being concerned - we were in the green room. The guys from Clip Syndicate were on before us - and i have to say that i was a little jelous. They were showing fireman videos, and they'd gone to the local firehouse and gotten a real set of fire-gear (coat, hat, the whole deal). So cool... and we don't have an costumes so i'm wishing we'd thought about that. Oh well. Backstage they work hard to calm you down - they even handed out hot towels before you go on stage. A nice touch - really strangely calming.

Ok - so here goes:

CLICK TO SEE THE VIDEO

Six minutes go by in a blur. Simon and Emeri are completely on, and they nail their roles. I have no idea how i do. The only thing i know is that i'm off stage, and i didn't trip.

Later on - if the feedback from folks is any indication - we did well. The booth is jammed, folks now 'get it' - and traffic on the sight is going through the roof. We're tracking to have our biggest day ever. nice.