Television and hyperdistribution

This week we are talking about television and how the digital world is effecting the world of television. One of the key things which has come up is the idea of the "tyranny of digital distance" which was presented by Tama Leaver in his paper Watching Battlestar Galactica in Australia and the tyranny of digital distance.

Media diary: A day in my media life

With a new unit comes a new task, and this week I have spent one 24 hour period tracking my media consumption.

Woke up and checked my iPhone to see it was 7.15am. Late. Decided I would drive to work instead of taking the bus as usual. Finally got on the road at 7.45am which meant I hit traffic. Over the course of the next 75 minutes I listed to the radio while passing various billboards, buses and bus shelters covered with banal advertising. My only highlight was catching some tracks of the new Girl Talk album "All Day".

Convergence

A new study period for OUA has kicked off and again I am in the thick of it. This time round it's Web207 Web Media with a particular focus on media convergence. Wikipedia defines media convergence not only as a technological change, but a shift in industrial, social and cultural paradigms as described by Henry Jenkins in his book "Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide;

"the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences."

For me one of the best examples of media convergence over the last 10 years has been that of the evolution of the mobile phone. Once a device for making calls and sending messages, the phone has seen the inclusion of cameras, media players, satellite tracking and web browsing. At each stage we have seen both industry and society change and shift as devices have become capable of replacing individual devices with one converged media device.

Now with the advent of smartphones and their range of apps allowing us to do even more than we ever imagined,  we are again seeing a shift within industry and society as the portability of our phones converges with the power and usefulness of our home computers.

So where will this process of media convergence lead us, and what does it mean for the industries it impacts, are just a couple of questions I hope to find answers to over the coming weeks. In the mean time, if you have some thoughts or ideas on these questions then feel free to share them below.

Done and dusted

Well Web206 Web Publishing has finally drawn to a close. It feels good to finish the unit, as always the last few weeks have seemingly dragged out. This is not a reflection on the unit or tutors, it just seems that the last few weeks of every SP drag out.

This has been one of the more interesting units I have done, it really had me thinking of how the web has really changed the concept of publishing, and how everyone now has the opportunity to contribute to public debate and make their voice heard. I feel the more we can all participate in these discussions, whether it's via our own blogs or joining in conversations via commenting on posts, the more likely it is we the people can influence change within society.

Running a roadblock

There is a great post over on the Zurb blog. Short, sweet and to the point, the team behind Notable and now Bounce give "6 Tips for Avoiding Website Roadblocks".

The take home for me is with point two; Perfection. All to often we spend time trying to bring a site to absolute perfection before launch. I think the thing we need to remember is, that no matter how hard we try, there will always be something to improve once a site is live.

Just listen to me!

Seth Simonds has a great post over on Stepcase Lifehack about the art of listening and "5 Simple Ways to be a Better Listener".

It seems all to often that with the fast pace of modern society, one of the first things we stop doing to save ourselves some time, is listening. Do your self a favour and take some time to read the post.

Open all hours

While the internet has given us all types of information at our fingertips, one of the more useful tools for me is the trusted "store locator". Allowing you to find local outlets and stores closest to where you work or live is an absolute time saver in a hectic week, yet it seem that many retailers have missed a large piece of the puzzle when it comes to building a truly useful store locator tool.

So often have I turned to a sites store locator to only find that while there is a store in my general vicinity, information as simple, yet so vital, as phone, email or even opening times have been forgotten or worse still omitted. What has started out as a great exercise in self service and ease has now become a point of frustration.

Sure providing me with a Google map of the exact location is fantastic, but I want more. Opening times, phone number, fax number, email address at the very least. Without these pieces of information a store locator is at best a clever map or at worst a customer experience killer.