Snacks are good here. No, not this pile of lovely green mugs but endless coffee, tea, juice, water and Pepsi on tap. Oh, and this afternoon we got cookies!
And a choice of bag lunches including wraps, ciabatta and baguettes. Excellent stuff.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
"Video - we just wanna watch it...
...or do we?"
The clue to the quality of this session was in its title.
Speakers from Grouper ("Watch, share, create"), Jumpcut ("Make Amazing Movies Online"), BrightRoll (couldn't find a slogan) all did big pushes for their product. Even the moderator was promoting – her company’s called Dabble ("Search, organise, collect"), which is a community around video from other hosts.
One thing which they all latched on to – which is interesting – is having users creating ads, in spaces sponsored by big-name brands. So Jumpcut (in bed with Yahoo) partnered with Doritos to have users create ads for the Superbowl - some of which are actually quite funny.
(Note to self – must check out the Apple/imploding battery situation for my powerbook. I think I’m getting third degree burns on my thighs typing in this session…)
And now we’re at the nub. What MAKES people create video? Although the guy asking this question used the verb ‘incents’. I don’t think that’s a word…
Eepybird ("Entertainment for the Curious Mind") was used as an example about why folk do this. Tends to be around money. Mmm…
Other speaker says it’s about social networking OR getting famous. Considered that getting famous is a whole different kind of product. Yes, that's right. Generally, a slicker one.
Question from the floor – where does the panel see online video going in light of the You Tube acquisition? Not unsurprisingly, the view was that there is room for lots of players, not just one channel. But each site needs to choose its focus and USP. Another speaker said that sometimes people don’t even have enough time to view 5 or 10 videos each day on You tube, Good grief – where on earth does THAT kind of behaviour leave conventional TV?
Anyhoo, moved on to next session. In the biggest meeting room in the hotel where, ironically, there’s no wireless access as its walls are marble. Web 0.25 stuff now…
The clue to the quality of this session was in its title.
Speakers from Grouper ("Watch, share, create"), Jumpcut ("Make Amazing Movies Online"), BrightRoll (couldn't find a slogan) all did big pushes for their product. Even the moderator was promoting – her company’s called Dabble ("Search, organise, collect"), which is a community around video from other hosts.
One thing which they all latched on to – which is interesting – is having users creating ads, in spaces sponsored by big-name brands. So Jumpcut (in bed with Yahoo) partnered with Doritos to have users create ads for the Superbowl - some of which are actually quite funny.
(Note to self – must check out the Apple/imploding battery situation for my powerbook. I think I’m getting third degree burns on my thighs typing in this session…)
And now we’re at the nub. What MAKES people create video? Although the guy asking this question used the verb ‘incents’. I don’t think that’s a word…
Eepybird ("Entertainment for the Curious Mind") was used as an example about why folk do this. Tends to be around money. Mmm…
Other speaker says it’s about social networking OR getting famous. Considered that getting famous is a whole different kind of product. Yes, that's right. Generally, a slicker one.
Question from the floor – where does the panel see online video going in light of the You Tube acquisition? Not unsurprisingly, the view was that there is room for lots of players, not just one channel. But each site needs to choose its focus and USP. Another speaker said that sometimes people don’t even have enough time to view 5 or 10 videos each day on You tube, Good grief – where on earth does THAT kind of behaviour leave conventional TV?
Anyhoo, moved on to next session. In the biggest meeting room in the hotel where, ironically, there’s no wireless access as its walls are marble. Web 0.25 stuff now…
Enough peripherals - on with the show
Eckart Walther and two other Yahoo colleagues expounded on their web 2.0 vision of ‘Find, use, share and expand the world’s knowledge’ . That sounds familiar to BBC thinking. Although I don’t think we were planning this level of world domination.
In the old days, we were told, a community constituted 1 creator, 10 synthesizers, 100 consumers. Message board model – one to post, 10 to contribute and 100 or so lurking about and just reading. How do we move into a web 2.0 world where 100% are creators and synthesisers and everyone consumes?
Anyone with a …. is now a …. That’s not an invite to swear; the next slide encouraged us to insert keyboard, camera, iPod, browser in the first bit and then author, photographer, musician and publisher in the second.
BUT, what happens when everyone becomes a publisher? You get You Tube and, sometimes, some pretty silly stuff.
But you also get Flickr where beautiful content gives Getty and Corbis a run for its money. Not just great content, but a community around it where the users rate it, organise it and distribute it.
The panel talked about the publisher as participant – Adobe and feed/blog. Publisher as micro-community – Nikon and photo community. Publisher as developer – publisher uses participation platform to create mash-up/new application.
Negroponte quote – ‘if I were to do Medialab all over again, it’d be less about technology and more about content and how people use and share it’.
Media progression – mass media from my media to we media. Yahoo’s new ‘food channel’ has Martha Stewart but also recipes from real people,
Marketing is just one voice of many. A slide showed a venn diagram of media influences – friends and family, media and info sources and marketing all meeting in the middle at Social Networking
A few examples of how Yahoo is extending its content partnership with users:
- Yahoo for Good partners with One.org, a non-profit organisation combatting global poverty and brings Flickr, video etc to tell many stories around one single point of view.
- What happens when Yahoo decides to do a morning show online. You get The 9 - stuff you've not heard about on the web, a short video a glam lady presenter and ugc . Oh, and it's sponsored by Pepsi.
- More corporate partnership as Yahoo teams up with Nissan to present live sets - music and fan content – blogs, photos etc around concert footage in HD. Starts with Christina Aguilera and then does Incubus.
In the old days, we were told, a community constituted 1 creator, 10 synthesizers, 100 consumers. Message board model – one to post, 10 to contribute and 100 or so lurking about and just reading. How do we move into a web 2.0 world where 100% are creators and synthesisers and everyone consumes?
Anyone with a …. is now a …. That’s not an invite to swear; the next slide encouraged us to insert keyboard, camera, iPod, browser in the first bit and then author, photographer, musician and publisher in the second.
BUT, what happens when everyone becomes a publisher? You get You Tube and, sometimes, some pretty silly stuff.
But you also get Flickr where beautiful content gives Getty and Corbis a run for its money. Not just great content, but a community around it where the users rate it, organise it and distribute it.
The panel talked about the publisher as participant – Adobe and feed/blog. Publisher as micro-community – Nikon and photo community. Publisher as developer – publisher uses participation platform to create mash-up/new application.
Negroponte quote – ‘if I were to do Medialab all over again, it’d be less about technology and more about content and how people use and share it’.
Media progression – mass media from my media to we media. Yahoo’s new ‘food channel’ has Martha Stewart but also recipes from real people,
Marketing is just one voice of many. A slide showed a venn diagram of media influences – friends and family, media and info sources and marketing all meeting in the middle at Social Networking
A few examples of how Yahoo is extending its content partnership with users:
- Yahoo for Good partners with One.org, a non-profit organisation combatting global poverty and brings Flickr, video etc to tell many stories around one single point of view.
- What happens when Yahoo decides to do a morning show online. You get The 9 - stuff you've not heard about on the web, a short video a glam lady presenter and ugc . Oh, and it's sponsored by Pepsi.
- More corporate partnership as Yahoo teams up with Nissan to present live sets - music and fan content – blogs, photos etc around concert footage in HD. Starts with Christina Aguilera and then does Incubus.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Spectacular disaster
Having got lost trying to get to the conference this morning, despite finding it easily last night, I eventually got settled in a packed, tiny and windowless room for the first session. Gratifyingly found that that the wireless connection worked and dug into my backpack for my glasses. Which I’d forgotten to bring.
Cue panic. I’m at the back of the room, squinting myopically at the powerpoint like Muskie from Deputy Dawg. And my specs are back up two VERY steep hills in my hotel room. Damn, damn, damn…
Cue panic. I’m at the back of the room, squinting myopically at the powerpoint like Muskie from Deputy Dawg. And my specs are back up two VERY steep hills in my hotel room. Damn, damn, damn…
The Conference. The Bag.
The day – alright, the evening – dawned and it was time to get signed up for the web 2.0 spectacular. Schlep along to a big signing-up area, show some id, get a name badge on a lanyard (technical conference term) and your Conference Bag.
For those of you who’ve done this before, you’ll know this is a critical moment. Not only do you get a sense of how a conference will be from the bag itself – in this case, a rather nice tote with lots of pockets and in a good quality, backpack-style material – but you always have the at sense of anticipation about what’s inside.
As well as half a ton of paperwork, this included:
- Some breath mints
- A voucher for $5 for Starbucks (thank you, IBM)
- A key ring which is also a bottle opener (beer, not wine)
- Some breath freshener spray (what does this say about the conference delegates??)
- A t-shirt from someone called grassroots.org
- A neoprene latptop sleeve (cool!)
- A brush (like a shaving brush) for cleaning your keyboard and monitor
A promising start. Says the most easily-bought delegate at the Palace Hotel… However, as an old lag when it comes to conferences, here's a top tip. Once you've got all excited over your bag and its contents, don't use it during the event itself. There'll be several hundred other folk all carrying exactly the same model about and the risk of you walking off with the one belonging to the person sitting next to you at lunch or coffee is very high indeed.
Oh, and in late-breaking news, the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that the Web 2.0 Conference has suddenly got more important. Apparently, as of this morning, it’s a Summit. Well, THAT’S impressive...
For those of you who’ve done this before, you’ll know this is a critical moment. Not only do you get a sense of how a conference will be from the bag itself – in this case, a rather nice tote with lots of pockets and in a good quality, backpack-style material – but you always have the at sense of anticipation about what’s inside.
As well as half a ton of paperwork, this included:
- Some breath mints
- A voucher for $5 for Starbucks (thank you, IBM)
- A key ring which is also a bottle opener (beer, not wine)
- Some breath freshener spray (what does this say about the conference delegates??)
- A t-shirt from someone called grassroots.org
- A neoprene latptop sleeve (cool!)
- A brush (like a shaving brush) for cleaning your keyboard and monitor
A promising start. Says the most easily-bought delegate at the Palace Hotel… However, as an old lag when it comes to conferences, here's a top tip. Once you've got all excited over your bag and its contents, don't use it during the event itself. There'll be several hundred other folk all carrying exactly the same model about and the risk of you walking off with the one belonging to the person sitting next to you at lunch or coffee is very high indeed.
Oh, and in late-breaking news, the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that the Web 2.0 Conference has suddenly got more important. Apparently, as of this morning, it’s a Summit. Well, THAT’S impressive...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Some pre-reading
Taxi comes at 06.00 tomorrow and the long journey to the Bay Area begins. Bit of a tight turnaround at Heathrow but a morning jog never hurt anyone...
Have been amassing paperwork to read on the plane so I can begin to put some thoughts down about web 2.0 before the conference begins on Monday. Whether or not I can drag myself from the in-flight movies and delicious BA catering to do so is another matter.
However, in keeping up with what's happening in San Francisco over the past few days - and yes, checking the weather - I spotted this timely story about how some teens are beginning to rethink how much social networking they're doing online.
Have been amassing paperwork to read on the plane so I can begin to put some thoughts down about web 2.0 before the conference begins on Monday. Whether or not I can drag myself from the in-flight movies and delicious BA catering to do so is another matter.
However, in keeping up with what's happening in San Francisco over the past few days - and yes, checking the weather - I spotted this timely story about how some teens are beginning to rethink how much social networking they're doing online.
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