lessons to be learned from Japan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10543126.stm

al last the serious monetisation of facebook

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8590306.stm

nice diagram from moentising social media sites

http://laurelpapworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/social-media-monetization-models.jpg

Research process map

This image is an initial map of the research to be undertaken to inform the outcomes of the major project.

Reflections of current reading

The past two weeks have been informative. A combination of industry research, Skype tutorials, research process seminar and background reading have helped to more clearly formulate the lead hypotheses and narrow down the principal area of research going forward that will form the focus of the major project.

Here's a summary of the point I've got to and how I've got there:

Hypothesis:

To facilitate a new business culture of openness, innovation and collaboration within the TV production sector in the UK is essential to the sectors future success. This facilitation will be fraught with challenges and difficulty due to the inherent authoritarian, autocratic and established order of the sector and its business model from ideation through to production, commissioning and broadcasting in the UK. As with most business sectors the established order is resistant to change and disruption and in the short term feels protected from it. My major project will investigate methods, platforms, resources and interventions to affect change and innovation within the sector and illustrate their positive effects leading to growth, improved profit and business diversification.

ENDS.

There are several drivers which have influenced the above line of thought. They are principally the following:

1. Research, application and analysis of the Ravensbourne Commercialising Digital Technology programme. Specifically the Improving Profitability for Independent TV Production Companies and Pixels at Dawn activities within it.

2. Background reading surrounding the new business models, practices, opportunities and philosophies emerging from Digital Britain, the era of Wikinomincs and the new era of openness we find ourselves in.

3. MA tutorials with Matt Marsh.

4. Industry sector knowledge, research, observation and analysis.

I will go on to ellaboratote on some of the above in the following posts.

The power of Crozier

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/apr/14/tv-advertising-market-forecast

while it all goes wrong for Bebo

http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2010/04/bebo.html

Twitter profit plan

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7095914.ece

http://www.telco2.net/blog/2010/04/google_3_big_telcos_reach_for_1.html

http://www.telco2research.com/articles/EB_mobile-advertising-marketing-growth-strategies_Summary

changing media structures research

http://books.google.fr/books?id=s1GYiTi2vgAC&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=new+media+business+stuctures&source=bl&ots=5wgLbr6BaY&sig=qRIu5XBgCc0BogtgQlQmChSchxI&hl=fr&ei=5ZC5S-_TAsqjOM7G9aAL&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CB4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

http://www.articlesbase.com/videos/5min/259781038

media theory link

http://www.theory.org.uk/

service design futures

http://www.guardian.co.uk/service-design

tutorial suggestion

From Matt:

have a think about something called "work flows" - the difference between digital companies and traditional ones.

i think there is something here - like digital companies reply to request for proposals, they write "formal" proposals with work plans, they use a process to develop ideas,

I think TV is pretty different. work flow relates to how something is actually shot, not all the work beforehand.

could this be at the heart of the shift in culture?

The Hypothesis

With user generated content, innovation and ideas a plenty, cloud services, free media distribution opportunities and the rise of Mashups is there any need any more for a TV Production Company entity?

Can individuals, alone or through collaboration, do what a small indie used to do?

If not, what is it that an independent, digital content production company can do / should do today that an individual, established leader or quick upstart cannot?

- the Diagonal View Model - what other archive opportunities exist - the 02 rights example

What can today's indie's learn from this? Can they learn?

Where do they go (physical and online) and who do they listen to?

How can they be supported and developed in person and through online peer to peer network services?

Tutorial 2 planning - 24 February 2010

I've started speaking to some people. Looking to dovetail and signpost rather than reinvent. Conversations include:

Skillset - to tie into their planned mentoring programme
Ravensbourne mentors - to discuss what will work best for mentors and for mentored companies and what characteristics a company needs to demonstrate to be mentorable

The next steps are to start looking at the cloud, RT Web, social media and other emerging technologies and platforms that can truly enhance mentoring and peer to peer support programmes for existing and emerging content production companies.

The final project hypothesis

When I joined Ravensbourne in 2007 I felt that within four years I would end up delivering more innovation for its TV and broadcasting audiences and customers than I would for those on the design side, the world from which I had come and knew best. On 25 January 2010 I thought I knew what to do. It all seemed clear. The final project concept for my MA in Enabling Creative Innovation was set. It was obvious that all I needed to do was to research, design and deliver an online platform, a virtual space, or hub if you like, that would facilitate indie TV production companies in the UK to innovate, to develop new business models and to prosper in the Digital Britain of 2010 and beyond. Not so. Let this be a lesson for any future work-based MA takers - "It ain't that simple!" I had my first tutorial on 26 January with Mr Matt Marsh, visiting professor at Ravensbourne and the founder of innovation / service design company 'firsthand experience'. Matt set me straight. He correctly pointed out that for me to really get something out of this MA experience, other than a bit of paper, which would flatter my academic vanity, I should pull back a few steps. Take a new look at what could be achieved. Question "why" I should do so and to really think about "what" the probelm is that needs to be addressed though some sort of solution, which may or may not end up being the online platform I originally had planned.

So. Here I am. Back at square one on the MA snakes and ladders board. My challenge for the next tutorial is to develop the killer hypothesis that I can, hopefully, in turn transform into the killer solution, the killer platform, app, online space for the UK's TV indies. So what is this hypothesis?

Here's some initial questions / ideas that I hope will help shape it:

What happens when isolated businesses and whole sectors collide head on with new and very open business models, necessary to succeed in the open, digital age?

What new attitudes, skills, languages and partnerships do they need to learn or adopt to succeed?

Where do they find the above?

What are the barriers to adoption and how are they best overcome?

Which businesses, sectors and/or countries can they learn from who may have gone through digital or 'open' business transitions already?

Can UK indies innovate in the ways which are necessary or are they so isolated and 'closed' that this is an impossible task?

If they can't innovate and open themselves, what will the new wave of content and production companies look like who do prosper in the digital age and what type of content will they produyce and how will it be distributed, to who and how will it be funded or paid for?

And. What are the key digital advances that make the above questions and challenges necessary? Real Time Web, freemium content, mashup and open source philosophy, super fast broadband access, the fall of our traditional broadcasters and their commissioning processes? Perhaps it's all of these things?

Anyway. Once I've got the hypothesis I hope to develop something of real value. Something that can help to open these closed and isolated businesses and act as the glue to bring them together, to develop a new community of shared practice for production professionals, which will help to keep the UK indie TV production sector competitive and successful in the age of Digital Britain.