Self-confessed “presentist” (as opposed to futurist) Stowe Boyd’s keynote speech looked at the cultural shifts being brought about by the move to a more participatory world wide web – including certain death for the current mass media.
Predicting an impact on society where the values of the post industrialised, more tribal world will return to be important. He said: “There’s a view that this democratisation of the media – we all have a chance to go on the web. It’s almost a pre-industrial ethic. I refer to it as being egalitarian but it’s not really a total levelling of everyone’s involvement. There’s still a lot of room for individual reputation authority.”
Spelling out the well-documented demise of newspapers across America during this morning’s keynote speech, Boyd predicted that the same fate awaited all other countries as the move away from traditional media models swept through.
“The collapse of traditional media is a direct consequence – it’s happening fast across America. It’s a cautionary tale.
“All those people in Boston are supposed to be good citizens, buying the Boston Globe, and they are not.
“The mass media never put it in these terms, they often put it like a faddish taste. It’s not that it’s a power shift. People are deciding for themselves what’s important. We have wrenched ourselves away from the editors and once they’ve done that they are never going to give it back. They can’t erect pay walls and expect to get that back.”
Using the success of Twitter as a prime example, Boyd predicted the emergence of much more social and participatory media where interactions are, by default, public.
“Social location tools, networks in general and future things like social television are coming into their own.”
I’m blogging more during the day here; http://community.futureeverything.org/pg/blog/sarahhartley
Dim Sum Digital 