What folllows are some notes and links from this week’s Multimedia Meets Radio conference in the Dutch town of Hilversum – it’s not intended as a full report, simply my take-aways.
An interesting event aimed at radio professionals and hosted in a town which gave the impression of having been a goldrush town in the era when radio was the emerging big media technology.
Some stunning remaining Deco buildings (including this former theatre I stayed at) hinted at a more glamorous era and a delegate visit to the present day Radio Netherlands Worldwide premises, still complete with sand-filled studio doors from the 1930s, was a reminder of just how enduring radio continues to be as a medium.
Being a complete radio junkie myself, it was a treat to be asked to speak there (about UGC and how The Guardian is making its news social) and have an opportunity to meet some truly passionate and forward-thinking practitioners.
Such as;
- Audioboo CEO Mark Rock, who gave a live demo during his talk but also, in effect, plenty of other live demos by interviewing anything that squeaked! Check out his full output here which includes a brief chat over lunch with me about councils’ access for those who wish to tweet meetings. Couple of news breaks – although audioboo is best known for its iPhone app, it will soon be available for Nokia and Android plus, there’s a nifty looking desktop app now in use which I’ll certainly be trying out soon.
- Freelance radio producer Kate Arkless Gray reminded everyone just how evocative audio can be with a presentation about the award-winning Save Our Sounds interactive map produced for the World Service. From the exotic to the humdrum, the sounds which capture just a glimpse of what every part of the world might sound like it just delightful. It’s a simple concept of crowd-sourcing clips and placing them on a map which you can see here. Although there’s some remarkable sounds (such as the ice break in Antarctica) it’s irresistible to look closer to home where I found the sound of the trams leaving St Peter’s in Manchester as well as a white van’s horn alarm from a car park in North Yorkshire.
- Apple, in a presentation which seemed intended to create as much intrigue as possible, gave a demo of the new site tools for publishers which will effectively give them greater control over the way their content is presented. The way they packaged their presentation with “confidential”, wouldn’t reveal any surnames on name tags, came equipped with their own mic packs and refused to speak about “the future” made the two presenters as interesting to watch as what they had to say.
- Update: 17.56: Just spotted that Justin King has uploaded the slides he did of the crowdsourced top ten social media tips too. See them here; newsleadermediaconsultancy.blogspot.com. Any more? come on in…..
- The BBC’s Mark Friend gave a very detailed presentation about various aspects of his work, but the most interesting point for me came out of his use of examples of unofficial mashups such as the addition of a slideshow to a Stoke football audio and the comedy show visuals embedded below. I’ve spoken and blogged on this before I know, but it fascinates me to see how the BBC reacts to the sort of activity where its content is uncoupled from the original context in this way. Previously I’ve pondered that the BBC maybe just tolerated this sort of thing, turned a corporate blind eye rather than come the heavy-handed authoritarian.
But there was something in Friend’s descriptions, and obvious enthusiasm, that is making me think again. OK, the Beeb can never realistically stop people doing this, and they can even facilitate it in a more controlled way with projects such as R&D, but perhaps it really rather enjoys what people get up to with the content. After all, is the corporation’s credibility damaged by it in any way? Or could it actually be enhanced?
I wasn’t at all of the sessions at MMR10, so if you’ve also blogged from there, please do feel free to share links below.
Dim Sum Digital 