Topic: Media

A diverse panel of experts at the Web 2.0 Conference looks at how the web is changing the music business, and how music is driving tech adoption. The panel looks at copyright and filesharing, how the music industry must morph if it is to survive, and how consumers are taking things into their own hands. [Web 2.0 audio on IT Conversations]

Want to grok the blogosphere? Dave Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati has the inside look at this explosive new medium. (IT Conversations audio from the Web 2.0 Conference)

Innovations seem to start in the commons, like Brewster Kahle's Internet Archive. We know about the advertising business model for the Web, but does the library business model bring a broader range of information to people? Are we investing in the right thing? (IT Conversations presents Brewster Kahle's presentation from the Web 2.0 Conference.)

The Gillmor Gang on IT Conversations...

Steve calls in from the Integrated Media Association's New Media Summit with his special guest, Stephen Hill. The talk is all about the convergence of radio (most notably public radio) and "new media" if that term even makes sense any longer. That convergence is due to digital technologies and the fact that it's now possible for nearly anyone to create broadcast-quality audio with a very small investment in equipment. Stephen reminds us that even FM radio isn't very old, having become popular in the mid 1960s, when broadcasters even supplied the receiver. (Hey...sounds like satellite today!)

Public radio in the U.S. has more than 20 million subscribers, but the public-radio insfrastructure has become a bottleneck in its own right. (Is NPR the "Clear Channel of public radio?")

Is podcasting the next step for independently produced audio? It was an important topic at the New Media Summit. The consensus is that podcasting is still in Geeksville mode, but it's real close. What business model will prevail? Stephen thinks it's bundle-and-charge aggregation, and sees at least one segment of public radio going to a $240/year model.

But if there's an explosion of content, how will we sort our way through it? Will it be something like Attention.xml, or will we rely on more traditional systems like individual or group editors? An important development may be the Personal Service Publisher proposal (PDF) presented at the conference.

This week it's all about blogging and RSS with The Gang's special guests, Rafat Ali and Stephen O'Grady. Does Bloglines represent the tipping point for blogs? What about blogs in the corporate world? Is there a role for blogs in business processes? And do blogs make companies more transparent? Blogs are simple and valuable, so why aren't they part of IBM or Micorosoft's plans for their collaborative-software products? (The Gillmor Gang on IT Conversations.)

IT Conversations audio from Pop!Tech 2004 (Renaissance Prospects): Douglas Rushkoff analyzes, writes and speaks about the way people, cultures, and institutions create, share, and influence each other's values. He sees "media" as the landscape where this interaction takes place, and "literacy" as the ability to participate consciously in it.

James P. Hogan and host Dave Slusher discuss how the film '2001' started Hogan on a career as an author, on his relationship with Marvin Minsky and the world of artificial intelligence, on writing about space and space travel, whether there is a feedback loop between scientists and science fiction writers, the post-scarcity economics of distributing entertainment online and much more.

(Tech Nation with Moira Gunn; audio from IT Conversations) Moira speaks with Jim Rygiel, the special effects supervisor for "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy. They'll look at the technology of Hobbits, and they'll also talk about how the technology of digital effects has changed over its six years of production.

IT Conversations audio from Pop!Tech 2004 (Global Creativity): Bruce Mau

IT Conversations audio from Pop!Tech 2004 (Global Creativity): Jim Rygiel has brought us breakthroughs in digital effects from The Last Starfighter (1984) to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. [An audio presentation from IT Conversations. Jim's presentation contains many film clips, but if you've seen any of the Lord of The Rings films, we think the audio alone still makes for a compelling presentation.]