Television will never be the same once online viewing becomes a dominating force in today’s entertainment. Some of the top media companies are using analog dollars to chase digital coins in the race for online viewers and how they they capitalize off the profits. With online providers like Los Angeles based company Hulu, we have seen a rapid number of people who are willing to watch their favorite TV shows and movies online rather than through the cable box.
Recently CBS executive Quicny Smith spoke about his disagreement with free online television with companies such as Hulu. His stance is that CBS should continue the current business model of bringing the viewers to the biggest advertising space which is television. In this approach he says that “you can make a lot more money doing things that are additive and complementary to the rest of the CBS line” which is why CBS networks have yet to release their TV shows on the Internet.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment
Emerging markets across the world are proving that normal business models are not the gospel truth when coming to mobile technology and digital media. Reading Nick Hughes and Susie Lonie’s article about Kenya’s largest mobile provider Safaricom launching M-PESA explains the unique approach taken by the telecommunication company. In places like Kenya the ability to use your mobile phone as a social, business and political tool can be very useful despite for decades being excluded in many of these sectors.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment
Newspapers taught me how to read and cartoons taught me about consistent storytelling. With just a small strip of drawings and text, cartoons can speak a thousand words without the complex explanations. Graphic novels are proving that through great storytelling audiences are willing to absorb stories outside the normal world.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment

In 2000 I started a e-commerce website selling books from a stocked inventory of books passed on to me by a semi-retiring publisher. The publisher was moving his business online and no longer selling them from his community stable brick and mortar. His plans were to move online and sell his entire inventory. I joined the race of online entrepreneurs looking for a niche market to enter and claim a stake.
I have since stop selling books online and began to revaluate our business model just in time for the rush of new e- reader devices like the Kindle, Sony Reader and now Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. bookstore chain has entered the market with the Nook. The Nook was leaked today and finally reveled to the consumer market with features that not even the Seattle online book giant Amazon could brag about.
The “Android based” nook is calling itself the “most advanced e- book reader on the planet” weighing 11.2 ounces and a color touch screen. The device releases just a few months after the second edition of the Kindle went for sale. The features that are the most interesting to me is that it has a built in WiFi with 2GB of storage, a microSD expansion slot, MP3 player, built in speaker, USB port, with the ability to highlight words and make notes. Since so many devices are competing for the 8 percent U.S. adult market who purchased a e-book in 2008 it helps that the Nook allows users to lend books to other e-readers, cellphones or computers through a feature called “LendMe.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment

The days of only newspapers telling the story are over and you can thank video podcasting for that. When I first started using my Apple laptop I discovered that itunes had a podcast store that would allow you to subscribe to different podcast shows for free. I immediately found a spanish tutoring show and then I discovered a subscription for NY Times videos.
After downloading a few episodes I watched them on my itouch player in total amazement at how quick I was able to receive a short 3 minute video reporting on Wyclef Jean and Bill Clinton’s recent visit to Haiti together as part of UN mission. This caught my attention because I have hours of video footage from my trip to Haiti in 2003 and I never thought about using the footage in a reporting format just like the New York Times. A frequent reader of their newspaper editions I noticed that the New York Times has adapted to the digital age and even provides audio podcast for different sections of the newspaper for example the Book Review, Tech Talk, World View, and the Weekend Business each host their own show. As for the short videos on their website they have over 23 categories to choose ranging from breaking news, travel, sports to automobiles each with a library of short videos to assist their printed articles. Each video starts with a quick advertisement before playing the actual video which proves that they are monetizing the production and distribution of the videos. Are they profitable to the newspaper is something I would be interested to know.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment
Africa is the birthplace of civilization and for thousands of years introduced the world to technology, mathematics, science and medicine. Even in today’s current conditions Africa is the place with all the answers. Reading two articles by Mo Ibrahim and Richard Heek gave me a new insight into how much mobile communication is valued in poor countries along with the consumption concerns that come with it. In Mobile for Impoverishment Richard Heeks referenced a few different researches only to conclude that we need more research into how mobile phones can help improve the lives of the bottom billion.
Reading the statistic that one research quoted was “48 percent of the respondents say they sometimes substitute important needs like food, clothing and education for mobile phone usage” is not what advocates of new technology are proud of. Yet other studies prove that incomes have increased for some users who use the phone as a tool of production rather than another useless consumption. Unlike many western users the mobile phone is the fastest, cheapest and most convenient form of communicating with relatives, markets and business to businesses. Without a mobile phone many entrepreneurs have to travel long distances to receive valuable information on the products they are selling or buying. Just like the developed world technology makes things more convenient in Africa.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment
Magazines are relaxing sometimes which is why I read each issue carefully. At the current moment I have over six magazine subscriptions coming to my house each month and each issue has its own value outside the price tag. At an early age I enjoyed reading Sports Illustrated for the latest interview of my favorite athletes or browsing at the photographs of a recent championship game which in return sparked an interest in me that never left. Reading.
So in this post I decided to wrote about counter arguments of a newly released book from Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson in connection with why I enjoy reading even if I have to pay a small fee each year for a delivered service.
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
Leave a Comment
After signing up for this class I was anxious to learn ways to produce, edit and distribute digital content on various Internet platforms. My background is in Disc Jockeying, journalism and multimedia productions which have provided me with many opportunities to travel across the world and document many cultures.
Upon pondering my topic for this course I thought about the many faces I would see in developed nations like Zimbabwe, Senegal, Jamaica and Venezuela and imagined what would happen if these same people were trained and equipped with Flip video cameras to highlight their lives so that people who are not able to pinpoint their opinions can identify a common ground. So my topic is ” How can digital videos assist non profits at the same avoid interrupting the normal life people live in developing nations”?
I would like to learn filmmaking tactics and apply them to digital storytelling content that can be used to address the social. political and economic issues that many countries are facing. My topic would like to focus on a local start up company called Better Because that is planning to make life a lit bit better people by providing positive media content in the form of a book, Smile campaign and weekly words of inspiration. I would like to know how to produce short videos and distribute them on various media outlets for Better Because.
Permalink
Leave a Comment
After watching Clay Shirky’s presentation on TED I learned how “innovation can happen anywhere” from the handheld mobile devices to new digital broadcast applications. We are living in a revolutionary time just as people in the early 20th century were experiencing new forms of communications like telephones and television.
This shift in the way humans are communicating has open the door for ordinary citizens to participate in a media content and production. One of the main themes of Shirky’s address is that people are dictating the options users and viewers can choose from. One of the great examples he mentioned was a recent earthquake in China and how people on the ground were reporting, filming, and photographing scenes from the devastation without the censorship of the Chinese government.
Recently a Chicago teenager was killed from a gruesome mob attack and the beating was filmed by another teenager who was witnessing the attack. This short video that was recorded on a camera phone was broadcasted throughout the news in a matter of minutes highlighting the bigger issues of Chicago’s street gangs. The short video represented real time recording that today’s technology can provide in the hands of amateurs at the same time it helped authorities identify the criminals who committed the violent act. As more consumers begin to possess these tools I believe we will see more incidents like Chicago, Iran, China, and even in Seattle of unedited videos that would go directly to online audiences without the filter of traditional media outlets.
To watch the Chicago incident click here
For images of China’s earthquake click here
Permalink
Leave a Comment