Interactive Media and Digital Distribution PDF

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Interactive Media & Digital DistributionUnderstanding Digitization What is Digital? o Language of 1s and 0s o Example: CDs, DVDs o Digitization: the process in which media is made into computer- readable form  What is analog? o Represents the message using a “direct facsimile” of the origi...

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Interactive Media & Digital Distribution

Understanding Digitization 

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What is Digital? o Language of 1s and 0s o Example: CDs, DVDs o Digitization: the process in which media is made into computerreadable form What is analog? o Represents the message using a “direct facsimile” of the original o Examples: audio tapes, VCR tapes, record albums, print media

What are the Advantages of Digital Recording?    

Efficiency Maintains quality Operates as a common language Advantages of Analog? o Requires transfer to a physical medium o Takes up space/limits portability o Some argue that it has a “deeper” sound

Digital Media vs. Traditional 

3 major aspects of digital media that make them different than traditional media 1. Storage Technology  Refers to any type of device or medium in which information can be kept for later retrieval  New components of storage technology  Longevity: how long it can retain information  Capacity: how much information it can store  Portability: mobility, can use it on the go  Reproducibility: ease & accuracy of reproduction  Ethereality: “immaterial” quality of digital information 2. User Interface (affects our ability to use the technology and the development of subsequent technologies)  The junction between a medium and the people who use it (ex: turning a page, using a TV remote, clicking on an icon)  Computers, because of their complexity, make us even more aware of user-interface issues  The ease with which a user can interact with a medium or content, is a cornerstone for media success

 Intuitive User Interfaces  Keyboards: QWERTY arrangement  Computer Mouse: New way to interact with and manipulate the information you input  Touch Screens: don’t need training to interact with images or applications  WWW: from science project to commercialization of the web 3. Interactivity  The ability of the audience to interact with content and with each other  No longer passive consumers of media; more personalized encounters with media  Enables greater user choice  3 main elements: 1. Dialog between human and computer 2. Dialog occurs simultaneously 3. Audience can exert control over media content  Consequences of Interactivity  As a consequence, media has become more integrated in our loves  More engagement but shorter attention spans  Media companies can gather better data about their products  BUT: interactivity can work against media companies

Digital Media Means… 

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Digitization- moving from analog to digital o Makes communication more transportable and manipulatable than before o Makes different media interconnectable Don’t forget: old media never truly goes away- Digital Media Hype o Internet as a threat vs. redactive content (content that has come from somewhere else)

The Internet  

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The collection of networks that link computers & servers together ARPANet (1969) o Created by US DOD’s Advanced Research Projects Agency o Fundamental principle: free circulation of information National Science Foundation o Turned it over to commercial interests

What is the purpose of the Internet? 

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Deciding what to do with the technology o Expectations for ARPANet:  1st objective: a defense system  2nd Objective: technology for shared resources; free circulation of information o Expectations for the World Wide Web  1st objective: hub for information, easier to search for information  2nd objective: web browsers, e-commerce, interactivity Important note: increased use of the web was facilitated by its transformation from a text based entity to one with user friendly graphics (ex: World Wide Web)

What We Have Now 

What the internet has accomplished: o Cheaply & easily distribute content to a mass audience o Enabled new ways for people to communicate with each other

The Internet 

In what ways has the Internet helped media industries? o Lower costs; improved efficiency; promotional tool o Improved (the speed of) access to information o Lucrative forum for buying and selling goods  Relatively small start up and marginal costs  Reducing barriers to entry (stars are found on YouTube more often than at clubs now)

Digitization and Distribution  

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Eliminate the need for physical form and “bricks and mortar” outlet Allows for flexible distribution o Eliminates the need for physical copies o Enables the efficient production of limited, small runs of products Story of The Long Tail o Media industry is shifting away from a small number of “hits” to a large number of “misses” o Drawbacks of the typical distribution model?  Need to find local audience  Constraint of physical space itself  We live in an “hit-drive economy” – pursuit of conformity; what’s popular o With the internet we move out of world of scarcity and into one of abundance

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What is the Long Tail? o Tail end of a demand curve that represents a long list of available media products that are not of great popularity, or “misses” o “Misses” make money & because there are so many more of them, that money adds up o Most successful business on the internet are about aggregating the long tail The Long Tail- 3 Rules o There are 3 new rules for the new entertainment economy: 1. Make everything available  Make even neglected genres available  Embrace niches 2. Keep prices low  Price according to digital costs, not physical ones  Charge less for the so-called “misses” 3. Help people find it  Need both ends of the curve  Collaborative filtering- user recommendations

Implications: The Long Tail 

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2 new retail models: 1. Hybrid: companies that sell physical goods online o Amazon, Netflix 2. Digital: Offer the additional Savings of delivering their digital goods online at virtually no marginal cost o ITunes We now see… o More niche audiences o Distribution of independent content

Digitization and Use   

Choice (in what media we want & how we use it) o Exponential increase in choices among available media products Convenience o Anytime, anywhere availability; increased user control Fragmentation

New Revenue Models  

In theory the internet should be a booming financial cache for companies, but they have found that investments have not paid off o No standard business model- don’t know what works 3 possible revenue streams on the web

o Advertising, Subscriptions, eCommerce

Subscriptions & eCommerce   

Charging a subscription fee has been a good revenue generator (ex: Wall Street Journal) But most sites who have implemented a subscription fee have failed o Instead: freemium model Most $ comes from the collection of user data o Behavioral targeting (if you look on charlotte russe, you’ll see charlotte russe adds on the sides of webpages)

Digitization and Production 

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Print o o Audio o Video o o

Economic strategy; expanding competition E-books and e-readers More fragmentation; less barriers to entry Prevalence of “special effects” Avatar...