Thursday, May 04, 2006

Content and its discontents

I'm not content with the contents of the content here, and that' not said just for the sake of discontent. But to be honest, I'm having trouble with video
content. Writing, we all get. Audio, well it accrues sentimentality, and personal memory and recollection over time.

Aside: Music is personal, and isn't that one of the reasons that playback control is so important? Streaming music is background music, music for airports, or films, or workspaces. Music you play, and songs you skip forward to--that's music you know. If you know what you want to hear, you know what you want to hear again.

Video, I like to show. So for a few days after finding something funny I might show it to friends, email or link them to the clip for shits and giggles. And this is weird, but I don't have as much interest watching something over and over unless there's somebody else here with me. With my favorite music, it's the opposite. I don't really want to be interrupted or distracted if I'm listening to my favorite track.

Video may be a more viral phenomenon, may be more communicable than audio as an attachment, object, or token of trade. But over time, I have to wonder, will the clip fade away, as did the home video craze that began with the hand-held video camcorder? When's the last time you shot a video at Thanksgiving dinner?

Is it possible we're excited by new means of distribution, and that our fundamental relationship to the content is the same as it ever was? Do we want more video, in more ways, in more places, at more times?

Comments: :

Blogger Joel said...

Intriguing insights on the use (i.e. playback) and distribution (i.e. sharing) of multimodal packets of content. Point well taken on a personal level, but perhaps if focus shifts back to preserving content, then the value that attaches to the experience moves to the "social level". Just MHO.

5:35 PM  
Blogger adrian chan said...

You have a point. No doubt archives, artifacts, memory systems play a role here. But a look at youtube.com tells me this is wickedly social. I think we need a theory of circulation/proliferation here. Some combo of tokens, economic circ, and communication thry....

10:02 PM  
Blogger Joel said...

... and cultural element, if you will. My take on this is that social software like friendster drives intense cultural and social interplay. What ensues next is a virtuous cycle that tightens social relationships and preserves and enriches culture. Hopefully, over time, economic benefits can trickle in (if we are talking about business models). I know this begs the need for a "new" theoretical framework. BTW I am exploring a matrix which could perhaps plug into the broader blueprint you have in mind. It contains a phatic element which sits on the dimensions of Intimacy and Interaction.

6:50 AM  
Blogger adrian chan said...

I'd like to see your matrix indeed. I think you're spot on about the acceleration of social "interaction" brought about by social media. Luhmann makes a few really interesting points on this: media are designed to forget quickly (in order to continue to run and generate new stories). And media tend towards stories of conflict and what he calls irritation: where reality is not in line with society's expectations (for itself, or its future).
To be perfectly honest, the jury's still out for me on the virtuousness of high velocity, low facework interaction! We're drawn to where the action is, and sometimes the action's distraction...

7:47 AM  
Blogger Joel said...

Here's the link. I am still trying to validate this.

6:16 AM  
Blogger Joel said...

I figured you've seen the matrix I was talking about. More on that: I am considering casting the grid onto an East-West cultural dichotomy where the West reflects a high phatic element and the East traditionally mirrors a strong "familiar sranger" type of behavior. Question: Has new media changed all that? Would appreciate your thoughts.

9:05 PM  
Blogger adrian chan said...

joe, check the pdfs linked to at top right of my blog, under profile, then go to my site and check research and observations. The matrix is too reduced. It has no temporal dimension, and the relationships it models are too direct. ...

10:26 PM  
Blogger Joel said...

Thanks loads Adrian. Will catch up on those readings. I'll get back to you if I get stumped or a major revelation hits me. I could also toss in some comments for everything else in between.
BTW sorry I hadn't mentioned this earlier but I presented a paper last month on KM, Folk Knowledge and Lessons from Social Software. Your fresh insights, which I echoed with a passion, had a major influence on the paper's conclusions. The draft is here. Thanks again!

3:47 AM  
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