I just got through the “ComCast must DIE!” chapter of the book and I must tell you that I think that you are a GREAT writer/editor.
I loved it, from the letter from “John”, railing against NTL which had me gasping for breath, I was laughing so hard, to your point about customer service being capitulated to by by Germano of ComCast.
Its a shame that service, the real meat-and-potatoes of a service economy like ours, had descended to such low levels before the coming of the internet; and that its only by pointing out the costs of that shame that we are able to recapture the high ground.
This brings me to my point about what has actually happened and is merely accelerating to the media since the foundation of the internet.
They have gone from being megaphones for hire in the hands of the greedy, rented out to village idiots for them to attempt to raise a ruckus about whatever “shlock” they were shilling, into something entirely different and something which I don’t think you truly appreciate yet.
The old “mass media” are morphing into something which will be sustainable ONLY through governmental and para-governmental patronage.
The economic system which gave us Groucho Marx leering into a camera and uttering the immortal phrase “Say da magic woid and da duck’ll come down” can no longer exist because the economic imperative which was exploited to give us these power structures no longer exists.
Its merely a question of time before the N:M relationships enabled by the structure of the internet supersedes any need for the 1:N structure of the mass media.
Sorry but I’m going to get a bit obtuse here:
There are three kinds of relationships admitted to in data structures: 1:1, 1:N & N:M.
Upon reflection, it can be seen that 1:1 and 1:N (or N:1) are merely existential and circumstantial kinds of the N:M relationship.
Media studies are about to take on a definitely confusing tone because most of the structures we have evolved to describe the world are of the 1:1, trivial example kind, or of the 1:N(N:1) kind.
Take heart, reality is not so constrained. Try describing a simple wall using 1:1 and 1:N (or N:1) and you fail so utterly that the immediate solution is N:M.
As Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak say: “Now Back to ‘Real news’”
Mass media is on its last legs and will soon, within five years, be an archaic anachronism regarded with some faint longing, but not enough to waste any money on.
The internet’s N:M is “good enough” and affords interactivity and a wealth of advantages as it stands, that are impossible and not to be contemplated in the 1:N nature of the mass media.
If I have any words of wisdom to impart they are: EVERYTHING is N:M
Further to my comment, the N:M nature of the internet will now be able to accommodate market niches, like your “On The Media” and my “MSB’s The Disability Show.”
Unfortunately, all of those advertisers I once figured would flock to our respective niches have their own websites and they are able to gather enough information and generate enough buzz that they neither need to be, or more specifically want to be, the next viral video craze or this year’s “Pet Rock.”
the world is about to seem a lot smaller under myriad N:M relationships.
On the plus side, it means that those annoying “2000 Flushes” type of ads will stop being ubiquitous.
On the minus side, even the biggest media companies, heck specially the biggest, are going to go through some carnage before settling down into their smaller incarnations.
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msbpodcast has made a Comment
I just got through the “ComCast must DIE!” chapter of the book and I must tell you that I think that you are a GREAT writer/editor.
I loved it, from the letter from “John”, railing against NTL which had me gasping for breath, I was laughing so hard, to your point about customer service being capitulated to by by Germano of ComCast.
Its a shame that service, the real meat-and-potatoes of a service economy like ours, had descended to such low levels before the coming of the internet; and that its only by pointing out the costs of that shame that we are able to recapture the high ground.
This brings me to my point about what has actually happened and is merely accelerating to the media since the foundation of the internet.
They have gone from being megaphones for hire in the hands of the greedy, rented out to village idiots for them to attempt to raise a ruckus about whatever “shlock” they were shilling, into something entirely different and something which I don’t think you truly appreciate yet.
The old “mass media” are morphing into something which will be sustainable ONLY through governmental and para-governmental patronage.
The economic system which gave us Groucho Marx leering into a camera and uttering the immortal phrase “Say da magic woid and da duck’ll come down” can no longer exist because the economic imperative which was exploited to give us these power structures no longer exists.
Its merely a question of time before the N:M relationships enabled by the structure of the internet supersedes any need for the 1:N structure of the mass media.
Sorry but I’m going to get a bit obtuse here:
There are three kinds of relationships admitted to in data structures: 1:1, 1:N & N:M.
Upon reflection, it can be seen that 1:1 and 1:N (or N:1) are merely existential and circumstantial kinds of the N:M relationship.
Media studies are about to take on a definitely confusing tone because most of the structures we have evolved to describe the world are of the 1:1, trivial example kind, or of the 1:N(N:1) kind.
Take heart, reality is not so constrained. Try describing a simple wall using 1:1 and 1:N (or N:1) and you fail so utterly that the immediate solution is N:M.
As Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak say: “Now Back to ‘Real news’”
Mass media is on its last legs and will soon, within five years, be an archaic anachronism regarded with some faint longing, but not enough to waste any money on.
The internet’s N:M is “good enough” and affords interactivity and a wealth of advantages as it stands, that are impossible and not to be contemplated in the 1:N nature of the mass media.
If I have any words of wisdom to impart they are: EVERYTHING is N:M
msbpodcast has made a Comment
Further to my comment, the N:M nature of the internet will now be able to accommodate market niches, like your “On The Media” and my “MSB’s The Disability Show.”
Unfortunately, all of those advertisers I once figured would flock to our respective niches have their own websites and they are able to gather enough information and generate enough buzz that they neither need to be, or more specifically want to be, the next viral video craze or this year’s “Pet Rock.”
the world is about to seem a lot smaller under myriad N:M relationships.
On the plus side, it means that those annoying “2000 Flushes” type of ads will stop being ubiquitous.
On the minus side, even the biggest media companies, heck specially the biggest, are going to go through some carnage before settling down into their smaller incarnations.
The media are heading towards some major upsets.
msbpodcast has made a Comment
For further insights, I would refer anyone interested to William Gibson’s “Idoru.”
Its not prophetic or anything, but it is, uh, relevant in its oft-shifting search for market prescience.
Remember, anyone rich, or capable of becoming rich, is suspect.