Mediasnackers | Report | September 2007

REPORT subnavigation:: CURRENT; PREVIOUS [currently viewing]; PODCASTS; VODCASTS; RSS

Currently viewing:: 2007 > September

Entries for September 2007

MediaSnackers Vodcast | Episode#010 | October 07

[SUMMARY—Another mouth-watering MediaSnackers Vodcast to devour.]

The MediaSnackers monthly vodcast is a fifteen minute shot (more or less) of yummy-youth-media-goodness. Featuring content made, produced or focussed on young people and media from around the globe.

Click To Play

Featuring: Gasan Gasanov, theoneminutesjr.org; How To Subscribe; MediaSnackers News; A Child's War trailer by Global Kids Inc; Mount Summer Staff by Dan Meyer; music by The Melodica, the Melody and Me.

The MediaSnackers monthly vodcast is a fifteen minute shot (more or less) of yummy-youth-media-goodness. Featuring content made, produced or focussed on young people and media from across the globe.

Special thanks to Chris Taylor for INC 2007 pics.

Subscribe directly to these podcasts through iTunes by clicking the 'subscribe' icon opposite (download iTunes for free here).

Not using iTunes? Then just copy / paste this feed and drop it into your podcast aggregating software.

If you have any short video content (under two-mins) relating to youth media projects, are involved in any aspects of youth media or are a young person producing digital content (audio/visual) and want to discuss submitting pieces for consideration, please get in touch.

Watch the other vodcasts here.

Filed by DK on September 30 2007 | READ IT »

Digital Breadcrumbs

[SUMMARY—Follow them.]

(GBR) One of our favourite mantras we throw around in our training is: follow the digital breadcrumbs.

If you find a weblog you like click through the blogroll, if you find someone bookmarking the same site you have check out the rest of their links etc. Here's a real life example:

MediaSnackers is on Twitter. We got an email this morning that someone new is following us. We checked out their twitter page and clicked through to their weblog to discover their role as the instructional technology facilitator for Lee County Schools, in North Carolina, USA.

After some more clicking and reading we found out some amazing examples of teachers using wikis, sending newsletters out via SlideShare plus a great post with a huge list of resources (most of which we haven't heard of before).

Follow the digital breadcrumbs folks and you never know what pearls you will find.

Filed by DK on September 30 2007 | READ IT »

CTAM Europe Conference: Part Three

[SUMMARY—Our bit.]

(SPA) It's our turn. We did a short presentation to provide context to the session, illustrating how the world has changed for young people and new media and technology.

We were then joined on stage by a group of young people from the American School in Barcelona to discuss their media habits. Here's the questions we talked around:

Media habits:

• Where and how do you learn about what's happening in the world?
• What are your online habits?
• Which of the social networking sites do you use and why?

Media device ownership:

• Which media device (i.e. cell phones, portable gaming, MP3 players, video players, PDA's) do you spend the most time using and why?
• What one media device couldn't you live without and why?
• What one thing would you like to do with a media device that's not yet provided?

Media attitudes:

• How do you think young people are portrayed in the media?
• What brands, programmes or adverts do you like at the moment and why?
• Do the films and TV shows you watch also play a role in your online activities?
• What is the single biggest benefit and downside or negative effects that has come from the new digital advances?

Many thanks to Krizsta, Eric and Marta for enabling the session to happen and special thanks to: Abel, Loreto, Marc, Maria, Maria, Narcis, Nuria and Stefano—you guys ruled!

We tasked DK and MediaSnackers with developing a panel to challenge the thinking of your average adult marketing executive at our annual conference. DK brought in a panel of teens from an international high school and quizzed them on how they use new media—what media they use and why it is important to them—as well as checked their usage of so-called conventional media such as "linear" video.

The session and panel was just what our conference needed. Most attendees were taken aback at the priorities that these students assigned to their media devices and just how critical they were to their lives. DK expertly led the audience through a series of questions to test just how in touch our marketing executives are with today's trends. Matching the audience's response against the students was a lesson in how much more we need to learn about the coming consumer.

Dennis Hodges, Vice President Marketing, Sales and Content Strategy, UPC Central Europe Group and Past Chairman, CTAM Europe

Related link: CTAM Europe Conference: Part One & Part Two

Filed by DK on September 27 2007 | READ IT »

CTAM Europe Conference: Part Two

[SUMMARY—Conference starts.]

(SPA) MediaSnackers is in Barcelona, where we will be moderating a panel of young people to discuss their media habits at the CTAM Europe Conference.

The conference is kicked off by Dennis Hodges of the CTAM giving an overview on the 'business' side of the organisation.

Carmen Alzner led the next agenda item which is the Creative Awards Ceremony—first-ever European creative competition recognizes outstanding achievement and creative excellence in cable marketing. There were too many winners to log.

Keynoting is Dr Abe Pelad, Chairman and CEO, NDS Group plc. discussing how broadband and the long tail has changed everything and its impact on the industry. The first topic was the outlining the infrastructure, capacity and technology to support increasing growth exists. Then focussed on the long tail applicable to the audience share—mkes the case of how professional produced content will dominate and not user generated content. Also discussed the technologies which are driving change: DVR, portable media devices, ubiquitious broadband. Also, the contenders are crowding the market and bypassing the usual cable operators. The hybrid set-top box still dominates but is challenged by audience fragmentation. The ability to package the experience for the users is the most important aspect.

Related link: CTAM Europe Conference: Part One

Filed by DK on September 27 2007 | READ IT »

CTAM Europe Conference: Part One

[SUMMARY—Off to Spain.]

(SPA) MediaSnackers is off today to the Princesa Sofia Gran Hotel, Barcelona, where we will be moderating a panel of young people to discuss their media habits at the CTAM Europe Conference.

Here's the blurb from the agenda:

The Teen Factor—These kids today!
Since the explosion of gaming, music downloads, UGC, online social-networks, instant messaging, viral media, and more, marketing to teens requires a whole new toolbox and language. How do we gain understanding of new media? What does it all mean to our cable industry? Teens themselves provide the answers! We'll hear from some media-savvy youngsters about their online media behavior and technology use… and what they'd like to see from operators.

The live onstage focus group features specialist in new media and youth marketing, DK, founder of mediasnackers.com. You'll explore the ways teens influence their parents, how much attention they really pay to advertising, and what they really care about. Be prepared to have fun at this session!

If you're attending come and say 'hi'—if not, will try and write a few posts from the event.

BBC Switch

[SUMMARY—Dedicated content for 12-16 year olds.]

(GBR) Covered in the first vodcast episode through an interview with Geoff Goodwin, the BBC has officially announced the launch of their 'teen' brand—Switch.

The new programming offerings will include:

• a fast-paced music show called Sound, presented by Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, shown on BBC Two on Saturday afternoons;
• online arm will broadcast Signs of Life, an eight-episode show centring on astrological events in an English village that lets viewers interact with the plot;
• first Radio 1 under-18s concert at Wembley Arena in November, featuring UK and international artists;
• Radio 1's Sunday night advice show The Surgery, which will be hosted by Kelly Osbourne;
• web guide to the "tribes" that exist in the UK today;
• Slink, an online magazine for girls aged 12-16 offering entertainment, chat and advice.

Andy Parfitt controller Radio 1, 1Xtra and BBC Switch said:

The BBC connects with young children in a very significant way, but when they reach their secondary school years this relationship is not as strong. Our aim is to make distinctive and powerful content 12-16 year olds can embrace and through our work with BBC Vision, Radio 1 and online I feel we are achieving that. We've worked hard to really get to know this audience and the insights we have collected are at the heart of everything we will do.

Related posts: Episode#001 MediaSnackers Vodcast

BBC article link

Filed by DK on September 25 2007 | READ IT »

Blyk

[SUMMARY—Free SIM for ads.]

(GBR) Blyk was launched this morning in the UK and provides free SIM cards in exchange for directed advertising to appear on your mobile phone.

This is the first model of its kind and there are some caveats to the deal:

• only available for 16-24 years old;
• its invitation only;
• participants get 217 texts and 43 minutes every month;
• participants must fill our a questionnaire so they can match the brands to the personalities (partners include: Borders, BSM, Buena Vista, Capital FM, Coke, Colgate, Ford, JJB Sports, L'Oreal, McDonalds, MasterCard, NatWest, Miss Selfridge, Manchester United, NSPCC, Penguin Books, RSPCA, Sky, Stagecoach, Sony BMG, Sony Ericsson, Xbox, Adidas, Boots and Borders);

And today MySpace launched their own free, advertising-supported cell phone version, whilst search behemoth Google is also flirting in this space.

Via Tech Digest

Filed by DK on September 24 2007 | READ IT »

Make Your Mark: Part Two

[SUMMARY—Film review.]

(GBR) Make Your Mark have a great tagline of "inspiring young people to make their ideas happen."

MediaSnackers were honoured to deliver our youth professionals training for some of their staff a few days ago and here's a short film review.

Music Featured: Out While You Can by Ceri Collins

It's a big commitment for people to take two days out of their busy working lives for training; and to get comments back like "this was the best training I've ever had" just shows how much of a success the MediaSnackers training was. It worked because the Make Your Mark people spend their time connecting with and inspiring young people to be creative and learning how to harness social media to that goal has made a real difference to the success they feel they can have. Also, the training by DK and Mark was entertaining, thought-provoking, relevant and, most importantly, accessible to all levels and skill sets of the group. The impact is being felt already with real results coming in from the team at Make Your Mark. I couldn't recommend it more.

Bronwyn Kunhardt, Co-Founder, Polecat Ltd. (Make Your Mark affiliate)

RADIJOJO

[SUMMARY—Radio connecting kids across the globe.]

(GER/WORLD) MediaSnackers met RADIJOJO in Africa at the 5WSMC in March. They have just launched an international children's magazine called "The World is Turning".

The magazine is moderated by Joyce (10) and Hassan (11) who both live in Berlin and represent the multilateral and cultural idea: Joyce has a German mother and an Indonesian father and Hassan's parents come from Lebanon.

Next year, RADIJOJO! will start to broadcast full time in English language. It will broadcast not only its own productions, but also programmes of its international partners. In return RADIJOJO! offers its own productions to other non commercial and independent radio stations all over the world.

For a better flavour of what they do check out what happens when Berlin school kids meet children from Pretoria, South Africa and the radio show they collaborated on.

Filed by DK on September 22 2007 | READ IT »

The MediaSnackers Meme #4

[SUMMARY—Keeping track of the growing MediaSnackers Meme.]

(WORLD) We probably weren't the first to apply the 'snacking' metaphor to media, although there seems to be a growing adoption of it in terms of describing the new youth-media landscape/developments—we thought it would be good to keep an eye on the growing MediaSnacking meme:

The iPod touch might be getting all the attention right now, but the video-enabled nano is the device that best suits our "media-snacking" lifestyle.
A PC mag article discussing how the technology now comes in bite-size like the media it plays.

Four trends: digitalization, convergence, media snacking and social networking were analyzed. These areas built the hub of Wardle's message, which was insightful and set the bar very high for a day of PR education that will continue throughout the day.
Exploring the future of PR by Vice President of Public Relations for Walt Disney World.

One Word Equity's site explains that it is a survival tactic for marketers looking to break through rising clutter and connect with "digital natives"—those pesky new consumers under the age of 30 who are so wrapped up in multitasking and social media and media snacking that they can't even make the time to pay attention to our advertising.
Greg Verdino exploring a new advertising strategy.

The MediaSnackers Meme #1, #2 & #2

Filed by DK on September 21 2007 | READ IT »

Make Your Mark: Part One

[SUMMARY—Two dayer.]

(GBR) Off to London this morning to deliver a two day training course to the staff at Make Your Mark—an organisation which helps young people to make their ideas happen.

MediaSnack-snack-snackers#18

[SUMMARY—Quotes which illustrate.]

(WORLD) MediaSnackers are being served more and more ways to snack on their chosen media than ever. It's hard to differentiate between companies and start-ups enabling snacking or the snacking trends driving media platform development, but here are a couple of quotes from the 'experts' to sum it all up for any 'MediaSnacker-virgins':

In 1953 CBS' Winky Dinky and You encouraged audiences to interact with characters by putting acetate sheets on the screen and drawing on them. More than 2 million acetate kits were sold before being stopped for safety reasons.
The birth of the interactive generation.

Phones have become embedded in kids lives and the establishment hasn't really caught up. It's still busy worrying about teaching Word and Powerpoint when the kids are uploading stuff from their phones to YouTube.
Founder of Handheld Learning, Graham Brown-Martin, discussing the use of mobiles in teaching and learning.

We are trying to open up the television medium so that viewers can help to make television and join the conversation of democracy and reclaim American democracy by talking about the choices we have to make.
Al Gores' acceptance speech as Current TV wins an Emmy.

MediaSnack-snack-snackers #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 & 17.

Filed by DK on September 17 2007 | READ IT »

The Panini Project

[SUMMARY—Wiki-goodness.]

(GBR/WORLD) Here's a great use of a wiki to engage and challenge young students to think creatively: The Panini Project looks to collate 352 football players to pledge a shirt and then donate them all to a third world country.

Headed up by teacher and MediaSnackers friend, Kristian Still, 'The Panini Project' is housed on his teaching wiki, which is used as a platform to share and connect the Taunton's College students in their studies.

Grab the domain while its still free guys and good luck with it—let us know how you get on.

Related posts: Bill And Sams BTEC Adventure

Filed by DK on September 16 2007 | READ IT »

London Gifted and Talented: Part Two

[SUMMARY—Short film review.]

(GBR) Here's a short film review of the time we spent at London Gifted and Talented this week delivering our youth professionals training—thanks again guys!

Music by The Melodica, the Melody and Me

Rather than just talking about technology MediaSnackers' came storming into LGT and made us get on with it! The best way to learn! MS training exceeded expectations for a group of techie and non-techie staff and gave us all a fascinating insight into other web applications and the world out there that we had almost forgotten about! Thanks for bringing the outside world back in and for entertaining us!

Fiona Cleary, Director of Production, London Gifted ! Talented

Filed by DK on September 15 2007 | READ IT »

New Marketing Short

[SUMMARY—Big name endorses MediaSnackers.]

(WORLD) Check out the new marketing short from MediaSnackers—we were lucky to get him but boy was he a bitch to work with ;-)

Filed by DK on September 14 2007 | READ IT »

School Reporting

[SUMMARY—Pupil-generated news.]

(GBR) The BBC are launching a new project called School Report inviting 12 and 13 year olds to create news items which will be published on a dedicated project website. The BBC have created lessons plans, newsroom tips and additional support to promote involvement in the project.

On 13 March 2008, schools around the country will take part in a News Day, simultaneously creating news reports and publishing them on their school websites, to which the BBC aim to link.

Although it's only essentially for one day, the experiences and skills learned from the process will enable the participants to have a better understanding of news production—we're looking forward to seeing the results.

BBC School Report

Filed by DK on September 12 2007 | READ IT »

Sony Rolly

[SUMMARY—Dancing MP3 player.]

(WORLD) With 1GB of memory, built-in speakers, 5 hours of battery life, bluetooth to stream tracks, flashing lights and some funky moves, check out Sony's new offering to the mp3 market: the new Sony Rolly…

Via TechDigest

Filed by DK on September 12 2007 | READ IT »

London Gifted and Talented

[SUMMARY—The fun never stops.]

(GBR) Off to London for a couple of meetings and then tomorrow delivering some bespoke training for the guys and girls at London Gifted and Talented—should be fun :-)

MediaSnackers training

Filed by DK on September 10 2007 | READ IT »

Internet People

[SUMMARY—A dedication to those famous web peeps.]

Filed by DK on September 9 2007 | READ IT »

IBC Conference Wrap-Up

[SUMMARY—Goodbye AmsterDAMN.]

(NLD) MediaSnackers says goodbye to Amsterdam after attending and speaking at this years IBC conference—many thanks for the invite guys. Here's a brief write up of the Are You Being YouTubed? session we spoke at:

MediaSnackers was first up, giving an overview of how young people are using new media and technology, plus how the whole media landscape has changed drastically. A few videos and screenshots served their purpose of underlining the fact that young people are producers, creators and participants.

Next up was Jon Godel, Editor for ITN On—user generated content (UGC) enable news coverage of events which simply the current operations cannot cover. Bascially, people are everywhere and journalists are not. ITN Uploaded has been part of the news since July 07 and is a multi-platformed innovation to augment mainstream news offering. Built around a group of citizen correspondents which brings in the usual marginalized comments and feedback.

Then James DuBern, Director of Programming for Current TV (UK)—talked about how viewer generated content is the backbone of the channel. Since its launch 2 years ago, they are currently reaching 50 million homes and focus on short format, 100% non-fiction. They look to add value through editorial and creative support for those 'pods' which get chosen for broadcast (a process known as 'greenlighting').

Thanks again to Kate Bulkley for chairing the session and for inviting MediaSnackers to participate in the first place. Thanks also to Jon and James (see below) for being so open and hospitable and great speaking fellows.

Reproduced by kind permission of Chris Taylor.

Check out the online write-up by session chair, Kate Bulkley.

DK is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about youth-video-online, a compelling cocktail. He presented well at amsterdam at ibc to a mixed crowd and managed to engage them both with slides and his powerful words. Very good value.
Kate Bulkley, Independent Journalist

Related posts: Amster-DAMN and Web 2.0 vs Broadcasters

Filed by DK on September 9 2007 | READ IT »

Web 2.0 vs Broadcasters

[SUMMARY—Nothing new.]

(NLD) Here's a little write up of the session: Web 2.0 is here - but the technology stays the same.

Exploring the impact of web 2.0 on the broadcast industry and chaired by Maarten Verwaest, Senior Researcher, VRT MediaLab.

First up was Stephen Alstrup, CEO & Founder, Octoshape—discussed peer-to-peer creation in the past (through pencil and paper), pretty much piracy and user generated content has not changed since. He says users will generate content, share and pirate and use thecnology to brodcast and generate. Online broadcasting budget is not comparable to the usership of the internet user.

Second to speak was Alan Southall, Corporate Technology, Siemens AG—helps BBC with streaming technology and their developmental role in the BBC's iPlayer. Said "the internet has become a multimodal interactive communication and collaboration medium." Web 2.0 has nothing to do with technology. They put 'social communities' on the center of their designs. Based the connectivity through tagging and therefore it's easy to scale.

Canadian John Dillan, Cache Logic—content distributors/delivers and talked about their hybrid network with high performance and caching through blending bandwidth from existing networks and p2p.

Lastly, Lieven Vermaele, Director of the EBU Technical Department, European Broadcasting Union—web 2.0 will not remove any mewium formats.Everything has changed from mass to dialogue. Things have to be searchable so it can be found. Broadcast has to use the aspects of social media.

I really wanted to talk to Alan Southall to challenge him on some comments he made about young people and web 2.0. Unfortunately, I was too British and people kept on jumping in front of me and when we got kicked out the room he walked off.

Amster-DAMN

[SUMMARY—Speaking at a broadcasting conference.]

(NLD) MediaSnackers is in Amsterdam! The kind folks at the IBC (International Broadcasting C(?)—does anyone know what the 'C' stands for?) to speak at their conference this year.

The conference programme is stacked, taking on the 5 big themes: Broadcasting by Broadband, Global Broadcast Markets, Digital Lifestyles, Content Production and Digital Cinema.

MediaSnackers will be speaking in the Are You Being YouTubed? session. We'll do some running updates if we have time but watch out for a special feature in the next MediaSnackers vodcast.

Filed by DK on September 7 2007 | READ IT »

Web 2.0 Recruitment

[SUMMARY—Using social networks to employ.]

(WORLD) Here's a little article on how local government should be considering a web 2.0 strategy not only as an avenue to communicate their operationso but also to find and recuit recent graduates.

Networking, when professionally executed, can be a great way for a public sector organisation to engage the interest of young candidates, and to transform the stuffy, bureaucratic impression that they may have of local government.

The quote above related to online social networks and it's something we do a lot of in our training—exploring and creating online platforms as a way to communicate, disseminate and populate.

PublicTechnology.net article link

Filed by DK on September 7 2007 | READ IT »

MediaSnack-snack-snackers#17