I’m not a fan of TV. Not at all.
I do like movies. And I like series that are aired on television which I can hoard and watch in multi-hour segments.
It seems odd therefore that we (the royal ‘we’) are coming to Channel 4 and putting our ideas in front of them. It’s certainly my feeling that Channel 4 might not be the best people to ask about what makes a compelling online experience but I am encouraged that they are at least trying. We don’t really see much of this from the Beeb (and bugger all from UTV).
What is the role of a public service broadcaster when there is no audience?
The first is to strike the word “broadcast” from the lexicon.
It becomes a ‘public service’ and the audience becomes participants. You can see what Ewan McIntosh, Digital Commissioner for 4 IP is talking about in the Digital Circle podcast (RSS) when says that proposals in to 4IP which have the word ‘audience’ in them are going to find it hard to be accepted.
But what does 4IP know about these services that we don’t?
I think the answer is not a lot and this is why the fund exists. The obvious ones have started to be discussed on the 38minutes site – greater transparency and participation in politics, the participatory nature of Alternate Reality Games, the possibilities (and possible pitfalls) of crowdsourcing. The trick is to ignore these low hanging fruit. It’s not to re-invent the search engine but to think about what will be the methods of interaction in the future.
Ewan mentions, in the podcast, that he sits in front of the TV with his mobile beside him and his laptop on his lap. Same here. And that he watches telly that he doesn’t want to watch. If that doesn’t sound a death knell for traditional television, then you need your aural receptacles syringed. So, looking at what we have there – a large viewing screen, a powerful computer, a device that is location aware, and the entirety of the internet – what would be your pitch?
Also important to note: Channel 4’s ‘iPlayer’ technology is Windows only. Seeing as the Alpha Geeks use Macs…that’s a bigger issue than you might think.
