What Are Your Thoughts About How the Internet is Creating New Media Options?

[pameladlloyd]

Today on LinkedIn, Ralph Lagnado, who identifies himself as a "Senior Planner, International Digital Media at Woo Agency," posted the following question:

Are we resurrecting online the branded entertainment methods of the early television industry?

We've all seen great examples of that.

Take that Youtube phenomenon Fred. With nearly 250,000 subscribers, Fred's YouTube channel is the fourth most subscribed in the site's history. One of his most successful videos "Fred on Valentine's Day" is a piece of entertainment that perfectly aligns with brand ZipIt, an instant messaging product.

I had the temerity to post the following answer:

There's a lot of creative activity online these days. Some of it is created by amateurs such as the YouTube series, Fred, that you mention, or by apparent amateurs such as “Where the H*ll is Matt?”, in which a young man has received sponsorship for a YouTube series that features him dancing in various locations around the world. But, I’ve also recently encountered experiments by professional writers who’ve banded together to create series of stories that corresponds to a TV serial (Shadow Unit) and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog,” a video production created by Joss Whedon, along with numerous others. The Shadow Unit production includes “extras” that use multiple Internet resources to create an imaginary world bigger than the stories themselves, with a Wiki about the “show,” a forum, and LiveJournal pages for some of the characters which extends the imaginary world of the show into a “real-world” contemporary space. Alternatively, the Dr. Horrible production has an online comic book on Dark Horse Comics and multiple social networking sites (MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, and Digg) and is being spread by “word of blog” on LiveJournal (and possibly other blogging sites).

Much of this recent creative activity wouldn’t have been possible even a few years ago and is a result of the greater bandwidth and improved Internet technologies now available. But, I’m not sure the best comparison is really early television. In many ways, this suggests to me the explosion of pulp fiction of the 1930s and 40s, or the early silent film industry; both of which were widely diverse and experimental approaches to our changing world.

I also included the following related links:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY (for "Where in the Hell is Matt?")
http://shadowunit.org/index.html
http://www.drhorrible.com/

If you're on LinkedIn, you can see my answer, along with the answers of any others.

I'd be interested to know what you think about all this.

Comments

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

No thoughts, but it is an interesting subject. The internet is changing a *lot* of things. I met my husband online, and my best friends live in different time zones. *shrug*

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Welcome, Jodi.

I met my husband online, and my best friends live in different time zones.

Did you meet him through LJ, or in some other way? (If I'm being too personal, don't feel you have any obligation to answer. You know how it is with writers, being one yourself; we're veritable magpies when it comes to looking for little jewels of information.)

I've known other couples who met via the Internet; the one couple I knew well seemed very well matched. I think it probably has advantages to all sorts of contemporary ways people use to connect with potential romantic partners. In general, though, I tend to be fairly shy in online contexts. I'm far more likely to friend someone I've already met, or who posts regularly on their journal, and when I'm playing WOW, I tend to either go it alone, or with someone I already know in person.

I really appreciate being able to keep in touch with friends and family who don't live nearby. There are people I used to know who are very important to me (like my best friend for five years in the 80's), with whom I've lost contact, due to multiple moves on both our parts. Had we had email, LJ, and other similar options, I don't think that would have happened.

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

We met through a chatroom roleplaying story-type characters. We started talking like real people, started talking on the phone a LOT (thank goodness for free long distance on cell phones), and a few months later, he flew down to Texas. We drove up to VA and got married not long after. :)

It's definitely interesting, having all your people living in the computer. I'm less shy online than I should be, I think. Your way is probably better. Safer, too.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm shy up to a point, having more to do with the initial "introduction," but as you've probably noticed, I'm not terribly shy about what I say in my journal or in my posts. I try to stay reasonable and aware that this is a very public forum (I've compared this to being at a party that's being televised), but I also try to be comfortable and natural.

But, in many ways, it's all like going down the rabbit hole. Once you've started, you're not sure where you're going to wind up. 8-O

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Interesting question and yours is a very good reply. I don't feel that it resembles early TV because that required access to expensive equipment that put it out of reach of all but the few.

I am constantly amazed at all the wonderful stuff the Net throws up. Yes, a lot of the stuff out there is crap, but every so often a gem appears. I also love the way it encourages both individual creativity (blogs, Flickr, cartoons, comic strips, ) and communal efforts, either done by groups of friends, such as Shadow Unit or a new band launching themselves via MySpace or by the contributions of random stranger, eg Lolcats.

And then all this is mixed in with information and entertainment provided by existing big players, such as daily newspapers and the BBC.

I do like living in the future. :)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Interesting question and yours is a very good reply. I don't feel that it resembles early TV because that required access to expensive equipment that put it out of reach of all but the few.

Thank you. Hmm, while computers may no longer be prohibitively expensive for the middle class, there are still an awful lot of people who can't afford them. Plus, while libraries now offer computers and Internet access (another difference with respect to early TV), I wonder how many of the people who could most benefit from their free services are aware of them and actually use them.

I am constantly amazed at all the wonderful stuff the Net throws up. Yes, a lot of the stuff out there is crap, but every so often a gem appears. I also love the way it encourages both individual creativity (blogs, Flickr, cartoons, comic strips, ) and communal efforts, either done by groups of friends, such as Shadow Unit or a new band launching themselves via MySpace or by the contributions of random stranger, eg Lolcats.

I love the participatory nature of the Internet. There's so much going on and most of us never do more than scratch the surface.

And then all this is mixed in with information and entertainment provided by existing big players, such as daily newspapers and the BBC.

Yeah. A few of them are even beginning to catch up with the most creative Internet geeks. ;>

I do like living in the future. :)

Oh, yeah! All this creative energy gives me such a sence of hope and wonder.

Yet, it also allows me to be more aware of less positive things that are going on. There was a link in a post I read yesterday, that I can no longer find (the post, I mean), to an article (http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn13382-robot-arms-race-underway-expert-warns.html?feedId=online-news_rss20) about "plans outlined by the US and other nations to roboticise their military forces." Scary stuff.

Yet, at the same time that these things worry me, the fact that I learned about it and so have the opportunity to at least voice my opinion about this kind of activity provides me with a sense of hope.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

This is a cool thing--completely at random, the song I was listening to when I came to read your entry was Praan. So you writing your entry and I reading your entry had the same musical experience.

I saw the first episode of Dr. Horrible today. Am I right in understanding it's only like three or four episodes long in total? My daughter broke to me the bad news of the final episode--not sure how I feel about that, but I really enjoyed the first episode.

The Internet still feels like a big adventure to me--worth the dangers for the fun.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

This is a cool thing--completely at random, the song I was listening to when I came to read your entry was Praan. So you writing your entry and I reading your entry had the same musical experience.

Yes, that is really cool. It's not a song I'm likely to have found without the Matt video, either. *g*

Yes, there are only three Dr. Horrible videos and I've seen them all, now. I've got mixed feelings. I loved the first two acts, but I'm not thrilled with specific elements of the third. Not wanting to provide a spoiler for people who haven't finished out the set, I don't want to be too specific, but to echo a comment I saw on a blog (sorry, I don't have a link) this wasn't necessary.

I'm not sure, now that I've seen the whole thing, whether I'll ever buy the DVD. If the third had not had the bad news you refer to, I certainly would have wanted it. One of my writing instructors, or maybe a writing workshop leader, referred to the contract between the writer and the audience for a story. The type of story and how its presented, along with other factors I'm not remembering clearly enough to express, create an expectation which, if not met, results in a breaking of the contract. I feel that Joss Whedon missed the ball on this. The production starts as a not-all-that-dark comedy, which is not how it ends.

I think I still want the music, though. I loved the score.

The Internet still feels like a big adventure to me--worth the dangers for the fun.

Yes. It helps, too, that many of the dangers (spyware, viruses, etc.) can be dealt with. As for the dangers of disappointed expectations, well, life's full of those, there are never any guarantees.