There’s a nice piece by BBC News columnist Bill Thompson which talks about how the web is changing the way that journalism works – you can find it here – and which I thought I would pick up on.
The central thread of the piece is that the web has had a massive effect on the way that news is generated, delivered, and most importantly, consumed. It has led to the re-invention of things like Radio, for example, in to audio “streams”, and podcasts. It has changed TV from minority channel broadcast, to long-tail “channels on-demand”. And over all of these bearers (and more), “news” comes closer everyday to being more “real” – because the web empowers us to connect with the news source, rather than receiving it through a broker (and editor) such as the major news corps.
What I would add to Bill’s article is that where the Interweb changed the game in one dimension, Mobile is having as big an effect, if not greater, and will ADD another dimension altogether. What happens when you change the delivery channels and formats from the ground up (web), and then on top of that, Mobilize all the tools you need (camera, video, blog, audio, text) in to a device that can run for days, and get online anywhere?
I believe we are on the cusp of a seed change to the way media is created and consumed – readers of this site are amongst the “first wave” who are trying things out, seeing what works, and deriving the best-fit models which are feeding through to the critical-mass – that is, the point at which media creation and consumption is in the hands of the masses.
For Bill’s well-written article on the effects of the web from his perspective, check it out here. For the Mobile side of things, we here at IntoMobile would love to hear your thoughts…