BloMob: the future of digital publishing

One of the most frequent excuses I hear from clients, students and colleagues when we are discussing blogging and the use of digital publishing tools to encourage sharing and collaboration, is "I don't have time to blog".

One of the reasons I think Twitter is so popular is because the format is so limited that people feel less pressure when posting and can publish ideas without expanding on them.

The problem is that Twitter is limiting as well as limited...and there are many ideas and comments that cannot legitimately nor legibly be reduced to 140 characters.

The growth of tablets like the iPad has probably helped people create content on the go....although it's not easy to type on most tablets while on the move.

Recording thoughts like a personal podcast is possible on a variety of platforms like AudioBoo, but the disadvantage of audio is not being able to skim-listen, unless you are partially sighted and used to absorbing audio information really really quickly.

So what is the future?

There are two sides:
a. It has to be mobile, clearly, to allow people to develop posts on the go.  But that's not ideal as this post can attest....being written through an app on a train....creating links and embedding images is fiddly to say the least...
b. dictablog: being able to dictate thoughts into a mobile or other device and hoping it correctly transcribes the dictation into text. It would also need to become clever enough to insert links and images... and you have the downside of having to speak loudly and clearly into your mobile, possibly in public, definitely looking like a fool.

So what alternative is there?

Simple....keep your thoughts to yourself....           

Digital Britain - don't put the horse before closing the barn doors...

So the government's report on Digital Britain is now out. I've not read it yet... instead I've listened, again, to the Guardian Media Talk podcast where they discussed it. Well... it's easier to listen to the podcast in the car. Sometimes John Humphries can be an annoying belligerant git first thing....lovely and cuddly though I'm sure he is.

Anyway, one of the items in the Digital Britain report, apparently, is that in the same way the analogue TV signals will be switched off by 2012, the radio analogue signals will be switched off (in favour of DAB) by 2015.

How can I put this simply?

DON'T DO IT!!!!

So, why do I dislike DAB - the digital radio system used in the UK? Let me count the ways:

1. I bought a DAB radio around 4 years ago which would not work in the house unless next to a window! This was a good quality one too... not cheap and cheerful. I could only get guaranteed reception in the middle of the garden... and this in an area listed by the DAB authority (whoever they are...I can't remember now) as having EXCELLENT DAB reception.
2. Most (many?) houses have only 1 TV. 2 at most. How many radios do everyone have? One in each room, plus one in each car, plus a couple of portable ones? My mp3 player and my mobile phone can receive FM radio. Radio-Alarm clocks? Stereos... the list is endless. So we'll have to upgrade EVERY SINGLE ONE of those items? You can't even get many DAB radios for cars ... yes they'll be more available by 2015, but what about thems that have old cars? There are currently over 32 million cars in the UK... so will each suddenly become silent? When I had a 1973 VW Beetle, in the 1990s, it had the original Blaupunkt radio. Which worked perfectly in FM and AM. And one will still need analogue radios for when you go abroad and want to listen to local stations...
3. Power... there are now solar DAB radios... there are now battery-operated DAB radios, but they're still not common. And DAB is notorious for using energy at a far higher level than normal analogue radios. So if you want a cheap DAB battery operated radio for the bathroom (i.e. no cables) there are VERY few options available... and why are we being forced to move to a technology that uses more energy, when we precisely need to use less energy and save the planet?
4. There are other systems available... i.e INTERNET radio. Why not wait a few more years and move to that...rather than this half-way house that will do nothing but create a boom business for DAB radio manufacturers... hardly the most pressing of social needs at present.

My solution? Keep radio as it is for now... for a long time. Another 20 or 30 years?

I know the emergency services want more frequencies to say 'Roger that 10-4' in, but I'm sure there are other ways than just kicking all radio stations off the airwaves. Encourage manufacturers to develop more portable/domestic radios that can receive Internet radio (and are easy to tune) - including podcasts... i.e. with one easy-to-use system you could listen to live local radio, listen to (no need to download, just stream) mp3 podcasts (etc. - whatever iTunes formats are too) and then listen to a radio station on the other side of the world that plays permanent loop of your favourite Caravan album.

It shouldn't be difficult. It would better meet the future needs of audio listening. And means I don't have to ditch the valve-operated old radiogram which still works 50+ years after it was built.

Don't assume - it makes an ass.... or something...

I've recently been presenting and teaching the whole concepts of Web 2.0 and Social Media more and more, to wider and more varied audiences. On the one hand I'm always wary that many people now are on Facebook and Twitter constantly and I can teach them very little... but I am constantly surprised by the number of people who would, I would have thought, be obvious users of the technology and yet have still not even heard of it.

A case in point, Saturday night I was talking to a teacher. He teaches at a London secondary school which focuses heavily on performing arts.  Not quite 'Fame' but not hugely different apparently (they don't dance on tables every lunch time).

However, when I was talking to him about listening to podcasts in the car, he said "what's a podcast?"  This from somewhere that, I would have thought, would be creating Youtube videos of the pupils performing (whatever they perform) and at least through being around Generation Y people constantly, would have heard all the buzz words.

So, the moral?  Those of us that know, know. But those that don't, really have no idea at all! So let's not assume that everyone is on the same level.

And meanwhile, for those who are a bit unsure of what a podcast is, you have two options:

a. see the Wikipedia entry here

b. read my brief explanation: Podcasts are audio or video files that can be downloaded to the user's computer and transferred to an iPod or mp3 player for listening to at any time, as often as required.  Podcasts should be and usually are free.  They can be created by anyone with a computer ... and in effect are radio broadcasts by the public.  You can listen to audio or watch  video online (through 'streaming') which can be exactly the same content as a podcast, but isn't strictly a podcast in that you cannot download the file to enjoy later.  Some people call video podcasts 'vodcasts' but that, I think, is just silly.

I, for example, now download podcasts created by people such as the Guardian newspaper or the Economist, since I don't have time to read them every day and it allows me to listen in the car on the daily commute.