The eJustice Network

Just returned from the We Media Conference a few hours ago. Let me share some of my thoughts before I forget them.

Last year Laura and I attended the Digital Media Conference in D.C. and picked up a lot of good stuff. I was hoping this would be even better, particularly since it was to cover how media was the glue by which communities are pulled together.

It exceeded my expectations, touching off thoughts and ideas in me I hadn't anticipated. Here's some of what I found:

A Veritable Who's Who

Not all the big names that everyone knows, but still a veritable who's who of Big Media were there, the people who wielded the power behind the scenes. Let me pull out the attendee list -- Reuters, United Press Intnl, MSN, National Public Radio, Gannett, MTV, Time, Associated Press, Yahoo Media, Fox News (Geraldo Rivera), Wall Street Journal, Zogby, GlobalVoices, a bunch of universities, and various public television stations, among others.

And the other half of the group we'd probably call small media -- the bloggers, the innovators on the web, some content creators, venture capitalists, and a lot of foundations.

So here I am, sitting in this auditorium with the "in crowd" of the ones who set policy and consider the future of where media is going and how it's going to get there.

A Schism

The one thought that kept coming back was a media in transition. And there was a split between Big Media drawing in the big audiences (and revenues), and the little media that had a cause, a connection, and something to say. A very interesting mix.

Big Media was in control, and looked for ways to stay there. But I could tell that they were scared to death of the people, of person-to-person connections and dialogue that's now going on. Because they aren't necessarily going to be in the middle.

But for now, they are, because the web is allowing a few big players to collect information that knows individuals involved better than they know themselves. And then uses it to feed them information (including advertising messages) relevant to their interests.

An exciting trend. At least, so long as you don't care about privacy. Because you should see some of the stuff coming down the pike, like the IMSC project at USC that can merge images and video from satellites, surveillance cams, WEB CAMS AT PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS, AND EVEN PULL UP THE NAMES AND CELL PHONE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WORKING IN PARTICULAR BUILDINGS AS THEY REMOTELY MONITOR EVENTS AT A PARTICULAR LOCATION.

To boot, they're experimenting with ways that the digital images can be changed. They showed a downtown L.A. redevelopment project that allowed citizens to go online, demolish buildings and construct new ones so they could visualize various scenearios. It's like Sim City, only real.

One caveat. It's all digital so what you see may not always be what you're really getting. History can be changed to suit the needs of those showing it.

Scary stuff, paricularly with facial recognition software coming into being.

Big Brother is watching. And it's not just the government or big business. This stuff will be available over the web, and it could be the dirty old man down the street, your spouse wondering what you do when you leave the office, or your competitor who's seeking a leg up in business.

On Communities

- People are finding each other by shared interest (this is related to my area of focus, shared intention or purpose);

- connecting with people is the norm now; it's a short jump to people taking direct action (again, part of my reason for being there);

- " The Internat is the world's first two way communication medium" - Rich Skrenta, Topix.

- Right now social architecture is lagging for effective organization; we need robust technical systems to keep the conversation on track.

- What does success look like? Impact on community, spread of a message, widespread availability of information, profit, are among the objectives.

- Future is one world, many voices.

- Problem is getting people to listen to each other, consider other views. Many are only receiving the news/info that's relevant to them, and tuning out everything else.

- Local news and hyperlocalism on the one hand, global news and the bigger picture on the other. Balancing of these interests. People moving to fill both ends of the spectrum.

- adocacy often at the heart of citizen media

Flow of Information

- In West there's too much flow;

- in other parts of the world, not enough.

- flow restricted by many governments (not just controlling the info, but restricting access, network connection speeds, cell towers, etc.) that limit the flow of info and increase governmental control/stifle opposition.

- Citizen media is developing (including bloggers all over world). Foreign offices closing. Often bloggers are giving a picture and info much different than what Big Media covers when they blow into town for a day, talk to a couple people, and leave.

Power to the People

- The web gives people a voice. But the problem is it can be skewed. Perspectives need to be considered. Filled with opinion. Can't always tell intention or accuracy.

- People need to develop ability to discern and discriminate among their sources of information

- Media concerned about role of editors and those who provide context, focus, reliability. The more voices, the more they think people will turn to those who inspire trust to provide them what they need.

This may be wishful thinking on Big Media part, though with the overwhelming amount of info out there and innacuracy of those who don't pursue journalistic standards, I can see its benefit.

However, some feel many journalists have abused their trust and don't operate with higher standards, and Big Media is perceived as controlling or contriving the flow of information/news to the people.

This last point was one of discussion during the break with several attendees, and not really emphasized during the program (though a couple of people did touch on it).

More to come.