Media Futures Conference 2009

Beyond Broadcast

Friday 3 July, Bloomberg Auditorium, London, EC2

Julian Kucklich of the Press Association making a pointAudience questioning at the Media Futures Conference 2008 Brian Winston delivering his opening keynote at the Media Futures Conference 2008 Alex McKie presenting in Research in the real world at the Media Futures Conference 2008Sofa seated audience members Twittering at the Media Futures Conference 2008

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Bloomberg Television

Press Association

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The Media Futures Conference 2009, hosted at Bloomberg, brought together leading thinkers and practitioners from around the media industry to share their pioneering work.

  • Melanie HowardMelanie Howard and Professor James Woudhuysen explained how to use social insights to find out what the consumer really wants and to help create innovative content and platforms.
  • Matt LockeMatt Locke, Commissioning Editor, Education New Media at Channel 4, explained why we are moving beyond broadcast and discuss Channel 4’s thinking about kids, broadcasting and the Internet, and reflect on the nature of media literacy and the changing relationship of public and private.
  • Toby SyfretToby Syfret of Enders Analysis presented the numbers and analysis of the real developments in the media and broadcast sectors, and discussed the implications for business models.
  • Patrick BarwiseProfessor Patrick Barwise argued that the incremental value of video-on-demand is very limited with respect to the personal video recorder.
  • Ben FentonBen Fenton, Chief Media Correspondent at the Financial Times chaired the session The Data Today: Audiences and Industry.
  • Alexander GrunsteidlAlexander Grunsteidl, founder of Digital Wellbeing Labs, showed a visual history of media futures and presented the Apple iTunes media case study.
  • Anver NonenAvner Ronen presented Boxee, an open platform that turns a computer and HDTV into an entertainment platform for movies, TV shows, music and photos, including Hulu, YouTube and iPlayer.
  • Don BoydBritish film director and producer Don Boyd presented the soon-to-be launched Hibrow.tv, of which he is founder and editor-in-chief, the world’s first independent Internet platform for freshly created content curated and produced by established professionals working in the visual and performing arts.
  • Chris MeadeChris Meade, director of if:book, the national agency exploring the future of the book in the digital age, presented its experimental book projects, and reflected on new content forms that might drive technology adoption.
  • Dale HerigstadDale Herigstad presented a number of ground-breaking interface design projects as well as new, advanced ways to input and communicate with a TV set. He also demonstrated the use of smart remote and gestural technologies and also discussed Schematic’s conceptual thinking.
  • Chris JacksonChris Jackson talked about the community-developed URIplay project, which allows users to access media in precisely the right format on the device of their choice, and creates a platform form for reliable sharing of meta media information.
  • Jan-Christoph ZoelsWillem Boijens from Vodafone presented research conducted with Jan-Christoph Zoels at at Experientia that uses large data sets to uncover meaningful insights for users, revealing connections, patterns and coincidences in our lives.
  • Dominic CameronDominic Cameron, Managing Director of ITV.com, talked about the lessons for an established media company developing new media platforms.
  • PresenterAlex Balfour explained LOCOG’s cross-plaform strategy for London 2012 including its models for engaging with audiences and collaborating with existing broadcasters such as the BBC.
  • Dan HonDan Hon, co-founder and CEO of Six to Start, talked about the opportunities and pitfalls for broadcasters when they produce new kinds of entertainment native to the Web.
  • Tim MorganTim Morgan demonstrated a live fantasy football game, developed by Mint Digital, played in parallel with a televised match.
  • Fabio SergioFabio Sergio of frog design reviewed a soon-to-launch social TV application for the iPhone based around Twitter.
  • Bill ThompsonBill Thompson facilitated a discussion on ‘feasible futures’.
  • Richard SambrookBBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook reflected on concerns and challenges related to journalism ‘beyond broadcast’.
  • Charlie BeckettCharlie Beckett, Director of POLIS, reflected on concerns and challenges related to journalism ‘beyond broadcast’.
  • John AngeliJohn Angeli, Head of Content at the Press Association, reflected on concerns and challenges related to journalism ‘beyond broadcast’.
  • Philipp EnczPhilipp Encz of Bloomberg Television moderated the panel reflecting on concerns and challenges related to journalism ‘beyond broadcast’.
  • Mike ButcherMike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch Europe, looked at media futures from the point of view of startups, entrepreneurs, and early stage investors across Europe.
  • Carolyn MorganCarolyn Morgan of Penmaen Media talked about business models for online media and how news businesses can exploit their existing strengths.
  • Alan PatrickAlan Patrick of Broadsight presented the ‘Future of Online Video Distribution’ research for the Telco 2.0 Initiative, and looked at the technical and economic dynamics of the transitions from old to new media.
  • John GillesJohn Gilles of San Francisco-based Method discussed business strategies for IPTV and new content providers, and design as a strategic tool, illustrated by Method’s media interface design work for PBS video online and others.

What happened?

The conference was a great success, with stimulating presentations and smart questions and points from the audience. We opened up a number of new themes around media futures, and questioned a lot of received widsom. There was much commentary and reporting on the event in the ‘Twitter channel’. Search Twitter for thetag mfc09 to find out more.

What was said and shown?

The presentations were all filmed, and we will make the videos available soon (subject to agreement with presenters). We are encouraging presenters to share their presentations, and also planning to work with them to transcribe their talks. A selection of images from our photographer Christine Donnier-Valentin will also be published, as well as interviews with presenters and attendees conducted by Friction.tv and intruders.tv. All documentation will be made available from the session pages (see Programme) and gathered on the Discussion and documentation page.

Who was there?

Conference audienceInformation on attendees, including links to professional or social network profiles (where supplied) can be found via the Attendees page.

What is unique about the conference?

The Media Futures Conference is unique in structuring a presentation and discussion in a meaningful fashion; thinking about new forms of content as well as new ways of receiving that content; considering media in a societal context; being cross-disciplinary; showing as well as talking; and facilitating well-informed, honest and inspiring discussion. [Read on in Background]

What happens next?

There are a number of concrete plans we will develop from this conference and the discussions around it. The first is to formulate a set of objectives for practitioners and organisations that will help us focus on creating better media futures – and provide a foil for discussion about how we might progress. The second is the Media Futures Project through which we will share information on, discuss and facilitate better media futures. Elements of this project will include knowledge sharing initiatives, regular informal symposia, and projects to collaboratively and publicly develop future media concepts and solutions. We hope you will contact us about these activities.

Planned publication

We are planning a printed publication based on the conference, to be distributed to senior media executives and practitioners. If your company would be interested in being associated with this publication please get in contact.

Presenters included...

Challenging futures panelAvner Ronen of open platform IPTV developers Boxee; Dominic Cameron, Managing Director, ITV.com; film director and Hibrow.tv founder Don Boyd; TechCrunch Europe editor Mike Butcher; BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook; POLIS Director Charlie Beckett; John Angeli, Head of Content at the Press Association; Professor Patrick Barwise of the London Business School; interface design pioneer at Schematic Dale Herigstad; Matt Locke of Channel 4; Enders Analysis founder Toby Syfret; online entertainment innovator Dan Hon of Six to Start; social trends analysts and forecasters Melanie Howard and Professor James Woudhuysen; media interaction designer Fabio Sergio of frog design; Tim Morgan of social tools designers Mint Digital; researcher and critic Alan Patrick of Broadsight; media business consultant Carolyn Morgan; John Gilles of San Francisco-based media interface designers Method; future of the book thinker and doer Chris Meade; system design analyst Alexander Grunsteidl; user researchers Willem Boyens of Vodafone and Jan-Christoph Zoels of Experientia