| geert lovink on 23 Mar 2001 09:15:11 -0000 |
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| <nettime> (fwd) Gary Chapman: L.A. Times column, 3/22/01 |
----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Chapman" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 6:57 AM Subject: L.A. Times column, 3/22/01 > Friends, > > It's been quite a while since I sent out one of my Los Angeles Times > columns -- I think this is the first one this year. > > There have been some changes at the newspaper, and it's taken some > time to sort them out. > > Like many other businesses, the Times has been affected by the > downturn in the economy and the loss of advertising revenue from the > technology sector. They first killed the Monday technology section > and moved most tech reporting to Thursdays, previously the day for > "personal technology" stories but now the only day that focuses on > tech issues. Nearly all the technology columns were killed, including > some by respected names in the field. > > Fortunately, the Times editors decided to keep me on and continue to > run "Digital Nation." > > However, in addition to moving the column to every other Thursday, > the column is now shorter than it used to be and I've been asked to > write more about consumer technology issues. I've been assured that > the more "political" subjects I've addressed in the past are still > welcome, but the placement of the column and the context of the > changes at the Times have all pointed to a slightly different > emphasis for future "Digital Nation" columns. The editors and I are > still working this out. > > These are tough economic times for many people in the technology > business, and people dependent on that business sector, so it's not > my place to complain about anything -- I'm grateful to the Los > Angeles Times for giving me space for the past six years and I'm > enthusiastic about doing many more columns for them in the future. > > Carol and I are doing fine. She spent two weeks in Antigua, > Guatemala, last month to improve her Spanish, and we're both planning > a similar "immersion language course" in Italian, in Verona, for > August. Right now is the best time to be in Central Texas -- the > weather is breathtaking and the wildflowers are starting to bloom. > So we're happy and doing well. > > Hope everyone is the same. Best regards to all. > > -- Gary > > [email protected] > > ------------------------------------------ > > If you have received this from me, Gary Chapman > ([email protected]), you are subscribed to the listserv > that sends out copies of my column in The Los Angeles Times and other > published articles. > > If you wish to UNSUBSCRIBE from this listserv, send mail to > [email protected], leave the subject line blank, and put > "Unsubscribe Chapman" in the first line of the message. > > If you received this message from a source other than me and would > like to subscribe to the listserv, the instructions for subscribing > are at the end of the message. > > DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE -- the listserv is set up to reject > replies to the sending address. You must use the command address, > [email protected], to either subscribe or unsubscribe, or > use the address [email protected] to send back comments. > > ------------------------------------------ > DIGITAL NATION > > Thursday, March 22, 2001 > > Will Interactive Internet Television Turn Into a Two-Headed Monster? > > By Gary Chapman > > Copyright 2001, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved > > It should come as no surprise that the Internet is headed to a very > familiar technology: your television. > > The idea of merging TV and the Web typically has been greeted with > scorn, skepticism and disbelief among heavy Internet users. Critics > of the concept have pointed out that the Internet is a "lean-forward" > technology of active engagement, whereas TV is a "lean-back" > technology of passive absorption. > > However, market studies have shown that at least one in four Internet > users watches TV while online, and companies are keen on catching the > interest of these "multi-taskers." There are also new kinds of > content on the Web that might be better suited to TV than to the PC > monitor, and at least one of these innovative, interactive Web TV > systems is Linux-based. > > But plainly, some of these new Internet-based interactive TVs are not > likely to convert critics. > > For example, Microsoft's WebTV -- a set-top box and subscription > service that allow limited Web and e-mail access on a TV screen -- is > being replaced by the company's new UltimateTV platform. And giant > AOL Time Warner is rolling out AOLTV at the same time. Both of these > services will feature Internet access on TV as well as the features > found in products such as TiVo or ReplayTV, which let TV viewers > record programs on a hard drive or stop and replay live TV > broadcasts. Both UltimateTV and AOLTV also will provide unique > content to subscribers, a step toward both services becoming new, > national TV networks. > > But AOLTV and UltimateTV still have the constraints that hard-core > Internet users disdain: the low resolution of current TV screens, > which makes Web pages look cartoonish and often unreadable; the > "dumbed-down" look and feel of services oriented to people who feel > intimidated by a personal computer; and the overwhelming sense that > interactive TV is aimed primarily at vacuuming users' wallets. > > Among longtime Internet users there is a widespread contempt for > commercial TV and its "lowest-common-denominator" marketing and > programming, and thus irritation that the Internet might be pulled in > this direction by the likes of Microsoft and AOL. > > There are some emerging alternatives for interactive, Internet-based > TV that might appeal even to the critics. A company in Santa Ana > called Ch.1 (http://www.ch1.com) is working with TV set producers > such as Princeton Graphics and Sylvania to hook high-definition, > digital TVs directly to the Internet. The Ch.1 system, which is both > the hardware inside a digital TV and a subscription service, allows > full access to the Internet through any Internet Service Provider, > even high-speed cable and DSL services, and the high-definition sets > display Web pages and e-mail the same way they appear on computer > screens. > > The Ch.1 TV sets offered now run a modified version of the open > source operating system, Linux. Ch.1 is using Linux in the hope it > will lure designers to write applications for example to transfer > data to Palms and other hand-held computers, and embedding certain > kinds of video and audio formats in the system. > > "We don't see our product as a replacement to the PC but as a > supplement to it," says Rey Roque, vice president of Ch.1. Today, > there's a lot of content emerging on the Web that can be viewed or > heard, such as streaming video, Internet radio, MP3 music, weather > maps, sports scores, online games, large graphics such as photographs > and Flash animations. All of these things become more accessible with > a fast broadband connection to the Internet. > > The Web site Yack.com (http://www.yack.com), for example, lists > hundreds of live and recorded Web events in video or audio formats, > everything from talking pundits at the Cato Institute in Washington > to an interview with a Belgian dominatrix. There's every reason to > believe that people will watch a wide variety of Web content online > through their TV sets, sharing the experience with others. > > There also are growing opportunities for creating audio and video > content for others to see. Apple Computer's user-friendly (and free) > iMovie software is being used by thousands of people to create quick > and interesting video files. The Independent Media Center, whose Los > Angeles branch was created during the Democratic Convention last > year, allows people to post video and audio files (under 100 > megabytes) on the Web for free (http://la.indymedia.org). > > It's obvious that a battle is shaping up about whether the Internet > will quickly become dominated by giant companies that will mimic the > programming and advertising models of TV today, or an explosion of > creative and diverse content gradually will replace mass-market > programming. Whichever model wins will have an immense effect on > society for years to come. > > Gary Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project at the > University of Texas. He can be reached at > [email protected]. > > ------------------------------------------ > > To subscribe to a listserv that forwards copies of Gary Chapman's > published articles, including his column "Digital Nation" in The Los > Angeles Times, send mail to: > > [email protected] > > Leave the subject line blank. In the first line of the message, put: > > Subscribe Chapman [First name] [Last name] > > Leave out the brackets, just put your name after Chapman. > > Send this message. > > Mail volume on this listserv is low; expect to get something two or > three times a month. The list will be used only for forwarding > published versions of Gary Chapman's articles, or else pointers to > URLs for online versions of his articles -- nothing else will be sent > to the list. > > To unsubscribe from the listserv, follow the same instructions above, > except substitute the word "Unsubscribe" for "Subscribe." > > Please feel free to pass along copies of the forwarded articles, but > please retain the relevant copyright information. Also feel free to > pass along these instructions for subscribing to the listserv, to > anyone who might be interested in such material. > > Questions should be directed to Gary Chapman at [email protected]. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]