NAB 2007 and reflections of new media

While looking out of my airplane window, I am reminded of a crystal ball revealing the landscape beneath me. From my point of view, I see clouds from horizon to horizon, and it is not totally clear. Somehow, this feels appropriate as I have many questions about the future of media for which I will seek answers at NAB.

On the flight, there are interesting signs. Passengers are connected to media on their iPods. The person next to me is reading a book called “Making a Good Script Great”. The cover of Southwest airlines magazine “Spirit” features a story on Second Life. As I listen to podcasts from Astronomy Today on the Fermi Paradox and FreshHDV’s NAB preview, I contemplate the correlations, the possible threads to weave. While some are looking for a future world to explore, what a wonderful world of media we live in now. I am curious about the atmosphere at NAB, the energy, the vibe that drives the media frenzy. Is it a story of change, or continued status quo? Which dynamics will interplay? I listen to an Ad Age podcast with commentators debating how broadcasters will get credit from advertisers for time shifted commercials with viewers who watch shows either 10 minutes or 3 days later. I think to myself, the shift is real, markets are affected by technological changes in ways difficult to quantify in real time. I think the story I’m most interested in, is the story of how the media perceives the conference – the bloggers, the journalists. I can not help but think there are some related threads there.

The NAB event itself could be compared to a first life metaverse in which its’ “virtual world” is tangible, immersive, participatory, visually sensual, and populated with “real” creatures of the mediaverse. Avatars can be found everywhere with their products and their technologies: mediabots, spinbots, salesbots, hypebots, infobots, evangelbots, geekbots, dorkbots, even fembots who leave their calling cards in the restrooms. But this is Vegas, it’s NAB, and it is real.

As I land in Vegas for another trek to the ultimate media mecca, the temperature is a warm 80 degrees under bright, hazy skies. I sense the weather may reflect the mood of people pouring into the city for the conference, the world’s largest electronic media show. They are here to make decisions about the tools they plan to integrate into their production environments, the tools new media and traditional media content creators will use in their work flows. In anticipation, I am curious if there will be shifts, or overwhelming changes in the industry. My personal goal is to explore the buzz, the tools, the disruptive technologies, and to see if Web 2.0 influences NAB decision makers. We expect great leaps in technology, the distribution mechanisms, but what about the cultural shift of the attendees, the media creators, the broadcasters, the people who purchase the tools? For NAB is about the future as well as the here and now.

I think about the winds of change in broadcast media and the impact of new technology. The signs are all here. There is a definite shift with powerful tools for user generated content, and a perceived shift of information impacted by citizen journalism and new media. I am at the biggest toy store on the planet, and what has me most curious is whether the “shift” blogged about everywhere has an effect on a media conference like NAB.

During the week, I will look at how media tools are evolving, how users are making decisions, the philosophies driving markets, and how professional journalists, journalism students and profs are changing their strategies. My goal is to explore, report on trends, and perhaps forecast the weather in Las Vegas.