Research: "Audience Interactivity and Participation"

The EU has been funding academic research into the transformation of media, audiences, and their social implications under the COST Action ISO906 initiative.  One of the working groups has published some initial findings on audience participation and interactivity in media.  The white paper, "Audience Interactivity and Participation," summarizes interviews with practitioners in several areas - televised political programs, action theater, crowdfunding in music, fan production and interactivity in content, and a highly-interactive visitor's center associated with the EU Parliament.

Overall, the various interviews suggests some awareness of, and interest in, the potential that information technologies provide for promoting interactivity and participation in what had traditionally been unidirectional mass media.  Thoughtful, if not terribly innovative or insightful - yet worth a read.

Source -  "Audience Interactivity and Participation,"  Working Group 2, COST Action 906

Crowd-funding boosts films at Cannes

Crowd-funding is an emerging media business model that raises cash online from many small investers to support the production and distribution of content.  Proponents of crowd-funding argue that it lets content users buy into a creative project at its inception, tapping into a pool of supporters and fans who have an interest in the project.  It provides an alternative source of funds and investment, particularly in the movie industry, where multi-million dollar production budgets and limited distribution networks have traditionally limited funding to a handful of studios, banks, and big investors.
Crowd-funding has supported two of the Palm d'Or (best picture award) contenders at this year's Cannes Film Festival ("Habemus Papem" & "Polisse"), as French crowd-funding site PeopleforCinema raised the capital to produce and distribute the films.
Crowd-funding is making other inroads as a financial model for media content and distribution.  Two sites have been established in the U.S. to provide crowd-funding opportunities for creative artists and projects.  Both Kickstarter and Rockethub post opportunities to support the production and distribution of creative projects.  And Spot.us has been using a crowd-sourcing model to support independent online journalism.

The older media funding models worked fairly well for "commercial" and general-interest content, and may still be the best model for funding high-cost productions.  Crowd-sourcing offers creators an alternative funding model that bypasses traditional media gatekeepers, particularly those whose focus is on producing content of high commercial value.  It can particularly target minority and non-commercial interests, and tap into a highly supportive fan base for content and artists in more focused areas.  Look for crowd-funding to increase as creative content diversifies, providing a more fertile field for cultivating creative artists and content.

Source: "Buy! Sell! Crowd-funding helps boost Cannes films", Broadcast Newsroom

NIST to use crowdsourcing to help identify Historical Artifacts

NIST is the federal agency that sets technical standards, and along the way has acquired a treasure trove of documents and photos of scientific instruments and other devices.  However, it's having trouble identifying some of them, like this one, currently labeled "Metal Instrument in a Wood Case."

The agency hopes that crowdsourcing - the use of volunteers on the net to collaboratively work towards specific goals, will help the agency find and take advantage of the expertise of outside experts. 

In a real sense, it's another sign that folks are beginning to see, and make use of, the innovative forms of communication offered by the digital network.

Source: "NIST Crowdsources Historical Artifact Identification," Information Week
To visit the NIST Digital Archives, go here.