Digital media morph and meld

A shorter version of this column originally appeared in Ian Fenwick’s digimarketing column in the Bangkok Post, June 2, 2010.

As digital media become more established in consumers’ lives, we are starting to see glimpses of their full potential. As with all new media, our first reaction is to use them like the traditional media they are supplanting. When radio first appeared, announcers read content from newspapers. When TV first appeared, talking heads read radio scripts. It took a while for programming to exploit the unique potential of those new media. Exactly the same thing is now happening with digital media.

iPad

Unless you lead an incredibly sheltered life, you are probably already bored with stories about the Apple iPad and what it, can can’t do. But you may not have seen the start of the content revolution that is likely to engender.

One of the early successful iPad apps is Alice for the iPad. This takes the 145-year-old text by Lewis Carrol  and illustrations by John Tenniel of the original Alice‘s Adventures in Wonderland book (now in the public domain) and presents them for the iPad.

But the application goes far, far, beyond a typical e-book. Alice for the iPad makes extensive use of the accelerometer built into the iPad. This allows the images on the screen to be affected by the orientation and the velocity of the device. Shaking/tipping/turning the device causes the illustrations to animate. Alice may grow or shrink; users can throw items at characters. Interactions far beyond anything a print medium could deliver. The video below gives a taste of what to expect.

Interestingly enough this is not an offering from an established print publisher. Its developers were a redundant programmer and a journalist/illustrator. As Ben Roberts (the programmer) puts it “other e-books out there…they’re just trying to mimic a real book. We were going for something more engaging and interactive – something that really makes the most of the iPad’s capabilities.”

It’s often hard for current industry insiders to change their mode of thinking sufficiently to see the hidden potential of new media. As we seen so many times, digital media are participative in a way that traditional media were not, harnessing that participation is essential to success.

Google TV

Last week saw the announcement of Google TV. This is not a new station. It’s an internet (wifi) connected box that can be attached to an existing TV, or built-in to a new TV. Consistent with the Google brand, it relies heavily on search. The concept is that the clunky channel selection system in most TVs and set-top boxes, is simply not up to the task of helping users find what they want to see amongst the array of channels available.

As many households now have collections of pre-recorded video, on DVDs or PVRs (personal video recorders), and also access video on the web, the idea is that search can be conducted seamlessly across web, TV, and pre-recorded content. A users searches for “ballroom dancing” and finds links to web video, to TV programming (with channels and times, and an option to record), and any pre-recorded dancing movies they may have in their total system. This would represent a true entertainment hub, with digital marketing opportunities within the search interface (like Google AdWords) and within the content itself (hopefully heavily personalized to the individual and the content they are watching).

Of course, Apple is rumored to moving into this space also with a re-vamped Apple TV ( the current device is somewhat limited and hampered by a strict digital rights management, DRM, system). Speculation is that this will be an inexpensive iPhone-without-a-screen.

Creative re-imagining

Some are already speculating that the mobile device (phone) will become a “proxy for yourself”. Your mobile will monitor your car’s gas level, negotiate with filling stations on your route to find the best price, and then readjust your route to take in that station.. Hotels are already experimenting with smartphones as room keys.

Whatever form digital devices take next, and keyboards do seem to be becoming things of the past, as digital media dominate, the winners will be those content-creators and digital marketers that can creatively re-imagine what media can do. Developing applications that unite the interactive, participative nature of digital devices, with their portability, locational awareness, and personal nature. to create applications that offer genuine customer benefits.