TV..........................................
ijumpstart.com
John Barker writes
Breaking the habit of a lifetime, I'm slipping away for ten days to the furthest reaches of Cornwall to read Boswell's Life and Works and forget about multimedia. I leave everything in the capable hands of Simon Price, the acceptable face of John Barker, who has just returned fresh from a stint in the Bulgarian mountains.
The death of 'The People's Princess' has raised some astonishing issues. Four days before the funeral I happened to be discussing the issue of copying some video footage of interviews shot with some of the world's leading gurus at my Edinburgh conference. The producer said: "Problem is, John, there isn't a single piece of television equipment to be hired anywhere in London." Golly gosh. That the untimely death of one lovely lady can trigger such a worldwide convulsion of energy is truly amazing. The people had spoken and the world's television industry was responding to their call.
We talk blithely about 'the power of television'. Rubbish. That week taught us that it is not television or tabloids but the people that are powerful. The 'mass media' merely act as a giant reflector for the thoughts of ordinary citizens. That power is awesome, and seldom invoked. But when it is, even ancient royal institutions must tremble and be moved.
The whole planet ceased to spin for a few hours on the day of Diana's funeral. The world crowded round its television set to share the collective grief. It is difficult to imagine any other single event that could unite 2 billion people in such a way. It reminds us what an important role the UK plays in the collective consciousness. It also reminds us of the role of television as the universal integrator.
IFA in Berlin was dominated by the arrival of home cinema and the integration of the PC into the TV. The embedding of Internet access is now taken for granted. A DVD box that simply plugs into the rig is the next step. While in Berlin, I also talked to the Chinese millionaires who made their money from selling VCD players to the peasant farmers - for a price that is fast descending to 100 dollars a box. Those Chinese manufacturers are now beavering away to bring greater interactivity to the VCD player. The Chinese government may then discover that it has a perfect instrument for education and social engineering, for use in schools as well as in homes.
Thus it is not the PC but the ubiquitous television, the lowest common denominator, which is most likely to succeed as the trigger for a worldwide educational renaissance. When that happens, the interactive media industry had better be ready.
The CD-ROM business is in the doldrums because the people have spoken. They are fed up of being pushed around by an industry that has fed them too many over-priced crap titles that may or may not run on too many under-powered PCs. Now fate has given us another chance. Next time round we had better listen to the voice of the people and deliver product that they want to buy at a price they can afford. |
