media

Links Of The Day 8/27/2013

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I think this kinda has returned as a feature, don’t you think?

If Media wants to survive it has to see readers as contributors.  So far I think attempts on this have been a mix of “no they’re passive consumers” mixed in with “let’s get them to do our work for us.”  Maybe you can change things.

Zuckerberg and Facebooks’ whole “everyone on the web thing” ought to learn from actual efforts.  Great analysis of Chicago’s efforts to wire neighborhoods and a real lesson for what it takes.

Barnes and Noble retail CEO sold off a lot of his stock.  Uh-oh.  Yes, that could signal an exit or something, but we know the book market has been kinda messy . . .

Apple seems damn serious about Apple TV.  Take a look at these deals.  Everyone seems serious about TV actually . . .

Why cities don’t want to host the Olympics.  And there’s plenty of good reasons.  If your city is making an Olympic bit, BE WARNED.

Netflix Is Going to Do Documentaries, Comedy Specials

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Sounds like they have plans and are building on their success – and others.

I’m not really into “Arrested Development” (funny, but just didn’t get into it) or “House of Cards” (also a lot of talent, but not my thing) but they sound pretty good.  So Netflix branching out is a good idea for them.

However, I’d note one thing – they’re really moving into being a kind of, well, channel.  Part HBO, part Amazon. That’s going to get very interesting, and I wonder who will see them as competition – and as an ally.

I also wonder if Netflix is going to try and cultivate indie talent.  That could work out well – especially as we watch what appear to be the first phases of the predicted Hollywood meltdown.

– Steven

The Somewhat Clogged Culture Pipeline

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Serdar had responded to my post that we have replaced culture with economics with one of his usual, thoughtful replies. He notes that our technocratic marketing has driven innovation from the marketplace and we are left with what sells, not what necessarily has value, and that to an extent we have a case of this mediocrity infecting us or becoming a kind of cultural pollution. However out of many of his ideas, one thing comes up I want to talk about: the role of The Pipeline.

The Pipeline is how Stuff Gets To Us. There are Pipelines for food, for clothes, and of course for Culture.

When I say The Pipeline, for the sake of this post, I’m talking the media system we have.

The Pipeline that we have are often built of foundations decades, or even centuries old. Publishing houses, radio stations, movie studios, etc. Huge companies and small companies, various suppliers and interests, and so forth came together to create the giant Culture Engine we have now. Some of it is very old, and it often plays it very safe.

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