Insights from the NDTV New Media Congress About The Future of the Internet and New Media in India
The NDTV New Media Congress was held a couple of days back and to sum it up – it highlighted how New Media Space has dramatically altered the way people communicate along with the developments and opportunities available for India in the world of new media.
An array of prolific speakers were present and they lent out a few pearls of wisdom. Ajit Balakrishnan – the person who probably laid the foundation of the Internet in India began his address with stark drama. To try and read the future of new media, he drew lessons from the past. He went back to when picture was first moved for a few seconds, through the era of the first 45-minute film, the first episodic serial to now. The trend, he said, reflected consumer habits. In a new age, with, say IPTV, he saw it all begin again with shorter-duration content. The media industry architecture, said Balakrishnan, is undergoing a sea change.
We have been stressing on this for quite a while now. Content WILL be shorter and lighter. That’s why you have Rajshri’s 3 minute daily mobisodes and our very own WATShow which can be a 30 minute show but currently isn’t because of platform delivery problems. Also, because most people have restricted bandwidth options as opposed to unlimited bandwidth, formats need are thus lighter and shorter – for both mobile and the internet.
You also need to keep in mind that even presentation of content will undergo a ‘sea of change’. Viewers on the Internet and on Mobile are more forgiving when it comes to production values because the ‘best resolution’ possible also seems quite pathetic. Apart from that there will be differences in camera angles, camera distances, and the like.
Group Chief Information & Innovation Officer, Bharti Airtel, Dr. Jai Menon gave a clear illustration of how the worldwide web is evolving - “Three innovations in the history of mankind are coming together – telephone, television, computer. The early part of 2000s will see a confluence of voice, media, data and application,” said Menon. This clearly tells us what the gurus expect. Convergence is the buzzword. Convergence results in ephemeralization – doing less with more. When a product does not get slot into a ‘time category’ or there is no special occasion when one decides to use it – then I think it has succeeded in doing more with less. To give you an example, before my mobile phone could support music, I used to use my Mp3 player while driving down to work. It had a slotted time in my mind. I could use the Mp3 player only when I was driving or probably sometimes when I go for a jog. My phone however does not have such mental time slots. I use it all the time for multiple reasons. My mind is not prejudiced against its use at any point of time. That’s what I call a successful product that has made me ‘do more with less’. These are the ‘results’ of convergence.
To sum it up – connectivity and entertainment will also merge and they will constantly tread in each other’s way to expand the scope of both terms.
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sounds interesting, i would have loved to be invited.
Hmm…