Jason Schaeffer (v 1.3773)

Attended the SIIA conference this week in NYC.   Amongst other thought provoking discussions (especially the lead counsel from Google on IP and copyright)..two interesting takeaways:

(a) Tom Glocer, the CEO of Reuters suggested consumer media companies…ie publishing houses …should go private since the need for short term earnings does match the long term investment thesis required, requirement for investment is too high for tech buildout, etc…  Since I work for the largest magazine publisher in the states, it is of great interest both from a personal economic as well as a “what are the alternatives” discussion?

(b) Andrew Keen, the author of “The Cult of the Amateur” gave a 45 minute dissertation on why UGC is killing culture.  He basically suggested its all crap, story commenting deteriorates the underlying offering, etc.   Something to think about…especially since I am (a) a blogger, (b) keen to give the readers a voice, (c) find value from Wikipedia, Wikinvest, etc.  Before I condemn him without a proper mental review, I shall read the book and then pontificate!

“The Cult of the Amateur” by Andrew Keen was just reviewed by the NYT.  Interesting look at web 2.0, wisdom of the crowds (or lack thereof) and deconstruction of business models (ie media) and the emergence of perspective and opinion without filters or fees as the article states.

As the review suggests…”By stealing away our eyeballs, the blogs and wikis are decimating the publishing, music and news-gathering industries that created the original content those Web sites ‘aggregate.’ Our culture is essentially cannibalizing its young, destroying the very sources of the content they crave.””

Interesting notion….if we remove the incentive (ie profits) for professional edited and created content, do we end up with “amateur garage bands, our movies and television from glorified YouTubes, and our news made up of hyperactive celebrity gossip, served up as mere dressing for advertising.”

Interesting?