Tech Difficulties & AM Sessions

Bummer, first technical glitch of the show. The complimentary wi/fi goes kaput for me whenever I go into the west wing of Moscone, which is were my first 2 sessions were. No worries, updates here:

Both were panels, and a nice break from yesterday's workshops.

For the first I went with the discussion about "traditional media" and Web 2.0. Good talk, but we could have certainly used more time (much shorter than yesterday's Workshops). Things had to wrap up when they were really just getting started. Beyond the expected journalists vs. bloggers debate, the panel also got into distribution and aggregation (read: google) vs. content creators (read: traditional media, like the AP), and "citizen content", i.e., bloggers and man-on-the-street reporting. Ultimately, it was agreed that content is still king, and the sooner creators of content embrace the distribution tools of Web 2.0 and market leader aggregators like Google, the better.

It's back to the relienquishing control thing. I, for one, can't see a world without reporting that is backed by what I'm going to call "institutional integrity" (am I stating the obvious here? I hope so) - institutions can be held accountable, commended when doing well and reprimanded when not. Granted, daily business operations will have to change significantly, but it has a large part to play and the key is using UGC (user-generated content) to augment what the AP already does.

Panel Details

Session 1
Media 2.0: How Web 2.0 is Transforming Traditional Media

Charlene Li, Forrester Research
Oliver Muoto, VP, Business Development, vFlyer
Gabe Rivera, TechMeme
Ted Shelton, The Personal Bee
Rich Skrenta, Co-founder and CEO, Topix

Track: Strategy and Business Models
Date: Monday, April 16
Time: 9:00am - 9:50am
Location: 2009

When Web 1.0 first came on the scene 10 years ago, print media published web sites that basically contained online versions of their print publications. Readers were expected to go on the web sites and read a static, electronic version of a newspaper or magazine. This approach and attitude is changing dramatically, as traditional media sites are becoming more interactive and aggressively seeking to develop active online readers. Bloggers are getting funded to produce new micropublishing ventures, and other sites like Digg and YouTube are creating new ways for stories and media to be discovered.

Session 2
The Lost Remote: The Internet Video Revolution

Liz Gannes, gigaom
Jay Adelson, CEO, Digg/Revision3
Erik Hachenburg, CEO, Metacafe
Howard Lindzon, Creator and Founder, Wallstrip
Marc Siry, VP of Product Management & Design, >nbbc / NBC Universal
Dirk-Willem van Gulik, The Apache Software Foundation - Board Member, Joost

Track: Strategy and Business Models
Date: Monday, April 16
Time: 10:10am - 11:00am
Location: 2009

As the major TV networks continue to deal with ratings loss and falling advertising revenue, internet video has established itself as a viable web property for billion-dollar companies like Google, and original content producers alike. This panel made up of analysts, pioneering online advertisers, and content producers will examine new trends in IPTV market reach, explaining how to get the most bang for your buck.

-- Now for a break. I'll see you at 1:30.