Guardian | Fight club

Fight club
Is it a TV programme? Is it a computer game? No, it's what the BBC hopes will be its first true cross-platform offering. Dominic Timms on Fightbox
Dominic Timms
Monday November 4, 2002
The Guardian

Consumer Electronics Association: Digital America

Digital America 2002, the U.S. Consumer Electronics Industry Today, showcases the growth and opportunity in the consumer electronics market, from handheld computers and personal video recorders (PVRs) to wireless phones and MP3 players. Available free as an online publication, Digital America 2002 explains new technology trends that are enhancing consumers’ lifestyles and workstyles by bringing information, entertainment and communication almost anywhere, any time.

Creating Core Content in a Post-Convergence World

Think "Transmedia"
We need to give up the old model of creating a root property in a given medium like film and then repurposing it or spinning it off to create secondary properties in other media. We must think in "transmedia" terms from the beginning. Traditional authoring is formal ­ that is, one thinks first of the form ­ drama or novel or game, for example, and it is the form that guides the selection and arrangement of materials. New authoring is material in nature - that is, it places the emphasis on developing materials that can be selected and arranged to produce many different forms.

A few years ago there wasn’t much to talk about. Now, however, computer game research is booming resulting in common terminology, competing paradigms and serious discussion on the subjects of games and gaming. This article attempts to provide an introduction to the field of computer game research.
Computer games, like other media, have taken some time to register on the academic radar screen. Film, although treated seriously early on (e.g. Münsterberg, 1916), was not considered an entirely valid research field until the 1960s which saw the birth of actual academic departments. Games, now 40 years old, are starting – quite suddenly – to attract attention from a wide range of disciplines. Only five years ago it would be possible to survey the entire field of game research without raising much of a sweat. Sociologists and psychologists had attempted to map behavioural effects, but not in ways that warranted special attention compared to similar studies on other phenomena in the same league. Today, scholars from fields as diverse as comparative literature, graphic design, computer science, film studies and theatre studies have contributed to the understanding of the phenomenon of computer games. In the following I try to convey a crude map of the field. I attempt – but do not hope to succeed – to provide a balanced view of what is essentially a non-unified research community with huge differences in outlook and priorities.

Who needs to work with whom?
Successful iTV requires change. Change in the way that programmes are commissioned by broadcasters. Change in the way that programmes are made. Change in the way that advertising is sold. The old linear model of broadcast TV will not yield the results that iTV is capable of. Currently, a broadcaster decides on a style of programme it wants to transmit. Programme makers are then told what to produce or they pro-actively tout completed concepts to several channels at once. Once the programme schedule is determined, sponsors and advertisers are sought. Advertising is often sold as a whole campaign targeted at a specific but very high-level segment.
Broadcasters now have the opportunity to use interactivity to really start to understand their audience’s wants and needs. Advertising space will achieve a premium rate if the interests of the audience are better understood and can be targeted. By using interactivity, broadcasters can target segments of decreasing size to differentiate their offering to advertisers. Ultimately, they can even begin to influence audience behaviour.
So how do they do that then? Instead of following the traditional linear model, broadcasters would work together with programme makers, advertising agencies and advertisers to make integrated interactive concepts in a highly collaborative and perhaps iterative way. Interactivity becomes a fundamental part of the programme, rather than an afterthought, and is designed to enhance the entertainment,

Jupiter Research: Personal Technology

Personal Technology helps companies understand consumers' adoption of new and evolving hardware and software technologies. Covering the giants of consumer computing and consumer electronics, this coverage area helps businesses prepare for the market opportunities created by consumer devices, applications and services. Clients will discover which companies are most likely to succeed in pursuing outside-the-box strategies

Wired News: Where Real, Cyber Worlds Collide

SANTA CLARA, California -- Although the speakers and attendees are gathered here in Silicon Valley, much of the real action at this week's O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference is happening in cyberspace.
During the first two days of the gathering, where pundits and technologists swap ideas about the future of all things digital, most of the 800-plus attendees spent their time huddled over their laptops. The exhibition space is rigged with a pervasive Wi-Fi network, which allows attendees to be in constant electronic communication with each other, and with the outside world.

Wired News: Futurist Fears End of Innovation

02:00 AM Apr. 24, 2003 PT
SANTA CLARA, California -- Author Howard Rheingold believes the freedom of technologists to innovate is under attack as never before.
Delivering the keynote speech at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Rheingold warned that vested interests, flexing their political and economic muscle, are stifling technological innovation.