TCD’s New Research Lab is at Nexus of Arts and Technology

While Ireland falls deeper into recession, and the ESRI’s latest quarterly economic commentary saying what is in store for Ireland is the largest contraction any developed economy has suffered since at least the 1930s, it is clear that a new business plan needs to be formed.

First of all I believe that it is incomprehensible that an island nation such as Ireland, based a substantial part of it’s GDP on the exporting of physical good’s and raw materials. As we all knew, the construction boom was unsustainable, and comes as no surprise that we are now the mess we are  in. At present, we cannot compete with the low work costs found in other countries, so what we need is high-level, high-value development.

Resulting from these revelations, I believe this national plan should focus primarily on web-based industry as well as digital content production. While I see many Institutes of Technologies as being early adopters of new industries such as the digital media sector, Universities in Ireland are slowly getting to grips with the concept.

Today sees Trinity College Dublin’s official launch of their new research lab, where “The goal is to stimulate a new generation of arts technologists, of high academic standard and entrepreneurial in spirit, who will be an essential element in the future of Irish artistic practice and the information economy, as part of the next phase of this country’s economic development.”

I personally hope that over the next few years digital media will become a sought after industry for many Irish secondary school leavers, and that the emphasis shifts from manufacturing to digital products.

Trinity College Dublin today officially opened a new state-of-the-art research facility that aims to combine the disciplines of the arts, technology, and science

Spotify: Mood-targeted ads coming soon…Useful for Digital Media?

Spotify is a downloadable desktop client that allows you to stream music legally to your computer, provided that a) you have paid for a premium Spotify subscription, or b) are willing to listen to advertisements between songs. This blog is looking at the latter scenario.

Spotify‘s UK sales director Jon Mitchell has stated that emotionally relevant ads will soon be in use: “Later on this year, we’ll be looking at targeting by mood. If you’re a brand that needs to reach people in a relaxed mindset – perhaps they’re listening to Ibiza chill-out or Mozart – but we know that 15-24 is in that mindset and therefore you can serve the right brand to them.”

This in my view, is an interesting take on “targeted ads,” because as you have to register with Spotify in order to use the service, the website will already know your age and gender profile, however the advertising server will not necessarily know the attitude/mood of the user. This is particularly relevant to a music distribution platform, because in much the same way Gerry Ryan on 2FM might broadcast ads related to life insurance when their key demographic is 30+, music is a matter of taste.

Ads that are “high intensity” could be used with music containing high BPM for maximum effectiveness, and the opposite ad type could be applied to music with slower BPM. I believe that this mood advertising concept holds a lot of potential for the future, we will just have to wait and see the results that Spotify obtain.

Spotify's Desktop Client allow users to Stream Music to their Computer Free of Charge

The Convergence of Digital Media and the Development of New Business Models

The launch date for successful console franchise, Rock Band – The Beatles, has just been announced, and it really demonstrates the quickly evolving nature of digital media and the convergence of various content formats.

The game will ship with licensed peripherals modeled on the actual instruments used by the band, as well as licensed songs from the Beatles catalogue. The music industry makes a profit from every game sold, as do the instrument makers who have allowed their brand to be used on peripherals.

Beatles Rock Band will use Licensed Peripherals based on the Bands actual Equipment

Licensing of music, and in fact peripherals, is nothing new, the concept has been used in cinema for many years, but what does make licensing in the new era of digital media important is the convergence.

Convergence, in my eyes, means opportunity, and new possibilities for making money. This couldn’t come at a better time for the music industry as profits dwindle as a result of piracy. The global games market is worth billions, and still has room to grow.

The Music Industry Profits from The Beatles Catalogue Used in the Console Game "Rock Band"

The problem for games developers is that as expectations for games grow, so must the production standard. Many console games now cost millions of euro ‘s to produce, often requiring up to 100 designers, programmers, and 3D artists. Developers have two options: 1) outsource content such as licensed music in order to boost sales (as is the case with Rock Band), or 2) place advertising in the game (as demonstrated by EA’s racing game Burnout).

This, in my view,  is what makes the future of digital media so promising – it is the central platform where all other content types will converge, and the possibilities are infinite.

Obama paid for Advertising Space in EA's "Burnout" during his Presidential Xampaign

Lip-reading software that can identify multiple languages and the Implications for Digital Media

Scientists at the University of East Anglia in England have developed lip-reading software that can not only pick up words based on mouth shapes, but can even figure out what language you’re speaking, an integral part of understanding speech.

While there are obvious security applications for such technologies, e.g. monitoring public conversations through CCTV camera’s, in much the same way Governments monitor Web activity for key phrases such as “bomb,” “attack,” “infidels,” I also foresee wonderful applications for this software in digital media.

One great obstacle this software may overcome is voice recognition inconsistencies. For example when playing a squad-based computer game, and you wish to issue orders to computer controlled charactera, or “bots” software often has difficulty understanding accents, and varying pronunciations of  words. However if they combine existing voice recognition technology and cross reference it against this new lip reading software, the accuracy of the interpretation should be greatly increased.

Also from a user security point of view, users will be able to access their digital content, e.g. internet banking using their mobile phone, without having to speak the words out loud in public – provided the phone has a front-facing camera built in.

While there are many “Big Brother” connotations for such invasive software, I believe that the benefits will outweigh the burdens.

Lip Reading Software

The Potential of OLED for Future Digital Media Entertainment

Several companies such as Sony and Philips are currently demonstrating lighting concepts using OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology. The concepts utilize user input, such as motion detection, hand gestures, and sound. I believe that there is great potential for OLED in digital media entertainment, with the possibility of a lighting system that can sense user input such as a users hand gestures, for example in Wii gaming, and the light scheme of the room/display could change accordingly.

Imagine a television screen that could detect a user’s hand’s covering his/her eyes while watching a horror film. The television set could dim the lights during a tense scene and send out a flash of light when a monster burst out of door. This combination of aural and visual cues using OLED lighting could really add to the experience of digital media, whether it be gaming, movies or music.

Also I see great potential for digital art using OLED. For example, if these displays were embedded in walkways in an urban setting, the area could light up in different colours of varying intensity, depending of the volume of pedestrian traffic, and the frequency of passers-by. The motion detecting OLED’s would also benefit the environment, as they would only turn on when a person is within the vicinity. The video below shows a Philips OLED lighting concept:

Artificial Muscle – Touch Screen Haptic Feedback

While touch-screen interfaces have many of advantages in terms of usability, they currently have one major drawback – a lack of haptic feedback. While cybernetics may power humans and indeed cyborgs in the future, Artificial Muscle, the company is focusing on a problem at hand – touch screen haptic feedback. The company has developed a technology that allows silicon film to expand or contract when a voltage is applied to it.

As the video below demonstrates, this technology has a lot of potential, particularly for digital media such as flash games, and educational applications. This technology could also allow users to operate handheld touch-screen devices such as the iPhone without the need to look at the screen. A major issue many users who are familiar with texting on standard keypads experience.

Haptic feedback in digital media is not a new phenomena. Games consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox, utilize “rumble” or “force-feedback” controllers to add more realism to gameplay, e.g. the controller kick back when you fire a gun. This could be the first time however, that haptic feedback is effectively used in a touch-screen display.

The relatively inexpensive silicon film only costs a few dollars, and can be placed underneath a standard touch screen, meaning that it can be implemented in an existing production process in a cost-effective manner. I look forward to seeing this technology develop over the next few years.

The 5 Golden Rules of Online Branding – Science vs. Art

I was recently reading a research paper called “The 5 Golden Rules of Online Branding” by Michael Carlon, Dynamic Logic, Marc Ryan, AdRelevance, and Risa Weledniger, 24/7 Media, and in the paper I found an interesting divide between aesthetics and metrics in digital media branding. Below were the findings:

1) Banner Clutter:

Finding: An excessive number of creative elements in a banner reduces its ability to raise brand awareness and limits consumer ability to recall the banner in the future.

Recommendation: Limit the number of elements in a banner. The limited time a banner provides for communicating a message requires that the banner be clear and uncluttered. The number of elements in the banners evaluated range from 1 – 51 with a median of 15. Designers should keep their creative element short and to the point with no more than 15 textual or graphical elements.

2) Logo Size:

Finding: The size of a logo on a banner positively impacts the perceived clarity of the advertiser’s offering.

Recommendation: Use large logos to transmit as clear a message as possible. The logos in the banners evaluated in this study ranged in size from 924 – 14,300 pixels.

For 468 X 60 banners, the median logo size is 4,060 pixels – approximately 14 percent of total banner size. To improve the clarity of the message, logos should be larger than 14 percent of the banner size whenever possible.

3) Banner Size:

Finding: The size of the banner impacts the perceived clarity of the message as well as consumer desire to learn more about the products and services.

Recommendation: When campaign goals include improving branding metrics use larger format banners.

4) Presence of Human Face:

Finding: Banners with a human face increase consumer interest in learning more about the advertised products and services.

Recommendation: The inclusion of a human face may unconsciously connect viewers with the brands being presented. Consider depicting a human face in banners to increase consumer interest.

5) Frequency:

Finding: Banners seen with a higher frequency have a greater impact on brand awareness than banners seen with a lower frequency.

Recommendation: A frequency cap may be detrimental to a campaigns ability to build brand awareness. Do not place a frequency cap of one exposure on advertisements. Available frequency data indicates that awareness may reach its peak at five exposures however the number of exposures required is variable dependent on industry and the creative effectiveness.

I often find it difficult to fathom statistical usability studies, as they rarely provide meaningful guidelines within a design context, however I felt that this research paper has tried to evaluate relevant design issues in the domain of digital media branding, e.g. the presence of a human face. With the introduction of interactive flash-based advertisements in digital media, it is now more important than ever to look at new ways of presenting digital branding in a clear, memorable manner.

Twitter and the Beauty of Micro Blogging

In the past few weeks I joined Twitter, a micro-blogging platform, to see what all the fuss was about. When I initially signed up, I was very skeptical about the concept – “tweet” your message with 127 characters or less. This idea instantly reminded me of using text messages with my phone, as well as all the bad connotations that come with it. Vague messages, lacking coherence or detail, often requiring multiple messages back and forth between sender and sendee in order to get an accurate understanding of an event, place, etc.

I started adding businesses and internet publishers that I was familiar with to my “following” list. One example is Prosperity.ie, Ireland’s leading creative, digital, advertising, media sales and marketing recruitment consultancy. This is when I discovered the beauty of Twitter – it is networking in it’s truest form. While the likes of Facebook mainly cater for your for you sharing your life with others through photo’s, blogs, and comments, Twitter gets straight to the point and aggregates relevant information in a legible, processable manner. Prosperity often send new job updates through Twitter, giving followers an instant knowledge of new opportunities e.g. “wondering where online Traffic Managers with Spanish, Italian, German or French market experience are?? call us “. This isn’t about being friends in the social sense, it’s about networking for a specific purpose.

I have added companies and people  that are relevant to my life, and so the Twitter system works. However what happens when you follow more people than you can mentally follow? In my opinion, the beauty of Twitter would be disfigured. If someone asked me to invest in Twitter as a start-up, I would have said that there was no way it would make money, and while in one way I was wrong, in another I wasn’t.

Like alot of  ”successful” internet businesses, Twitter has high traffic volume, but no solid revenue. There has been testing of Google Adwords along the right-hand side of  a profile page, but the income would be questionable as ads won’t really be targeted.

However, one thing I have learned from Twitter in web terms is that sometimes less is more. While many  recent web start-up’s created mashup’s with loads of combined features, Twitter stripped everything out, focusing on the updates aspect alone. Simplicity is the key!

Twitter allows people to communicate with 127 characters or less

IPTV -The Future of Television Broadcasting

With the transition to digital terrestrial broadcasting currently underway, RTÉ has decided to follow in the footstep’s of the BBC’s iPlayer in order to meets audience expectations for on-demand services, and at the same time, increase revenue streams from internet based re-runs of shows. Introducing the recently launched RTÉ Player, an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) service.

Having used the application, I found it to be usable and convenient, although the quality of the video did seem a bit sub-standard, especially considering the high quality compression that can be achieved using the H264 codec. Hopefully RTÉ can remedy this problem sooner rather than later, as there is no excuse for the broadcaster when server space is not an issue. Shows are removed from viewing after 21 days, so RTÉ will not have the same server issues experienced by YouTube – it really should be a matter of quality over quantity.

What remains to be seen is the value of advertising on the RTÉ Player. Many businesses are currently not willing to part with large amounts of money  for internet advertising in the same way as they would for would for standard TV or Radio, so for the time being, the RTÉ Player may be subsidized by traditional broadcast media, rather than the other way around. However the RTÉ Player does display traditional video advertisements before each show, so it may be just a case of using broadcast TV business models in internet based applications.

In my opinion IPTV is the way forward. Viewers now expect television shows on demand, and the internet is the perfect vessel for such a service, as the user is not restricted to a specific location, i.e. no satellite dish is required. I expect more subscription based IPTV services to develop over the next few years, and this may force large broadcasting companies to invest in/produce higher quality shows for audiences.

The recently launched RTÉ Player platform

The Future of Commerce in Digital Media: Social Commerce

Web 2.0 changed the way the internet obtained information by allowing not just the webmaster  to generate content, but also the site users. Example of this would be WordPress.com allowing members to create blogs, or Facebook allowing members to create online profiles.

Web 2.0 has also enabled people to voice their opinion on particular events, stories, or even products – as demonstrated by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, or Amazon.com allowing users to rate and review their products. Usability guru Jacob Nielsen has shown through testing that 78% of people find that customer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising.

In my estimation, Web 3.0 will not be a huge step forward from Web 2.0 in terms of technology and programming application, but will in fact enable users to  utilize user generated content in the offline world in a ubiquitous manner. Mobile phones such as the iPhone will facilitate this extension of Web 2.0 into the Web 3.0 era.

An example of  ubiquitous use of user generated content could be a person shopping for a coffee machine in a shopping center. There is a large selection, with a broad price range, and the shopper is unsure which one to choose. He/she can use their phone to access the web and obtain user reviews on the product, right there inside the shop, and make an informed choice about their purchase. Alternatively, a shop could place an internet connected LCD display beside the products, and allow users to access reviews on the various products. I believe there is scope for web start-up businesses to target these types of review widgets for shop display purposes.

Mobile handset such as the iPhone can provide real-time user generated information in offline scenarios

User generated reviews used in offline print advertising

I predict that in-store displays will utilize user generated from the web in the near future