Update:  I still have to clean up these notes, but here’s some interesting thoughts on letter writing and mail delivery from Jane Austen’s time: http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/11/what-would-jane-austen-have-tw.html

Basically, the notion that technology has driven the information age is backward.  We’ve had these methods for communicating instantly and constantly, but technology took a dip two decades ago as communication became more centralized.  Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube — all that’s give us what Jane Austen had all along.  So it’s just trivia, right?  Maybe, but can’t we stop marveling at new technology and start looking at the ‘why’?  Won’t that lead to real innovation if we get to the heart of why humans want to share their thoughts so prolifically?

I’m giving a talk tomorrow for a class on entrepreneurship in the arts (or anywhere?).  These are my notes.  I’ll ellaborate with more content either written or video/audio.

Content is (Still) King

Introduction to JK: Career in Arts and Business
o College
o Grad School
o Inadvertent Career in Marketing/PR
o Return to Roots

Part I: The Way it Used to Be 1990 – 2000
- Broadcast was easy(ier) / Local becoming harder
- Newspaper were already on the outs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_newspapers_of_the_United_States
- Email was just starting to be used (few users, no broadband)
- Fact: In 1999 I ‘broke’ a computer sending 120 email press releases
- Fact: In 2000 the biggest challenge with email press releases was attaching a photo
- Internet was advertised as an information tool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1npzZu83AfU AOL Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kf1DBg5vJs Compuserve Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klvWk8tN4s8&NR Internet News Report 1990s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM6VnS2QHsw Internet Radio

- People talking about global capabilities – not much local. Your neighbors didn’t have a computer!

- Frustration with Medium
- Cost of Film: 16mm stock $80 for 3 minutes
- Video: available but quality poor / editing difficult

- Local Access Cable: available, but no one watched. Why?

Part II: The Age of Search – 2000 – 2006

Companies Obsess with “Driving Traffic”
Doubted All Demographics would “Surf the Net”
Google Changed All That
Clean Look
Better Technology
Made Searching the Focus of the Internet
But what did they find? What do you still find?
Undervalue of online ‘coverage’
A lot of searching – not a lot finding
All this is still true:
How to program a key fob? Most answers in forums…

Part III: Interactivity + Creativity + Connectivity
Low cost / High Production
Connection of People
Social Media Brings Together Mass Audience with Target Demographic
Anyone Can Produce Anything and Become a Star

Part IV: Really?
Echo Chamber Effect
Everyone’s talking / No one’s listening
No there there
Irony has it’s limits

The Big Thesis: Content is King

Network TV Still Does a Pretty Good Job at What It Does
Movies Still Do a Pretty Good Job at What They Do
They are now available as easily online as anything on YouTube

What’s Missing:
Local Specifics: We Have a Yearning for Local References – we used to have local TV and Radio. Now it’s missing
Sincere Talent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxbhvhBtTwU
Something different: http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/
Connection to the Real World (see local)
Make the discussion part of the intrigue: http://archive.bigspaceship.com/hbovoyeur/
(look at the forums section: http://boards.hbo.com/topic/Hbo-Voyeur-Hbo/Hbo-Voyeur/700011266?start=105&#msg700600508)

Take Aways
Past Frustrations: expensive to create, shrinking local markets, hard to find local events
Today’s Frustrations: a lot of crap content, too much information, more reasons to stay at home

What are some solutions?
Be more than an echo chamber
Connect to the real world
Build on discussions
Don’t recreate what mass media does well
Post Cool Stuff
Make sharing easy
Build Yearnings:
Create Connection
Being In the Know
Going Out – Anticipation

Questions
Is viral dead? What about irony? Is there an echo chamber? When have you acted on something you saw online?

History of the Cleveland Press (from Wikipedia)

The paper was founded by Edward W. Scripps as the Penny Press in 1878, a name that was shortened to the Press in 1884, before finally becoming the Cleveland Press in 1889. By the turn of the century, the Press had become Cleveland’s leading daily newspaper, bypassing its main competitor, The Plain Dealer.

During the 1920s, the Press reached nearly 200,000 in circulation and stood out by proposing the city manager form of government for Cleveland, while also supporting Progressive candidate Robert M. La Follette, Sr. for president in 1924. Seltzer became the paper’s 12th editor in 1928, and stressed the area’s neighborhoods, promoting the slogan “The Newspaper That Serves Its Readers.”

Using its growing influence, the paper became an integral part of local politics, with both Frank J. Lausche and Anthony J. Celebrezze winning election as mayor of Cleveland after the paper’s endorsement.

However, in 1954, the Press’s role in the prosecution of Dr. Sam Sheppard for the murder of his wife, Marilyn, eventually made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The paper’s aggressive coverage and goading of local officials to charge Sheppard with the murder resulted in a ruling that pre-trial publicity had been injurious to Sheppard and resulted in a new trial in 1966.

In 1960, the paper purchased its rival, the Cleveland News and merged it to become the city’s only afternoon newspaper. Four years later, the Press was named one of America’s 10 best newspapers in a list compiled by Time magazine, but under Seltzer’s successor, Thomas L. Boardman, the Press began a decline that eventually resulted in the paper’s collapse.

The Press was passed in circulation by The Plain Dealer in 1968, and after Boardman’s retirement in 1979, rumors began circulating that the Press would shortly suspend publication unless a buyer could be found. Scripps-Howard eventually sold the paper on October 31, 1980 to Cleveland businessman Joseph E. Cole, who purchased the paper only after gaining concessions from the employee unions.

Cole introduced a Sunday edition on August 2, 1981, followed by a morning edition on March 22, 1982. However, a bad economy, coupled with losses in advertising resulted in the paper’s closing just three months later.

The remnants of the paper live on in the Cleveland Press Collection at the Cleveland State University library. The collection consists of clippings and photographs from the newspaper’s archives. Among the paper’s foremost writers from the 1940s-1970s were Jack Ballantine and Dick Feagler.

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