Digital paper to change newspapers

At the conference Publishing in the Digital Age organised by the Faculty of Arts of Leiden University, Jan Bierhoff of EC/DC talked about the paperless paper. His conclusion was that Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs; see photograph of a Vaio Sony UMPC) and digital paper panes beg to change the very nature of the newspaper business.

In order to build his case, he went back to the project Swedish DigiNews. This project consists of the Swedish newspaper partners Tidnings Utgivarna, AftonBladet, Ostgota Correspondenten, Gotenbogs-Posten, Nerikes Allehanda, Norrkopings Tifningar, Sundsvalls Tidning, Sydsvenskan and the research institutes Hogeskolan Halmstad and KTH Vetenskap och Konst. The European partners are the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the Belgian newspaper Publisher Concentra Media, the German research institute Fraunhofer FIRST, the software company Ibermatica, the Belgian research institute K.U.Leuven Department of Computer Science, the French newspaper LeMonde.fr, the technology partner Philips Applied Technologies and the company Robotiker The basic objective of this project was to produce three prototypes with hyperlinks, page indications and frontpage indexes. A number of lessons were learned in the project:
- An overview is needed;
- An index is appreciated;
- The paper metaphor is not necessary;
- There should be direct links to the articles;
- Start with the same sections as in the printed version;
- Mix familiar elements with the unexpected;
- Develop an authentic e-reader format.

He went on to speak about the MePaper project. This project has recently been started in The Netherlands and involves five Dutch newspapers and two research institutes. Aim of the project to develop novel journalistic formats for new technological devices for mobile newsreading: the e-ink mounted iLiad and forthcoming 'ultra mobile PCs'. Participating newspapers are De Volkskrant (national daily), Financieele Dagblad (Financial daily), SP!TS (free tabloid), Eindhovens Dagblad en Barneveldse Krant (regional dailies). The coordination is with the research institute EC/DC, while the (Flemish) research institute IBBT, partner in De Tijd experiment, joins in for setting up of user tests of the prototypes which will be developed in a joint design studio. A substantial part of the project budget comes from the Dutch Bedrijfsfonds, a newspaper development fund.
The vision of this multi-party group is that the classical paper will gradually shrink from broadsheet over tabloid to a magazine format, and the electronic counterpart will have the reverse development curve, from tiny cell phone screens, via the present 8 inch-panels of the e-readers to ultimately the same magazine size, full colour, flexible, mobile, versatile. That will take another decade, but it clearly makes the case for thoroughly rethinking the journalistic newspaper approach.

The focus of the ‘MePaper’- project is on the development of novel journalistic formats, especially designed for electronic mobile reading. We have to leave ages of tradition in newspaper writing, lay-out and organisation behind us, if the trade doesn’t want to become obsolete. That challenge knows an uncertain outcome and can only be met in an experimental set-up. This is precisely what the MePaper-project will organise: a development lab in which journalists rather than scientists start playing with the opportunities modern displays and software are offering. Journalistic focus must here be understood in a broad sense: writing staff, subediting, lay-out as well as the interplay between editorial and commercial content.

The lab will start next month with brainstorm sessions looking for the news scene of 2012 and deciding on the concepts, choices and priorities. It will be intersting to see the results coming out of this project, especially as it is ambitious enough to put up the position that e-readers and UMPCs will change the very nature of the newspaper business.

During the pause I spoke with Mr Bierhoff about the experiments in the market. The Belgian financial daily experimented with the iLiad e-reader and used the pdf file of the printed paper as the first page; this was difficult to read; from there users could let articles pop up. Recently there was the launch of the commercial electronic edition of Les Echos.fr for two e-readers. We agreed on the lack of interface. IMHO the interface to the electronic version of les Echos on the iLiad was treated as vertical tickertape with in the second column a lead to the Editorial Comment as a vague reminder of the printed edition. No effort had been spent in developing an authentic e-reader format. Given the elements of digital paper and wifi refreshing should have led to another interface.

Blog Posting Number: 872

Tags: newspapers, iLiad, digital paper

FT to be sold off in five years time and more sales

Since the demise of VNU Publishers and the change into The Nielsen Company, the former VNU CEO, Mr Rob van den Bergh had hardly been seen on stage to tell the story about the change of a traditional publisher into a data company. I was very eager to hear his presentation The Case of VNU Publishers, when I read about the conference on Publishing in the Digital Age, organised by two Master Programmes (Book and Digital Media and Journalism and New Media) of the Faculty of Arts of Leiden University.

In his presentation he addressed the turn-around of VNU Publishers in general term, placing the development in a larger publishing framework. In the eighties VNU was a publishing conglomerate serving the consumer, educational and professional market with a wide package of products ranging from magazines, books, newspapers and online database. By the beginning of the nineties a strategy to become a professional information provider was developed, but this meant a complete turn-around of the conglomerate. The book division was sold off. After that VNU disinvested in the newspapers division, the magazine division and the education division. The Board foresaw that newspapers would be a losing division as it was an inflexible industry with not much sense for commerce; besides the revenue stream diminished on the subscription and the advertisement fronts. The magazine disinvestment was an emotional one, as most people knew VNU Publishers from the range of magazines from cradle to grave.

By the mid nineties, VNU saw that internet was a global operation, which pushed aside local players. Monsterboard became a global player in the recruitment market. E-Bay and its local subsidiaries such as Marktplaats took a large part of the market share of classified ads. So the basic revenue sources of consumer publishers slipped away.

He sketched the activities of the various big consumer publishers. Towards the end of the nineties the traditional publishers and the new publishers seemed to meet. Time Warner merged with AOL and divested in books. Disney picked up digital publishing companies.
On the other hand News Corporation took another approach. He does not believe in focussing, but in combining newspapers, cable and internet. Bertelsmann is a traditional publisher which combines print, music and television and has book clubs.

Pearson seems to have another diversified strategy. It is still successful, especially in education according to Van den Bergh, but he would not be surprised when the Financial Times would be sold off in five years time.

To Mr Van den Bergh these examples are proof that the strategy of VNU going for the B2B market was the right one and that the players active in this market are now focussing sharper. He pointed out that Reed Elsevier was successful in scientific publishing in print and online, but he predicted that the business publishing division will be the first division on the list to be sold off after the educational division. Thomson had sold off its educational division to concentrate on the financial information market, buying Reuters.

He also pointed to the influence of private equity. Kluwer Academic and Springer had been sold to private equity and merged. All the big companies (Reed Elsevier, VNU Publishers, Wolters Kluwer and Thomson) had sold off their education divisions and had sold them to private equity, awaiting consolidation.

He stopped short of pointing to VNU Publishers when it was on the brink of concentrating on market data with Nielsen; but the shareholders blocked the board in acquiring MSI and forced the board to sell off its business publishing activities.

At the end of his presentation, Mr Van den Bergh offered ten predictions:
1. From local to global; local site might be popular but will be overtaken or acquired by global sites; see the social networks;
2. There is a quick decline of the newspaper and the magazine industry;
3. The task of the journalist will change;
4. Specialist sites will generate revenues;
5. The music industry has had the worst problems in the content industry with regard to copyright;
6. Innovations do not come from large companies;
7. The content industry gets complex, so focus is needed;
8. New players enter the game and can move fast without legacies;
9. Education divisions have been sold off by big companies and so will B2B publishing companies;
10. Advertising online will increase at great speed over the next five years.

And just for the record, Mr Van den Bergh, forecasted the sale of the Financial Times by Pearson within five years and the sale of the B2B publication division by Reed Elsevier.

Blog Posting Number: 872

Tags: publishing

Skoeps' first anniversary coming up

Last week, I visited the offices of Skoeps. The company is based in a posh canal house in Amsterdam. The founding group, of which most members came from the Dutch publishing conglomerate PCM, started there in the basement. In the meantime the company is growing so fast that it also occupies offices at the ground floor and populates the ground and basement level with all young people. The offices are sober and in the corridor a big golden statue of Nijntje/Miffy, a gift from the landlord and a reminder to the founders not to loose their innocence.

Skoeps, a joint venture by the newspaper conglomerate PCM and Cyrte, the investment vehicle of John the Mol, is a user generated and moderated content site where people can upload videos and pictures of news events and sell them. It is citizens' journalism, but excludes photographs from VIP spotters, paparazzi and ambulance chasers. The company has been launched a year ago and has already made impact in The Netherlands. John de Mol is already using the material for a television station on internet and for regional television stations.

After half a year the company behind the site is already cash flow positive. It is also selling the concept abroad. There is an English version in the Netherlands, filled with Dutch items as well as a German version. Negotiations with UK and German companies are on the way. Foreign services will not necessarily bear the name and logo of Skoeps. The concept and technology are available as white label as well. For example Zoom.in produces the Flemish and French Belgian sites. In the meantime Skoeps has already services and offices in South Africa and a few other African countries.

The business model behind the company is interesting. The company gets revues from licensing the concept under the name of Skoeps or as white label. It picks up money by licensing the service and software for events like the Cape to Cape rally, a car rally from the top of Finland to the cape of Gibraltar. But it is also negotiating for the Olympic Games next year in Beijing. Of course there are revenues from classic bannering as well as the sale of a photograph or a movie to news media or Youtube –like services. Another revenue source is sponsoring.

But after almost one year, Skoeps is not resting on its laurels. It is actively looking for partners in other countries. Presently Skoeps is talking to an international network which might deliver contacts in some 50 countries. But it is also working on additions to the service; video logging is one of the opportunities. Recently Skoeps started a cooperation with Startlog Nederland, providing authors of weblogs with news scopes. Startlog Nederland will distribute the scopes through its press release service.

The company celebrates its first anniversary on October 5th, 2007 with a nice first year result of operating a service, foreign services and a positive cash flow. What could an investor wish more for: a product, international expansion and a positive cash flow?

Blog Posting Number: 871

Tags: user generated content, citizens' journalism

The music industry pie to be divided differently

A discussion is raging in the Dutch amusement industry. Last week the news service of the ISP Planet Internet published an article on the amusement industry. It recognised that the music industry is in trouble while the games industry is flourishing.

For years the music industry has lived from selling vinyl records and audio CDs. But since internet this has changed dramatically. Live performances are seen as yielding the revenues. But this is not true, according to Wouter Rutten, spokes person for the NVPI, the Dutch recording association. “Yes live performance yield more revenues, but they do not compensate the loss of revenues from carriers like audio CDs”.

He continues saying that he disagrees with the position that the role of record companies and record shops is changing and even has finished. He offers the position that live music can not survive without record companies. They are the flying wheel. They put the artists in the market, make them known to an audience, offer their music to channels and accompany them with marketing actions. Without all these efforts, less people would come to their live performances.

He supports his position with figures of the Dutch music scene. The annual turn-over of live performances in The Netherlands yields 80 million euro. This is only a small part of the half billion euro spent on amusement products every year. The entire pie of the amusement industry is about 1 billion euro. And this is already so for some years with only light fluctuations due to the economy. There are changes within this pie, but they are diverse with changes from audio CD to DVD.

Mr Rutten notes that the amount of music record shops is diminishing in The Netherlands. However he also grants that many of these music record shops evolve to multimedia shops.
He also indicates that the NVPI is less strict about down- and uploading as the Dutch piracy watchdog Brein. He makes no bones about illegal down and uploading; the NVPI is against it. But the association likes to look at the whole picture, while Brein looks at piracy specifically. NVPI even looks at legal alternatives.

He cites examples in the UK, where Prince has bundled his latest audio CD in a Sunday paper; no less than half a million copies. This was done to promote the twenty concerts to be given later on. Rutten is not sure that this type of economic models will make it in the future. He is convinced that these models will also reach The Netherlands. But this will not be the only model or method of sharing revenues. Prince had first to get popular, a task for the record company.

Blog Posting Number 870

Tags: music industry, amusement industry

A game brought to the street

From October 4th, 2007 a real street game, the Monkey Murder Mystery, will start in four Dutch cities. The Monkey Murder Mystery is a local interactive reality game, which gets gamers away from their computer. The gamers will hunt or be hunted, not with a water or paint pistol, but with a camera equipped mobile.

Monkey Murder Mystery will start in four Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Nijmegen and Groningen) and will last 9 weeks. The participants of the game will compete with each other in order to become the ultimate opponent of Monkey Murder. The eventual winner will receive a sum of 5.000 euro.

The game is a combination of reality and virtuality. The stress is on gaming outside the house away from the computer, hunting for an opponent in the same city and attempting to catch him with a snapshot and sending this shot. During the game the participants will have to fulfil assignments. For every right answer they receive leads, which bring them closer to the person to be excluded. The assignments will get more difficult and vary from finding a location on internet or in the city or solving a riddle. As soon as the participant has collected enough information to identify the target person, the shoot to kill element with the mobile is started. The gamer make a kill, when he/she films or photographs the target person. After nine weeks one person will remain in every city, who will receive 1.000 euro. In the final they will compete with each other. The winner of this final will receive 4.000 euro from Monkey Murder.

The whole game turns around completing assignments on behalf of Monkey Murder. This sly criminal is searching for his ultimate opponent. Monkey Murder has been born on June 17, 1966 in Leiden with the name Wilhelm Adriaan Schrooten. At birth Wilhelm appeared to have a congenial disease in his face, giving him a monkeylike appearance. Monkey gets on the wrong track and has had to fight opponents in his criminal career. In this way he got the name Monkey Murder. He wants to let the world know what he has done and wants to be respected in eternity. This is his reason for looking for a respected opponent. He is looking for the craftful and most skilful player.

The game is produced for Hi, the youth brand for mobile of KPN. LG Mobile is sponsoring the game. The cross medial bureau On conceptualised and produced the game. The participant will on average send 15 MMS and 35 SMS.

The game is not the first outside game in The Netherlands. Probably the crossmedia game Blackbeard Connection was the first one. Recently the mobile game Triangler received much attention.

Blog Posting Number: 869

Tags: games

VNU Media sharpens its strategy

VNU Media, the spin-out publishing company of the VNU conglomerate, which turned into Nielsen, has announced the sale of some of her Dutch publications. Earlier the company indicated already that its will diminish her international ambitions by selling foreign subsidiaries. VNU Media wants to position itself as a computer business media company.

The company has announced that it will sell some niche publications, management magazines and some consumer PC magazines. It will sell a stable business title for the fashion world Textilia and Shoevisie to Mybusinsesmedia; Textilia has been a title since the formation of VNU Business Group in the late seventies. The management titles Management Team and Sprout will be sold; Management Team has been in the portfolio since 1986. Consumer titles such as PCM, Computer idee, Power Unlimited and the gadget website Gizmodo, the consumer computer titles will also be abandoned.

With the formation of the new company VNU Media with the assistance of 3i, the company had decided to sell off the UK operation, which was the first international stepping stone for the former VNU conglomerate. Also the companies on the European continent, except for Belgium, are for sale.

The strategy of VNU Media concentrates itself on the B2B market in print and online products in the field of computing as well as the job recruitment market. Textilia and Shoevisie are small and outside the focus of computing; the management and consumer PC products have too little recruitment potential. VNU Media will now focus in The Netherlands on the market of the computing business as far as publications such as Computable, Emerce and the site Tweakers are concerned and on the job recruitment market with the newly acquired Nationale Vacaturebank (National Job recruitment database). Also its flagship Intermediair, a controlled circulation weekly for students and academics and similar titles will continue under the management of VNU Media.

The sale of the magazines will deliver a 20 percent of the turn-over this year. By a fast autonomous growth of the company in slimmed shape, VNU Media should be one year ahead of its financial objective. Already 50 percent of its revenues comes from online sources. The CEO of VNU Media Eric Hoekstra denied in an interview that the changes have been forced upon them by the 3i investment company.

I worked for VNU in the seventies and the eighties; in the eighties I worked for seven years in the VNU Business Group. It looks like VNU Media is back to basics, when they started their internationalisation program in 1980. The only difference is now that they have online sites and databases; in 1980 VNU Business Press Group started its first adventures in online with the acquisition of US company Disclosure and its own media lab VNU Database Publishing International bv (DPI).

Blog Posting Number: 868

Tags: business publishing, job recruitment

Les Echos first with proposal commercial digital paper daily

Les Echos, the French sister publication of the Financial Times of the Pearson company, has launched its daily on two e-readers officially. The newspaper had been advertising the service and promoting the e-readers for some months now. Les Echos claims to be the first commercial daily worldwide with this service.

Les Echos has chosen to offer two e-readers: STAReBOOK and the iLiad. Both products are based on the E-Ink digital paper technology. STAReBOOK is developed in China and the iLiad has been developed by iRex Technologies, a spin-out of Philips in the Netherlands. The difference between the two digital paper readers is that the iLiad has a Wi-Fi facility on board and STAReBOOK does not.

Les Echos has had a pdf internet service for a long time. It is now adding the e-reader service. It has experimented with 200 units in the past months and developing its own presentation software. A movie with French, English and Chinese (!) spoken text shows the newspaper as it works on the iLiad. First thing you will notice is the screen is great, but that the e-reader has a long start-up time and the long download time.

Les echos has a video showing how Les Echos has solved the interface to the e-paper differently from the experimental interface of the Belgian financial daily De Tijd. The e-paper of Les Echos is not the WSYWIG lay-out of the printed newspaper. The first screen is a series of headlines and short leads of the frontpage stories, while next to this column the editorial commentary is and a graph of the stock exchange. One can go also to the menu and make a choice of stories and categories and a company can be found in the company register. The interface of Les Echos is different from the experimental interface done by De Tijd in Belgium. That newspaper had a WYSIWIG lay-out of the printed news, which meant that the reader would scan the pages. Once an article was seen, the reader could tick on it with the stylus and call the article up for presentation in legible form.

The subscription to Les Echos also comprises a news stories’ stream by the French news agency AFP. AFP has a separate starting point from Les Echos. The offers for STAReBOOK and iRex also contain electronic books from two French book publishers. STAReBOOK has access to e-books from Flammarion, while the iLiad subscriber has access to the books of Nathan.

The business model of the e-readers is similar to the newspaper. You pay an annual subscription to receive the news (not the newspaper) electronically. The present offers include an e-reader: 649 euro for the STAReBook plus 1 year subscription and 749 euro for the iLiad. Given the fact that the iLiad costs 649 euro without any subscription, Les Echos is prepared to market the e-reader for iRex Technologies, as an e paper subscription normally costs 365 euro. Most like the e-reader manufacturers and the e-paper publisher have split the costs. In the second year the reader will pay 365 euro as they would do for the pdf edition.

Blog Posting Number: 867

Tags: newspapers, digital paper

Nokia Revamps its Location-Based Experiences

Press release from Nokia
Speaking at the Canalys Navigation forum in Barcelona, Michael Halbherr shared insights about the current state of navigation and plans for updates and improvements for Nokia Maps. Launched in February of this year, the Nokia Maps mobile application and the Nokia Map Loader for PC's have each been downloaded over 1 million times.

A key point highlighted by Halbherr, head of the location-based experience team in Nokia Multimedia was the evolution of Nokia Maps from the first version, announced in February, to the next phase, which is available for download today. "We have taken a lot of the consumer feedback that we received when we launched Nokia Maps and are feeding that into the next versions of the product," said Mr. Halbherr.

The updated Nokia Maps application has a new streamlined user interface with improved nearby search and detailed categories. "Many people were saying that they didn't know how much data they were using, so we have added a data download counter in the map view. We also added a GPS status indicator so that you know when your device is connected to the satellites." The updated version also comes with a bonus three-day trial Navigation license free of charge*. "With this trial users can try out the service over a weekend holiday or a short business trip and discover the convenience of having a personal navigation device integrated into their mobile."

"Speaking of streamlining things," added Halbherr, "We are happy to report that we have a new and improved PC Map Loader available for users to download." The Nokia Map Loader is used to conveniently side load maps on to the device before you need them. "The improved Map Loader transfers the maps up to 10 times faster than the first version and enables downloading the voice guidance files."

Both new versions of Nokia Maps and the Nokia Map Loader are freely available to download* for selected devices at http://maps.nokia.com/

Nokia is also updating the map coverage during the second half of 2007 to bring the total number of countries covered to over 150, with more than 50 of them navigable. "Our goal is to have the world covered," exclaimed Mr. Halbherr, "We want our navigation customers to feel assured that when they travel abroad, their Nokia device has the relevant maps for them. A map is like an insurance policy against getting lost, you need it most when you are lost, and when that happens, it is invaluable."

Nokia Maps is being integrated into Ovi. Ovi is the door to Nokia's Internet services, including the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps and N-Gage games. It will also be an open door to web communities, enabling people to access their content, communities and contacts from a single place, either directly from a compatible Nokia device or from a PC.

*Download terms and conditions apply. See websites for information. 3-Day Navigation trial limited to selected S60 3rd edition devices. Service provider may charge for data transmission. The availability of particular products, services and map coverage may vary by region. The availability of GPS and related services are dependent, among other things, on wireless networks and satellite systems. Specifications are subject to change without notice.

Blog Posting Number: 866

Tags: location-based services, maps, community

From waste to art

At the e-Content Summit in Brijuni James Wallbank (see photograph), director of the Art and Technology Group of The Redundant Technology Initiative spoke about his projects from waste to arts. (I put this blog together by combining texts from several of their sites). The Redundant Technology Initiative (RTI) was set up in 1997. Based in Sheffield, in the UK, RTI was formed by artists who wanted to get involved with information technology, but didn't have the resources to buy computers. So instead they went about getting their hands on trash computers, finding new ways to be creative with old technology, then exhibiting the results. The process that they set up was a virtuous circle: each exhibition or arts event that they held raised people's awareness of the issue of technology disposal, so they were prompted to give the group even more computers. More computers led to more exhibitions, and so on.

In a few months RTI had more computers than they knew what to do with, so they set up Access Space, a unique creative media lab, to which anyone can come and learn, create and communicate online. The methodology remains consistent. We work with zero-cost technology rescued from the trash, and free, open-source software that costs absolutely nothing. In this regard the group has become a pioneer - Access Space is the first public access internet laboratory to be run entirely with free software. Free technology is something which everyone can get involved with.

RTI continues to exhibit trash technology art (see phtograph) around the UK and across Europe, and campaigns to advocate low cost access to information technology. The people are still hungry for obsolete machines and run an ongoing campaign that asks businesses and individuals to donate computers that they no longer use. Through its Access Space RTI has demonstrated that any group can build their own online lab for no capital cost, using the technology that's being discarded in their local neighbourhood combined with free, open-source software. It's a strategy that's highly sustainable, extremely green, spreads empowering information technology skills, and best of all, and is creative and a lot of fun!

That's why their new project is called "Grow Your Own Media Lab!" It does exactly what it says: helps groups across the UK and further abroad to set up their own creative, community-based technology reuse projects, forming a grassroots network of ICT learning and techno-culture centres.

One of their present projects is the Open Source Embroidery project, which brings together programming for embroidery and computing. It is based on the common characteristics of needlework crafts and open source computer programming: gendered obsessive attention to detail; shared social process of development; and a transparency of process and product. Open Source Embroidery is a socially engaged art project developed through workshops and an email list: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/os-embroidery?hl=en. There are also groups on Facebook and Flickr.

Embroidery is constructed (mostly by women) in hundreds of tiny stitches which are visible on the front of the fabric. The system of the stitches is revealed on the back of the material. Some embroiderers seal the back of the fabric, preventing others from seeing the underlying structure of the pattern. Others leave the back open for those who want to take a peek. A few integrate the backend process into the front of the fabric. The patterns are shared amongst friends in knitting and embroidery 'circles'.

Software is constructed (mostly by men) in hundreds of tiny pieces of code, which form the hidden structure of the programme or interface. Open Source software allows people to look at the back of the fabric, and understand the structure of your software, modify it and distribute it.

The code is shared amongst friends through online networks. However the stitches or code only make sense to those who are familiar with the language or patterns.The same arguments about Open Source vs Free Software can be applied to embroidery. The needlework crafts also have to negotiate the principles of 'freedom' to create, modify and distribute, within the cultural and economic constraints of capitalism. The Open Source Embroidery project simply attempts to provide a social and practical way of discussing the issues and trying out the practice. Free Software, Open Source, amateur and professional embroiderers and programmers are welcome to contribute to the project.

The Open Source Embroidery project pays homage to Ada Lovelace (1816-52) who helped to develop the Analytical Engine, the first idea for a universal computer, with Charles Babbage. Lovelace wrote "we may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraically patterns just as the Jaquard Loom weaves flowers and leaves.". The Jaquard Loom (1810) was the first machine to use punched-card programming.

Blog Posting Number: 865

Tags: redundant technology

Innovation journalism needs a new perspective

At the e-Content Summit in Croatia there was a presentation on Innovation Journalism by David Nordfors (see photograph), a senior research scholar and program leader of the Stanford Center for Innovation in Learning. He started out by defining innovation journalism. He stated that he was going to talk about innovation journalism and not innovative journalism. He was basically not concerned with press room renewal, but with journalism about innovations. Of course, innovative journalism and journalism about innovation can be a good match.

That journalism is changing, is no news. Traditionally the news was associated with the delivery outlets such as television or newspapers. But with internet there is a real change. The delivery infrastructure is diminishing. In fact news content is disassociating itself from the delivery infrastructure. There is now a greater competition for eyeballs, competition of attention and higher demands on credibility. Besides building a brand is more important than ever. The news industry is now becoming a part of the innovation economy.

Innovation is a complex process. It is not linear, but goes through phases such as basic research, applied research, development and commercialisation plus the progressive and regressive feedbacks. The innovation system concerns the flow of technology, information and capital among people, enterprises and institutions. In parallel with this flow of technology key actors such as journalist, pr officials and communicators come along to fight for the attention.

Introduction of something new requires communication, which in turn requires a new language and a new name. The introduction of the iPhone for example was such an event with its own battle for the eyeballs and its own name. The launch was not just an innovation for a small group of people, but it was a broad happening in which news media are the actors for creating shared knowledge among politicians, academics and public.

Innovation needs it own policy. A network global professional community for innovation journalism is needed, backed up by scholarly research on the interaction between journalism and innovation.

In short, news media will have to get out their journalistic habit to sort news in category slots and categories like abroad, internal situation, media and sports. I have experienced these situations several times in the past. When a new CD title was produced, the press release was often treated by the staff of the economy sector as this most likely had something to do with Philips. A CD-ROM with poems was not covered by the staff of the book section, but by the media editor, who usually was a television entertainment journalist.

Innovation journalists should be able to cover the full cycle of innovation: from the basic innovative ideas, to the technical effects, the economic consequences as well as political and ethical implications.

David Nordfors has set up a program and courses at Stanford for journalists, technical authors, public relations officials and lobbyists. And there is a website and blog.

Blog Posting Number: 864

Tags: innovation journalism

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (12)

By two o’clock yesterday afternoon the conference was over; I will later come back to two items, which took my fancy: innovation journalism and recycling computers. The luggage had been packed, the bills settled and the exchange of photographs started. Stanislav had made giga photographs, which are on my portable. Perhaps I might make a photo blog over the coming days, while I recuperate.

Next was the trip to Zagreb. This did not start well, as a few jury members were not in time at the boat and in full Croatian fashion, the boat left right on schedule without them and did not return, when the missing persons ran to the quay. Another boat had to be chartered for them as there was a tight schedule. It was really laughing that the German jury member Alexander Felsenberg was not in time, while the Croatians executed their boat service punktlich; of course Alexander had an excuse as he is a Czech by birth.

The trip to Zagreb started at 17:30 PM and lasted till 20:45 PM; on the road we had lightning, rain and winds. But by the time that coach stopped in at the cathedral it was dry and we were greetde by two guides, dressed in eighteenth century dresses awaited us for a guided tour of Zagreb. I liked it as the centre of Zagreb is an old city and bears many resemblances to Vienna. I especially liked the view from the city elevator station on the hill. Having seen that, we all were really hungry as it was already over ten o’clock.

This morning a number of jury members were already at 6:30 AM at the airport. We had slept in a hotel at five minutes distance by car from the airport. And off we flew to Brussels, Cairo, Armenia and Nicaragua.

It had been an enervating ten days. The hospitality was offered by the Croatian State secretary for e-Croatia. The events have been organised by Kresimir Lugaric of the Internet Institute and the execution was done by Natalija Gojkovic of the Internet Institute. They have really done a wonderful job.

But flying out of Zagreb, there was the feeling that I had left someone behind, our Brazilian juror. He had been transferred overnight to the hospital for more extensive treatment as the diagnosis was not as optimistic as thought by the doctors in the hospital in Pula. It looks like the accident will change his entire life.

Now I am back in Almere (see photograph with view from the appartment) behind my desk, going through the snail mail. It will take some days to realise that the World Summit Grand Jury 2007 is over. Next on the list will the WSA Award Gala in Venice on November 5th which is planned in the framework of the Global Forum. Many of the jurors have promised to attend the ceremony. But before that time Osama Manzar, our Indian jury member, took upon him to produce the third version of e-Content- Voices from the ground, a review by Grand Jury members of the e-content situation in their home states. This delivers statistics, but also insight about the state of e-Content in the country and the new trends.

BTW There is an official WSA blogand there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 863

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (11)

I woke up this morning very early and the first thoughts went to our jury member from Brazil who is still in intensive care and has overnight been moved from Pula to Zagreb. Peter Bruck, the honorary chairman of the WSA, visited him before the transfer, talked to him and the doctors, and to his wife. The next three days are going to be critical for him and the rest of his life.

Life is cruel though. The weather this morning is beautiful, so I had breakfast outside near the quay, overlooking the harbour. Outside the harbour there is a large yacht (see photograph), on which George Cluny is; at least rumour has it.

This will be the last day on Brijuni island. The conference is still on for half a day. Sometimes a speaker is able to draw a laugh on the face of the participants like Felix T. Hong, originally from Korea, but now Professor of Physiology at Wayne State University. He was speaking about creativity and went on about rule based programming. To make clear that in creativity there is a verbal rule based programming as well as a visual rile based programming, he used the example of George Bush during the Katrina hurricane. When he was shown pictures about the situation and the people, nothing happened. But when he was read a memo saying that people were in distress and dying, he shot into action.

After the conference we are breaking up the WSA Grand Jury activities here, pack and go with the rest of the jury members to Zagreb for the closing dinner.

We take along from the island many things: a new list of winners and a lot of ideas such as students’ book on content as well as a virtual academy. We also received a request for Content Institute in the Middle East. Most of all we take along the fact that we, the jurors, the moderation team, staff and tutors have been a week together and have worked together on the results of the WSA edition 2007 on this paradise island. However after the accident it feels like we lost some of the paradise.

After the conference we are breaking up the WSA Grand Jury activities here, pack and go with the rest of the jury members and some mebers of the press corps to Zagreb. This will be a four hour ride, during which I most likely fall asleep, unless people keep talking to me. We will have a closing dinner. Tomorrow I fly back to Amsterdam

Our juror from Luxembourg Lafit Ladit summed it all up in his observation with a historical reference to the association of non-allied countries in the presence of the State secretary: Brijuni has its history, but now WSA is definitely part of it.

BTW There is an official WSA blogand there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 862

Tags:World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

20007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (10)

Last night the WSA jury and staff as well as 20 members of the press corps were bussed to Rovinic a, a town up the coast of Croatia. We were treated to a an evening of Croatian food and mingled with the press.










When we were back Standa the media activist had opened his bio-oil driven car for an unofficial party with music and photographs of the WSA Grand Jury. It was a very nice happening.

However it was a rude awakening this morning to hear that one of the jurors had been brought to hospital in a serious condition. He is in intensive care and the first reports are unclear. Of course we all hope that he will get better.

Today the e-Summit starts, a conference with high level politician, press and the Grand Jury. This is an initiative of the state secretary Mr Mir Slav Kovacic. The WSA Grand Jury members met him before the meeting starts and had an intensive discussion with him on the e-Croatia programme. It is part of the e-Europe initiative. Especially e-Education and the governmental portal are his priorities presently. And of course the infrastructure. Four years ago Croatia had 643 ADSL subscribers; now it has 300.000 subscribers for a population of 4, 5 million inhabitants. Basic problem for the infrastructure is the lack of competition in the telecom field. But the Croatian government is trying to overcome this with grants. It has now devoted 30 million kuna (I guess some 25 million euro) to special social group so that they can have internet access for free for a year. Also the schools on the islands get grants for wireless internet and smart boards. Croatia is also working on the continuation of the e-Croatia program, code named Croatia 1 2010. Bust as the state secretary thinks that the program will be rather on mobile and should therefore be called m-Croatia with a heavy stress on infrastructure, bridging the digital divide and stimulating e-Participation.

In the Summit I was interested in what Tin Radovani had to say about the BBC as he is a strategy analyst. He was looking at a shift in pattern in news. He cited the speed of news which yielded in the first 6 hours of this day: 1000 photographs, 4000 sms, 20.000 e-mails and 20 videoclips. He compared it with the speed of increase of Technorati, YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. He drew in citizen’s journalism and user generated content. But in the end he granted that BBC was riding on these waves and not initiating trends themselves, except the video plug-in. BBC accepted and integrates the trend. But it sounded almost like citizen’s journalism and user generated content was tolerated by the BBC.

BTW There is an official WSA blogand there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 861

Tags:World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (9)

The weather was supposed to get better towards the weekend, but it looks like clouds are still on the menu. In the meantime the Grand Jury has been evacuated from the hall where they were evaluating, as the hall had to be prepared for the Summit of Saturday and Sunday. Some 200 people are supposed to show up at the Summit, among which the president of Croatia and some government officials of other countries. The Summit is on e-Content, the objectives, the trends and its influence. It is a heavy programme of an on afternoon on Saturday and a long Sunday morning. After the Summit a number of the Grand Jurors will go by bus to Zagreb to a hotel near the airport, have dinner at the Zagreb race track and leave Croatia early in the morning.

Last night after dinner we had a WSA open board meeting. During these meetings ideas are born, intentions spoken out and plans announced about the next Grand Jury and the next Gala. Tentatively, the Grand Jury 2009 will be in Armenia and the Gala in India. And there was even a request for either the Grand Jury or Gala in Africa, while China is also still a contender. Sometimes WSA looks like the Olympic Committee, planning years ahead and selecting places to go. But many ideas are formulated about events such a as road shows and cooperation with other events and conferences. But always the question is where the sponsors are, how much money will it costs and what company is prepared to pour money into the events. This while they could benefit from seeing new products and trends closely and sharing in the knowledge of the winners and the Grand Jury. Personally I feel that we are going into a higher gear with the WSA. We know by now pretty well facts and figures about organising events and there is of course a worldwide network spreading from South America to Finland, from China to Brazil and from Australia to Canada.

The task for today is twofold. First WSA Spokespersons have to be elected. Secondly the jurors have to write the laudations for the winners. These will be in the printed and electronic catalogue. The catalogues have to be ready before the fifth of November when the WSA Gala 2007 will be held in Venice. Our Italian juror Alfredo Ranchi has been instrumental in arranging this and folding the event in the Global Forum Conference on ICT. It will give the WSA a lot of exposure. The Gala will be held on an island opposite the San Marco cathedral. The only thing we will have to pray for is nice weather, as November in Venice can be nasty and wet, even to the point of flooding.

Tomorrow afternoon we are supposed to get off the island and go to a coastal town to look around, have a meal and listen to local music. By that time some of the jurors will be leaving. That is painful, especially as you have lived and worked together intensively for one week. In fact it started already this morning when Lucas Lim from Japan/Malaysia and Carina Feldman from Austria left due obligations. But they are not gone as e-mail is all pervasive now.

BTW There is an official WSA blog and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 860

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (8)

This morning the sky is overcast with clouds; a scarce ray of sun is showing. The WSA Polar Bear swimming club is not on sunshine strength, but some of the members of the running team are out making their kilometres on this nice island.

Yesterday afternoon we had a chance to see the island. The jurors and the staff were picked up by a theme park train for a ride through the nature park. It is paradise, although this has not always been the case. In the beginning of last century, Brijuni was covered with swamps for some thirty percent, spreading malaria. The island was at that time in possession of an Austrian owner. The last Austrian owner could not get the island financed and shot himself. Then it was taken over by the government and in Tito’s time used as a residence. You still can discover three hospitality buildings for presidents and heads of state. Tito himself had a smaller island around Brijuni just for himself, completely covered in green. He has brought a safari park to the island. Whenever heads of state visited him they gave him exotic animals such as an elephant, a zebu, a Shetland pony from Queen Elisabeth II. There were more exotic animals such as tigers and lions, but they were no longer allowed on the island when a law on exotic animals was accepted by the Croatian government, when the country gained independence in 1991; the animals were moved to the zoo in Zagreb.
The history of the island goes back to at least the Romans. They left their traces of houses, a temple and a harbour on the island. Given the swamps, it is clear that they settled near the sea.

It was a strange day as we were confronted with the news from outside the island. Of course we are not living here in splendid isolation, but time for viewing television is hardly present; and when there is time, Peter Bruck, the chair, will think up a meeting either about the future of WSA or about collaborative projects. But it was sad to hear about the death of the Italian singer Pavarotti, who died of cancer. And closer to home was the news of the hurricane that hit Nicaragua, as Cornelius Hopmann comes from that country. He asked the jury five minutes to commemorate this disaster.

It was a heavy day. We still had to go three categories. And the first one, e-Learning, delivered many questions and problems as to teaching and learning as well as administrative software platforms vs content. But by the afternoon the list of winners was resolved. Then followed the category e-Business; the members of the jury had looked for some new business models. Funny enough it were not the likes of YouTube to be honoured, but more the economic activities with a social character. Last but not least was the category e-Inclusion. This of course is one of the critical areas for the WSA: how can you involve groups in society that do not have access to ICT and ICT devices to lift themselves up to a living standard. After some heavy voting over the last place of the five winners, the list was complete. The Grand Jury had finished her task and you could see the relief among the jurors. The evaluation of entries was over as well as the voting in favour or against. No more Roberts’ rules for handling a meeting. No more motions and seconding of at least two jurors and friends and no more counting. And this time we will miss the closing remarks of Cornelius Hopmann: End of intervention; as if he was calling himself to halt in the stream of thoughts. The jurors and staff members went happily for dinner.

BTW There is an official WSA blog and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 859

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (7)

This morning I woke up early. It was still dark, but by the time the sun started to penetrate the clouds, the water surface was not quiet. But it was definitely better than the day before. But there is still a lot of wind and there are clouds. By tomorrow the weather should be back to nice temperatures.

Last night the Grand Jury worked late and got two categories decided: e-Entertainment and e-Health. The decision process did not go fluently as the jury had to get used to the voting rules. The first category took several rounds, but the jurors sailed through the second category. The first ten winners are known now, as every category has five winners. Then there was a sprint to the restaurant as we had an appointment at 9:30 PM.

On the island there are a few chapels. In the one closest to the hotel, an intimate concert was arranged for the Grand Jury and the people around it. On the wall of the chapel there were Christian paintings, which had been transferred to linen in order to preserve them. The concert was given by the Zagreb String Quartet, consisting of Mr Hrvoje Philips and his twin brother Davor as well as Goran Koncar and Martin Jordan. They played Joseph Haydn, Joaquin Turina, Franjo Krezma and Dmitri Sjostakovitch. The prayer of the bull fighter by Turina, I had never heard and I liked it. It presented all the stormy feelings of a bull fighter and a very serene final; you see the bull fighter getting ready and stepping into the ring. The piece by Krezma, a young Croatian composer, who died at nineteen, was impressive. He wrote the Quartet br. 1 u C-duru for Verdi in a few days and borrowed heavily from Mozart in the finale. It reminded me of a Dutch Santa Claus song. The quartet gave an encore of Tsjaichovski.

This morning we started with e-Government. First the short list of eight entries was presented. After that the voting took place; this time without any hitch. After a short break the category e-Culture was presented. Also the voting went without any problems.

Now we are going for a tour around the island. So far I have only seen the area around the hotel. I only ventured five minutes away from the hotel. But the tour will take one and a half hour.

Before dinner tonight the category e-Science will be presented and voted on.

BTW There is an official WSA blog and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 858

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (6)

The weather changed overnight. The rumbling came from the direction of the city of Pula to the north of the island and it grew into thunderclaps. By the morning it started raining and by eight o’clock the raining stopped and it started pouring. The hotel is a sun shine hotel and was not resistant to the water from the sky. One person went to the beach for tan early morning swim, but came back in a hurry when the drops grew in volume. But a small accident happened when Jan Bieringa from New Zealand went outside, slipped in a pool of water and broke her arm below the elbow. The arm was banded and she taken to hospital for x-rays.

The rain is going to mess up the schedule for today. This afternoon had been planned as an afternoon off, during which people could tour the island or go to the city of Pula. But given the fact that it will rain all day and only will slowly let up tomorrow, the jurors decided to start presentations of three categories of the shortlist to the whole jury this afternoon. This is the best part of the entire jury exercise.
The jurors see roughly 64 entries, which are considered the best products in their category worldwide. The jury teams will have to make a presentation telling about the product and why the product is unique. This afternoon the entire jury will see the entries of three categories: e-entertainment, e-health and e-government. The other five categories are on the slate for tomorrow.

Last night after dinner there were two presentations. Mr Latif Ladid from Luxembourg made a presentation on his work in PIv6. I did not catch the whole lecture, but picked up that theoretically IPv4 as Internet is now will have no IP addresses anymore from 10/10/2010. Of course the date is symbolic as the can with addresses can be emptied earlier or later. He indicated that IPv6 yields more space for addresses. It is an interesting subject and I have asked Latif to be my weekend guest on the blog in the coming weeks; and he agreed. I was able to make a small presentation on digital paper. I had taken my iRex Iliad along and passed it around. No one had seen it yet and held it in their hands. There were a lot of question about applications such as e-books, e-newspapers and manuals. Especially the page turner of the iLiad caught the attention as an interface feature from many a juror. Of course, the price of roughly 650 euro made some people gasp for breath; the price will undoubtedly go down, when enough application areas are reached.

BTW There is an official WSA blog and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 858

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (5)

Georgious. I got up early this morning and walked to a beach (see photograph) to take a swim. The island of Brijuni has a few wide beaches and some very cozy one, just enough space for a couple in love. This island is like paradise. Not just for the (pebble) beaches, but also for nature. It is really envigorating to take a swim. I found some early members of the WSA Polar Bear Club swimming and sunbathing in the early sun.

Last night we had a networking dinner and session. The basic idea was that jurors exchange ideas for projects, in which fellow jurors can participate.. So far it generated thGorgeous. I got up early this morning and walked to a beach to take a swim. The island of Brijuni has a few wide beaches and some very cosy one, just enough space for a couple in love. This island is like paradise. Not just for the (pebble) beaches, but also for nature. It is really invigorating to take a swim. I found some early members of the WSA Polar Bear Club swimming and sunbathing in the early sun.

Last night we had a networking dinner and session. The basic idea was that jurors exchange ideas for projects, in which fellow jurors can participate. So far it generated three ideas. Of course one of the ideas is the third version of e-Content: Voices from the Ground. The idea for this book originated with Osama Manzar from India at the Grand Jury session in Dubai and was executed before the UN World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva (Switzerland). Interested jurors wrote an assessment on e-content in their country. The first version contained 33 countries. The same exercise was done before the second UN Summit in Tunisia. The second idea was for an e-content study by Alex Felsenberg. I put in a project about e-books/digital papers. Some more ideas started to float around. In the coming days we will be able to expound on it.

Today the Eminent Experts start the second round of evaluation. The first cut has been made and now 15 to 18 entries per category are left. A new fresh team will study them, evaluate them and make another refinement. This should bring the number down to maximally 9 entries per category. Out of these the last five entries, to be called winners, will be selected. The WSA has five winners per category and is not following the Olympic spirit with one winner and runner ups. The WSA does consider it more important to have showcases of best practice rather than one winner taking all the honour.

It will not be a relaxing time for the jurors today. Despite the fact that they have a whole day and evening for familiarising themselves with the entries selected for the second round, they will have to dive deep into the backgrounds of the entries and the issues of the category. They will have to discover what are the trends in e-Government, e-Learning, e-Culture, e-Health, e-Science, e-Business, e-Inclusion and e-Entertainment; of course e-Entertainment is a category, which is looking for more than shoot-them-up games. But the jurors will still take coffee and tea in the garden.

BTW There is an official WSA blog and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 857

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (4)

Early this morning there was a lot of noise in the harbour. Boats were arriving and leaving, delivering goods and putting off people. Irealise that it is Sunday and most likely a lot of people will arrive. In the meantime some big yachts and ferries arrive. In the meantime a new Polar Bear swimming club has been formed under chairmanship of Anya from Russia; she has been joined by Jan Bieringa and Latif Ladid from Luxembourg. Tomorrow I will join the club for energy boosters.

The Grand Jury is hosted on Brijuni, an archipelago of islands and a national park in front of the western coast of Istria; separated from the mainland by the Fazana Channel. It is located 6 km from Pula and covers an area of 36 sq km. Brijuni Islands comprise the following islands: Veli Brijun (Big Brijun, 5.6 sq km), Mali Brijun (Small Brijun, 1.1 sq km) and Vanga (0.18 sq km), as well as several islets (Sveti Marko, Gaz, Obiljak, Supin, Galija, Gruni, Pusti, Vrsar, Jerolim, Kotez) and reefs Kabula, Crnika and Stine.

In Brijuni harbour the Grand Jury is located in the Neptune-Istria Hotel. With a little help, nature has created a small paradise here, true harmony of flora and fauna, historical monuments and modern hotels. Brijuni offer shade in the rich evergreen vegetation; pheasants, deer and doe that roam freely all over the island; and the peace and quiet of the holm oak and hundred year old olive groves. The natural biological diversity was enriched by men's traditional husbandry. Veliki Brijun, the largest island of the archipelago, is cultivated into a harmonious landscape of meadows and parks, and along with the rich remnants of architectural heritage it also boasts preserved vegetation types typical for the western Istrian climate.

It is interesting to point out that on the islands there are some plant species that are among the endangered plant species of Istria [marine poppy, wild cucumber, some grass species], but on the islands they are quite widespread and develop freely. Because of the millennial presence of men on the archipelago of Brijuni, the animal world on the islands, especially Veliki Brijun, besides the autochthonous species, was enriched by many imported species that are not congenial to this habitat but got acclimated to it thanks to the almost ideal microclimatic conditions.

Nilgai or blue antelope were gift from India, from President Nehru in 1959. Kob or marsh antelope (Waterbuck) were a gift from Zambia in 1962 from Kenneth Kaunda, and Somalian sheep were a gift from Ethiopia in 1959. There are also Indian elephants Sony and Lanka, llamas from South America, zebras, Indian holy cows and autochthonous donkeys. With the exception of Sony and Lanka, all other animals roam free throughout Veli Brijun.

The autochthonous birds are quite well represented and Brijuni are also important seasonal habitats for northern bird species, as well as for many species of warblers, nightingales, blackbirds, chiffchaffs and other songbirds. In the crowns of pines we can find nests of sparrow hawks, goshawks and ommon buzzards. Of other predatory birds there are the marsh harriers and moor harriers. By the end of the summer many different bird species come to Saline on their way to the south, and already in August we can see widgeons, whistling ducks, diving ducks and swallow ducks. Of herons we can see the little egret, the common heron, the yellow-crowned night heron and the rook. The arrival of the great white egrets, the black storks and the bitterns indicates that this area is also important for such rare and endangered species, which here find their peace and enough quantities of food. There are also interesting geological-paleontological sites [dinosaur foot-prints, highly-spired gastropod shells, ripple marks from the Early Cretaceous Period, etc.] and archaeological sites worth seeing [St. Mary's Church from the 5th Century, Castrum site and Roman Villa in Verige Bay dating to 1st Century, and Hill-fort from the bronze age].

In Croatia you can see forests, mountains, plains, the sea and Karst without crossing more than a hundred kilometers. Our country extends from the furthest eastern edges of the Alps in the northwest to the Pannonian lowlands and the banks of the Danube in the east; its central region is covered by the Dinara mountain range, and its southern parts extend to the coast of the Adriatic Sea. In terms of International law, traditional heritage reaches back to Middle Age Princedom (791-924 A.D.) and Kingdom (925-1102) to its current standing as the Republic of Croatia, declared on June 25, 1991.

BTW There is an official WSA blog and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 856

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society

Flash: Croation prime minister visits WSA Grand Jury

The Croatian president Mr Stipe Mesic (2nd from the right) came to Brijuni to welcome the WSA Grand Jury 2007. In his speech he mentioned that with all the nationalities present, reminded him of unity in diversity. He told the jurors that they were on historic grounds where the Non-alligned nations got together during the cold war. On the island the former Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia met with amongst other president Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia, Neru of India and others formed a political union of nations, not alligned to Washington or Moskow. He wished the jurors all the best with the work of selecting the best e-content.

2007 WSA Grand Jury Croatia (3)

I came into Brijuni after the welcome dinner. But I met an enthusiastic crowd. Jurors of the Dubai edition and also jurors of the Bahrain edition. It was great to see them back. I started to meet also the new jurors in as far as they did not disappear to their hotel room, catching up from jetlag and days of travelling. The Salzburg team was there as well as the tutor group, a bunch of nice young Croatian students, who will be assisting the jurors. When I woke up this morning, this was the view from the room.

By 10 o'clock the jury were in full swing. An introduction is geven to the World Summit Award and the Eminent Expert jurors are introducing themselves.. Some statistics: 32 jurors, more than 600 entries in eight categories; the 600 entries have been entered by 159 countries.

The jurors’ works consists of three rounds of evaluation. In the first round every category will have four jurors in one team. The assignment of this round is to decrease the number of entries for closer inspection. In the second round, the teams will move to another category. In this phase the jurors can spend more time to familiarise themselves with the selected entries. The goal of the second round is whitled down to maximally ten entries per category. As five entries are needed for the last selection phase, the entries per category are presented to the entire jury and voted in or out. The last five entries that survive are the winners; there is not a single winner with runner-ups. Just for logistics, every juror sees more than 190 entries in eight days.

Every participating country could enter one entry per category. Theoretically 159 countries time eight entries in eight categories could have entered a total of 1272 products and services; but not all countries entered an entry in every category. For example for the Netherlands the national expert Bas Verhart has made a selection of eight entries. To give you an idea of the type of entries, I will use the list as it was published in the press release of the past week in the Dutch media:
1. e-Government: http://www.blob.nl/, a web game by students for the municipality of Utrecht;
2. e-Health: http://www.womenonweb.org/; Women on Waves in co-operation with Mediamatic;
3. e-Learning: http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/webspel/rembrandt?lang=nl; http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/webspel/nachtwacht?lang=nl webgame by the Rijksmuseum in co-operation of IJsfontein;
4. e-Entertainment: Triangler; a serious mobile game by TNO
5. e-Culture: http://www.fabchannel.com/; a Music site;
6. e-Science: http://www.wadlandis.com/, a webgame by the Wadden association in co-operation with XMediaworks;
7. e-Business: http://www.skoeps.com/, a user generated news site;
8. e-Inclusion: www. ikzieikziewatjijnietziet.nl, a digital campaign against child abuse by Sire in co-operation with Achtung!

You probably wonder why a juror will spend a week of his/her life to look at entries from all over the world. For a juror it is a unique experience to see the trends in digital media in so many products. Besides the WSA uniquely demonstrates the local diversity and creative use of ICT around the world, serving as a global platform to make today's information society more inclusive. Of course also the experience of meeting 35 experts in multimedia and social activities is a chance of a lifetime. Seven of the jurors have been privileged three times and six jurors twice to be part of the Grand Jury of Eminent Experts. BTW I am not involved as a juror, but as a co-moderator.

BTW There is an official WSA blog on http://worldsummitaward.blogspot.com/
and there will be daily photographs.

Blog Posting Number: 855

Tags: World Summit Award, World Summit on the Information Society