Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Weekly Wrap: BBC Digital Revolution, Creating Word of Mouth Buzz, 2010 Online Community Predictions, Perpetual Beta, Robots Attack & More!

5 Triggers for Creating Online Word of Mouth: Word of Mouth is clearly one of the fastest growing sectors in marketing. PQ Media’s recent study has it growing 14.2% in 2008 to $1.54B and expects it to reach $3B by 2013.

Powering that growth are social technologies that have made it increasingly easier for individuals to grow their sphere of influence and quickly spread content to their expanded social networks online. [WOMMA]

BBC Digital Revolution: Digital Revolution (working title) is an open source documentary, due for transmission on BBC Two in 2010, that will take stock of 20 years of change brought about by the World Wide Web. Sorta Related: Oprah's Film Club. [BBC] [Barking Robot]

13 Year Old Runs Up 22K Cell Phone Bill: A father is hoping his cell-phone service provider will cut him a break after receiving a bill for nearly $22,000 in charges made by his teenage son. [KTLA]

Streaming Will Never Stop Downloading: Far from being a cure for the industry's woes, substituting streams for downloads wastes bandwidth, reduces privacy and slows innovation. [Guardian UK]

Listen Without Prejudice: Dan Coates from Ypluse.com shares how to use the power of music to connect youth with the emotions that they feel as they discover themselves and the world around them. Also Related: For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen. [MediaPost: Engage Gen Y] [Barking Robot]

2010 Community Management Predictions: What will online communities look like in 2010? What will community managers be talking about? What legal changes are bubbling away? We asked some fantastic community managers for their 2010 predictions, and if their thinking comes true, 2010 is going to be a very exciting year. [Fresh Networks]

Beware the Youth--They May Think Your Marketing is 'Evil': The youth today is savvy; intelligent; and importantly, powerful. Powerful? Yes. Looking at demographics; purchasing power; and the extent of influence to set trends, this is a group to be admired; respected (yes, they ain’t no fools); and targeted intelligently. [MediaUpdate]

Facebook is Here to Stay: Facebook is not only the overwhelming favorite social networking site (SNS) among college students; it may rapidly become the only SNS that matters, according to research by Anderson Analytics. [Yahoo! News]

Perpetual Beta | The Communications Pro of the Future: The Communications pro of the future must be a master of three important disciplines: Radical Listening, Social Influence, and Perpetual Beta. Within each are new practical skills that will define the true PR master – the next generation trusted advisor. [Digital Influence Project]

Unknown Filmmaker Gets $30m for Robot Movie: Fede Alvarez, an unknown filmmaker from Uruguay, has been given $30m by Hollywood studio bosses - to turn his $500 YouTube video of a giant robot invasion into a movie. [NewsLite]

Augmented Reality Makes Money: Augmented reality start-up AcrossAir, which makes apps that help you find nearby subway stops and restaurants, turned profitable last month and is launching a bar finder this week. Also Related: Augmented reality glasses have been developed, projecting real-time language translation directly into people's eyes, Terminator style. [Venture Beat] [Brand Republic]

OWN to Launch "Oprah's Film Club"

The soon to be launched Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) has struck a deal with the documentary film distribution company ro*co films international to find documentary films to air on the network.

The partnership will establish a documentary film club on OWN over multiple platforms including primetime airings, an online community outlet and exclusive footage available on OWN.tv. Additionally, the agreement will allow some documentaries to be released nationwide via a theatrical screening event. 

ro*co films international has distributed eight Academy Award nominated or winning documentaries including Born into Brothels, The Garden, Jesus Camp, No End in Sight, Promises, Regret to Inform, Street Fight and The Weather Underground.

As someone who loves both documentary and indie film (yep, I'm a total fan boy!), this is really exciting news. I hope that Oprah's magic touch will encourage more people to seek out, explore and support indie and documentary films.

As much as I love the Sundance Film Festival, I think Ms. Winfrey has the ability, as she did with her Book Club, to make indie film more seem more accessible to regular folks.

One of the best parts of the Sundance Film Festival experience is the opportunity to hear the filmmakers talk about the creative process, the social impact of their documentary, as well as the stories behind the film.

This Sundance Film experience could be replicated for a much larger audience through an OWN webcast, similar to the one Ms. Winfrey and CNN hosted for the Uwem Akpan book "Say You're One of Them."

If you're an indie filmmaker, you can submit your film to ro*co for review to see if it's a fit for the OWN project.

Sorta Related: Report on Copyright and Doc FIlmmaking in South Africa

Introduction to Using Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.

The Commons provides free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.

This printable guide provides an overview of how to use Creative Commons along with additional information regarding technical implementation on the Web. Introduction to Using Creative Commons

Additional Resources

• Creative Commons
• Flickr + Creative Commons
• Yahoo! Search + Creative Commons 
• Support Creative Commons

Music 2.0: Open Music Format, 10 Years After Napster, Death of the Music Industry, Mobile Music & More

British Music Label to Release Songs as Open Format: As the music industry lost billions of dollars and music fans have turned away from CDs to easy-to-use and portable songs in the MP3 file format, PlayApp, a Dallas, Texas-based business has released a new multimedia, open format that is even easier to use, and collectible, unlike MP3s. [Business of Cinema]

Filesharing crackdown divides UK music industry:The row has pitted big names such as Billy Bragg and Annie Lennox against record labels and the Musicians' Union ahead of an approaching government deadline for comments in its illegal file-sharing consultation. [Guardian]

The State of Music Online: Ten Years After Napster: In the decade since Napster’s launch, selling recorded music has become as much of an art as making the music itself. [Pew Internet]

Death of the music industry or…death of the recording industry?: This NY Times article uses a graphical representation of sales data, which to be fair, is compelling and shocking if you sell recorded music. [Sound Alliance]

YouTube and PRS Make Peace as Musicians Protest Plans to Punish File Swappers: Thousands of music videos pulled from YouTube in a royalties dispute will go back online after peace broke out today between the website and the music industry. [Guardian UK]

Consumers Don’t Listen to Music on Mobile Phone: 9 out of 10 people in the U.S. never listen to music on their cell phones. That’s the key finding in a new Forester Research study The Future Of Music On Cell Phones. [HypeBot]

Microsoft Discontinues All Current Zunes: Looks like the Zune didn’t pass Microsoft’s ‘Death Panel.” [Wired]

CMX: Yet Another New Digital Album Format: All four major label groups are working together to create a new format for the digital album tentatively titled CMX. [HypeBot]

Rolling Stone (re)Discovers the Web: In an overdue move, Rolling Stone is taking back control of its flagship web site from RealNetworks, and will be relaunching it in January with new community and customization features. [Hypebot]

Terry McBride of Nettwerk: Is Ownership of Music Simply Irrelevant? [Paste Magazine]

A third of young people would not pay for music online, or videos: While the statistic appears to confirm the worst fears of TV, film, music and newspaper companies that it may be impossible to get the younger generation to pay online, the EC report did offer a glimmer of hope. [Guardian UK]

And just for fun...

20 Pre-Punk Gems: For this playlist I wanted to explore some of my favorite tracks from the pre-punk era. [Yahoo! Music]

IFPI: Ninety-five Percent of Downloaded Music is Illegal

According to a new report conducted by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), 95% of all music downloaded online is illegal.

Other findings by the IFPI:

• worldwide music market revenues shrank by 7%
• 40 billion music files were illegally shared
• 1.4 billion single tracks were legally downloaded

Related Resources

• Harvard Law Professor Challenges RIAA
• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• Gen Y & Hollywood

Educator Guidelines: Fair Use in Media Literacy

The Center for Social Media at American University is proud to announce the upcoming release of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. This code is a step-by-step guide to fair use in an academic setting that enables teachers and students who use popular culture to know when their uses are legal.

The Code of Best Practices was created in collaboration with the Washington College of Law’s Program on Information, Justice and Intellectual Property and with our new partner Media Education Lab at Temple University. The Code will be released in hard copy in Philadelphia at the Kirby Auditorium on November 11, 2009, and is available online here.

To get a sense of what the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy is all about, watch our Media Literacy video. [via]

Related Resources

• Creative Commons > Wanna Work Together?
• RIAA to Tennessee Schools: Show Us the Money
• Barking Robot > Open Educational Resources (OER)

2009 National Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup

The 2009 National Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup, organized by Ypulse.com founder Anastasia Goodstein and Modern Media, is where today's top brand, corporate and social marketers, media professionals, educators and non-profit organizations gather to share best practices, research and latest strategies on marketing to youth with technology.

This is a fantastic event and a great opportunity to learn more about the youth marketing space as well as connect with other youth marketing professionals. The 2009 Mashup will feature a keynote address by Don Tapscott, author of Growing Up Digital.  In addition, Guy Kawasaki will moderate the Totally Wired Youth Entrepreneur panel.

I've attended several Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup events and I can honestly say it's one of the best conferences out there. Many times going to a conference is a good excuse to get out of the office and hang out in the halls.

The YPulse Mashup is NOT that conference. You will leave the Ypulse Mashup with a lot of new information, insight and contacts. So, don't wait--register now and be sure to use the discount code "Baird" to get 10% off the registration fee!

Related Resources

• YPulse.com
• 2008 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup East > Millennial Myths
• Upcoming > 09' National Ypulse Mashup

RIAA to Tennessee Schools: Show Us the Money

Wired Magazine is reporting that the State of Tennessee, despite huge budget shortfalls in their public university system, will spend over 9 million dollars of public money to help the RIAA fight music piracy.

"Combating music piracy at Tennessee's public university system is more important than hiring teachers and keeping down tuition costs. Just-signed legislation requires the 222,000-student system to spend an estimated $9.5 million (.pdf) for file sharing "monitoring software," "monitoring hardware" and an additional "recurring cost of $1,575,000 for 21 staff positions and benefits (@75,000 each) to monitor network traffic" of its students...

The law, similar versions of which the Recording Industry Association of America wants throughout the United States, comes as the Tennessee public university system is increasing tuition, laying off teachers and leaving unfilled vacant instructor positions to battle a $43.7 million shortfall."

Earlier this year a UK survey conducted at the University Of Hertfordshire that looked at the music consumption behavior of young people (aged 14-24) found that 63% of students admitted that they download music using P2P file-sharing networks. However, the study also found that:

• The CD is not dead. Even if a legal file-sharing service existed, over 60% say they would continue to buy CDs;

• 80% of current P2P users would be interested in a legal file-sharing service - and they would pay for it too;

• Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music.

What I find most appalling about this story is that the State of Tennessee is using public money that should be used for faculty, scholarships and other education related expenses to support the bottom line of the music industry. According to Wired Magazine "Using conservative estimates, the piracy measure is equal to the price of about 100 Tennessee professors' wages and benefits."

If the RIAA wants to go after students who download music, they should pay for it--not the people of Tennessee. The RIAA has been suing students for almost 10 years and by and large the strategy has not worked.

The Internet is not going away. It's time for the music industry and RIAA to figure out a way to work with consumers, especially college students, instead of against them.

Related Resources

• 2008 UK Music Rights Survey
• The Highway Girl > Interview with Former Director of RIAA Legal
• Harvard Law Professor Challenges RIAA

Global Youth: Teens, Digital Music & Tube Converting

Interesting tidbit over on today's Ypulse Youth Advisory Board from Caroline Marques, a high school student in Geneva, Switzerland, about how many teens are finding a new way to download free music.

"Teens downloading music online is still alive and well thanks to this technique: tube converting. This time it’s not through Limewire, but through something closer to home: YouTube or any online video site.

Since YouTube is where most teens watch music videos, it makes sense. Sites like http://file2hd.com, www.vconversion.com and www.vixy.net are programs where you just type a URL and save the song. With a small chance of getting viruses, and the enormous choice of songs, many teens feel this method is easier and safer."

I wonder how Google/YouTube, the RIAA and the music industry will respond to this new trend? Lawsuits? Scare tactics? Some new fangled blocking software?

Related Resources

• YPulse: Youth Marketing to Teens, Tweens & Gen Y
• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• David Leibowitz on Music, RIAA & Copyright
• Jaffray Study: More Teens Downloading Music Legally
• Bush Signs Anti-Piracy Law

David Leibowitz: RIAA & Music in the Digital Age

This weeks webisode of The Highway Girl features an interview with David Leibowitz, former chief legal council for the RIAA.

In this interview, Mr. Leibowitz talks to host Samantha Murphy about copyright, DRM, the RIAA, music and entertainment in the digital age.

In the pre-roll, Samantha Murphy announced that The Highway Girl has launched a contest to win a Motorola Z9 phone. This is a pretty slick phone with lots of cool features for music lovers. To enter the contest, you just sign-up for the weekly The Highway Girl newsletter.

Related Links

• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• 2009 The Highway Girl College Tour
• Piper-Jaffray: More Teens Downloading Music Legally

Mashup Edu: Research on K-12 New Media Literacy

I am pleased to announce that the book chapter that I co-authored with Dr. Mercedes Fisher, "Pedagogical Mashup: Gen Y, Social Media, and Digital Learning Styles," has officially been accepted for publication in the Handbook of Research on New Media Literacy at the K-12 Level: Issues and Challenges, to be published by IGI Global later this year.

Dr. Fisher and I wish to thank the co-editor of the book, Professor Subramaniam at the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, for his hard work and direction during the writing and peer-review process.

In addition, we appreciate all the members of the peer-review committee for their feedback, suggestions and collaboration on this chapter. It's been a wonderful experience to work with members of the international education technology/media community.

We've saved the links for all the resources and references cited in the book chapter over on the social bookmarking tool delicious, which you can find here: http://del.icio.us/mashup.edu

Related Publications by Mercedes Fisher & Derek E. Baird

• Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning & Mobile Technologies
• Social Software & Online Learning Design
• Social Media & Digital Learning Styles
• Handbook of Research on New Media Literacy at the K-12 Level

Google Docs, Education & Student Privacy

Online writing tools like Google Docs, Adobe Buzzword & Zoho are amazing free tools that are used by many educators. But who owns your online documents? Are there any laws or issues that you need to be aware of before using these tools in your classroom?

According to a post on the Open Sky Media Blog, "while your personal computer may not care about your tastes in fiction, the web service you choose to write and/or host your documents just might."

For example, did you know that the Google Docs TOS state that "“you give Google a worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through the Service." Moreover, Google Docs further stipulate that "students must be 13 or over to use Google Docs."

Why?

Because Google, like every other corporation that is providing an online service to students, must comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law outlines how and what types of personal information may be collected and when and how to seek verifiable consent (written permission) from a parent or guardian. The law, despite it's quirks, is designed to protect the privacy of minors.

To be clear, Google is doing exactly what they are required by law to do. As tween site Imbee found out, failure to comply with COPPA can cost a company millions of dollars in legal bills and fines. If you do decide to use Google Docs in your classroom, be sure to obtain written permission from your students parent or guardian. Failure to do so could put your school and career in jeopardy.

To be clear, I'm not trying to knock Google Docs. It's a great product. My intent is to make sure that educators are aware of the issues. It's important that you, as the teacher, know all the associated issues and legal requirements associated with using this tool before using it in your classroom.

Related Resources

• Imbee.com Settles COPPA Violation
• Google Docs in Elementary Schools
• Collaborative Writing via Skype & Google Docs
• Making Across the Country Feel Like Across the Classroom

Dave Stewart on Music, Technology & Music 2.0

In this interview Dave Stewart, one of the creative forces behind the  The Eurythmics, talks about how web-based technology has allowed him to unleash his creativity, collaborate with colleagues around the world and how this technology is going to level the playing field in the music industry.

Related Resources

• Wikipedia > Dave Stewart
• For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen
• State of P2P File Sharing on Campus
• Muxtape Shut Down by RIAA

For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen

Raised in the "always on" world of the Internet, on-demand content and social media technologies, Generation Y has different expectations and media consumption behaviors than previous generations. This is trend is especially evident when it comes to music. Driven by iTunes and the iPod, Gen Y has a voracious appetite for digital music, ring tones and all things mobile.

How big is mobile music? A study from Jupiter Research found that "worldwide, mobile music generated 4.4 billion dollars in 2005 and is expected to generate 9 billion by 2009...Mobile music now accounts for 15% of the entire music market--and youth leads the way (Juniper Research: Mobile Music: Ringtones, Ring-backs & Full-tracks (second edition & third edition)."

But what are the music consumption habits of Gen Y? What do they think about music piracy, digital music and other issues related to music? These were just some of the questions that a new survey conducted by British Music Rights sought to answer. When it comes to music: What does the MySpace generation want?

The survey, which looked at the music consumption behavior and experience of young people (aged 14-24), was conducted in February and March of 2008 by the University Of Hertfordshire. The study represents the largest U.K. academic survey of its kind.

Among the findings:

• Around 90% of respondents now own an MP3 player. They contain an average of 1770 tracks - half of which have not been paid for;

• 14- to 24-year-olds love music - arguably more than any previous generation;

• 58% have copied music from a friend’s hard drive to their own, and 95% copy music in some way;

• 63% download music using P2P file-sharing networks;

• The CD is not dead. Even if a legal file-sharing service existed, over 60% say they would continue to buy CDs;

• 42% have allowed P2P users to upload music from their computer. Much of this behavior is viewed as altruistic;

• 80% of current P2P users would be interested in a legal file-sharing service - and they would pay for it too;

• Money spent on live music exceeds that spent on recorded music.

So what does this all mean for the music industry? Perhaps Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of British Music Rights, sums it up best:

“The music industry should draw great optimism from this groundbreaking survey. First and foremost, it is quite clear that this young and tech-savvy demographic is as crazy about and engaged with music as any previous generation.

Contrary to popular belief, they are also prepared to pay for it, too. But only if offered the services they want. That message comes through loud and clear.”

Related Content

• British Music Rights Survey (pdf)
• EU Commission’s “holistic approach” to music copyright
• Muxtape Shut Down by RIAA
• Mobile Music to Reach 9bn by 2009
• Gen Y: Digital, Social & Always-On
• Gen Y & Hollywood
• The Highway Girl

Guest Post: The Highway Girl 2009 College Tour

I'm pleased to welcome Samantha Murphy, founder of The Highway Girl, as the first guest post here on Barking Robot. If you have an idea for a guest post, send me an email.

My name is Samantha Murphy and I'm a singer songwriter and Founder of The Highway Girl. I've been quoted widely in the press as being the voice for independent artists. I've participated in many academic and professional conferences, including a symposium at the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University. In addition, I went to Capitol Hill to speak on the issues surrounding digital music and copyright.

My show, The Highway Girl, is a traveling music show that's been running for over three years. Past guests have included Cary Brothers, Elvis Perkins, Inara George of Bird & the Bee, Mike Schmid, Teitur and Harvey Danger.

The Highway Girl has over a million subscribers. The show explores the convergence of music and technology, as well as the life of the artist. Samples of the show may be found on TheHighwayGirl.com artist page.

Students, Digital Downloads & Copyright

In the digital age, we're both hopeful and uncertain about how we will transform the music industry. How can we evolve as artists and become more open with what we create? I believe we can do that as we begin to trust that it's you, the people, who will support us not the industry.

It is the people, like your students, who buy our albums (and downloads) that keep us going. It is you, the person who has taken the time to find this great music, who matters most. You are the one who will keep great music alive by deciding who you will support. You have an opportunity to use your voice when you find music you love enough to pay for it.

As an artist who has spent a lot of time speaking at universities and conferences, it's clear to me that students need to be informed on the critical issues facing artists in today's ever changing climate. They also need a trusted source where they can discover great artists and music they will gladly support.

I believe that students want to support the artists and music they love. In the digital age, how do students find those artists when there are no trusted filters in place yet? The logical answer is to sample an artist's music before you dive in. The Highway Girl not only welcomes, but encourages students to sample the music of the artists we feature, while supporting their work in a variety of other ways.

The Highway Girl: 2009 College Tour

In an effort to help educate students, The Highway Girl is organizing a special college tour this spring and would love to include your college or university on our tour. We envision scheduling a 60-90 minute session for music, media and technology students.

The sessions will encompass a one on one artist interview between myself and a local singer songwriter, a short acoustic performance followed by a Q & A on digital music and copyright with the students. We're aiming to have an audience of 150-200 students in university auditoriums.

The Highway Girl Tour is supported by organizations like Digital Freedom, Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. To include your university on our itinerary, send us an email at sm (at) thehighwaygirl (dot) com and we will gladly respond with further information.

Related Resources

• SMtv Music
• The Highway Girl Blog
• Samantha Murphy & Digital Freedom