Recently in Writing; Other Category

First published here on 18/12/08.

There's a risk that we all think super-fast broadband is a "good thing" (copyright Sellar and Yeatman), and so Kate Bevan is right to ask in The Guardian today whether we actually need connections at 50 Mbps or more.

Arguably, based on current consumption patterns the answer for most people is "no".

But if we took that view then we would never see any innovation, and society would risk standing still.

Harry Warner, one of the studio founding Warner brothers, opined in 1927; "who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" Later that year Al Johnson's The Jazz Singer - Hollywood's first talkie - was released and movies changed forever.

But Warner's comments weren't as ridiculous in 1927 as they might seem now. Talking movies were an unproven technology and many people thought they would be little more than a passing fad. In contrast, silent movies were a proven winner with large scale audiences. Now there's only one year-round silent movie cinema that I know of (in LA, and it's fabulous,) whereas every one horse town has a talking movie cinema.

When we talk about the possibilities for super-fast broadband, we're not in too dissimilar a position to Warner et al in the late 20s. We've already speculated about some of the possible uses of super-fast broadband from HD movie downloads to multi-player gaming, but arguably the real innovation will come about as the technology is embedded and becomes established. Consumers will probably start to do things with the technology we haven't considered or thought to be niche. This is exactly what's happened with SMS or many Web 2 applications and will, I'm sure, be equally applicable to a super-fast broadband age.

As they say (repeatedly) in the Field of Dreams, build it and they will come. Who they are, and what they will do with it, of course is another matter altogether...

Below is an article on how TV consumption is changing, written for the National Media Museum and their lovely thrice yearly publication, Archive.

Damian Radcliffe.pdf

It's quite stat heavy, but I think this is important to avoid soley resorting to anecdote. Data was taken from Ofcom's most recent Communications and Market report.

I've been busy (though not as busy as I would have liked) writing music memories over the last couple of months for a fantastic new community website: Jamsbio.

The site has just gone live, and offers users a chance to write about the soundtrack of their lives,  as well as comment on others.

Do have a look, it's very American based at the moment, but I am sure that will change as the wider web community starts to use it.

In my instance, it has been, as Sly and the Family Stone said, a family affair, you can read recollections by me, my brother and my Mum.

Many thanks to Dina for getting me involved, and giving me a chance to do something creative away from the day job (for a change).

Having a lot of fun doing some music writing at the moment.

I can't say anything more, but it's for a US website, and it's going to be pretty damned cool (even if I do say so myself).

Check back for more details at a later date.

Go on... you know you want to!

In conversation with himself Damian looks back at the last year, the high and lows, the ups and downs, the ... oh you get the drift.

So another year gone...
Indeed, I don't know where the time has gone. It's been very busy.

Is that why you didn't send any Christmas cards again this year?
Don't start.

I wasn't, I just noticed you hadn't sent me a card, that's all.
Well, don't take it personally, I didn't send any cards. However I have made a donation to Breast Cancer Care for the amount I would have spent on cards and postage. I'm also going to send round a transcript of this chat too so that everyone knows what I've been up to.

I'm sure all your friends and colleagues will be suitably grateful.
I'm sure they will be.

So, at the risk of sounding like a hairdresser, been on your holidays recently?
Not for a while, but I have had a couple of really good holidays this year; 2007 started with a bang, literally, watching fireworks in Sydney with my brother Sean before seeing England lose the Ashes with Sean and my friends Rick and Ayesha, before I ventured off to New Zealand (where the highlights included swimming with dolphins, walking on a glacier; complete with a helicopter ride to and from said glacier,) as well as a stint in LA.

What did you make of LA? I gather people either love it or hate it.
I'm on the fence. It was good to see and explore as the city is so engrained in our cultural consciousness, but for me the best bits weren't those from the movies or TV, but the Getty Museum - a stunning piece of architecture quite apart from the contents of the museum itself - and the Reagan Memorial Library.

Sounds cool.
It was. I also went back to Australia again in the Summer to go and see my brother (who was living there for a year). I did some suitably adventurous (for me) things like climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge, going whale watching and a bit of walking in the Blue Mountains. I also ate a lot of cakes from a fabulous bakery in Sydney's Newtown, so some things never change.

It's a long way to go though.
It is, but fortunately I broke up the trip to and from Oz with a bit of time in Thailand, exploring the markets, eating lots of great food and I drove the oldest, most knackered, 4x4 I have ever seen in my life.

My only other real trip was a weekend in Bruges with my old flatmate Russell in September.

Ah, Bruges. I take it you sampled the beer and the chocolates?
Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?

We were very lucky actually that the trip coincided with a big beer festival. Nobody seems to believe us, but we didn't know it was happening until we got there. Honest.

I believe you.
Thanks.

Have you been traveling lots with work this year as well?
Not as much, although I've taken on projects in the Nations now, so I ended up visiting Belfast and Glasgow (with a few overnights in Edinburgh which enabled me to catch up with my lovely violin playing friend Pam, she also gave me the idea for this update,) a few times. I also had a very long train journey back from Cornwall a few weeks ago. It would have been quicker to fly to New York...

So talking of work, are you still at CSV?
Yes. And we had a really good year this year, despite there being some major financial challenges too.

Go on then, give us the highlights.
Well, 67,462 contacted our helplines with thousands more contacting partners directly, and we won a number of awards including a SONY Gold, a Gillard Gold and the Silver World Media from the New York Festival of Radio Broadcasting.

Nice one.
Thanks. If you're interested I post occasional work bits and pieces on my blog: www.damianradcliffe.com

Yeah [assiduously avoids eye contact] ... if I get a spare five minutes...
I've also started doing a bit of writing for Third Sector magazine on communications issues affecting the voluntary and community sector.

That sounds more interesting.
I had great fun turning my living room into a photographers studio for the headshots which accompany the articles. Although one of my neighbours didn't quite know what to make of the shots taken in the garden, me being all suited and booted, them hanging up their washing in a pair of old shorts and a top that used to fit them when they were several stone lighter...

Gross.
It wasn't great.

So are you still living in Camberwell?
For the moment, although in the throes of moving (touch wood) to a new place in Peckham Rye...

...Nelson Mandela House?
Not quite, although it is only about 5 minutes walk from a pub called The Nags Head.

Lovely Jubbly.
Indeed.

Well, keep me posted.
I will. Who knows I might even have a housewarming this time.

Kool and the Gang. So what else you been up to? Consume any culture that wasn't in a pot produced by Yeo Valley?

Loads, although most of it seems to have been earlier on in the year.

I took a photography course at the National Portrait Gallery, saw a few exhibitions at the British Museum (the one with the Terracotta Army and another about the first British settlers in the US,) took in some art (Gormley's Blinded by the Light at the Hayward, Impressionism at the National, Gilbert and George at the Tate Modern and I joined the ICA) as well as a bit of theatre; Rafta Rafta at the National, Midsummer Night's Dream at the Roundhouse, Underneath the Lintel with Toby from the West Wing, Ramayana at the Lyric and an amazing production of Faust in a warehouse in Wapping.

Was that the one where all the audience had to wear masks?
Yes, that's the one! You wander round about four floors of this place and there's different scenes taking place throughout, so you see the show in a fairly non-linear fashion and then on the bus home piece it altogether and finally make sense of it. I can't really describe how awesome it was, but it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

Sounds like it.
I think that's about it really. I played a bit of cricket in the summer but the weather was so bad most of the games I could do were rained out.

There was also lots of rain at the two summer wedding I went to (Rick and Ayesha's and Em and Ed's) but mercifully none at Neil and Celia's the other week. Although it was damned cold!

So what does 2008 hold?
Not sure yet. I will be trying to work less and play more, I've not talked about work much here but those of you who know me well know that it tends to dominate, so in 08 I aim to spend more time with my friends, go to more gigs (I only did one this year) and other than that it's a bit of a blank canvas. There will probably be a trip to the US at some point as far too many of my friends live there now, but that aside, who knows?

Damian Radcliffe, thank you very much.
Thank you.

I wrote the below a while ago (February actually!) for the Young Fabians magazine, Anticipations. Whilst some of it is now a bit old (remember Howard Dean anyone?) I think the rest of it still pretty much stands up....
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The last issue of Anticipations suggested politicians could utilise mobile phone technology to reengage the disenfranchised political masses. But despite the popularity of phones, it’s the deeper and more immersive experience provided by the web that makes it the new political platform of choice.

In America, the (now defunct) Presidential campaign of Howard Dean - http://www.deanforamerica.com/ - utilised the net to mobilise support from many with no previous active political involvement. Where America leads, the world follows, so politicians and strategists will already be deducing lessons from the Vermont Governor’s campaign.

Dean showed the web had real power – and wasn’t just a gimmick, although it continues to enjoy that function too: the Presidential Selector (http://www.selectsmart.com/president/ - a site which gets you to answer questions on issues such as tax, in order to ‘calculate’ your Presidential candidate of choice,) being one good example.

The BBC is trying to use the web to connect people - as Dean did – through a new service called I-Can, an online forum providing: “Impartial information, help with getting started [&] ways to contact people who share your concern[s]”.

The site originated from a recognition that whilst many people are turned off by traditional politics and political broadcasting – they can be highly politically motivated when the mood takes them: the anti-war rallies is a prominent example of this, the more low-key victory of an independent MP for Kidderminster in the 2001 General Election another.

Radio talk shows have provided a forum for the diverse views and passions of Joe Public for years, but the web is unique - offering people the chance to contribute what they want, when they want it – unrestricted by broadcasting schedules, and editorial strictures.

Moreover voicing your views on the web is easy. Blogging is just one method, and as Rob Dex shows, allows anyone to be a publisher, sharing their views with whoever finds and wants to read them. No one thinks blogs are going to change the world, but Bloggers are the pamphleteers of 21st Century – historically only a few will ever be remembered, but for now they’re broadening the political debate, and that can only be a good thing.

So get reading and get blogging!