Radio,International Broadcasting,Future of Broadcasting,Future of International Broadcasting,Communications Predictions
One great place to work is a place that sends good information all over the world. It is a very gratifying experience and a humbling responsibility. Yet the future is being studiously examined for
What do we call the technology that enables this mass communications in a time when, in the history of the world, radio came and then TV came, then satellite TV, internet streaming, podcasting, cell casting, digital signage and twitter!
Do we call it Rad Something? What are some names to call this phenomena sweeping the world? Countries like India, Russia, and entire continents like North America, and Europe, scarcely listen to shortwave radio any more. People are flocking to newer technologies and spending hard earned money to buy the latest listening or watching device. If it is interactive it seems even more useful.
Is there a good place to go for the latest news on this subject?
Personally I believe that the future of mass media communications will be ironed out within 15 years and then it will settle down. I believe people will want to get on with their lives and stop experimenting all the time. They will want news, entertainment, and content on demand and the platforms that suit their needs at particular opportunities, events, or times of the day will prevail.
This means most likely there will be one or two portable devices, if integration is possible, then great, if it needs better terrestrial infracture to support it then the world will not develop at the same pace and we will have to wait longer for matters to settle down.
There will most likely be three or more residential devices used to bring in the world of information. A computer will probably be at the heart of each of them and it will be multipurpose. Todays' eBook readers found at Barnes and Noble and Borders Books have the Android operating system and now people are expecting it to do more than just read books. Therefore we get into multipurpose, no matter what. Even an HP printer has an interface with the Android system and people ask if they can use it to get email.
Radios in cars with push button memories without any recording capabilities, no indexing or retrieval, no cataloging or cross-referencing to the rest of the world will become obsolete quickly.
Having audio only devices will never go away because people cannot ever in a million years train themselves to focus on a video screen and drive safely down a road.
Having audio devices that respond to speech commands will probably increase rapidly.
From the program provider's perspective, the changes are probably more daunting than from the manufacturer of receivers view points. The program provider is the instigitor, the leader, the receivers scramble to pick up the means to get the signal. This means that innovation in transmission, dissemination, or other propagation techniques will probably start with a few young college graduates who have the courage to try something new and then larger staid and heavy organizations bringing up the rear.
I believe this is one reason why Facebook succeeded outside of the standard broadcast industry. The people inside the broadcast industry were too busy looking at small changes and could not step out of their comfort zones. Now there is no choice.
Ideas like surround sound broadcasting will eventually take root when people realize that all the iPhones, iPads, Galaxy, Androids and so on will have to be put down when they move. For now the glamour is great. The curve will plateau, though, and recongition will take place that audio delivery is the next step and will always be the greatest common denominator in public presentations. There will always need to be sound in a moving audience - unless we can get information directly into our brain cells through some sort of resonance with certain cells.
With all this said, it is time to come up with some terminology for this new technology and to do it with international agreement. The sooner we do so, the sooner we can take our hard earned money and start investing it in good old fashioned needs. Too much experimenting drives a person to work late into life with little to show for it. People will tire of that.
Words are first. Materials come next.
I don't have the answers right now for what words describe these seven or so pieces of the puzzle that will fit together to form a unified delivery stream but I am sure people are thinking hard about that these days.
Have fun thinking about it.