How To Make A Hit Internet Show #3 - On Online Regulation

Don't know where exactly, but this would fall somewhere in the ever-growing "How To Make A Hit Internet Show".

It's a response to an excellent article written by Bill Thompson on bbc.co.uk about online regulation.

There are often moments during the widespread adoption of transformative technologies where an old way of thinking or doing business is so threatened by the new possibilities that its adherents call on those with political power to "Do Something!"
It never works.

If the music industry had spent more time thinking of ways to deliver great music to its customers over the internet and less lobbying politicians and suing potential customers it would probably be thriving by now.

Book publishers, less certain of their own importance, are taking notice of the exciting experiments at Faber & Faber and Penguin instead of looking for protectionist legislation to keep the new media world at bay.

The full article is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7644849.stm

And these are extracts from an email I sent.
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Since December last year, I was on the writing team for an online drama called katemodern.

You may have heard of it -- it was, apparently, the first online drama made in the UK, and one of the first in the world (certainly in the UK) to embed itself on a social networking website (bebo)
www.bebo.com/katemodern
and was the UK spinoff of the American online phenomenon lonelygirl15.

katemodern got 61 million video hits, and 6 million profile views on bebo.
The show ended this summer as scheduled - sorry, bear with me, there is a point to this email! - and I now give talks to and consult for [large and small] media organisations.

It feels as if I was hurled on an exponential learning curve, and am now try to bring others up to speed on what I glimpsed writing 70 odd episodes, (storylining 140 odd episodes), as to the potential of interactive drama - while you're making it along with your audience interacting with and commenting on it.

The way I try to explain it is that it feels like working in television drama in 1950.

"Everyone is trying to think of it, and critique it, and work in it, as if they are radio drama producers.
But it's not radio, it's television. But we dont know what the medium can yet fully achieve! We just know it's not radio, theatre, or cinema."

Anyway - wanted to share this story with you.
This is a blog devoted to the show lonelygirl15, it's called lg15today
http://lg15today.blogspot.com

It's written and maintained by fans of the show.

Have a look at this article from a couple of weeks ago.
http://lg15today.blogspot.com/2008/09/note-about-removal-of-video.html

Note About Removal of Video
Due to it's use of nudity and adult themes, a video was removed from the blog by myself after a lengthy discussion with community members and a consensus that this was the proper action to take. The author of the post has been contacted and informed of the removal and why it occurred. Anyone wishing to discuss the matter further can contact me at xxxxxxxx@xxxxxx or can PM me in IRC.
Thank you!

-- I read some of the comments, and apparently, the post didn't have a harmful intention behind it. That's not what's interesting.

What's interesting, for me, is the *the community* decided it wasn't right for lg15today.

lg15today's *audience* decided it wasn't appropriate.

Not the makers of lonelygirl15,
Not the authors of lg15today.blogspot.com
Not the company that hosts the blog,
Nor even the ISP.

*The Audience*, *The Community* decided it would be best to take it down.
For the first time, we have a medium which allows *the audience* to moderate content.

To flag up and vote down the inappropriate.
To decide amongst ourselves (as an audience) what is safe and appropriate and what we would like to be associated with.

As an audience, we're not quite ready for what exactly that means.
But we're all learning. And becoming more 'literate' and experienced audiences.

It's a fascinating time out there, as content adapts to the technology.
And even more fascinating as we, the audience, adapt the content to fit what we as a society feel is best.

Full HOW TO MAKE A HIT INTERNET SHOW article by clicking on here.