The past year marked a significant shift as people truly began to embrace the “self-service” trend: seeking and sharing information independently. Mobile devices have evolved beyond mere tools for calls and texts; they now serve as platforms for capturing, sharing, and disseminating content globally.
Over the last 12 months, users of digital devices have challenged traditional content distribution sources such as news, music, and film. The potential for information through entertainment tools was first highlighted during the tsunami disaster in late 2004, where events were documented in a “personalized” manner with self-captured images and videos. Hurricane Katrina in the United States further demonstrated how “digital citizens” played a crucial role in providing real-time images, often surpassing those released by news agencies.
Recently, the BBC received around 6,500 photos and videos captured on mobile devices, sent via email related to the Buncefield oil depot fire, which was thousands of times more than the images they received from the London bombings on July 7.
This transformation in information delivery has opened opportunities for people to engage in discussions at both local and global levels. Podcasts surged in popularity as a standard form of content in 2005 when Apple integrated them into the iTunes music store, and they are sure to be included in any history of media mapping. Blogs and video blogs also enabled Internet users to express both positive and negative views on community issues and life matters…
This evolution has made it increasingly challenging to determine who is the author of specific content, who has the rights to share it, and how to recreate a particular product in a converged world.
This year, the convergence process is also unfolding around traditional formats such as television (mobile TV). Audiovisual media are gradually shifting towards “on-demand media,” and the events occurring in the next 12 months may lead to an exciting technological year in 2006.