Parallel Universe
The Local Government Association’s Business Strategy Review is forcing the IDeA to think hard about who it is and what it’s for. For relief however, and for some interesting comparisons, its worth looking around at the impact of market/technology pressures on some other “knowledge” based businesses.
The Guardian is hosting a conference on the Future of Journalism which in content discusses the various pressures the business is facing and in form demonstrates the nature of the response.
Like most major newspapers the Guardian online business is starting to dominate. With some 18 million online users (including a significant international readership) the writing is on the wall for the traditional newsprint business. Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian’s editor, anticipates that the current printing press upgrade will be last the paper makes. Traditional circulation is falling, along with advertising revenue, as readers migrate to the internet and advertising revenue is swept up by Google.
The internet is the new channel for newspapers but the means of communicating through the internet are multi-dimensional and two-way. Content from the Future of Journalism conference is distributed via the internet through videocasts, podcasts and blogs reflecting the media which are being developed for the rest of the paper. For the IDeA, developing its expertise in online conferences, there are some clear examples to learn from.
The content itself was also really interesting. From the perspective of innovation (a growing focus of work for the IDeA) the Jonathan Zittrain talk on the Saving the Web explores for me both how innovation happens and how it can be stifled. More directly relevant for the IDeA was the contribution (and associated debate) from Arianna Huffington founder of the Huffington Post. Citizen journalists generate the Huffington Post and apparently, made the two most decisive journalist contributions to the democratic presidential candidate campaign. Putting aside the potential impact of these developments on the politics of local government with the IDeA’s own drive for “user” generated content is again a really interesting parallel.
I am the Director of Services at the 
I don’t think many people have yet woken up to the enormity of change being heralded by the technological evolution of the internet and web. Being digitally connected is arguably the most important step anyone can make if they want to flourish (or even survive) in today’s world. Access to up to date and relevant knowledge and information, shared with others, delivered on demand or automtically channelled (e.g. RSS) is the new paradigm. Tomorrow’s newspaper is already old news for many people, and hence the shift towards on-line, real-time, 24×7 delivey channels. However, maybe we should all be a little worried by the implications of any potential loss or dilution of professional journalism. The opportunities we now have (e.g. with Web 2.0) for everyone to be a publisher also has the effect of raising the ambient noise levels, making it increasingly difficult to pick out the balanced argument or opinion. One thing is for sure, we haven’t yet seen the full impact of the digital revolution!