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We just had a session from Mark on the power that blogs have been having on the bigger media players and how they are trying to deal with it. Will old media die? Of course not but they may change to become aggregators….

The last few hours I have been filling my head with the use of open standards and how media companies in particular are opening up to users.

The BBC - courtesy of the folks behind Backstage are opening up their archive. Futurelabin Bristol are promoting the use of open source in education. MintDigital are talking TV companies into opening up to Youtube and letting their users create content. Talking to Jem Stone from the BBC, Jo Morrison from Futurelab and Andy Bell from MintDigital, the common theme seems to be that the next generation in media and education will be driven by groups who are comfortable with letting the audience have access to more of the levers of communication.

This is a message which has a little way to go before it takes hold in industry, but some brands have made a start, particularly in their marketing communications - Guinness by blogging, Firefox by asking their customers to make commercials. Meanswhile LG are giving their new chocolate phone only to bloggers. It would be great to see some of the ideas from this conference rehearsed for the directors of brand marketing who are our customers at Market Sentinel and who are champing at the bit to take part in the conversations they are tracking with our software, but don’t know where to start.

Claire from Pact gave us a potted history of the inetrface between new media and TV…

Mint Digital showed us their Buried Alive web site and TV show. An archive type site that allows viral mechanisms to let old content bubble up and be rescued by the public. This is also tied to a TV show that then emerges from the archive. They also have Bloom Box a UGC concept. Bloom box is a reskinnable web app that allows you to create content….Great Stuff. http://www.bloombox.tv/

therefore lots and lots of content is community based but grounded in TV….

INteresting talk about the life of the Hitchikers brand form Robbie Stamp. Very very passionate about being passionate about the thing you do. In short his message was start with what you have and then dont be afraid to let your brand grow, change and evolve…great Hollywood and Douglas anecdotes too!

Frank has just launched a competition for delegates to come up with ideas as to how the museum might engage with audiences, via it’s archive of photos, film and television content, in the next few years. This should exploit all the emerging media that is around, web 2.0 and the like. Interesting brief. It would be great to get any ideas posted on here and then maybe go through them live tomorrow.

Great animation content from Will Simon’s Clickwheel.net. Check it Out. Richard talked about teh fact that pod/vod casting is opeing up the business oppos that Puttnam talked about. Sarah went through what the Beeb is doing in this arena.

Steve has invited us to the networking event tonight? Whoo hoo! Free booze… Fiddian from Soda has just got up to talk. Soda rose from the ashes of the Middlesex Uni centre for electronic arts. They love play, learning and art through technology. Talked about SodaPlay 2.0 - based on an integrated community but from a learning point of view for teachers pupils and general users. Also sodaplaymobile… Soda aim to be self sufficient from IP within 3 years.

Andy Pickles - Jive Bunny himself…believes you can do things all yourself. But you can create some IP and keep selling it. Made points about needing talent and harnessing creativity for commercial gain, not just for creative purposes. He believes that education wil be their core revenue within 3 years.

Hugh talking through what a company is….firms reflect their owners, investment can be in projects or businesses. Investors seem to be interested in potential high growth businesses. All investors are different. key is to a. know your business and b. know your investor c. know your stage in business. Investment community is very traditional, wants to make shit loads of cash and u to deliver what u promise and show real sales and scalability.

Richard talks about; reduce risks, wheres the income going to come from, why would anyone want the content, how easy can you make it to get to market, work up a buzz. Showed made for mobile film as example of invested in company. This proved that the company could ‘do it’ therefore were a safe investment bet.

Jay talked about needing good management team, spark, have an investment themselves, and real industry experience. VC’s want one or two winners who pay for the other failures…similar in a way to Hollywood and as Jay pointed out Google.