Redefining Asia, Redefining Media
Dr Madanmohan Rao
Editor, “The Asia-Pacific Internet Handbook”
Research Projects Director, MobileMonday
Consultant, AMIC
http://twitter.com/MadanRao
Freebies!
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Mobile Africa 2011 report
– www.MobileMonday.net
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South Asia award winners: Online/Mobile News
– www.ManthanAward.org
– www.mBillionth.in
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Global award winners (World Summit Awards):
Online/Mobile news
– www.wsis-award.org
– www.wsa-mobile.org
Agenda
Trends/learnings from emerging markets (Asia, Africa)
 Towards a “grand unified theory” of news media and
new media
 Three collaborative ‘crowdsourced’ projects!
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The “8 Cs” of Digital Media
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Connectivity
Content
Community
Culture
Capacity
Cooperation
Commerce
Capital
The “8 Cs” of Digital Media
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Connectivity
– Connectivity, bandwidth, devices, platform, interfaces,
standards, portals
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Content
– News, information, databases, feeds;
media/businesses/government/citizen
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Community
– Social media, group dynamics, evolution of communities
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Culture
– Trust, support, openness to change, ability to take risks
The “8 Cs” of Digital Media
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Capacity
– Skills, talent, organisational support, training, HR, processes,
legal support
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Cooperation
– Between industry players, citizen forums, government,
academia, NGOs, external institutes
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Commerce
– Content monetisation, e-commerce/m-commerce provisions,
regulation
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Capital
– Investments in new media infrastructure, RoI metrics
Dimensions of Digital Media
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Media as an Instrument
– Providing affordable access to ICTs, local language
content/tools, sectoral benefits (news, education,
healthcare, environment, business, government)
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Media as an Industry
– Boosting digital content industries, venture capital,
stockmarkets, technical skills, regulation, global
alliances
Classification of Online News Environments in Asia
Restrictive
 Embryonic
 Emerging
 Negotiating
 Intermediate
 Mature
 Advanced
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eg. Myanmar
eg. Afghanistan
eg. Nepal
eg. China
eg. India
eg. Australia
eg. Japan, South Korea
Digital Content and Emerging Markets
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Disaster news, monitoring and relief
Diaspora populations
Mobiles, tablets, mini-tablets
Social media with an ‘Asian’ touch
Kenya: Ushahidi, m-Pesa
Lack of “brand brainwashing”
Crowdsourcing, crowdfunding; social cartography
News, swarms, social movements; “armchair activism”
Digital news for business communities
SMS!
“New” Media and Politics
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19th century telegram: Peccavi – "I have sinned” (Sindh)
1979: Khomeini’s cassette tapes in Iran
CNN and the Gulf War (1990-1991)
2001: Philippines and deposing of Estrada (SMS)
The 2003 Iraq war and the Internet (“second superpower”)
2011: Mobiles and social media in Tunisia, Egypt
News, Swarms and Social Movements:
Base and Trigger Factors
Youth
 Urban
 Socio-political sentiments
 Freedom of the press
 New media penetration
 New media consumption/creation patterns
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“What's most important about the future (of new
media) is that it is for the masses, not the elite.”
Eric Schmidt
CEO, Google
(Mobile World Congress, Barcelona; 2011)
“Twitter is more than micro-blogging; it reduces the
gap between awareness and engagement.”
Dick Costolo
CEO, Twitter
(Mobile World Congress, Barcelona; 2011)
Mobile + Social Media Environments:
User Activities in News Flow
Level I: filter, rate, tag, relay
 Level II: social profiling, social networking
 Level III: remix, modify, mashup
 Level IV: compose original content, applications
 Level V: collaboratively create content,
applications
 Level VI: online + offline (eg. “tweetups”)
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Online User Behaviour: Sociology 2.0
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Lurkers
Linkers
Predators
Spammers
Scammers
Trawlers
Thought leaders
Advisors
Fixers
Provocateurs
News Media and New Media:
Converging Theories
Mass media
 Telecom
 Political communications and organisation
 Social media
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Mass Media Theories
Cultivation
 Gatekeepers
 Structural flows of international news
 Agenda-setting
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Telecom Theories
Power of the network is proportional to the
number of members
 Correlations/causations between
telecom/broadband density and GDP
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Political Communication and Activism
Propaganda
 Influence
 Framing, de-coding
 Mobilisation, confrontation
 “Foreign factor”
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Social Media
Manuel Castells: two-way “mass selfcommunication”
 Compressor/accelerator/catalyst/amplifier
 Tipping point
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News Flow and the New Media Mix
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Group-based v/s open communications (Facebook v/s
Twitter)
Converging technologies
Mesh-based networks (non-centralised)
Connecting technologies (international-dialup)
Bridging apps: Google+Twitter+SayNow: Speak to
Tweet
Partnering services: Small World News: Alive in Egypt
(Arabic-English translation)
Three Crowdsourced Projects about
Online News!
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Online News Chronology/Timeline for each country
– launch of Web sites and social media by TV/radio/
newspapers/magazines/portals; new media penetration; pay-walls;
mobile/tablet news; landmark events; legal cases; awards;
conferences; courses
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Benchmarking of social media policies of news organisations
– large/small news media; broadcast/print; impacts; assessment
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Book/eBook series: “Global Online Journalism”
– Trends, best practices and recommendations by country/language/
region
Mobile Activism
NGO Breakthrough in Bangalore has SMS
HIV/AIDS helpline for answering queries; also
domestic violence
 Suruk.com offers SMS-based info/rating services
for autorickshaw (tuktuk) drivers
 Greenpeace: SMS to raise funds (India), monitor
forest destruction (Argentina), send climate
alerts (Australia)
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Metrics
Technology/activity metrics
 Process metrics
 Knowledge metrics
 People metrics
 Organisational metrics
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Metrics
Quantitative metrics
 Semi-quantitative metrics
 Qualitative metrics
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Points to Ponder
Where does technology end and media begin?
 Where does private end and public begin?
 Where do “swarms” end and “social movements”
begin?
 Where does news end and where does
knowledge begin?
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madan@techsparks.com
http://twitter.com/MadanRao