Employability for Connected TV

Richard N GriffithsProgramme Leader: Postgraduate Programme in Interactive Technology

University of Brighton

Question I’m trying to answer

• How do you prepare people for entry and career success in digital media – now?

My Agenda

• The effects of convergence are always underestimated

• There are some eternal verities

Plan for this Talk

• Have we been here before?– The Gartner Hype Curve• and living with it

• What’s so special about TV?– What was TV?– What is TV?– What will become of TV? (I’m guessing …)

• The eternal verities on the curriculum

Have we been here before?The Gartner Hype Curve

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg

Living with it: Red Button iTV

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gartner_Hype_Cycle.svg

2002

20032001MSc Digital Television Management & Production

2012

Initial Course Outline (2002)MSc DTV Management & Production

• Business – Entrepreneurship– Marketing in the Digital Age– The DTV Market Environment

• Design– Consumer Oriented Qualitative Research and Creative Idea Generation– Interaction Design and Usability Evaluation– Requirements Analysis and Specification

• Management– DTV Project Management– Legal Issues in Information Management

• Technical– Current and Future DTV Technology– DTV Technology Implementation

What was TV?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FamilyWatchingTV1958crop.jpg

What was TV?• An idea: viewing at a distance (physical / temporal)

– but film preceded it• Technology

– Electro-mechanical / analogue electronic / digital– Broadcast: terrestrial radio, cable, satellite– Distribution: tape / laser disc / DVD

• A social phenomena:– Electronic hearth– Shared national experience / “Water cooler event”– Telly celebrity

• An economic phenomena– An industry: production / distribution / consumption– Capital investment: studios, cameras, transmitters, etc.– Property: brand (channel) / rights

What was TV?

• An idea: viewing at a distance• Technology• A social phenomena:• An economic phenomena

The most significant?

“It’s the economy stupid.”

What is TV?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hyaenidae_illustration.jpg

What is TV?

In transition from an economy of scarcity to an economy of abundance

At least as far as the technology of production, distribution and consumption are concerned

Also fragmentation of audience and competition from other ‘media’ (games, web, etc.)

What will become of TV?

[This slide is intentionally blank]

It will cease to have a distinct technological, social and economic identity

What will become of TV?

But, in the present / immediate future:• Attempts to hold on to unique identity of TV– HDTV / 3D TV / time-shifting

• Attempts to co-opt the competition– Bundled interactive services / on-demand– Two-screen TV (betting and ‘adult’ anyone?)

• Attempts by major rights-holders to retain access control– ACTA / patenting / app store access

Current Course Outline (2010)MSc Digital Media Production

• Interaction Design and Evaluation Process• Interface and Information Design• Web Development• Creative Design Lab• Project Management• Research Methods

Plus up to 2 of:

• Independent Portfolio Project• New Media Application

Development• Marketing for Interactive

Technologies• Independent Research Project

• Evaluation in Practice• Interactive Technologies Business

Context• Intellectual Property Law• Accessibility for Interactive

Systems

Eternal Verities

• Technology changes – people by and large don’t– Understand how to design for people

• It’s a technical industry– Understand the technology – and keep up with it

• It’s an industry– Understand the commercial realities