In this cross-posting from The Conversation the University of Adelaide's Matthew Sorrell looks at how to predict future technology trends.
Although I’m a futurist, I have absolutely no idea what information and communications technology will look like in 50 years time.
I do know that some of it will be familiar because once we find a usable form, we tend to stick with it – glowing rectangles will probably remain popular. But I also know that we will see technology and applications which have not yet been imagined.
This technology space is growing in complexity and capability at a much, much faster rate than any other, and the implications for society are profound.
The decision to give comedy Bamboozled the top award at Tropfest on Sunday has sparked claims it is homophobic. In this cross-posting from The Conversation film lecturer Greg Dolgopolov explains why it matters.
It would have been hard to avoid the news that the best-picture award at Sunday’s Tropfest short-film festival in Sydney was given to filmmaker Matt Hardie for Bamboozled – and even harder to ignore the huge online response to the film’s perceived homophobia.
After recent pitches marketer Jason Stidworthy realised clients need to take a long hard look at how they act towards agencies.During a recent conversation with a good mate, he highlighted his frustrations with the real estate agency selling his house because the promotional material artwork was riddled with mistakes including the show-stopping incorrect suburb listing. Seriously, how could they!
After a post listing five trends to let go in 2014Hugh Stephens adds his own pet peeve to the list. On the subject of 2013 trends that really shouldn’t continue into 2014, I can’t help but raise apps. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “we’re thinking of developing an app…” I’d probably retire comfortably to a private island.
As everyone eyes move to what we can expect in 2014 Bernadine Brewer shares the five trends and buzzwords she hopes are left in 2013.It’s that time of year again. The time when suddenly our e-newsletters, our favourite blogs, our Twitter timelines fill with predictions of the future.
Although I’m not averse to speculation and even idle rumour (after all, it’s nice to have a little daydream about what we might work on next year), I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I loathe trends articles. As in cartoon-level steam-out-of-the-ears loathe.
So this year, I’m doing exactly the opposite. I’m calling it Reverse Trends, the stuff I dearly hope we’ll stop hearing come January. I’m talking about them one last time, so you don’t have to.
The claim people buy on price is a myth, and in the latest in a series about consumer psychology Ashton Bishop and Gary Wilkinson look at how retailers can make the most of this.
Consumers don’t make rational decisions based on price and marketers need to stop pretending they do.
There is a common refrain amongst marketers in some categories that consumers buy on price. What nonsense. Price by itself is meaningless, and please slap the next marketer who trots out that excuse for why they are losing in their category.
Amid the media storm around the public broadcaster Michelle Grattan, in this crosspost from the Conversation argues the ABC's critics are on a crusade. Mark Scott has come under fire for his decision to co-publish NSA leaked documents with The Guardian. AAP/Alan PorrittThe ABC and its managing director Mark Scott are caught in a perfect storm.
With a burgeoning number of review sites and astroturfing appearing online, Miki Clarke looks at how brands can make sure genuine reviewers get cut-through in search.
As children we’re told if we don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But in this social media world in which we now live, the opposite seems to apply.
We have witnessed exponential growth in search terms with review suffixes, not only in Australia but in the US and UK as well. This is not surprising in the land of electronics, travel accommodation and restaurants, but it is also happening for online dating sites and even dog food.
It has been a month since the News of the World phone hacking trial started in London and in this cross-posting from The Conversation UK director of undergraduate studies for journalism at Cardiff University John Jewell looks at what has come out so far. When Justice John Saunders opened what has been called the “trial of the century” he told the jury: “In a way, not only are the defendants on trial, but British justice is on trial.”
To say the defendants in the case are prominent in the world of journalism would be an understatement of gigantic proportions.
As more brands look to storytelling and content channels like blogs to get their messages across Lorraine Murphy says they should look to work with bloggers for the best results.
“Sponsorship” suggests whacking a logo on some content (be that an event, a TV show or a blog post) and that’s the extent of the relationship between the owner of the content and the brand in question.
The days of brands badging a logo and call-to-action on a blog post are gone. The space has moved on and successful content now calls for a co-creation approach with bloggers.
Amid the masses of journalism redundancies La Trobe University associate professor Lawrie Zion, looks at the question of what happens to those who take redundancy.
You’ve probably heard the news: the Australian media is experiencing the most serious contraction in its history.
Dear Chris,Our agency recently lost a client or two and I was given the difficult choice of taking a demotion or leaving the agency. I opted for the former but am struggling to adjust to my lesser position. Any tips on how to take the step down gracefully?
For the last year, we've been publishing a weekly tablet app. Mumbrella and Encore content director Tim Burrowes explains why today's will be the last.
The thing about failure is that people don’t usually like talking about it.
Indeed, I’m feeling somewhat rueful writing this.
But having shared the story of our journey with Encore so far, you’re entitled to hear about the bits that don’t work too.
With today's news the Mail Online is set to launch an Australian arm, Alex Hayes looks at what it means for the local media scene.
We could be about to see one of the most exciting periods for Australian journalism there has ever been. But, first, I have one question for you. How much is your house worth?
With a string of Aussie TV formats being remade overseas, Brooke Hemphill finds out how local production companies can get in on the act and whether there’s actually any money to be made in a feature that first appeared in Encore.
When Joe Connor and Renegade Films began shopping the concept for a quirky TV series about a talking dog around Australian networks, they were met with blank stares. Based on a short made for the Tropfest film competition titled Wilfred, the idea failed to generate much support. Connor says: “Everyone said it would never be anything more than a short film.”
Who could 2DayFM possibly get in to create the talkability and shock value of departed breakfast show host Kyle Sandilands? The Human Headline and Charlotte Dawson of course.
While Dr Mumbo feels the second of 2DayFM’s teaser video for who will be their next breakfast show hosts does little to reveal the truth of the matter, he was delighted see Derryn Hinch turn up jiving along to the upbeat melody, while Dawson also enjoys a passing cameo amongst the stars.
On the strength of Hinch’s appearance here it seems he may be more demographic friendly than Kyle was – remember that awkward ad from last year where all the other presenters were having fun at a party and he looked like their dad there to make sure they didn’t have too many sugary lollies? Read more »
By Alex Hayes
·
December 11th, 2013 at 9:12 am ·
Comments: 1
Dr Mumbo is a massive fan of word searches, but admits even he would probably not have spotted this nugget, possibly hidden by a disgruntled sub in The Sunday Telegraph’s kids section.
Although it is supposed to be a search for Indonesian wildlife one “unfortunate” word combination spells out LIVESIHCODRUM, or MURDOCH IS EVIL backwards.
While it doesn’t stipulate which Murdoch it is referring to Dr Mumbo assumes it is not the character from the A-Team. Read more »
By Megan Reynolds
·
December 10th, 2013 at 4:37 pm ·
Comments: 2
Dr Mumbo was pleased to see the esteemed Mark Day, resident media columnist in The Australian, join in and take a stick to magazine publisher Bauer over so-called “errors” which saw magazines such as Take Five “accidentally” changing key locations in stories from overseas to Australia.
Dr Mumbo is hearing some stories of injuries from the Christmas party rounds and is reminding everyone to revel responsibly.
Apparently there were more than a few broken glasses at the Havas Worldwide Australia Christmas bash on Wednesday night, with more than a few staff members having bits of glass removed from their feet at the 1920s themed night.
But, thus far, Dr Mumbo’s favourite unidentified party injury story has to go public relations firm N2N communications… Read more »
By Nic Christensen
·
December 6th, 2013 at 10:24 am ·
Comments: 3
To Dr Mumbo’s mind live animals do not make good presents for journalists. Full stop.
Indeed, Dr Mumbo senses the PR company Free Publicity knows this as its director Vanessa Free’s first question to him when he rang was: “Are the butterflies alive or dead?”
Dr Mumbo loves a good editorial by The Australian and today’s efforts denouncing The Guardian, the ABC, Fairfax, Twitter and more generally “the interweb“ deserves some acknowledgment.
Personally, Dr Mumbo can’t get past the paragraph which denounces not only Twitter but the scourge of “web-first publishing.”
“Yet that can’t be said of all media outlets, especially when seasoned journalists are being traded for ones unable to see beyond the dazzle of the instantaneous fix of Twitter or web-first publishing,” write The Australian.
Unsurprisingly the piece has caused a stir in the Twittersphere. Here are some of Dr Mumbo’s favourite tweets: Read more »
By Nic Christensen
·
December 4th, 2013 at 12:37 pm ·
Comments: 12
Some people get leaving cards, some get gold watches for long service, but what did Kyle and Jackie O get as a leaving gift from their old mates at 2DayFM?
The two-minute reel, sent to Dr Mumbo under the title “Final Farewell” and mixed to the audio of the song Time to Say Goodbye, features the former number one duo berating staff, swearing and throwing their weight around.
The problem is, while it looks authentic, it’s a fake. As a tweet from the Kyle and Jackie O account told followers on Sunday “2DayFM has temporarily shut down our Facebook”, before another message confirmed this page as a fraud.
Whoever is behind the account was quick off the mark, setting it up on November 29, the day the official announcement was made. And they’re doing a pretty good job of community management, snaffling pics from Sandilands’ Instagram profile, and posting images of holiday destinations asking fans over what they will be doing for the Christmas break.
But a quick Google search reveals this is not the only “foreshadowing” The Australian has done of this “triple play” move, by the 50 per cent owned News Corp subsidiary. Read more »
By Nic Christensen
·
December 2nd, 2013 at 11:35 am ·
Comments: 2
Parody pranksters Stuntbear managed to wangle themselves a spot amongst the reporters on the red carpet at last night’s Aria awards, but of course it was never going to be a straightforward interview.
Instead of the usual inane questions about fans, new albums and whether the stars hope to win, the pair dressed in tweed with colourful decorative corsages and posed as a pair of virgins, fumbling their way through a series of interviews with artists like Alicia Keys, Claire Bowditch, Birds of Tokyo and Gossling.
The most cringe-worthy moment comes as they stutter over a question for Harrison Craig, who himself suffers with a stutter.
If you’re an airline there’s one plane of people you don’t want have to do a flight cancellation on and that’s a plane load of journalists.
Particularly if that planeload of people are on their way to Brisbane for tonight’s Walkleys.
Sadly this is exactly what’s happened with Dr Mumbo’s spies telling him that a planeload of mainly journalists have been forced to move onto other flights.
Among the delayed passengers is the Walkley Foundation’s official photographer who Dr Mumbo hears expects to be arriving somewhere between the entree and the main course.
It’s the question everyone in media land is asking: who should edit the new operation of the Mail Online when it launches next year?
Dr Mumbo notes that when asked about it in today’s Mumbrella video hangout publisher Martin Clarke said: “I’m hoping we find some talent in Australia who help grow us in Britain, Australia and everywhere else in the world.”
If only there was an obvious candidate… Someone with strong news sense, experience editing a tabloid and who understood the Australian power structures and culture. Ideally they would be also be free to start soon and it would also help HR if they were already on the Nine payroll. Read more »
By Nic Christensen
·
November 28th, 2013 at 1:43 pm ·
Comments: 0
Dr Mumbo congratulates the Mail Online on its new plans to launch an Australian operation and hire as many as 50 journalists. However, he notes that coincidentally the UK publisher and Mi9 chose the exact 6 month anniversary of The Guardian’s Australian launch to make its announcement.
Where some may have felt that the Bondi Hipsters skit outperformed Spicks and Specks The Next Generation (although Dr Mumbo is sure the show will improve in the edit).
The best observation came from Ade (or possibly Dom). Referencing the fresh new talent being showcased by the ABC with the likes of Bryan Brown, Guy Pearce and Sam Neill, the Hipster pointed out: “Basically, they’re Australia’s Expendables.”
By mumbrella
·
November 26th, 2013 at 11:42 pm ·
Comments: 0
In this cross-posting from The Conversation the University of Adelaide's Matthew Sorrell looks at how to predict future technology trends.
Although I’m a futurist, I have absolutely no idea what information and communications technology will look like in 50 years time.
I do know that some of it will be familiar because once we find a usable form, we tend to stick with it – glowing rectangles will probably remain popular. But I also know that we will see technology and applications which have not yet been imagined.
This technology space is growing in complexity and capability at a much, much faster rate than any other, and the implications for society are profound.
The decision to give comedy Bamboozled the top award at Tropfest on Sunday has sparked claims it is homophobic. In this cross-posting from The Conversation film lecturer Greg Dolgopolov explains why it matters.
It would have been hard to avoid the news that the best-picture award at Sunday’s Tropfest short-film festival in Sydney was given to filmmaker Matt Hardie for Bamboozled – and even harder to ignore the huge online response to the film’s perceived homophobia.
After recent pitches marketer Jason Stidworthy realised clients need to take a long hard look at how they act towards agencies.
During a recent conversation with a good mate, he highlighted his frustrations with the real estate agency selling his house because the promotional material artwork was riddled with mistakes including the show-stopping incorrect suburb listing. Seriously, how could they!
After a post listing five trends to let go in 2014 Hugh Stephens adds his own pet peeve to the list.
On the subject of 2013 trends that really shouldn’t continue into 2014, I can’t help but raise apps. If I had a dollar for every time I heard “we’re thinking of developing an app…” I’d probably retire comfortably to a private island.
As everyone eyes move to what we can expect in 2014 Bernadine Brewer shares the five trends and buzzwords she hopes are left in 2013.
It’s that time of year again. The time when suddenly our e-newsletters, our favourite blogs, our Twitter timelines fill with predictions of the future.
Although I’m not averse to speculation and even idle rumour (after all, it’s nice to have a little daydream about what we might work on next year), I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I loathe trends articles. As in cartoon-level steam-out-of-the-ears loathe.
So this year, I’m doing exactly the opposite. I’m calling it Reverse Trends, the stuff I dearly hope we’ll stop hearing come January. I’m talking about them one last time, so you don’t have to.
The claim people buy on price is a myth, and in the latest in a series about consumer psychology Ashton Bishop and Gary Wilkinson look at how retailers can make the most of this.
Consumers don’t make rational decisions based on price and marketers need to stop pretending they do.
There is a common refrain amongst marketers in some categories that consumers buy on price. What nonsense. Price by itself is meaningless, and please slap the next marketer who trots out that excuse for why they are losing in their category.
Amid the media storm around the public broadcaster Michelle Grattan, in this crosspost from the Conversation argues the ABC's critics are on a crusade.
With a burgeoning number of review sites and astroturfing appearing online, Miki Clarke looks at how brands can make sure genuine reviewers get cut-through in search.
As children we’re told if we don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. But in this social media world in which we now live, the opposite seems to apply.
We have witnessed exponential growth in search terms with review suffixes, not only in Australia but in the US and UK as well. This is not surprising in the land of electronics, travel accommodation and restaurants, but it is also happening for online dating sites and even dog food.
It has been a month since the News of the World phone hacking trial started in London and in this cross-posting from The Conversation UK director of undergraduate studies for journalism at Cardiff University John Jewell looks at what has come out so far.
When Justice John Saunders opened what has been called the “trial of the century” he told the jury: “In a way, not only are the defendants on trial, but British justice is on trial.”
To say the defendants in the case are prominent in the world of journalism would be an understatement of gigantic proportions.
As more brands look to storytelling and content channels like blogs to get their messages across Lorraine Murphy says they should look to work with bloggers for the best results. “Sponsorship” suggests whacking a logo on some content (be that an event, a TV show or a blog post) and that’s the extent of the relationship between the owner of the content and the brand in question. The days of brands badging a logo and call-to-action on a blog post are gone. The space has moved on and successful content now calls for a co-creation approach with bloggers.
Amid the masses of journalism redundancies La Trobe University associate professor Lawrie Zion, looks at the question of what happens to those who take redundancy.
You’ve probably heard the news: the Australian media is experiencing the most serious contraction in its history.
Dear Chris,
Our agency recently lost a client or two and I was given the difficult choice of taking a demotion or leaving the agency. I opted for the former but am struggling to adjust to my lesser position. Any tips on how to take the step down gracefully?
For the last year, we've been publishing a weekly tablet app. Mumbrella and Encore content director Tim Burrowes explains why today's will be the last.
The thing about failure is that people don’t usually like talking about it.
Indeed, I’m feeling somewhat rueful writing this.
But having shared the story of our journey with Encore so far, you’re entitled to hear about the bits that don’t work too.
With a string of Aussie TV formats being remade overseas, Brooke Hemphill finds out how local production companies can get in on the act and whether there’s actually any money to be made in a feature that first appeared in Encore.
When Joe Connor and Renegade Films began shopping the concept for a quirky TV series about a talking dog around Australian networks, they were met with blank stares. Based on a short made for the Tropfest film competition titled Wilfred, the idea failed to generate much support. Connor says: “Everyone said it would never be anything more than a short film.”
Dr Mumbo stumbled across a very interesting list of the ‘best and worst ads of 2013′ on News.com.au compiled by DDB Sydney’s executive creative director Dylan Harrison.
He would like to remind the industry that we’ve been here before, remember Advantage Adelaide and the whole dead goldfishgate anyone?
Some people get leaving cards, some get gold watches for long service, but what did Kyle and Jackie O get as a leaving gift from their old mates at 2DayFM?
Dr Mumbo congratulates The Australian’s Darren Davidson on the lead story in today’s Media Section, which explains how Foxtel will announce it will offer consumers a “triple play” option of bundled options across subscription-TV, broadband and telephone services.
Within minutes of the announcement The Guardian’s Australian editor Katharine Viner tweeted that the new operation were “copycats”. A claim swiftly rejected by Martin Clarke the Mail Online’s UK publisher.
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