Hand Me That Digital Pitchfork
Rarely a week goes by when I'm not being questioned by some earnest student recording my words of wisdom for an essay, a thesis or - I sometimes suspect - a bet. I imagine that, many years from now, another generation of scholars will unearth the transcripts of all these interviews, sift through them in search of valuable insights and then consign them to a box marked 'kindling'.
What impresses me, though, is how these students always seem to ask the sharpest questions and seem so well informed about modern media compared to some of the journalists who interview me or even the professional academics who get quoted in various articles.
This week, for example, I spent an hour in the company of Michael Park, a fourth year student at Glasgow Caledonian University who is researching issues such a risk-management associated with social networking. A simple example of that might be when an employee of a biscuit factory goes on twitter or facebook to tell the world that his company puts dangerous additives in its chocolate coating. Like shrapnel, for instance.
Michael, however, is also involved in the student radio station, so has been looking specifically at the risks to media organisations. Again, that might include maverick staff posting their views online...("jeff zycinski kicks kittens") but there's also the cyber-mobbing phenomenon when listeners, viewers or readers gather online to shout down a particular presenter or columnist.
By the time Michael had switched off his tiny digital recorder, my hair was standing on end just thinking about all the potential calamities than can befall the careless blogger, twitterer or facebook fan. Never mind the gentle (kitten-friendly) folk who run radio stations.
But what this generation of students understands completely is the connection between traditional passive broadcast media and the opportunities offered by the digital environment. As I've said before, it's going to put schedulers like me out of a job as people compile their own selections of audio and video from multiple sources and then discuss and dissect it with like-minded friends/strangers.
And complaints are now visible to all on these third-party sites and broadcasters and newspaper editors can't sweep them under the carpet.
When the mob gets its hands on digital pitch-forks and holographic torches, then it might be time to start running.
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