Participative Web : oecd-pw-session3a

Content: it's like rock n' roll

Kieren Mccarthy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:13:00 GMT

The first session of the afternoon (stream A) covered the issue of user-created content i.e. what people stick up on the Internet. What became clear was that this subject – like music – produces a generational split.

On the one side, you have the younger generation: excited about the new possibilities, dismissing concerns as people not "getting it" but with a dramatic tendency to over-emphasise its importance. And on the other side: the older, wiser generation, but one that also struggles to understand exactly why people are so excited about it and so is overly cautious and occasionally dismissive.

What everyone can be sure of is that modern technology has allowed people to produce words and videos at an easier and faster rate than ever before, and the Internet has enabled people to share that publicly with as many people as never before. Or, most concisely, user-created content is here to stay.

So what?

The chair Michael LeBlanc kicked off the session with an interesting anecdote – he received dreadful service from a company, so he called to complain and nothing happened. He emailed and they were unhelpful. He tried to find a way of posting a complaint on their website – but there wasn’t a forum.

So he posted his complaint – in strong words – on his own blog. And now that post is extremely visible through Google whereas if he had just posted on the company’s website, it would have been subsumed by other comments. The upshot was that the company called him up a long time later to ask how they could help him and if he would remove the content.

In this context, it’s not hard to see the impact of the user-created content.

My generation

This discussion thread was dropped however when the next few panellists – the younger generation – gave presentations not on the impact that this content has, but on how terrific it was and what they were doing with it on their terrific websites.

The generational gap was then further highlighted when the last panellist took issue with even the term “user-create content” – which by now had inevitably been reduced to down to “UCC”. There is nothing new to this concept, Manon Ress argued, newspaper editorials are user-generated content, and graffiti is user-generated content. The problem, she says, is that this new terminology values all “content” as of equal value when it isn’t.

She also complained that among this wealth of content, there were no databases being created. “Have we seen evidence-based policies?”

But Ress had a different point to make, and that was the way in which this data/content/stuff is stored. If the process isn’t open and transparent and if the standards aren’t open, the information is going to decline and die, she argued. She also had a list of questions that people should consider before they start producing and hosting content: Is the data open and transparent? Can I store it? What is the interface?

It is, of course, the concern of the mature that information is retained, lessons are learnt and then clearly and carefully passed down; whereas the young are too busy enjoying being creative to worry about what the use or value of what they are producing is.

So where did the discussion get to?

“It is easy to make a blog,” LeBlanc summed up. “If a nine year old can start a blog, a government official can certainly start a blog.” Here’s betting that government officials’ content would use open standards and fit neatly into a database.

The transcript of this session is now available online here

Session 3, Stream A: Creativity and the Internet Economy: Users, Governments and Citizens

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:31:00 GMT

STREAM A: User-created content: What are the impacts?

13.45-15.05

TK: 2.45am
PA: 7.45pm
NY: 1.45pm
LA: 10.45am

Michael Leblanc (Chair), Analyweb Inc./Blogger
Jungwook Lim, Vice President for Service Innovation, Daum Communications, Korea
Andres Monroy-Hernandez, MIT Media Lab, Lifelong Kindergarten Group
Jennifer Corriero, Executive Director, Co-founder of TakingITGlobal
Manon Ress, Director, Information Society Projects, Consumer Project on Technology

Click here for a rundown of all blog posts covering this session.

The rise of user-created content is based on "amateurs" producing, distributing, accessing and re-using information and content. These changes imply a shift from simple passive consumption to a more active role through increased user participation and autonomy. In addition to large structural impacts on cultural, educational, social and political activities, user-created content is increasingly important economically although most people are still consuming content rather than creating it. Critics of these impacts point out the limitations of social communities, the lack of inclusiveness as well as the quality of the content.

Questions to be addressed include:

What is the profile of a content creator? What is the value of user created content and who determines this value?
What are the social, cultural and educational impacts? What are the business impacts?
How are virtual worlds developing, and how do they interact with existing regulation?

TK	PA	NY	LA
Tokyo	Paris	New York	Los Angeles

Jennifer Corriero

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:23:00 GMT

Jennifer Corriero: Named by the World Economic Forum as a ‘Young Global Leader’, Jennifer Corriero is a Canadian innovator with a passion for engaging youth and leveraging online networks as a tool for community development. Jennifer is Co-founder and Executive Director of TakingITGlobal, a non-profit organization with the aim of fostering cross-cultural dialogue, strengthening the capacity of youth as leaders and increasing awareness and involvement in global issues through the use of technology.

The online community currently receives over 1 million hits each day and has over 150,000 members from over 200 countries. Jennifer completed her BA and Masters in Environmental Studies at York University, has been an advisor and manager of numerous capacity-building initiatives and has served on the Official Canadian Government Delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society. She has presented at events including the World Urban Forum, International AIDS Conference, Global Knowledge Partnership International Forum in Sri Lanka, and the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris.

Michel Leblanc

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:39:00 GMT

Michel Leblanc is a graduate of the first class of Master of Sciences in electronic commerce, a multidisciplinary program from HEC Montréal and Université de Montréal, with a specialization in management. He is the founder and President of Analyweb, a consultancy company specializing in e-business management and marketing.

At the tactical level, Mr. Leblanc has been involved in numerous Web customer acquisitions mandates and more specifically, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine marketing (SEM) mandates and Web positioning analysis. Mr. Leblanc has been author of numerous scientific, research, didactic and "how to" publications and he animates a blog at michelleblanc.com, which happens to be the 15th most influential French techno blog in the world according to Wikio.fr.

His latest book "Pourquoi bloguer dans un contexte d'affaires" which he co-wrote, will be available in November. He has been involved with analysis and implementation of cutting edge e-business related technologies, management and marketing activities and strategies in a wide range of industries. Mr. Leblanc has provided research and advice to Fortune 500 as well as SMB's, government agencies and associations.

Jungwook Lim

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:21:00 GMT

Jungwook Lim took on responsibilities for planning and operation of Daum's frontpage and several other section pages such as stocks, real estates, movies and so forths. Daum is one of the largest internet portal in Korea. Before joining Daum, he worked as a IT journalist for over 10 years in Chosun Ilbo, Korea's largest daily newspaper.

His experience includes extensive work in online media fields such as operation of Chosun.com, Korea's largest online news websites and establishing and running the Chosun Ilbo JNS, subsidiary of Chosun Ilbo for Japanese edition of Chosun.com. Jungwook holds an MBA degree from Haas school of business at UC Berkeley.

Andres Monroy Hernandez

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:07:00 GMT

Andres Monroy Hernandez is researcher, PhD student and a Samsung Fellow at the MIT Media Lab. He is interested in online communities and how they can empower people and foster creative learning.

Andres has conceptualized and lead the development of the Scratch website, an online community where thousands of children and novices share their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art
with one another.

Before coming to MIT, he worked in the software industry and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received a BS in Electronic Systems Engineering from the Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico.

Manon Ress

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:36:00 GMT

Manon Ress is currently focusing on intellectual property issues, building public awareness on the debate over the value of public interest in intellectual property rights. She is an active participant at the World Intellectual Property Organization's meetings of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights and in other multilateral fora where access to knowledge issues intersect with intellectual property laws. Dr. Ress works on promoting fair use rights, open standards, open access publishing and other e-commerce and internet-related consumer protection issues such as the definition of unfair contracts and tort liabilities.

She is the managing editor of the new open journal Knowledge Ecology Studies. From 2000 to 2004, she was a consumer representative on the U.S. Delegation to the Proposed Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. Dr. Ress holds a B.A. and a Master's Degree from the Université de Nice, France as well as a Master's and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Snapshot: What is the conference rundown?

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:03:00 GMT

This is cut-down version of the full agenda. You can download the full agenda as a pdf here, or use the links below to learn more about each sessions and those taking part in it.

The conference runs from 9am to 6pm. It is based in Ottawa, Canada, so in terms of time that is Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) which is currently GMT -4 hours. See here for a time rundown according to different cities of the world.

The conference comprises five main sessions - three split into two different stream - running for 80 minutes each and with a five-minute conclusion at the end:

Participative Web conference agenda
Time	Event	People
9.00-9.20 TK: 10pm PA: 3pm NY: 9am LA: 6am	OPENING	Michael Binder Suzanne Huttner John Oxley (Facilitator)
9.20-10.50	The Future of the Participative Web	John Lettice (Chair) Jonathan Taplin Cyrus Beagley Ginsu Yoon Michael Gill
10.50-11.10	Coffee break
11.10-12.30	Creativity and the Internet Economy	Stream A	Stream B
TK: 12.10am PA: 4.10pm NY: 11.10am LA: 8.10am	Stream A: Business 2.0 and innovation Stream B: Research 2.0 - eScience and new ways of interaction	David Crane (chair) Bob Young Anthony Williams Paul Misener Daniel Bretonès Shenja van der Graaf	Walter Stewart (chair) Andrew Herbert Bill St. Arnaud Mario Campolargo Diana Rhoten
12.30-13.45	Lunch	Robert Sutor
13.45-15.05	Creativity and the Internet Economy	Stream A	Stream B
TK: 2.45am PA: 7.45pm NY: 1.45pm LA: 10.45am	Stream A: User-created content: What are the impacts? Stream B: Government 2.0 - Engaging citizens	Michael Leblanc (Chair) Jungwook Lim Andres Monroy-Hernandez Jennifer Corriero Manon Ress	Ellen Miller (Chair) Don Lenihan Alejandro Hernandez Pulido Wolfgang Blau Quitterie Delmas
15.05-16.25	Confidence and Competition in the Internet Economy	Stream A	Stream B
TK: 4.05am PA: 9.05pm NY: 3.05pm LA: 12.05pm	Stream A: Creation, access and competition Stream B: Confidence, privacy and security	William New (Chair) Kiyoshi Mori Urs Gasser Anne Bucher Martin Senftleben	Hugh Stevenson (Chair) Gary Davis Chris Kelly Jennifer Mardosz John Lawford
16.25-16.45	Coffee break
16.45-17.55 TK: 5.45am PA: 10.45pm NY: 4.45pm LA: 1.45pm	Policy Roundtable: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy	Michael Geist (Chair) Sangwon Ko Marc Rotenberg Daniela Battisti Joseph Alhadeff Keith Besgrove Neil Anderson
17.55-18.00	CONCLUSIONS and Priority-Setting for the OECD	Richard Simpson

TK	PA	NY	LA
Tokyo	Paris	New York	Los Angeles

Other snapshots: