Northern Lights

The course started with a bang on November 2nd with a module run by the BBC at their northern most outpost at Manchester. With the media industry still in a team meeting about where to go next, the BBC are in fifth gear developing Project Canvas alongside their ambitious new plans to move to Media City. Their move North isn’t just a change of building, it’s a move into the future marked by plenty of investment in Research and Development.

So where does this leave us? The people on the course designed to bridge the gap between University graduates and a media industry still stooped in chaos. The speed at which things are changing has been marked and we’ve been encouraged to think about content working across many platforms rather than the traditional process of thinking up an idea, pitching it to TV execs, then getting made. It’s an exciting time, and it feels like we should be inventing new platforms rather than pitching our ideas to the old one.

Even if we went straight into ‘the industry’, we could still be left behind as the world of digital accelerates to light speed – so it’s well worth us taking some time out to answer the question, “What the hell is going on?” Once we’ve got a good understanding of that we’ll be ready for employment by forward thinking content creators and agencies. That’s the plan anyway.

If you’ve no experience of web2.0, what it means, or how it has changed things, take a look at the video below. When you watch it bear in mind it’s nearly three-years-old – an age in the digital world since Web 3.0 is well and truly on the way.

Feel up to date? Well you’ve got three years of development to catch up on. Take a look at ReadWriteWeb, reddit, techcrunch, mashable, and Seth Godin. Here’s another cool video which might just get you close to the mode of thinking you need to be in. You can thank us later.

The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping and multi-platform (MP) thinking is rife. The Digital Natives of the Northern Lights wander between Liverpool and Manchester hoping to find an idea, a revolution, an inspirational advance that will solve the catastrophic mess that is the media industry.

One thing we can be sure of; the Luddites of yesteryear, with their single platform minds, must wake up to the reality of MP or face the consequences. As we pass the halfway point of the programme, we have learnt how to operate professional TV cameras, create iPhone applications, build websites, and use radio station studio controls. But how does this all relate? That is the big question.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Northern Lights experience so far is not trying to answer this question, but rather to put ourselves in a MP mindset that will benefit us in years to come.

As I recall Bob Dylan once saying, the “platforms they are a changing” and one must make sure that they aren’t caught unaware. Therefore dearest readers, MP is here to stay and embrace this or face the prospects of becoming another Digital Luddite.