Interactive media needs interactive business practices

During the dawn of the old new economy, the promise of new media was said to lie in the unprecedented levels of communication its technologies could support. In 1995 and 1996 a series of new media professional organisations set up shop to encourage members of our community to share experiences, educational resources and to build alliances as we built a new industry. A thriving industry was created, but more importantly, through these meetings, seminars and bar room schmooze fests, a community of pioneers was created. In Toronto, this feeling of community was more pronounced than it was in other regions like Calgary and Ottawa where there were pre-existing and economically strong science and technology sectors, to which new media played the far sexier, but less important sibling. In Vancouver, competition for talent in new media was so stiff that the major shops didn’t support the development of new media organizations, but took on the mandate of educating their staff from within…an expensive and ultimately isolating experience. Now, even in Toronto, the New Media organisations are losing ground just when they are more important than ever. "The problem in new media is that once it got past the enthusiasm of multimedia and into a business setting, the constituency that would participate in the original new media groups fragmented," says Sam Punnett, chief knowledge officer of Delvinia Inc and member of the Liberty Village New Media Centre (http://www.lvnmc.com). The LVNMC is a non-profit corporation that was established last April to act as a business and marketing hub for the new media industry. Lost communicatons And in that fragmentation, the big picture was lost and the big picture is essential to the future of our industry. Without the focus on developing a stronger and stronger pool of local talent, on cultivating articulate spokespeople and on combining resources to attract more investment to the country, the day-to-day communications that supported smaller picture business development, strategic alliances and reliable recruitment were also de-emphasized. "I believe that the fundamental problem is one of critical mass and recognition as a significant economic contributor as an industry," says Punnett. "If an organization can help owners/operators to sustain their businesses, gain influence in being considered by governments, then it will, in the long run, help the entire new media community." While there is an impulse, when good times turn bad, to turn within and barricade oneself with independent survival plans, it is ultimately an impulse that runs contrary to the development of new media with its very life blood being innovation, creativity and communication. "Owners, operators, and executives concerned with new media enterprise must be ‘heads down’ to survive. This doesn’t obviate the need to get out there, it’s a matter of priorities and speaks to business vision," says Punnett. To re-establish the big picture, to define our goal for the future, returning to our new media organizations –be they user groups, professional associations or management symposiums – is essential if we are ever to meet our industry, and community objectives. "On the activity end the types of things that might constitute objectives would be shared knowledge, networking, lobbying government, education of the greater business community about the benefits of new media, community objectives (such as connecting Canadians). Without this there can be no sustained interest by anyone to participate. As well there can only be limited worth to anyone outside the NM community trying to access information about it," says Punnett. The first step for meeting our objectives as a community is to re-build our networks. So go out there, meet, talk, listen. Don’t think of it as a form of preparation for better times. Think of it as way to create better times. Kate Baggott is the senior interactive specialist with Toronto-based new media consultanting firm Delvinia Inc.

Interactive media needs interactive business practices

Broadcast | October 3, 2001

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