Why quality online content for kids is doomed to fail in Canada

Sadly, I must tell you that Nikolia.com has been forced to close its doors today. Why did Nikolai.com close? Well among the various reasons that have forced us into making this decision, perhaps the most fundamental one of all is that we live in a society which has forgotten how to care about the welfare of its children. The education of our children, their emotional and formative development, have become overshadowed by the vested interests of media giants who are not looking at supporting content that will inspire children into patterns of critical thinking, but only at inundating children with activities that support consumerism and homogeneity. Education, edutainment, exploratory entertainment and activities which provoke a sense of individualism, pride, and self-worth within a diverse social fabric, are all pushed aside to allow for content and activities that offer little in the way of self-exploration and critical thinking. Regretfully, I have come to believe that we live in a society which does not believe that how we raise our children and prepare them for the future is the single most important thing that helps create solutions to our current social problems. There are no immediate or instantaneous rewards in teaching and helping children; all the rewards are long term. Our society does not value long term rewards, and long term planning. The "immediate and the insubstantial" is all that seems to matter to those larger corporate interests that look for the "fashionable" quick sale in the market place. Investors want immediate feedback and returns on their investment, so that small independent companies who are truly committed to what they produce, can only grow to a certain size before they either fold or are bought-up by larger companies. Investors have also learnt to expect such quick and high returns on their investment that companies need to maintain an artificial momentum of merging, acquiring or selling in an unrealistic time frame. What counts is how much buzz you can create and not how much economic, financial and long term sense these activities generate. Over the past few years we have seen more and more consolidation of the industry. Larger and larger multinationals are being created. Small business is finding it harder and harder to exist in just an environment where they have fewer resources and less access to capital. I believe we have forgotten that most of the creativity, imagination and true entrepreneurship comes from these small businesses. It does not come from the large organizations. Imagination and creativity need passion, need devotion and a certain freedom that does not exist in the large conglomerates. So, we are killing the very essence, the very core by which economic transactions occur. We also live in a country where the government claims to be concerned about fostering and protecting "Canadian Content"; but where the reality is that our government has not really understood the impact of the Internet and how it interweaves itself into the fabric of our society. Their incomprehension has meant that they have been incapable to help the new media content providers. Content needs a conduit in order to be heard, in order to exist. Access is no longer having your web site; access in today’s world means access to TV, radio and print as well as being visible in the large Internet portals. However, groups that dominate the media distribution (TV, radio and Internet) also do production. So they are likely to choose their content to match "their interests" rather than turn to independent third parties. This is a serious issue, particularly if one believes that competition is a healthy way to balance and grow society’s economic and social infrastructures. This of course leads us to a social structure which belays the interests of the individual, and replaces this interest with the interests of immense media giants that dominate the spectrum of the conduits that range from TV, radio, print, and most recently the Internet. There is no longer any room left for the smaller voices to be heard. But when all is said and done are we creating a world that has more freedom, more imagination, more creativity, where people are happier? I do not think so. I think we are creating a world where people are more self-absorbed, more demanding for immediate returns and gratification, for rewards that do not address the sprit. We are creating a world where there is far less appreciation of what is truly human, for what is truly imaginative, and almost no appreciation or what the values inherent in critical thinking and problem solving. We are creating a world which is less rich, diverse, and rewarding, - a world far less capable of finding true happiness. I am truly sorry that we failed to maintain ourselves as a "viable business". My vision and the vision of my wonderful and talented co-workers was to brace a new window into the spectrum of education and entertainment for our young people. Isabel Hoffmann has been president and CEO of Nikolai.com Inc since its formation in 1995.

Why quality online content for kids is doomed to fail in Canada

Broadcast | March 22, 2001

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