Date posted: November 2, 2007 - Friday
Title: The answer to life, the universe and everything? I don’t think so!
Current mood: disappointed
No one has ever accused me of being a technophobe. I have just about as many electronic gadgets as the next guy; or girl.
I jumped into the Internet moderately early on and am probably connected to it far more than I should be. That being said, I am not a fanatic about it and I don't think it is the be-all and end-all too many people seem to think it is. I think all of us probably spend too much time concerned about the Internet and not enough IRL (in real life).
A couple of things I have seen recently I find disturbing in this regard.
1. I have been watching more network television this season than I have in the past few years. There are actually some new shows I find interesting enough and wanted to see. But with the new season, comes a new wrinkle to a good number of shows. Internet tie ins.
I see a lot of this on NBC in particular. The network is putting additional content for the shows on the Internet and attempting to drive viewers to the website.
I always thought a show should be able to stand on it's own. It is an hour's diversion (or half hour) of a serial nature. Once a week you see a new chapter or adventure of the characters. I don't want to have to spend more time on the Internet to be able to understand all I want to about a television series.
And I wonder what the network is getting out of this? I'm sure this extra content is not being provided out of the goodness of the heart of network executives. These companies are too profit-driven to give something away they don't expect to get a return on.
So I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
[New Information added 11/09/07]
I learned through a bulletin posted by one of my friends what the networks are gaining with the web links they are hyping on their shows. Apparently they are selling advertising which is put into these web broadcasts of episodes of series. There are as many as five interruptions of these webcasts for advertising material.
It is 'free' web content for the networks in that they don't pay the writers, actors or anyone else for this additional use of material that was originally broadcast. This is also one of the major causes of the current strike being conducted by the Writer's Guild of America. A good deal of the income writers get for working in television comes from residuals (payments made for additional uses of their material in re-runs and DVD production and such.) The use of the shows in the web is not covered under the current agreement between the writers and the networks and so the networks have a free source of new revenue without expense.
Being a writer myself I see this as an unfair exploitation of the writers, actors and technical people who normally have a stake in profits derived from their work for the networks.
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2. San Diego county has recently been ravaged by disastrous fires (it was in all the papers -- television too). Some 1,800 people lost their homes.
This is a repeat of fires that ravaged San Diego in 2003. It took years for the people who lost their homes in those fires to rebuild; actually, some have never been able to rebuild.
So with this history, there is a wealth of knowledge available from people who have gone through this rebuilding which could help the people this time rebuild. It is just a matter of getting this knowledge to the people who have to rebuild.
I felt this was a perfect time for someone in this area to gather the information and print up a book (or even a booklet) outlining the process and pointing out the pitfalls. Something these people could have in their hands to refer too as this long and difficult process proceeds.
The media here in this area provided tremendous coverage during the on-going tragedy. Television stations were on the air almost round the clock. The local newspaper churned out tons of stories about the fire.
And so, when the rebuilding process has to start where do these media outlets choose to put information that could be of help? The Internet.
My reaction was, "Say What?!"
What in the world makes you think people who have no place to live will have access to the Internet to gain
