Multimedia Monitor, March 1996

The sessions at Milia were many and varied, and there was a great deal of substance and, perhaps, less blatant self-promotion than one often sees at comparable shows. Here are the session highlights:

Strategies for Online Publishing

Robert Stein (The Voyager Company) co-organized this session, and Michael Utvitch (developer and consultant writer, Writers' Guild of America) served as the moderator.

This panel pointed out that because publishing models for the "Net" are varied and "nowhere near uniform," publishers are groping for solutions. Indeed, while some sites carry advertising or others charge for access, most online publishers are still sorting out which publishing or communication model they will follow. Session panelist Helmut Fluhrer (deputy publishing director for Burda GmbH, a German multimedia development company said), "If you provide quality content for free, you will accomplish your other objectives."

David Bunnell (creator of various computing publications and now the developer of content.com, "the destination site for creative professionals) said, "Doing business on the Internet is the most profound business opportunity of the Twentieth Century." Stein noted that the Voyager Web site "is selling a lot of its videodiscs and CD-ROMs. We also see big opportunities once a pay-per-view or digital cash mechanism becomes available."

Harald Neidhart (Digital World, Germany) related the importance of starting with quality content to build an online community. "Once you have an active and attractive community, you can start generating the commerce," he said.

International Licensing and Distribution : Global Business Challenges

This session was co-organized with and moderated by Ferhan Cook (president, Media Play International), who said that "as multimedia markets grow and mature, international business developments and global collaborations are gaining importance at all stages - from product design and production to marketing and distribution."

Alan Buckingham (managing director, Dorling Kindersley) pointed out that the addition of video is adding to development costs.

Nevertheless, the consensus among the panelists was that companies can finance the development of multimedia titles by selling international rights even before development has started. Furthermore, it is very important to document all development costs and to move quickly: Lead times for new media are not the same as for print media.

While the global markets and expanding online activities represent tremendous business opportunities, publishers are faced with several challenges and key strategic considerations that impact the selection of partners, channels, and even the original product design. While finding the right product to license for a specific market is the first step, the right international adaptation of a product is an issue that dominates every distribution relationship.

Multimedia Art : Beyond the Desktop

This session was co-organized by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (independent arrtist and curator), who also participated on the panel. Vicente Carreton (assistant curator, World Wide Video Festival) served as moderator.

This panel of young artists and programmers discussed extending the scope of multimedia beyond the personal computer - which, with its communications possibilities, becomes "no longer 'personal,' but 'social,' as well." As they discussed how the contributions of artists "are changing how computers are used how users interact with them," a common theme emerged. Carreton said the artists on the panel had gone "way beyond just blending images, sound, and text." They have achieved "an aggregation of technologies" with remarkable effect.

Lozano-Hemmer said that he is interested in a kind of interactivity "that uses the body. I am looking for intimacy, trying to design an experience that does not happen in a window interface."

The Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Online Publishing

Gerald Bigle (an attorney with Bigle, Carbonier, Lamaze, and Rasle) co-organized this session and also served as its moderator.

This panel discussed how the rapid growth of online communication and publishing is creating countless new complications, such as the misuse of the networks by hackers, the theft of confidential information and the modification of personal data, the transmission of obscene material, and the unauthorized copying and transmission of material protected by copyright. Each of these issues gives rise to numerous questions of a moral and legal nature, and this well-qualified panel grappled quite well with them.

David Nimmer (Irell and Manella) said that distributors of new media might be contrasted with bookstores. He noted that when dealing with the transmission of libelous or illegal material, bookstores are not considered liable for the material they distribute, but "the online distribution of material often has no one standing behind it."

Pierre Sirinelli (Law professor and Dean of the Jean Monnet Law School of the University of Paris) said that differentiation has to made regarding "whether the copying is for public or private use. Putting copyrighted material out for the public is definitely illegal," he said.

Richard Heller (Frankfurt, Garbus, Klein, & Selz) said that "commercial speech is different from private speech." Referring to the Telecommunications Act signed the day before by President Clinton, Heller said that the law speaks of a "good faith effort" on the part of services in attempting to keep illegal material off of their systems. "This," he said, "will lead to self-regulation as proposed by the Information Highway Parental Empowerment Group formed by the online services, Microsoft, Netscape, and the World Wide Web Consortium."

CD-ROM Goes Online

This session was co-organized by Tony Feldman (electronic media consultant, Tony Feldman Associates), who also moderated the session. Feldman pointed out that different views are emerging regarding the convergence of CD-ROM and online publishing, but that CD-ROM/online hybrids may well become "a remarkable and powerful new publishing market."

Janet Wikler (president, Wikler and Company) provided an overview of a study she conducted on the merging of CD-ROM and online services for the creation of hybrid products. She said, "I do not agree with people who say that CD-ROM is dead; in fact, online information can be useful for extending the shelf-life of CD-ROMs." The two technologies work together to create multimedia in the form of static content and time-sensitive material.

David Arganbright (president of Grolier Interactive) said that when combining assets, a significant rights issue surfaces. "Holding either the online or the CD-ROM rights does not guarantee rights to the other distribution medium."

Grant Perry (vice president for New Media Initiatives, Olivetti Telemedia) said that "no new medium replaces the old." He said there is an opportunity for hybrid systems, but things can change quite rapidly. Perry cited existing orders for cable modems (200,000 ordered by TCI, 100,000 by Time Warner, 250,000 by ComCast, and 50,000 by Cox) as evidence that things are rapidly advancing to make online much more robust in the near future. He opined that this change in online capabilities will "perhaps diminish the importance of technologies such as DVD."

David Eastburn (vice president for Advanced Technologies and Business Development, Compuserve) said that his company is convinced that the CD will be around a long time and, thus, is pursuing "seamless integration" with its interface. Due to its lower cost, Compuserve is "using CD-ROM to distribute the next generation interface combined with incremental downloads." Because the CD is being used primarily as a distribution medium, there exists a great need for the next generation of high density CD (DVD), said Eastburn. He also said that as software moves toward using "small intelligent agents, today's interface will go away."

Producing for Interactive Television

Clay Gordon (DEX Information Systems Inc.) and Jim Cook (Apple Computer Europe) co-organized this session. Gordon served as moderator.

The panel was unanimous in its conclusion that producing an application for interactive television (ITV) is different from producing for distribution via CD-ROM, the World Wide Web, and other electronic media. As Martin Freeth (BBC Multimedia Centre) said, "Video games and the online banking are interactive, but video on demand is linear."

Roderic Leigh (director of New Media Publishing at Valdieser Publishing) expressed frustration with trying to change the status quo. He stated, "TV editors and computer programmers are completely different, they work in completely different ways."

Indeed, many of the other panelists spent a good deal of their presentations pointing out the difficulties of doing interactive television. There was also consensus that deployment is a long way off and may well come via the Internet rather than over traditional cable or the airwaves.

The Art and Science of Writing for Interactivity

This session was a round-table co-organized with the Writers Guild of America). Douglas Varchol of the Writers' Guild of America West was the moderator.

This panel addressed the question, "Will interactive multimedia technologies bring about an entirely different form of storytelling?"

Michael Utvitch (developer and consultant writer, Writers' Guild of America) said that interactive products need to move away from the traditional scheme of character/climax/resolution to one in which "users are able to discover something about themselves. Time becomes an elastic structure and the author creates an environment or framework, rather than a story per se."

Moderator Varchol posed an interesting question of the panel: "As we develop AI and behavior for actors in the story, what happens to the writer?" At least one panelist saw this as "a pernicious possibility." Using such a product becomes "more like watching an aquarium than experiencing fiction."

Clearing Rights: A Jungle Adventure

Jill Alofs (Total Clearance) co-organized this session and was also a panelist. Jeffrey Larsen (president and executive producer of Co/op Media) served as moderator.

Using a multimedia travel game prototype as a copyright case study, Larsen asked a panel of clearance experts from France, Germany, Belgium, the UK, and the US to track down all game's possible rights violations. Moral rights issues emerged as potentially the most difficult category, since moral rights are recognized in some countries (France) and not necessarily in others (the US).

According to Thomas Raab (an attorney with Wessing and Partner), "Moral rights can forbid distortions and modifications, even if the copyright has expired."

Alofs said that getting written permission to use existing photos, film clips, music, or celebrity rights may be necessary, "but many title producers are uncertain when or how to secure these permissions on their own." She suggested that producers might avoid going to attorneys "if they can come up with creative ways of dealing with clearing rights." For example, going directly to the artist - rather than to his or her attorney - can keep the cost of rights from escalating.

In addition, some countries require clearance of certain images such as buildings, while others do not. In some cases, the use of celebrity images is legal, while in others, it is illegal. All panelists agreed that securing rights for future technologies such as the Internet is the most difficult situation of all.

Virtual Worlds: Emerging Communities

This session was co-organized by Linda Stone (Microsoft). Benjamin Heidersberger (director, Ponton European Media Art Lab) was the moderator.

Stone said that Microsoft set up its Virtual Worlds Group when it realized that "anywhere from 40 percent to 70 percent of users' online time was spent chatting." She demonstrated Microsoft's V-Chat software which allows the user to choose an individual identity or "avatar" and interact with other users in a simulated environment of their choosing.

Douglas Adams (author of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Creative Director of the Digital Village) wondered "why are the environments we are creating modeled so closely after the 'real' environments in which we live - since the 'real world' is just a virtual world that we create for ourselves." The world, he said, is understand differently by humans, by dolphins, by elephants. "The perceptions of each are totally different," said Adams. "Once we understand that, we will be able to take a richer and more creative view for these new online worlds."

Identification and Protection of Rights in the Digital Age

This session was co-organized with ADAMI. Leonardo Chiariglione (chairman of the MPEG Working Group and president of the DAVIC CSELT Group) served as moderator.

Chiariglione said that if we are considering traditional methods of rights protection in the digital world, then "'going digital' means accepting destabilization." He said that the digital environment requires "clear identification of copyright registration numbers, identification of ownership, secure management of transactions, and a usage data protocol."

Pierre-Marie Bouvery (New Technologies Manager of ADAMI, the rights protection agency for performing artists and musicians) voiced his concerns over the need to protect his constituent group. He said the only way to protect the intellectual property rights of performances or services that are delivered digitally is through the automated management of the digital bit streams. "Conventions must be established through the insertion of internationally standard, compulsory codes that will enable the automated tracking of how and where the performances are being used and which rights holders are being affected," he said.

The Author's Role in Multimedia Title Development

Calliope Media co-organized this session as a round-table. Robert Winter (president, Calliope Media) served as the session's moderator.

An overriding theme of this session was clearly that as the onslaught of new CD-ROM titles continues to escalate - and with so many of them promising benefits they may not deliver - quality titles are essential in creating a true consumer market. Furthermore, according to session moderator Winter, "If you go around the exhibition and look, not one-tenth of one percent of the CD-ROMs out there have the name of an author on them."

Roger Phillips (author, Content Content) echoed this sentiment: "In the context of CD-ROM development, 'author' is a group noun."

Fionnuala Dugan (New Media Development Manager, McMillan General Books Ltd.) said that authors need to work closely with their publishers to ensure they receive the same recognition afforded authors of books. Furthermore, publishers must "make sure CD-ROM authors enhance their reputation by developing a work." This way, she said, authors will gain the reputation they need, benefiting projects on which they work in the future.

Let's Make a Deal : An Interactive Role Play on the Business of Multimedia

This session was co-organized by Garry Hare (Fathom Pictures), who also served as moderator. In an interesting scenario, Hare described the idea of a project he wanted to get published, pitching it to several potential publishing partners, who also happened to be panelists: C. Shepherd (William Morris Agency), Michael Gale (CEO of Double Impact Multimedia Inc.), Jean-Claude Larue (president, Philips Media European Publishing), and Alex Ponti (president, Immagini Interattive SRL).

It was clear from the simulation that these various industries continue to use their traditional business models in negotiating with title creators and producers. Hare pointed out that the resulting differences in the way each of these industries structure its agreements with talent results in a great deal of confusion.

Certain trends from each segment were universal: Produce for as many platforms as practical. Consider leaving the porting where there is the most expertise - perhaps with the distributor, rather than with the developer. Be reasonable about the advances. Don't forget about negotiating rights on potential hits for other media or for new technologies, such as interactive television and new computer platforms. Decide up front who should pay if there is trouble. Creative control often resides with the person assuming the most risk.

Games: New Platforms, New Audiences, New Content

This session was co-organized by Siren New Media and The Red Herring. Fredric Paul (editor-in-chief, PC Entertainment) served as moderator.

Panelist Solange Vandermeer said, "We must look beyond 'twitchware.'" She identified two groups that have not traditionally been touched by games: senior citizens and women. Vanermeer conducted a five-year experiment in which 113 women between the ages of 11 and 25 a computer and modem - and no instructions as to how they should use the technology. They were simply told, "You can create anything you want." The women created 60 different applications, many of them games involving communities that competed against each other.

Douglas Adams (author) criticized the game products that he has seen, saying, "I am hypnotized by the catastrophic failure of the imagination." He said we must answer the question, "What is the relationship among technology, tools, and the content?"

Computers, Adams said, "have changed the way we see the world and have enabled us to see how things can be put together. We need to differentiate between old story telling and new story telling. With games, we have to outguess the audience." As an example of a good game, he cited Myst, saying "It is a great thing. The developers parlayed technical limitations into a langourous sense of imagination, capturing the imagination with love and hard work. They did not listen to the marketing people."

Adams pointed out that "limitations can work to your favor if you think about them and see them as challenges." There is also a communications issue to address in games development: "Technologists don't know how to tell a story, and story tellers don't know technology. Michelangelo didn't communicate his printing ideas to a painter who then carried them out. We need to get better, more intuitive, more direct tools into the hands of the story tellers."

Advertising Goes Interactive

This session was co-organized by Iris Bellinghausen (New Media Concept). Anthony Perkins (publisher/editor-in-chief, The Red Herring (USA) was the moderator.

Perkins said that the essential questions surrounding multimedia advertising concern fundamental concepts rather than budgets. "While advertising agencies are beginning to shift resources from traditional media campaigns to interactive media design, they are also simultaneously seeking new advertising paradigms," he said. These changes are epitomized by several trends apparent in society today. For example, 1995 saw more PCs than televisions sold in the United States. That same year, 95 billion e-mail messages were sent, compared with 85 billion pieces of US mail, and data transmitted on American telephone networks exceeded voice signals.

What is the present model for interactive advertising? The panel seemed to agree that the model hasn't gelled yet. The only certainty is that the approach will necessarily be different. It will be a pull-based model, rather than one based on advertiser push. Many Web sites must be changed, and many others will be abandoned. Yet, there are signs of success, Andrew Anker (president and CEO of HotWired) said that his firm's net-based publication is selling ads for about $15 per person and "is getting a lot of traffic."

Multimedia: An Educational Tool

Patrick Madelin (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel) co-organized and moderated this session. He opened the session by stating that the use of interactive technologies is growing in every area, except in the school. "Things are happening at home, but not in the classroom," he said. Furthermore, "equality doesn't exist in education." The market is a paradox, he said, "a market that has promise, but has not yielded much, thus far."

Julia Geisman (president of InterComm International Inc.) described a study she is conducted that was funded by the US Department of Education. The study addresses three questions: 1) Is multimedia an effective instructional tool?; 2) Can materials be designed that meet specific requirements?; and 3) Can educational publishers create titles for less than $300,000?

The study examined Limited English Proficient Students in the sixth grade and used a fictitious bike rally that takes place in South America to teach geography. Using an instructionally intensive program, students not only learned geography, but also improved their language skills.

John Merakowsky (senior consultant, Computer Power Education Pty Ltd.) said, "There is no doubt that multimedia is a useful instructional tool." His firm's clients access information on the "Net "as they do "just in time" training for business, prompting Merakowsky to conclude that "online information and multimedia can work very well together."

Refik Molva (Institut Eurocom) said that "many mistakes have been made in implementing technology in education - such as giving computers to people who didn't want themÉ Now it seems that schools are in danger of being left behind, because the parameters have changed." He said that now that the publishers and hardware have arrived, "we need the participation of the teachers and open tools."

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