Will Hollywood Kill Engagism?

The IEEE's Spectrum Magazine had an interesting story on Hollywood and its reaction to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, passed in 1999. As Spectrum points out, "[t]he DMCA gave copyright holders new rights to control the way people use copyrighted material and new protection for technologies designed to restrict access or copying. The movie and record companies argued they needed these new restrictions to fight increased piracy threats in the digital era."

However, what has happened as a result is nothing less than the potential death of engagism. Content companies are urging Congress to mandate additional restrictions on the use of copyright materials -- uses that up until now have been perfectly legal. If Hollywood has its way, no longer will we be able to make a copy of a favorite movie to share with a friend. That will be an illegal activity, subject to enforcement by the "copyright police."

But this issue has more implications than just preventing us from sharing a movie with a friend. These types of restrictions may reduce our ability to engage in content by creating our own. Imagine a world in which our favorite snippets of the Colbert report could not be posted on You Tube. Perhaps more important, the drive to add these restrictions to devices represents a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of Hollywood of what the engagist consumer expects from content providers. Consumers want to engage with content. They want to use content to interact with the world around them by sharing downloads and inspiring others to enjoy their favorites. They want to make decisions about the direction of the story line in their favorite video games. They want to sample songs and use them to create their own fabulous works.

Will Hollywood kill engagism? Only if we let them. The question is, will Hollywood learn to understand and thrive in an increasingly engagist society?

Check out the Spectrum article on this issue at http://spectrum.ieee.org/jun06/3673

The 800 pound Gorilla and Engagism

So, Steve Ballmer has pledged a "new era" for Microsoft, with a new focus on all those engagist activities like video games, MP3 players and the like. They will also be directing their attention toward online advertising as well as product placement in video games and other content-rich applications.

I'll be curious to see how (if) this works. With the shift to a more engagist culture has come a tremendous capacity for and demand for choice. Consumers will choose products that allow them to engage at the highest levels. In most cases, the quality of the product must be high enough to counterbalance any advertising or other negatives that the manufacturer has built in. Otherwise, they will choose to engage in something else. iTunes has done this somewhat successfully for most of the world. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft can do the same.

One entity that has done an amazing job of catering to the engagist consumer is YouTube (www.youtube.com) Here, users have the ability to post their own video for viewing by others (pornographers need not apply). Site users rate their favorites, which are featured on the front page. This approach reaches what to me is the highest level of engagist activity, creation. People who are truly engaged in an activity often start feeling that urge to create on their own. That's one of the reasons why many video games are so popular -- players get to create their own outcome.

The important point here is that people aren't flocking to youtube because it has product placements in all the right places. Rather, it allows people to engage in their own content -- and to interact with other like-minded individuals. That is the core of engagism.

Web 2.0

According to Spectrum magazine (from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), one of the latest technology buzz phrases is "web 2.0." Of course, by the time you read this, Web 2.0 might be SOOO five minutes ago. At any rate, it is described as "a second phase in the evolution of the World Wide Web in which developers create Web sites that look and act like desktop programs and enoucourage collaboration and communication between users."

Isn't Web 2.0 really engagism? According to Paul MCFedries, the author of an article in Spectrum ("The Web, Take Two") "[t]he 2.0-ness of a site also depends strongly on how closely the site mimics a desktop application; that is, to what degree the site offers a user rich experience."

Examples of "Web 2.0" include Gmail, Flickr (www.flickr.com -- for photos) and Writely (www.writerly.com -- for writing) Each offers the user an opportunity to engage by sharing their content. They reflect what to me is the highest level of engagism -- i.e., the involvement in an activity that encourages one to create something of their own (such as a photo show or writing). If you're wondering what I mean by that, see chapter five of my thesis at http://www.engagism.com/5engagism.html. I swear, it's not too painful to read -- plus I quote Jean Luc Picard!

Stephanie

Voluntary Spirit and Engagism

Thank you to my friend Alan Rosenblatt for giving me this link to a great article on how associations and community groups can use the Internet to engage their citizens

http://joemocracy.com/au_files/brainard_reform_in_voluntary_spirit.pdf

One of my favorite points "People belong to these cyber-organizations not by virtue of having sent dues or donations but, rather, through their active participation . . . Participants do do not take direction from the cyber-organization. Rather, they are the cyber-organization."

Sounds like engagism to me!

Why is Starbucks so Popular?

OK, that's an enormous question. But it occured to me, as I was standing in line waiting for my sinfully boring small (a.k.a. tall) drip coffee, that there's a bunch of reasons why Starbucks is everywhere, not the least of which is that they cater to any increasingly engagist society. We've all heard about how Starbucks broke the mold on the location of their stores -- they decided to put themselves smack dab in the middle of where people were already buying coffee. Not so radical, but then they'd put two or three or four stores in that same area within blocks of each other. The conventional wisdom is that the stores should have burned each other out. But they didn't. They ALL thrived.

We've heard, too, of the fact that Starbucks works hard on its brand and image -- wherever you go in the world, you know when you're in a Starbucks. A triple caramel macchiato looks and tastes the same whether you're in DC or New Zealand (I know, I've checked).

But it's the triple caramel machiatto that I think really makes the difference. Starbucks lets the consumer "engage" by concocting their own crazy drinks that match their own personalities (what does that say about me and my boring drip coffee). As I was listening to people shout out their drink orders, I was impressed by the array -- half caff/skim lattes shared the limelight with double espressos with a dash of hazlenut. Basically, consumers can take absolutely any ingredient in the Starbucks arsenal and combine it into their own customized drink. They aren't passively receiving the drink of the barrista's choice -- they are engaging. And that's at least part of the reason why Starbucks is so successul.

Malcolm Gladwell "Gets It"

In his book "The Tipping Point", Malcolm Gladwell talks extensively about the "stickness factor." This is, basically, the idea that the message being delivered has to be compelling -- in other words, it has to stick with you. He considers a range of research on very "sticky" messages, including those teaching messages delivered by Sesame Street and Blues Clues.

According to Gladwell, one important aspect of "stickiness" is the ability to engage the audience. In discussing Blues Clues he notes that "[t]he first was the idea that the more kids are engaged in watching something -- intellectually and physically -- the more memorable and meaningful it becomes." The developers of Blues Clues used this idea to engage the kids in the programming, by, for example, creating long pauses after questions in order to give the kids in the studio audience and, most important, at home, an opportunity to shout out the answers. As Gladwell points out "[i]f you watch Blue's Clues with a group of children, the success of this stratefgy is obvious. It's as if they're a group of diehard Yankees fans at a baseball game."

Clearly, even from a very young age kids are expecting to engage in the content they are provided. What implications does this have for when they are part of the workforce?

Engagism in Advertising

Thanks to my friend David Avrin for turning me on to an article by Rob Brazell entitled "Through the Looking Glass: Humpy Dumpty Media." It's pretty much about how consumers are no longer trapped by traditional media and, hence, advertising can longer be successful if it follows the traditional media model. Because they have so many choices, consumers can bypass traditional "command and control content" and its associated advertising. Marketing companies are going to have to find new ways to reach out to consumers.

One new way, in my opinion, is allowing them to engage in the content of the advertising. I know that sounds weird, but it's already happening! The Washington Post recently ran an article entitled "The Nearly Personal Touch: Marketers Use Avatars to Put An Animated Face With the Name." Not only is it about avatars, the new "it" toy of advertising, but it makes reference to the fact that some companies are starting to get it -- they are allowing people to post their own comments, perspective, opinions, on company websites through avatars. This is just the most recent example of engaging consumers -- Mastercard figured this out with its "priceless" sweepstakes a few years ago. If you're interested in the article you can access it here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/14/AR2006071401587.html

Even Congress Gets It

I read with interest in the Washington Post this morning about the newly formed Congressional Modeling and Simulation Caucus (or M&S for short). You can read the article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301861.html

Seems that all the dorks that played Dungeons and Dragons in high school are now either a) getting themselves elected to Congress or b) starting up companies that are leading the way in this field and asking their elected officials to take notice. Some of the simulations at a recent Congressional M&S event included learning how to operate a wheeled loader, saying a respectful hello in Arabic and how to evacuate a whole town in the wake of a natural disaster. The main draw of the session was VICE, the Virtual Interactive Combat Environment, a game that allows players to shoot their fake M15 rifles onto a giant screen with depictions of "the enemy."

Who knew it would be possible to get members of Congress so engaged in an issue?

It's a Wiki Wiki Web

Although they've been around for years (think wikipedia, the site where users can add to the general knowledge base on a topic), wiki's are finally gaining some respect. The "command and control" approach to the Internet is making way for a process where users can more interactively engage in the content on the sites they use. Essentially, any site that has a Wiki plug in allows users to edit the content they see on that page. So, for example, if you want interactive feedback on a topic or to collaborate on a project, Wiki allows you to do so quickly and easily over the web. Like Blogs, there are a number of locations where you can set up a free Wiki site. Here's a listing from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_farms

Consider how you can use this entirely cool and free software to engage the people around you -- whether it's employees, consumers or the like.

Generation Engage

I learned with interest of a group run by one of the Rockefellers that seeks to help young people "outside the scope of a four year university" become involved in the political process. The founders of the group make the very good point that many young people have some of their first experiences in citizen democracy while in college. Often, those people not attending college are left out of the loop. This organization seeks to remedy that problem.

I'm intrigued by this because it shows yet another example of engagism at work in the real world.

Learn more at www.generationengage.org