Vancouver International Digital Festival

Interact at VidFest - I Dare You

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about interactivity and what it really means.

First, some context.

I’ve worked in media since I was 15 years old, when I started a full time job as a disc jockey in the evenings while going to high school during the day. I did my homework in 2 and a half minute chunks while playing the latest pop songs from The Chi-lites, The Staple Singers or the Hollies.

It was my first introduction to multitasking. The discs in question were 45 rpm vinyl by the way - it was 1972 - and personal computers were science fiction.

But even then, connecting with the audience, knowing who they were and how they used our services, was a primary driver. Our metrics were crude. Our station was so small it couldn’t afford to pay to be part of the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings. But that didn’t mean we didn’t have pin-point accurate metrics. Our station manager would never have used the “M” word, but he was obsessed with metrics. Every time there was a car accident (a big story in a small prairie town) we were required to end the news story with information about where the wrecked cars has been towed for repairs. Why? Because after the news story went on air, the manager would go down to see how many people had driven over to the repair spot to see the crashed cars. No fancy graphs for pie charts - he literally counted his listeners

Interactivity was simple, and effective. The radio station had an open door policy, and by that I mean an open door. The front door was open 24-7, and people would just walk in with song requests, want ads (for which they paid $1.00 for a 1 week run), lost dog announcements, or whatever. Our station manager was quick to remind us that when people stopped walking through the door, we wouldn’t have jobs.

No one ever used the “I” word, but we knew what interactivity meant; when Jerome Smigelski’s dad came in with ad copy for the Ackland’s store, you got up and met him at the counter. And that ad was on the air a few songs later.

Fast forward to right now.

I’m on my laptop at the kitchen counter of my home in North Vancouver. I daily publish to three blogs, confer with partners, organize projects and manage contractors and clients from this very counter. To keep in touch, I use IM, Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, RSS, and a few other services I can’t even recall.

Hundreds of people daily read my posts about my sailboat, my work, and my knee deep thoughts. I have metrics up the ying-yang on those people - I know when they visit, how long they stay, what they read, how many colours their monitor displays, their IP address and more. Yet, I have no clue who they are.

Today, we have reach and tools of unprecedented scope, yet for me, something is still missing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not interested in opening a fruit stand on Hornby Island as a way of connecting with people. The first time I saw an IRC message from a listener while doing a live network show, or streamed the first live audio around the world on CBC’s RealTime, I was hooked. But I continually ask myself - how are all these tools helping us really connect with people.

Here’s what I’m getting at:

A few weeks ago I sold a piece of audio equipment on eBay. The buyer was shocked (as was I) to discover he lives about 4 minutes from my house. As I look out my window, it occurs to me that I know absolutely nothing about what is going on in my own neighbourhood. Meanwhile, I’m Twittering with a guy in Sydney Australia whom I’ve never met, and I’ve got a Facebook friend request from someone who is decidedly NOT my friend.

When I interviewed Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress earlier this year, he said “one of the most powerful things you can do is marry profit motives with community motives”. I think this is the right sentiment, and I’m hoping that as our interactive tools continue to mature and evolve, they’ll also enrich the communities in which we live.

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Robert Ouimet is a partner in At Large Media . He blogs there, as well as at Bigsnit and at VanGoGreen. He’s moderating the session “Crowd Pleasers“ on May 23rd.