Panel Statement
Panel: Pervasive Media: Practice, Value, Culture
Digital media has created an age of media plenty from the era of analogue scarcity the existing patterns of political economy are being gradually destabilised. This project again brings academic research methods to bear on cultural industry case studies to produce knowledge about how the new generation of web native creatives will create sustainable value networks. New start-ups in digital media are developing new business models ranging from targeted advertising, sponsorship, product placement, subscription, retail, and ‘pay per play’ application markets. These models cross commercial and public sectors; some continue existing patterns of media economy, some are distinctively new. However the new conditions of the digital market characterized by plenty as opposed to analogue scarcity require new ways of developing sustainable businesses. This expertise is as yet very underdeveloped especially within the creative communities that hold the keys to successful applications and compelling content. Pervasive Media can be thought of as a new field; commissioners, brands, clients, funding bodies often have difficulty grasping its potential. Very few media professionals, let alone members of the public, understand what Pervasive Media is, or could become. We are at a new frontier. The work of the Pervasive Media Studio is underpinned by the work of definition and taxonomy through a series of experimental productions that begin to determine what this new form of media delivery can be. At this period of development practitioners from art, design, and technology find little time or common ground to reflect on their practice. Academic expertise in a knowledge exchange context can facilitate this reflection outside of the day to day constraints of the market.
- Jon Dovey has recently been appointed to the new Faculty of Creative Arts at University of the West of England, UK, with a view to raising the profile of media research there. Since joining UWE he has established the Digital Cultures Research Centre; interfacing industry and academia and based at the Pervasive Media Studio. Jon is a leading researcher in the field of interactive media and gaming and spent the first 15 years of his working life in video production, working through the early years of Channel Four as a researcher, editor and eventually as Producer. He worked principally in documentary and experimental video, co founding original scratch artists Gorilla Tapes in 1984. His video projects gained international distribution and recognition and have now taken their place in the documented histories of UK Video Art. After moving to Bristol in 1990 he worked at the Watershed Media Centre for two years before teaching at the University of Plymouth in 1992 and then at both the University of the West of England School of Cultural Studies and the University of Bristol. As Head of the Department of Drama at Bristol University he piloted a £13m redevelopment through University planning stages. He is Knowledge Transfer Fellow at the the Pervasive Media Studio 2010-2011 and is researching the the Aesthetics and Value of Pervasive Media innovations.