Today Channel 4’s chief exec, Andy Duncan, gave a speech about the UK’s changing media ecology. While most of the coverage is focused around a possible merger with Channel Five his speech contained some interesting thoughts on digital Britain and the role of 4ip.
On content:
“we are no longer only talking about ‘content’ in the conventionally understood sense, but a rich and complex mix that includes traditional linear content but also includes a growing range of services, networks and tools that allow users to build networks and services of their own design”
On 4ip’s role:
“...as our big £50 million 4IP project gets under way, what is mainly being commissioned is not content in any conventional sense but tools and content that enable the public to do things online which at present they are not able to do. 4IP isn’t a digital production studio so much as a digital machine tool factory – helping equip Britain with tools for 21st century living.”
On 4iP commissions:
“Or I could mention two services with which 4IP is engaged. One, Patient Opinion, set up by a former GP in Sheffield, lets hospital patients and visitors share feedback on their experience. Another, Talk About Local, will equip people in 150 of the most deprived areas of the country with skills to launch and maintain sites aimed at improving their local environment. There are dozens more.”
On the digital divide:
“...the digital divide is no longer some potential problem for a special unit in Downing Street to worry about – it is a growing reality that affects us all. Poorer households, older people, disadvantaged communities are all getting left behind and while that has a direct and damaging impact on them it has a wholly negative impact on the rest of society, too. It holds back the real potential for many commercial services. It stops government from interacting as effectively with citizens as it could. It impacts on the way in which schools engage or fail to engage with pupils, even the way in which parents and children engage or fail to engage with each other at home. Nor will it be resolved by market forces alone, any more than the crippling impact of illiteracy on the growth of our economy and society in the nineteenth century was resolved by market forces. Both require public policy and public intervention.”
Download the speech (pdf)
Ivan Pope on Thu, January 15, 2009 at 6:19 said:
Dan, I guess it would be useful and interesting to know more about these 4iP projects of which Andy speaks. Patient Opinion, Talk About Local, dozens more. Could you list them somewhere?
Daniel Heaf on Fri, January 16, 2009 at 9:53 said:
Yes Ivan we desperate to put some of the details up!
However, we need to be patient and wait for all the details, contracts etc. to be sorted. High level announcements like this are good but we’ve got a bit more work to do before the details are published.
Don’t worry as soon as we have stuff to publish in full we will be doing.
Dan
Julian Todd on Wed, January 21, 2009 at 5:57 said:
What’s a digital machine tool? I know what an actual machine tool is.
Driver Robot Serial on Fri, December 11, 2009 at 1:17 said:
It would be very interesting to see some more details about what 4ip is doing inline with UK’s changing media ecology.
toolex on Sun, March 21, 2010 at 2:43 said:
Thanks for helpful information you catch up us with your instructional explanation.
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