There are degrees of 'local-ness'; after all, Paris is local to London relative to San Francisco. But if, as Graham Jones asserts, the Internet will have an equal if not greater impact 'locally' than globally, what are the ramifications for content?
'Local' is a hot topic,and last week's Mashup Event was dedicated to the topic. IT enables personalisation of applications and services, and one's locality must rank up there with all things personal.
Now marry this with the increasing availability of high quality video content, and I've become fascinated by the opportunities and benefits of repurposing video content on the fly to match the viewer's needs precisely.
I'm compelled to make this post having watched last night's first show of the new series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Always a f***ing entertaining show, I was gobsmacked by the revised editing style. I know. This series is Ramsay's first in the US and comes out of Fox. I know. I've been to the US and witnessed US TV many times, although Fox is 'exceptional'. Acknowledging that I'm making a sweeping generality, US editing is simply unpleasant viewing for a Norfolk boy with traditional British expectations and sensibilities...
Weird camera panning and zooming. Camera flash stylee transitions. Whooshing sound effects. Endless in-programme repeats of the best bits in case I'd been filling up my Coke glass whilst the maitre d' was tearing Ramsay's face off. All in all, dreadful production values by the subjective standards of the UK.
Innovative companies like Real Time Content have developed automated tools to compile a personalised "media experience" on the fly to adapt to the personal profile of each individual consumer. I wonder, can we adapt video content on the fly to cope with local needs, at all levels of 'local'?
If technologies like Real Time Content's can dedicate more time to the menu construction and recipes on Kitchen Nightmares for foodies, and emphasise the front-of-house shenanigans for reality TV junkies, could last night's show also have been broadcast in the UK to match the editorial style of the previous UK series, automatically?
And if video personalisation, including localisation, is a future reality, what will it mean for marketing communicators in designing and commissioning content?
