the traditional media sprawl into the digital landscape

One of the things I'm being asked to think about - in both my jobs, actually - is how traditional media producers/distributors, like the national broadcaster, (can) enhance their product and reach though the employment digital media networks and platforms. We chatted about it in class the other day - and I've put together a little bullet point list for my students... Additions to the (broadcast radio or TV) program...

• on demand or as podcast
• blog
• facebook
• twitter
• mobile phone feeds
• digg
• extended versions of program material - or extended previews - or extended summaries of past episodes...
• extra material... including online only material like slideshows and what's being called 'digital features'
• discussion boards, forums and guest books
• participation or user generated content initiatives/call-outs (also called crowd-sourcing)
• links and delicious tag-lists

The tricky thing, of course, is using these platforms in a sophisticated and interesting way (as opposed to simply trying to feed the program publicity through these avenues) Anyway, beyond (my non-exhaustive list) vague platform categories... it's good to think about how broadcasters are actually using these spaces - why they are using them - and what it adds to the user experience or the quality of the core media object...

For example 'a blog'... is it a faux-blog - written in the voice of a fictional character - being used as an extension of the core story or fictional universe?... a non-fiction blog written by a star presenter giving background stories or links to further information about this weeks show (and developing their profile and audience connection)?... is the blog attached to a show or just generally connected to a network (and able do riskier stuff outside the network firewall - like speechification.com)?... is it a group-written blog (which 'they' say is hard to pull off)?... or is it a project-based transient blog that helps promote the forthcoming project while it's in production?...

After examining what broadcasters are doing - and trying to figure out why they are doing it - and evaluating how successful these attempts are... it's good to get down into a deeper, dirtier level of analysis and start asking... for what sort of 'program plus audience' would a facebook group 'work' for... what sort of programs would a twitter account not be appropriate for... how are successful UGC initiatives (on Pool, for example) framed and why do you think the unpopular initiatives are... ah, unpopular? The ABC is having a play with different ways to use digital media... students might like to check out the following links - compare and contrast them to digital initiatives they are familiar with... what works, what doesn't and why...

• blogs... ABC Digital Futures blog, All in the Mind blog, Kerri Jean blog
• twitter accounts... Breakfast News, Pool, All in the Mind, 774 Melbourne
• facebook accounts... All in the Mind  Life Matters Triple J hottest 100
• extra material for online only... Background Briefing slide show, Into the Music Wide Open Road Online Feature
• Guest books and discussion forums... Life Matters Australia Talks
• mobile phone... MovieTime

I'll end there - not because I've run out of stuff to talk about - but because I'm getting link-fatigue [From the traditional media sprawl into the digital landscape]