Future of Creative Industries - Implications for Research ... - Europa

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making content protection as their current number one priority. Moreover, the software andhardware companies make new alliances between them and together with trade bodies, tryingto face up to piracy through a three fold strategy of: technical solutions, legal means andeducational initiatives.The overall legal market seems however also to be growing - see for example sales data forDVDs (figure 9), online music and music-quality ring tones for cell phones. Channelling thegrowth of online content distribution into legal channels will be a major challenge to thissector in the next few years, for instance through interoperable DRM (Digital RightsManagement) schemes.4.4. Convergence of technologiesDifferent analysts consider that perhaps the most important implication of digitalisation is thatit makes different media potentially able to be interconnected. A study carried out by theAustralian authorities (NOIE and Department of Communications, Information Technologyand the Arts, 2002, p. 14), points out that the analogue technologies are usually stronglyvertically integrated but horizontally separated. The service and its infrastructure come acrosstogether because an infrastructure can produce only one service. Newspapers provide text,telephones carry voice, etc. In the case of digital technologies, a digital network can cover arange of services: video, voice, text, transactions. Therefore there is the possibility forhorizontal integration and potential common use of the infrastructures and technologies.According to Hesmondalgh (2002, p. 222), there are mainly two serious drivers from the basisof a high degree of convergence of media technologies: the Internet and digital television.Mobile content should be added currently as a major convergence technology for the nearfuture, including mobile TV, premium SMS services, ring tones/music, mobile Internet.4.4.1. Internet and mobile contentAccording to Miles (1998) a new phase of the Internet is represented by webcasting, whichadds audio and video dimensions to the current mainly text-based web pages. The advantagesof webcasting are numerous, as Miles points out: from the (i) enlarged capabilities of a TV,radio, satellite receiver, support interactive videos and live transmission or alerts sent directlyto or from an institution, to the (ii) increasing audience at global level and to the (iii)possibility of using different receiving devices (TVs, radios, PCs, pagers, telephones andremote devices).According to the same source, there are essentially three types of webcasting:- Streaming technology: delivery of audio and video signals over the Internet (thesignals can be live - in real time, recorded or delivered on-demand).- On-demand represents the possibility to time-shift information received through thestreaming technologies. In other words, one can receive the audio/video stream andview it at any time. “On-demand technology gives us remote control to a Web pageand lets us control our own audio and vide choices and delivery schedule” (Miles,idem).24
- Push technology: through it, the information is delivered to a person either becausehe/she have requested it or because someone else thinks that he/she is likely to beinterested in it.- P2P and swarming distribution is added lately to the above types of webcasting. Aswarming P2P distribution network turns all consumers into distributors, thusdecentralizing the distribution. As a result, this method requires only a minimum ofserver and network capacity for the central publisher compared to the traditionalwebcasting, but instead the methods demands a certain upload capability for the users.Distribution can be live or on-demand. In the future, there is a possibility that digitalInternet-originated distribution will also bypass the normal Internet and use directdevice-to-device distribution in ad hoc networks, pending on appropriate copyrightand payment schemes.As one of the future directions, push technologies are foreseen to become more interactive,taking into account the users’ past behaviour and their response or lack of it.The challenges for the future are related nearly with all the steps necessary for the webcastingprocess (table 4), and the changes are occurring at a high speed. For instance, the signal canbe already generated in digital format (Sony and Panasonic just released in 2004 newprofessional digital cameras, enable to bypass the conversion process from analogue todigital).Table 4: Broadcast Technology and RequirementsTV Broadcasting StepsWebcasting steps1. Generate signal 1. Generate signal2. Transmit signal to TV station 2. Convert signal from analog todigital (encoding)3. TV station broadcasts signal 3. Compress signal to send overtelephone lines or an Internetconnection (compression)4. Transmit compressed, digitizedsignal to an Internet service provider(ISP) and replicates5. ISP clones the signal (i.e.,stream)and broadcast it over the InternetRequirementsRequirements Broadcast equipment Air time(purchased from network) Program contentTransmission/tower Webcasting equipment Communication link to ISP Program content Bandwidth (leased from ISP)Source: Peggy Miles, Internet world TM guide to webcasting, 1999, p. 3325
Page 1 and 2: WORKING DOCUMENTEUR 21471
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Page 5 and 6: AcknowledgementsCarmen Marcus works
Page 7 and 8: 1. Overview of the field1.1. Matter
Page 9 and 10: 1.1.2. What type of industries does
Page 11 and 12: Another feature of the large corpor
Page 13: freelancers. Moreover, among them t
Page 16 and 17: twentieth century. In its logic, du
Page 18 and 19: “The culture is ‘street-level
Page 20 and 21: 3. European characteristics3. 1. Eu
Page 22 and 23: European Audiovisual Observatory st
Page 24 and 25: 3.2.4. Book readingBeside the high
Page 26 and 27: 4. Technological development releva
Page 30 and 31: However, according to Miles, there
Page 32 and 33: 5. Possible research needs based on
Page 34 and 35: A useful study would aim to analyze
Page 36 and 37: In this context, the European Parli
Page 38 and 39: Annex I. Specific organisation patt
Page 40 and 41: Table 7: The share of booksellers (
Page 42 and 43: 5. Formal training, apprenticeship
Page 44 and 45: BibliographyAustralian Government,
Page 46 and 47: European CommissionEUR 21471 — Fu

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