With our Africa Online! report we signalled opportunities to be met in this ‘forgotten continent’. The basic argument in the report is “No aid but trade” and I would like to quote Ecobanks chief executive Arnold Ekpe in the NewAfrican (no.479) for a new slogan: “We do not have a strategy for Africa. Africa is our strategy.” This idea of taking advantage of the possibilities in Africa includes the necessity for autonomy of African people and their actions, something we could see as a waypoint on the road to a online Africa. Here is how Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, is fixing its broken windows in its race towards international succes.

So the media landscape is changing and is rapidly movig into the digital sphere. With it the way that companies and brands are using these media for their marketing activities is also subject to change. Traditional strategies and approaches will most likely be less and less effective, in some cases maybe even counter productive, while new methods possibly will show to offer great opportunities and growth possibilities. So what are the do’s and don’ts for (future) marketeers? Some thoughts and examples…

This week, Sarah McBride of the Wallstreet Journal published an article on the future of the way we’ll watch movies. Although there are quite a few remarkable new technological advancements to be expected in the coming years, the article proves yet again, that the industry is still caught in a tech fetish kind of mode. Picture quality gets better, screens get bigger, access content anytime, anyplace, but what does that do for me…the movie fan? That question is left unanswered. Nice example of ‘enhancing the traditional process’ but not ‘innovating on the new definition of media’… (video included)

Sun acquiring MySQL is old news, I know, but writing about OpenOffice I was genuinely surprised at the logo in the bottom left corner of the OpenOffice site. This logo appears to be two logos, but it is really one. The two logos shown are both Sun and MySQL. Like Exxon Mobil, or closer to home ABN Amro, it suggests a merger. But I am not aware of a rebranding of the resulting company. I have searched quite intensively for reasons behind this ‘move’, but having found nothing of significance I can only speculate…

I don’t know what’s more shocking, somebody telling you how the USA has build up an enormous debt or that message not being such a huge shock. I.O.U.S.A. is a film about the financial situation of the USA, the build up of an incredible debt through yearly repeating deficits, a failing government, the ignorance of its citizens and future prospects that look even worse. During the documentary, that I saw on the IDFA, we follow former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and Bob Bixby of the Concord Coalition on their Financial Wake Up Tour, who are informing the American citizens about the problems and trying to mobilize them to vote.

You can see a 30min version of the film here

The Financial Times has recently suggested that the publicly launched video website Hulu in March of this year, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, might overtake the popular YouTube next year in regards to advertising revenues. This year Hulu, the site that only shows professional TV shows and movies, will make some $70 million in ad revenue whereas YouTube will make $100 million that same year. But, as YouTube is attracting a worldwide audience of 83 million viewers each month, Hulu only attracts 6 million in the US. Recipe for success?

Objected by the wireless industry and some consumer groups, but “free, pornography-free wireless Internet service to all Americans” is still what the FCC is pushing for. Interesting! Is this the reason the FCC approved the White Spaces left by analog television to be opened for wireless broadband? The business model of a USA wide wireless ISP would be much more ‘problematic’ if they also have to license a certain frequency for operation. But this plan is not intended to use the White Spaces, but is negotiated to be part of a plan for one of the frequencies just sold.

“The meaning is in the use.” It is a quote often used and taken from Wittgensteins Philosophical Investigations. But what are actually the implications of this powerful phrase? This week I was assigned to give a lecture about the linguistic turn argument in the discussion on political obligation. Taking the argument from Hanna Pitkins text ‘Obligation and Consent‘ I tried to explain my colleague students what it states, but discussion showed the difficulty to truly understand it. As it is one of my favourite philosophical subjects, according to Wittgenstein the only one, I will give it another go.

Last Saturday the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam was officially opened with the screening of Episode 3, Renzo Martens ‘piece of art’ about poverty in Africa; Congo to be precise. The screening left no one untouched I guess. People were mad, astound, nauseated, sad, or felt powerless. For a documentary to do that, is quite an achievement I think. Afterwards the creator commented on his documentary, and one remark caught it all to my opinion. On a question about his intentions with the film, Martens replied: “well, there’s no real difference between there and here, it’s just different lifestyles.”