For reasons I’d rather not examine to closely, I was drawn to the SF Gate story about how the Miss America pagent was dropped by CMT. Due to CMT’s shift to more original programming, the pagent is homeless, stale, tired, and unwanted. It almost makes you feel like crying…almost…
I started thinking. If the owners want the pagent to continue, why not turn it into something more original? Modernize it a bit by turning it into a true American pagent. Involve America…or at least the 66.6% of America that has an Internet connection. Why wait for an option from a T.V. network? I’m confused by their instance on television as the main delivery channel, anyway. Partner with Youtube to cast the pagent through the site. Each segment and contestant could be voted on and rated, and the result would be a Miss America that the country has a chance to select.
I might actually watch if it were on-line. I guarantee that I won’t chase the pagent down on CMT or some other television back-water. Just sayin’.
Ms. Theater District
An article in the New York TImes yesterday discussed how museum curators planned to use the general public and tagging to categorize artwork. Apparently the classification systems in use by most museums aren’t keeping pace with the times because people aren’t able to find specific pieces of art easily from their on-line collections. Using the idea of folksonomy (from Flickr & other sites), the museums created a system where tags are submitted by the public, vetted by the museum and then applied to the artwork.
However, there was no mention of how museums planned to manage slang terms or shifting meanings of words or additions. Are they going to pitch the folksonomy every couple of years and start over? Are they going to run search logs and click-throughs against these publicly built lists and purge them periodically?
It’s easy to build a folksonomy that’s relevant here and now, but what about the long-term? Fifty years from now people might not search for “rad” artwork. On the other hand, I sincerely hope that “rad” didn’t make it into the folksonomy to begin with. *fingers crossed*
Thoughts?
Via Joining Dots
Will she still love this tat in 10 years? 20?
Selection of baskets at Ethiopian Diamond
I use Google as my primary e-mail address, and for their calendar and collaborative documents & spreadsheets services. However, there’s a reason I still have a hotmail account, a bloglines set-up and other goods & services spread out over the web instead of using a vertical provider — I expect failure.
Don’t think I’m down on the Web because I’m the biggest fan the Internet has. I’ve just worked on the Web for too long to expect 100% uptime for a free on-line service.
I want Google to charge for their service because I want a service level agreement and accountability. I’m at the point in my Internet career that I’m willing to pay for what I want, when I want it.
Until I see it, I refuse to remain loyal to any service provider.
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