leveraging the apple ipad to disrupt broadcasting

If you have been following me over the past year, you would know that I have been ideamaking within the walls at WFXL FOX31 in Albany, Georgia, and I can tell you with absolute confidence that the experience has been NO LESS than amazing. As an Innovator/Designer I can still remember why I took on the role of Interactive Managing Editor at the station, and what I was taking the role for.

The broadcasting industry, along with the print industry, news, as a whole really, is going through a major shift. A change. I thrive in environments where change is happening and after talking with Jenny Collins (CEO), Terry Graham (Executive News Director), and Richard Harold (Director of Content Barrington Interactive Corp.) I understood that my role would transcend the ideals and boundaries of just the online initiatives, BUT I would, and COULD be instrumental in helping redefine and industry, and how they do things. 

Welcome to the iPad

 

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Pictured above - One day worth of printed scripts vs the Apple iPad

The idea to launch iPads at WFXL FOX 31 was pretty straightforward. Some say the move was "innovative", "clever", some even said "genius" ... I feel it was simply the business of innovation. We were spending about 2,000.00 a month in paper related task, with a BIG portion of this tied into the execution of scripts. After talking with Terry Graham, a seasoned broadcast Pro, and Deborah Gay (Human Resources and Finance) - we started formulating ideas around the iPad well before it's launch. I had hunch that if the device could handle PDF's, that we could leverage the device for many of the day to day, "paper dependent" task that we had at hand, ultimately saving Barrington Broadcasting Group thousands of dollars across their portfolio of 15 stations. We had to change how we handled paper and the value we put in it. Within the first week of execution, the morning team China Sellers (Anchor),  and Mat Ortiz (Meteorologist, Co-Anchor) had fully adopted the device, and it was only a short time after that the evening teams adopted the iPad, all refusing to go back to paper... 

Press (as of 4/26/2010)

Apple News Daily

Georgia TV station buys iPads for news anchors - Apple News Daily http://ow.ly/1D9qg

MacLife

TV News Team Retires Scripts in Favor of iPads | Mac|Life http://ow.ly/1D93V

TVNewsCheck

TVNewsCheck - Georgia Station Gets Innovative With iPads http://ow.ly/1D8Sg

MacDirectory

MacDirectory: Apple Culture | The iPad gets a job in TV news ahttp://ow.ly/1D8I2

Tagged iPad

SwankoLab Experiments

(download)

Photographs treated on the iPhone 3GS using SwankoLab (swankolab.com)

moved

I am moved by design. Design, being the seat of innovation, in my opinion, sparks the fibers of business in a very profound way. We find that companies that are driven by design, tend to be the market leaders within their respective industries, and THIS moves me. AND when I talk about design (if you have been reading my blog for more than 15 minutes) you will find that when I speak about design, I speak about it from it's core... The thinking that makes design work.

BMW works.

Proctor & Gamble works.

Apple works.

HELL! Kia... Works. and so do a LOT of other organizations.

So how come it's so hard for some organizations to shift their thinking? How come it takes losing market position to make a company start thinking about innovation, creativity... DESIGN? Fear?

Lack of resources? (I am truly grasping at straws) ... NO NEW IDEAS?

The "mousetrap builders" of yesterday will no longer be able to settle in the idea that repackaging is innovation. In fact, I am willing to bet that organizations that do not have a solid portfolio of fresh new ideas, will soon find themselves caught in the middle of the most catastrophic period of "quicksand market correction" that they have ever seen... Period. There wont even be a chance for them to follow leaders and builders, because the games shift will happen so fast and so big, that following will mean extinction...

AND maybe not... Maybe a new market will form, one filled with consumers who LOVE mousetraps and "the same ol thing" that will support the failure to innovate.

Maybe.

ross lovegrove: liquid space | swarovski crystal palace

thoughts by ross lovegrove

ted: ross lovegrove: organic designs

apple ipad: rethinking the newsroom: ken clubb, broadcast engineer pt 2

When new technology hits the market often times we, the broadcast engineers, are among the first to begin analyzing and looking into different methods on how we can incorporate these new items into our existing work environment as smoothly as possible. I say smoothly because, most broadcast engineers prefer simple over complex. 

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When the iPads were first introduced, I can recall talking with Vincent Hunt about the many different features this item carried and how great it would be if we could use them with our news programs; not just for the new technical aspects of this device had to offer, but to eliminate using paper products and saving our business thousands of dollars each month in associated cost.  

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The biggest obstacle we had to overcome seemed to be how we were going to interface this new Apple iPad with older and very preparatory PC based software such as AP News Center. "With a little trip outside the normal thinking box" the solution was simple. Just print scripts from AP using a simple freeware PDF print driver and email it to each host iPad email account. No wires, emulating software or many wasted head banging hours on configurations needed, just email it.

About Ken Clubb

Ken Clubb is the Chief Broadcast Engineer at WFXL FOX 31 in Albany, Georgia.

apple ipad: rethinking the newsroom pt 1

With all of the buzz surrounding the iPad, one thing really surprises me... We are somehow forgetting the evolution of the iPhone, which in my opinion is the "little brother" (or sister) of the iPad. When the iPhone was first introduced, many of the skeptics were simply classing it as another cell phone with a big shiny screen. With the release of the iPad we have become witnesses to the same type of language... "The iPad is simply a big iPhone - OR "... it's just another tablet PC". In my opinion, It's something much, much more. 

Ipad

The iPad represents a new paradigm in how we do things. When looked at as something totally unique unto it's self, we begin to see the limitless possibilities the device offers. From a design perspective - we should start exploring the ability to now replace "paper driven" systems, which effects the publishing industry as a whole, and from an innovation perspective we should start thinking about ways to make what we do from day to day easier. 

Over the past year I have had the pleasure of working within the Broadcast industry, where many of the core functions from the news desk to the production table are paper driven. When they first announced the iPad I quickly began to see unique possibilities that would forward green efforts and really start refining our day to day task. From the scripts that Journalist use to the rundowns that Producers and Directors navigate,  I began to identify opportunities to not only cut cost, but to also enable the professionals on the WFXL FOX 31 team, bringing them closer to content and making them more agile, all inherited attributes of the iPad. THIS is the type of thinking that I feel will forward the evolution of this device. 

The first challenge I wanted to tackle with the iPad was a highly visible and relevant area, the news desk. On the average, our station spends over 2,000USD's a month on paper and printer repairs. By taking ONE function from the Journalist, scripts, and putting the scripts on the iPad, we projected saving approx 1,500USD/mo in this one area alone. If we look at this savings over the 15 Barrington Broadcasting stations - our savings were astronomical. 

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This only represents the beginning, and while the broadcast industry is only one of many that I can see clear and relevant applications, I feel that by rethinking how we view the iPad we will be able to uncover many news ways to do things... 

tom peters: servant leadership