Cyber Walking - FACE THE FUTURE

So you want to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band. How well can you program in C++, sham? How well can you animate? How well can you illustrate? Can you handle a camera? And how’s your Internet feed? I mean, what sort of bandwidth have you got? You mean you’re not even online!! Forget it, sham. The future’s not for you.

There is no area of society which is not affected by computers. And in the future the effect is going to be even greater. Because computers will be in everything, from a light bulb to a toaster. In fact, before very long computers may be in us; memory boosters, sexual stimulators, tracking devices, whatever.

There are so many fundamental shifts going on around us that nothing seems fundamental anymore. There is a looseness of understanding as we grapple with the idea that nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is new for long and no structure can survive that does not in its mind hold a chameleon nature. No mind can survive and prosper that does not have the ability to accept the constant new, then work to understand it and to use it. And use it quickly.

“How did you get Director to work so fast,” a young enthusiastic programmer asked Marc Canter, referring to its use in the Meet The MediaBand display we had just seen.

“I invented it,” Canter replied without losing a beat, then continued bubbling on about his vision, his vision, his vision.

“And how much would that sort of set-up cost,” an older, though equally enthusiastic man butted in.”

“About $6 million a year over three years,” Canter replied. The man’s face dropped.

“$6 million a year?” he repeated, his voice suddenly drained. “Couldn’t you do it for less?”

“You can do everything for less,” Canter replied. “Sure you could knock off a few zeros but they don’t respect you if you ask for small money.”

At the MILIA Multimedia Fair in Cannes, France (12th-16th January) Marc Canter was described as the “father of multimedia.” In 1984 he founded the company Macromind, which went on to produce such multimedia software as VideoWorks, MusicWorks and DirectorSoftware. Now, Canter wants to re-invent the music video, with his MediaBand. His Meet The MediaBand multimedia experience includes ‘Undo-Me’ an interactive video with sixteen possible endings and ‘HouseJam’ a “stand-up, rock-out, techno-groove and video-like multicultural experience,” as his press release succinctly describes it. Canter also wants to spend $6 million a year over three years to create an interactive multimedia rock ‘n’ roll experience venue where he will experiment with trying to figure out just how we’ll be interactively entertaining ourselves in the 21st Century. (More about Marc Canter in future instalments of Cyber Walking.)

Oh yes, Cyber Walking, well what is this column going to be about? The future and the distant present and people and machines who are changing the face of music, art and entertainment. We’ll be looking at music CD ROMs; Myst, The Residents, Bob Dylan, etc. Hopefully, there’ll be lots of coverage with regards to what’s happening in Ireland. (Interactive music gig venues and online magazines are in the planning here. If you are doing something interesting and you’re on the Internet, you can contact me at [email protected]) The Internet and what’s happening online will be covered, of course. (There are groups on the Internet, for example, dedicated to Enya, with profound debates raging as to whether her nickname is “The Silver Lady” or not.)

Ireland is perfectly poised to do very well out of the future. Past economy was based on what you dug out of the ground, future economy will be based on what you dig out of the mind. In other words, intelligence and imagination and a rich depth of culture will be far more important in ten years time than coal, steel and zinc.

Nobody in any way involved in the artistic field should ignore computers. While at MILIA I talked to Greg Roach, someone who is making a lot of waves in Hollywood right now with his VirtualCinema. Greg Roach came to multimedia via theatre. He had found that it was just not economical anymore to construct the sets and plots he wanted to, and instead turned to virtual environments within the computer. And there’s Robert Winter who has a background in classical music. His CD ROMs on Beethoven, Mozart, etc. have impressed everybody who has seen them.

If you’re a writer, musician, poet or whatever, there are many opportunities. And now is the time to get involved. Because right now multimedia is like the Wild West. It’s a new art form, with so many possibilities, so many issues, and so many opportunities to make a living. Because, for one thing, with the combination of multimedia and the Internet, you can be doing something totally weird and off-the-wall, and it will be so much easier to reach people from LA to Peking who might be into what you’re doing.

Ireland has an excellent reputation abroad as a raw material base. A large percentage of the world’s leading computer hardware and software companies are situated here. Our own indigenous software industry is healthy and looking to expand. An Irish computer graduate is hot property abroad. Our reputation as a source of great music is undoubted. Our film industry is buzzing. When I went to a particular stand at MILIA, those there had just been discussing how a small island like ours could have such a rich depth of imaginative language and writing talent. Being Irish at MILIA – with its 1500 companies from 41 countries – was a definite bonus. People made time for you.

The question is: Can we make product – both artistic and commercial – for them? Well, the Irish companies exhibiting at the Irish Trade Board stand were kept more than busy. But really, there should have been a far greater Irish representation, and hopefully next year there will be. And, as far as I could see, there were no Irish products geared towards the entertainment, edutainment or cultural market. (Ironically, Sony were displaying information on an upcoming title called ‘Tír na nÓg’.)

The future is not sitting on a plate. It won’t be easy. But since it would seem that everybody’s doing it, why can’t we? Irish artists and companies will find it extremely hard to compete with the Sonys and Microsofts of this world, but we can be content providers. The way I see things going is that the multimedia will settle into a similar structure as the music and film industry. Multimedia bands, directors, script writers and title developers, will be signed by mega corporations who will put big money behind them to further develop the product, market and distribute it.

In my opinion, there are certain things that need to be done and done now to ensure that we are ready for all this. Because, to get down to basics, multimedia means money and jobs. It’s where our youth and our children will increasingly find work.

The first thing that needs to be done is to educate the population about the future. We need some sort of multimedia incubator units in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Derry, Belfast. We need some high-powered computers there, networked to four or five rooms and some computer graduates. Then we need a big publicity campaign, encouraging everyone from traditional singers to photographers to anyone with a wild idea to come to these centres and see just what might possibly be done with their particular talent. There should be nothing rigid about this process. No idea should be too mad. Nothing should be left out.

Secondly, we should compile and regularly update a CD ROM database of Irish multimedia companies, other companies providing services related to multimedia, and freelance artists interested in working in multimedia (script writers, animators, programmers, etc.) This CD ROM should then be posted to international companies working in the multimedia area. It should have a fax link, so that if a particular company abroad wants to find out more about an Irish resource, all it has to do is write a brief note and then click and the request is sent. Why all this? Because not even the biggest companies are going it alone in this area. Outsourcing, partnerships, strategic alliances and virtual corporations are the norm.

Thirdly, and this is a point made to me by Leah Kinsella of OnScreen Interactive, we probably need a mini-MILIA Fair here to raise awareness and spread information and ideas. Because multimedia is definitely not about hoarding and being selfish about what you know. (Obviously, certain degrees of knowledge will have to remain copyright.) Some of the biggest corporations in the world – Disney for example – were setting out in detail at MILIA what their multimedia strategies were. They were sharing their ideas because others were sharing too. There is so much to be learnt, so much to be explored, so much to be done, that those who are open, willing, talented and gifted will have a great chance to prosper.

Now to briefly list some of the music-related things which were happening at MILIA. Compton’s New Media are releasing CD ROMs entitled Haight-Ashbury In The Sixties, a trip through hippie culture, as well as Yes’ latest album. Beavis & Butthead is coming out as a game on Sega. MTV are releasing Club Dead on PC, a not very music oriented, who-did-it kind of cyberpunk game. Big Top announced Groove Thing on CD ROM. From their press release: “Defying categorisation, this CD ROM visual adventure offers the user complete control over the musical and visual mix.” Sygna AS is planning the launch of MusicFinder Traditional Music of the World. Digital World has lots of plans for “Interactive music nonstop!” Ariola Interactive Entertainment have developed a technology which allows you to create a hybrid CD which will play on your audio CD and computer. On your computer you’ll be able to watch video clips, go behind the scenes, etc. (Ariola have overcome the ‘track 0’ problem. It doesn’t appear on your audio CD.) There’s more, and Cyber Walking will be reviewing the releases and hopefully talking to the people who are at the cutting edge.

So you think it’s all hype? In a way it is. Multimedia and CD ROM is still a very primitive form. It’s not near ready, except for very particular titles such as encyclopaedias, to satisfy the expectations of the mass market. But it is developing and developing at an amazing pace. It will be a gigantic industry and many predict that it will change society in more ways than the Industrial Revolution did.

I’ll leave the last words to Professor Michael Ryan, Head of School Computer Applications, Dublin City University. “The situation we are at with computers now is very like where we were at with the car in 1920. Everybody’s used one, everybody’s seen one, most businesses have one. That’s the way it was with the car in 1920. But at that stage the car had made almost no impact on ordinary people’s lives. It’s exactly where we’re at with the computer now. The car moved from that position to where it is today; to where you can’t live without the wretched things. We’re going to have the same change with computers. We’ve seen nothing yet. The combination of computers and high speed communications, available in people’s offices and homes, are going to change things more dramatically than the developments of motor transport over the last eighty years.”

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