The "Content" Debate

Recently, on the Toronto Web Series Community on FaceBook, there has a been a vigorous discussion about the term "content". https://www.facebook.com/groups/172490439449876/permalink/502237046475212/

The discussion stems from a couple of posts:

Content-free
https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2013/12/14/Discontent

 "Content" has the stink of failure (and it's a lie, besides)
http://boingboing.net/2014/01/03/content-has-the-stink-of-f.html

But first, a little perspective....

The original term used on YouTube and other platforms was "user generated content". That had its origins in the DMCA which made it possible for YouTube to exist as a "content holder". YouTube had no direct control over the content it hosted other than its legal obligations as a "safe harbor".

From the view point of YouTube everything uploaded by their "users" was "content". Over time "creators" became concerned that the term "user generated content" did not adequately describe what was being produced because the name looks at the content from the perspective of the hosting service, and not from the perspective of the creator. Over time "creators" came up with new terms that better encapsulated the nature of the content from their own perspective.

Now when it comes to the medium itself the World Wide Web has become the matrix on which most new entertainment grows today. This is a reality independent of whether you access entertainment via computer, mobile, tablet or TV screen. It would be fair to say that even traditional TV is slowly adapting to this new reality and they too have to deal with the Web as a medium of significant importance.

Most new TV shows have an active presence on social media, including both cast and crew of their shows. This year saw the development of interesting cross fertilization between social media streams for different shows, with actors in each interacting to create an entirely new dynamic. Stars of TV reach out to blogs and podcasts for interviews and as a way to form a deeper relationship with those that enjoy their shows.

Of course this direct involvement of cast and crew is nothing new to those involved in Web series. It has been viewed as an integral part of any show since the early days of lonelygirl5. It is, if you will part of the medium of the Web.

But the medium of the Web goes far beyond this. It potentiates much of what is now described as transmedia. It embraces interactivity in all its forms: ranging from comment interactions to sophisticated ARGS. The Web has provided us with the matrix on which we can build. The question is what can we build. I would content that the answer to that has yet to be fully revealed and that is where the real potential of the Web as a medium lies.