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FORUM - 2000 
UNITED NATIONS WORLD TELEVISION FORUM 16-17 November 2000 TV@globe // Adding Values in the Digital Era The convergence of information technology, the Internet and e-commerce may well become as transformative as the industrial revolution. They will continue to alter the world's economic landscape and reconfigure organizational structures. They will change the way many people work and live. Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations Television, digital technology and the Internet have endured a rocky courtship that now shows promise for a lasting union. TV@globe, the fifth annual United Nations World Television Forum on 16-17 November 2000, will convene top media industry leaders and experts from around the globe to share their perspectives from the front lines of this revolution-in-progress. The latest international research tallies almost 300 million people online, with 150 million more expected to join them this year. And the interactivity being experienced online is driving experiments moving television from one-way to two-way mode. Will the vast opportunity being presented by the onset of the digital era be merely a seamless transition from old media to new, or will the television industry seize this moment to re-examine the unique role and responsibility of this medium in shaping human affairs? The United Nations World Television Forum at UN Headquarters in New York City is an invitational event designed for senior representatives of traditional and new media, academia, civil society and governments from every region. While the discussion will touch on issues of bandwidth, digital content and innovative television programming, the primary goal is to engage the broadest range of stakeholders to address the fundamental challenges facing television in the digital age including television's role in bridging the divide separating the digital 'haves' from the 'have-nots'. Our vision for the Forum begins with its new permanent Web site www.un.org/tvforum which will soon begin hosting online discussions on this year's themes. These online discussions will be instrumental in shaping the program for TV@globe. Presentations during the workshops and roundtables will make extensive use of video footage. The forum themes listed below are also accessible with additional information and dialogue above on the left and from the homepage. GLOBAL UPDATES BY REGION What are the diverse forces shaping convergence? Overviews from each region of the world on the new models of convergence involving television, digital technology and the Internet and how this phenomenon is being shaped by technology, audience response, culture, e-commerce and regulatory environments. The constellation of forces moving television from one-way to interactive vary depending on geography. Equally complex are the myriad strategies for moving from analogue to digital television, with the resulting implications for being able to deliver TV programs via personal computers. In many developing regions, television, radio and the Internet are more often accessed communally, raising the possibility of yet more hybrids of convergence. INNOVATIVE PROGRAMMING IN NEWS, EDUCATION AND SPORTS What are the new content models and what do they mean for programming? Three workshops/roundtables, one for each program area, will explore some of the most interesting experiments in new television services emerging from specific program genres. New and compelling content models from news, education and sports programming will be explored ranging from programs that mesh the Web and television to the synchronous broadcasting of programs with one medium reinforcing the other. The discussion will include the challenge to broadcasters in developing content that builds on the interactive nature of new media, and how this affects television production processes. SOCIAL ADVOCACY Will convergence upgrade television's role in social development? The Forum invites enquiry into the looming socio-cultural questions being raised by television's evolution from old to new media. If television has historically been a major catalyst for social change, what will be the impact of the next generation of interactive digital television on the political culture of democracy and civil society? How will television's convergence with the Web affect the dynamic between cultural policy and communications technology? What is the likely impact of the current consolidation of media business ownership and heightened competition on open societies, national identity and cultural values? Is there a heightened role for public broadcasters in fostering a sense of social cohesion in the face of digital convergence? THE RADIO MODEL What can television learn from the digital experiments in radio? Radio broadcasting has embraced the digital revolution ahead of television. Internet radio currently has a global audience of up to 15 million people, and has already generated significant changes in the business and social practices of broadcasting. In some cases developing countries are world leaders in Internet-delivered radio and digital radio satellite networks, with operational models that are only recently under development in technologically advanced nations. DIGITAL VISIONARIES What will their new media content look like? A panel of new media entrepreneurs from around the world talk about the future of interactive television and what programming they plan to create as they shape the digital media landscape of the future. These innovators are of a generation for whom the interactive world of e-mail, chat and the Internet are a seamless part of their techno-savvy and media-centric lives. For them, the computer has never been more threatening to operate than a television set, so they start from a level field when exploring the relative merits of watching and interacting with TV programs on television, personal computer, telephone ... or new hybrids they are just now testing. DIGITAL PARITY How are old and new media bridging the divide? Digital next-wave countries, home to most of the human family, currently have almost no voice in shaping a revolution that will profoundly affect them before long. The Forum will explore the role of the television industry in extending the digital domain to encompass the globe. How can next-wave countries gain a seat at the table, as models of convergence in television and the Internet are developed, to ensure that our collective digital future contributes to a vibrant and diverse mosaic of cultures and voices? Decisions on convergence must continue to consider lessons learned from alternate Internet models now being experimented within developing regions including shared access to technology and services in the form of community telecenters and the potential this represents for using existing broadcasters as virtual community gateways to the information society. |