Seeing mankind’s footprint

In an era of disengagement where many individuals are incognizant of the lifecycle (fabrication, transportation, disposal) of most material things that surround them in their daily lives, the documentary ‘Manufactured Landscapes’ shines some light into the effects that global economy has had on our planet.

The feature documentary by Jennifer Baichwal captures Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s images as he travels through China showing what this massive industrial revolution looks like. He simply tries to bring awareness to the issues without looking for specific solutions, with the hope that we may be a little more conscious about the way we live in this world. This is particularly topical given the recent attention placed on China with the upcoming 2008 Olympics. In fact, Hi Jintao, China’s communist party leader, has put the environment on the top of the party’s charter where it will receive high profile attention.

For more information, click here
Movie trailer
10 min of the documentary on YouTube
Economist article

5 September 2007, posted by Sylvia Vaquer

Switching off

According to a recent study by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, Americans consumed 0.5% fewer hours of media in 2006 than they did in 2005. While not statistically significant, the data does show that consumption is flattening. Consumption of broadcast television, recorded music and newspapers all declined.

Are people any less interested in media than they used to be? Not at all. In fact, people remain quite interested in what media has to say about the world around them. However, people have learned how to leverage digital media alternatives to consume media more efficiently. Why watch the entire episode of Saturday Night Live when the funniest clips will be available on YouTube the next day? Digital media allows for place and time shifting and enables people to be choosy about what media they consume. People can weed out any information that is not of interest to them and focus instead on only the most salient topics. More than ever, people are only limited by the speed of their mouse.

As a result, spending on alternative advertising is increasing while traditional advertising spending is relatively flat. According to Mediaweek, alternative advertising spending, including mobile and video games, increased by 36.6% in 2006 to $26.53 billion. Leading advertisers will have to continue to find ways to combat audience fragmentation and decreased attention spans by taking advantage of new media forms.

For more information, visit http://www.mediaweek.com and http://www.nytimes.com

5 September 2007, posted by Lindsey Zuckerman

Optimism and the West

We’re moving rapidly into a post-western world, and Suicide of the West by Chris Smith and Richard Koch is a great primer on what that could mean. Now in paperback, this is a short and lucid polemic on the achievements of western civilisation over the last 2000 years, and the threats western liberalism now faces. The book isn’t as pessimistic as its title suggests – in fact, Smith and Koch argue that optimism is one of the great western principles, one that we must keep alive. An exhilarating read. More at www.amazon.co.uk

1 August 2007, posted by Robert Jones