Why doesn’t the tech news industry make better use of technology?
These guys know better than most, that with some simple software and an Internet connection, you can now attend seminars / keynotes and also review software – without actually leaving your computer. This stuff’s been around for years!
However, it seems that although they all have an iPhone and a laptop – many tech journalists don’t actually USE technology as much as their readers do!
Macworld and CES
Every major technology journalist flew off to the recent Macworld or CES events. For example, Cnet sent most of their senior technology reporters. I love Cnet, but if a review by Tom Merritt or Molly Wood is good enough for their listeners / readers – why isn’t it reliable enough for their colleagues to use? Did they ALL really need to see the same thing in person – wasn’t the reporting and hours of video enough?
Some tech journalists claim to be big time, tree-hugging supporters of the environment. Maybe it’s time they stopped just reviewing technology and started using it?
I’m certainly not saying that no one should attend these events in person. I’m simply suggesting that with better use of technology, it’s possible to reduce the numbers and the environmental impact.
I can see why people need to be there but not stacks of people from the same organization. Yeah, different people cover different areas of tech, but out of ALL the CES and MacWorld coverage there was like 20 things that got 99% of the coverage, right?
Totally agree about accessing these events via broadband rather than visiting. I caught pretty much everything from a thousand miles away.
John Paul,
Thanks for the comment. You make a good point about how most of the reporters at these huge events focused the same (predictable) couple of dozen products / announcements.
I also think that with people like Scoble, Lance Ulanoff, Ryan Block and Mashable tweeting everything as it happened, it was super-easy to keep abreast of developments in real-time.
Frankly, I like the `old school’ method just fine. I don’t need Scoble’s shaky 24-minute long videos, or some 20-year-old `journalist’/kid’s shaky cell phone photo of a USB hub shaped like a pineapple, or whatever. I don’t even need the CES tech news round-up in near real-time. I just need it to be in focus, well-written, without typos, and within 24 hours of the actual event.
Fred,
Totally agree about the low-quality video; though Scoble does it better than many. What he lacks in video quality, I think he makes up for with his ability to get immediate access to some interesting people.
Of course, when a professional tech news organization like Cnet, Ziff or the BBC send people along – they have professional broadcast equipment and engineers (rather than Scoble’s N95 – if that’s what he’s still using.)
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I totally agree that all the travel and duplication of effort is wasteful. That said, when we finally get smart and “streamline” our organizations’ trade show attendance, I predict the very next headlines/tweets we’ll see will be along the lines of: “Recession Sounds Death Knell for [Show X].” Remember, no good deed goes unpunished.