Interview with Ken Harper

Ken Harper: Oh sure. I see -- what I would like -- again this is something that I have talked with people in Hollywood or in the computer industry, or -- I'll call them "content industries other than those that we would think of as being traditional content", by that I mean people who basically sell ideas. I think shoe styles or clothing styles are essentially ideas that are given form. The [Digital Story Exchange] is an association that is setup to expand the knowledge, the possibility, and create the market infrastructure for digital storytellers and digital storytelling. I see that there are probably five elements to this.

One is a set of technology sponsors who provide the tools, hardware and software, that make storytelling an increasingly rich experience for everyone from professional down to rank amateur.

I see the second area as having commercial sponsors. Companies, corporations who want to learn and want to have access to both technology, but also technique, and the knowledge that goes into the making of great stories. [Telecomm] companies. [Telecomm] companies and/or content aggregators who certainly stand to benefit from this.

The fourth area would be trainers and educators. I think that there is a difference between the two. Although they can wear the same hat.

The fifth piece is the storytellers themselves, whether they are individuals or organizations.

One of the key components is to have the [Digital Storytelling Network] which would be a Web site that could showcase the work that's being done. A place to see the myriad experiments that are being conducted and look at applying it in your own space. That, in a nutshell, is what the [Digital Story Exchange] aspires to be.

Interviewer: That's exciting. In terms of your strategic thinking about it, what are some of the steps that you see taking to get there?

Ken Harper: Number one, you have to find what the value proposition is for each of the core constituencies. I think it is pretty obvious in terms of the technology companies, the [telecomm] companies, in terms of the trainers and educators, etc. I think it's the commercial companies who are going to -- whether or not they're going to be the biggest challenge, or they'll be the one's who are most excited about this remains to be seen. First you have to get a few of each category on board.

You also have to be able to show examples of digital storytelling that makes sense to each of the groups. Everyone goes into something on the basis of their own self interest. I think there's enough that exists today to pull that together.

Interviewer: Right. I agree with you. [One of our interests from the consumer side is trying to figure out how greater banks of resources that assist them in doing that, both in terms of training assistance but also in terms of even things like dealing with copyright or fair use, and all these issues that are not fully resolved.] Obviously most of us are hoping that certain parts of that [world of exchange] will be treated like public access television, in which it's kind of understood that it's a kind of training ground for fair use. But obviously the Web is a very interesting [dilemma-opportunity] for people who are content creators to have their work expanded. Whether they see themselves as [like] The Grateful Dead, or whether they see themselves defending the bastion before chaos ensues and destroys the whole idea of intellectual property, remains to be seen. Those are the important issues. Not only for consumers but also for corporate [creatives] and --

Ken Harper: You are absolutely correct. In fact the thing that's sort of interesting about this is that I recently saw a technology that has the capability of creating for just about anyone who has access to it, a virtual studio. It enables you to take assets that are posted, regardless of where, and develop them into your own material. The people who developed this technology come out of a documentary film and newsroom background. What I thought was really interesting about what they were doing was that this was completely at odds with the sort of exclusive nature that many people who are in the news business seem to espouse. That represents a whole cultural shift. It's sort of, if you will, the spirit of abundance, versus the spirit of being close with everything and trying to control it, because you can't. That's something that is realized.

Interviewer: That's a paradigm that we go into now. The content creators, as opposed to the aggregators, have a bunch of issues about how they want to negotiate that.

Ken Harper: Right. I'm fully sympathetic. I've worked a bit with the film community trying to understand what their issues were with digital replication. There are a lot of people whose livelihoods are extremely damaged. I've been watching with some interest what has happened in the film community in Hong Kong because of two things. One, the Chinese takeover there, but more importantly, the pirating that goes on. That is tough. I really don't think that what I refer to as digital storytelling that we are talking about the wholesale use of someone else's material. I think it's very easy to set up licensing, whether it's one time or multiple uses. There's stock photography that can be stock material on the Web. Of course the moment it becomes hackneyed or overused [they will] stop using it.

Interviewer: Right. Exactly.

Ken Harper: It will cease having its currency.

Interviewer: I don't think we question that. It occurs to me, maybe you don't have a lot of it because you are coming from a technology company, is there anything&emdash;[interrupted]

Ken Harper: [laughs] It's a limitation isn't it?

Interviewer: Yeah right. The way I said that, maybe I gave away my feelings. Is there anything more you want to say about the changes in technology that are assisting this specifically? We've hardly touched on that at all.