Link to an online version of a paper, "State of the Media Arts: Metro Manila Institutional Survey Results, 2000", University of the East Graduate School Journal, December, 2001

Link to an online version of a paper, " Enhanced (Television) Broadcasting: Content in the Idiot Box?", Ideya Journal, Department Communication, DLSU, June, 2001.

Enhanced Television Broadcasting: Content in the Idiot Box

Collis H. Davis, Jr.
Fulbright Scholar & Independent Filmmaker
January 26, 2001

Multimedia has come to symbolize the great convergence of formerly separate time-based analogue media such as the moving pictures of film, video and audio, and the static media of graphics, photography and typography into one singular digital environment. This convergence has created both havoc and opportunities for the media industry and educational institutions alike; because both have been heavily invested in the hardware and "humanware" of the analogue age, they were eager to jettison these aging liabilities and replace them with desktop multimedia computers at considerable savings. For industry, this has created an explosion of small businesses who could now afford the tools, which were once out of reach, to create media at such a high level of sophistication that the major firms had to start cutting their prices, and in some cases went out of business.

Now, in education, the digital convergence has made it possible to instruct students in the media arts, heretofore nearly impossible for some schools, and expose them to animation, video and audio editing, image processing and now interactive media such as the Internet, not to mention new storage media such as the CD-ROM and DVD optical discs.

In television broadcasting, advancements in digital video technology are creating even greater waves -- a tsunami in terms of a format and standards revision which will make television as we know it obsolete. Not only will the shape of the "boob tube" change from its age-old 4 X 3 look to a 16 X 9 rectangular shape, the analogue-based transmission of the video signal will become digital and image resolution will double. From the consumer's point of view some say this heralds the merging of the television and the Internet. It is no wonder that Internet companies like AOL have been buying up cable systems all over the U.S. Now this intersection of the Internet and television is presenting some interesting opportunities for broadcasters, media producers and the consumer, namely, the advent of interactivity in broadcast television programming.

At a workshop called the Digital Road Show held at one of the U.S. flagship public television stations, WNET-TV/New York, the writer was afforded an opportunity to peer into the future of digital broadcast television which has come be known as Enhanced Television. Participants were informed by industry gurus that within the U.S. television industry, the advent of digital TV in 2006 will mean that analogue TV will "go dark", although PBS officials also present clarified that PBS is switching over earlier in the year 2003. This means broadcast television in the Philippines will eventually follow suit since it has been patterned on the NTSC standard since the inception of broadcast television.

The Grand Alliance, a consortium of corporations prominent within the broadcast industry, laid the foundation for moving from analogue to digital; this initiative was ratified by the Telecom Act of 1996. Facilitating development of standards for what is being called Enhanced TV is the ATVEF. (http:/avww.atvef.com/index.html) Quoting from their website, "The Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) is a crossindustry alliance of companies representing the broadcast and cable networks, television transports, consumer electronics, and PC industries. This alliance of companies has defined protocols for Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)based enhanced television, which allow content creators to deliver enhanced programming over all forms of transport (analog, digital, cable, and satellite) to any intelligent receivers." 1 This writer, of course, was amused by their seemingly straight-faced use of the word "intelligent receivers". We hear so much in media studies about the notion of  "reception" and how we as spectators "receive" communications via the media. The Alliance's website went on to say, "The group is committed to accelerating the creation and distribution of enhanced television programs so that consumers can receive enhanced television programs in the least expensive and most convenient way possible."

What are the emerging characteristics of Enhanced TV? New features, according to presenter, Tom DiGiovanni 2 include (1) Alwayson, meaning that the information, or should we say "data" is always present on the cable connection most of us will have; (2) program synchronous events, triggering viewer opportunities for viewing web content while the program plays; and, (3) postbroadcast enhancements, making available downloadable content, e.g.,  teaching guides, games, text files and local tie in events. DiGiovanni suggested that Enhanced TV will be content driven, featuring (1) educational programming containing supplementary content related to the main program; (2) interactivity via "windows" with "clickable" or linked content which is web-based consisting of text and images; (3) audience support of stations (fundraising) whereby public stations frequently have public fund-raising programming to supplement other sources of operating income such as government agencies and foundations. The speaker averred that video will exceed the bandwith of the interactive windows do principally to the use of the television's vertical interval for conveying the HTML content. The reader may ask, "but isn't HTML used for the Internet too?" Yes. 

And what will Enhanced TV look like?

CAPTION: The following images are frame grabs from a recent AFI workshop on Enhanced TV Design:

CAPTION: Below, frame captures from the Great Performances DTV Demo3 (5-min) sample from WNET-TV)

                            

DiGiovanni's description of the hardware included: (1) TV settop boxes; (2) receiver cards for personal computers; and, (3) required digital cable line into home.

 What will be the impact Enhanced TV on the training of communication majors? Courses will soon have to emphasize conceptual thinking about interactivity as a general notion, but also how to best utilize the capabilities of Enhanced Television in particular. This means learning to think not only about the linear organization and structure of traditional programming, but the interactive, multi-dimensional potentials of the new format. Students will have to learn to think conceptually about certain kinds of programming which will become prone to the interruptions of "interactivty". Will an already-distracted TV audience become further distracted if not diverted from the carefully crafted linear narratives of traditional programming, movies, and other narrative-dependent programming? Will the enhancements ever upstage the "main" programs?

In terms of technical skills, HTML language will be required of communication majors in spite of the fact that HTML authoring software4 will become increasingly prevalent in most instances. This is to prepare student for working in stations and post-production settings where most if not all future programming will take advantage of Enhanced Television. Beyond preparing students for producing within the Enhanced TV environment, schools will have to offer courses in Flash or equivalent 2-D and 3-D animation to prepare students to produce work for websites but also for possible ancillary products such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROMs associated with broadcast program content. Communication students will increasingly need a stronger grounding in cinematic language not only for time-based media but websites as well. The fact is that many websites are becoming increasingly characterized by temporality over the more static presentation of first- and second-generation websites. 

As the Philippines undergoes the transition from analogue to digital television, it is  probable that capital expenditures for equipping department studios and equipment will be considerable. It may be that there will be a transitional period in which a retro-fitted "black box" will enable legacy TV systems to function even after broadcasters have switched over.

With respect to long-form programming, like public affairs, documentary productions and made-for-TV movies, new employment opportunities will materialize because of the additional interactive programming, complementary websites and DVD disc production, all substantial activities in their own right, especially bugetarily. Computing skills in multimedia will be in great demand, and those who can learn multimedia-based programming languages like Macromedia's Lingo will command their asking price in terms of salaries. As of the present time, Macromedia's Director authoring program (which uses Lingo) is the premiere software program for development of DVD projects. This has been demonstrated by a DVD project presented at the Digital Road workshop alluded to earlier.

The necessity of becoming familiar with programming languages continues to be a burning issue. One used to think (as a traditional media producer) that interactive programming can be left to others, assuming that you or your organization can afford a separate programmer. This writer believes this is no longer a luxury we can afford to have. If we accept the trend of moving away from a highly centralized organization model to a more decentralized one, due in great measure to the convergence of digital media technology, then fewer people are being tasked with more responsibilities because it is all at their fingertips. Therefore, the graduate just entering the job market may be asked if he or she can program within these various realms we have spoken about. Those who have are more likely to be hired than those without any programming training.

Many educators may disagree with this assessment. In fact, computing languages should be taught as a required courses just like spoken languages at the secondary school level and at the undergraduate level as well.

If the aim of communication curricula is to turn out graduates who will become producers within the industry, they would do well to learn something about computing languages, if only to provide them with enough insight about what is achievable, so they can competently direct others who may be bonifide programmers as we understand the term. We don't want to have a situation where the tail wags the dog when it comes to assigning jobs to the so-called experts, or the programmers in this case. Producer/director types cannot remain oblivious to the issues raised by developments in multimedia technology, especially where the power of the medium is controlled by those with an understanding and knowledge of programming languages.

Summary

In conclusion, with the new enhanced digital-based television standard fast approaching, it behooves educators to start preparations for teaching communication students entering the job market of the digital age. Never before has the power of the media been so concentrated in the so-called desktop computer system. This state of affairs not only affords its users unparalleled creativity, but speed as well. As our media apparatus becomes more computerized, the more dependent on programmers we will become, not only upon those who write the application software we will use, but upon those who will have gained a certain mastery in their use to produce programming for the public good.

Notes

 1 http:/www.atvef.com/index.html - The Advanced Television Enhancement
    Forum

 2 Tom DiGiovanni, "Enhanced TV Demo and Discussion". Director of Enhanced 
    Programming, Public Broadcasting System, USA

 3 Anthony Chapman,  "Storytelling on the Web: Where Content and Technology                  
    Meet," Executive Producer, Interactive and Broadband, WNET. Presented
    videotape  "Great Performances DTV Demo"

 4 http://www.microsoft/tv and other vendors supplying authoring solutions.

 5 Tracy Swedlow, "Enhanced Television: A Historican and Critical Perspective".
    Presented at the AFI-Intel Enhanced Television Workshop, July, 1999.

    Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Digital Roadshow: Enhanced Television  
    Workshop.
  (WNET/TV: New York, March 31-April 1, 2000)

Link to a published juried article describing "Head-Hunting William Jones," a video documentary work-in-progress,  in the inaugural issue of the American Studies-Asia Journal, launched January 31, 2002.