Posts Tagged ‘Irish Internet Association’

Twitter and IIA Video Event

June 15th, 2010

I find Twitter great when attending events to share insights but also to act as an always on note taking device.  Previously most of my notes from conferences and seminars either ended up unreadable or got buried on my desk and finally shredded.  Now I have somewhere to revert to,  in order to jog my memory on some noteworthy quote, stat or observation that I heard.

Combine it with the right hash tag and you can always check against other tweets to remind yourself on the bits you could not type fast enough to capture or to correct inaccuracies.

I have, like lots of people, found my blogging has suffered as my twitter activity has grown.  This is a pity as pithy, snappy tweets only give a fragmented, pieces missing view of a someones presentation or discussion.

I have decided to try use the tweets from the last few events I attended to piece together an overview, mainly as there were some resources I wish to test out and use again

The first was Audio Video Culture – Behind the scenes of video and audio.  The event was organized by the IIA Social Media Working Group, of which I am a member.  The idea behind the event was to show how different organizations are using video and also to give some practical advice on equipment and software.  This is the part that I was particularly looking forward to.

RTE kicked off the first session with some interesting stats on their iPlayer usage.  35% of people watch entire shows with an average stream of 18 minutes.  This is impressive when your consider that most people will be viewing it on a poor quality computer screen at a desk which is a completely different experience to that of slouching on a couch.  The speaker did point out that a large screen interface and faster streaming are in the pipeline which fits in with the general consensus that we will be replacing watching downloaded movies on our laptops to the plasma screen stuck to the wall.

Apparently 30 to 50% of their streams are from the international player, something that presents lots of licensing challenges especially as RTE get popular show such as Desperate House Wives before other countries.  Their solution is to remove certain shows.

Next up was Rabo Bank who play a good deal of attention to online video, audio and social media as they have to compete with bricks and mortar banks to build relationships with customers. Aoife Mahon & Gina McCrudden gave some nice examples of video testimonials, webinars and podcasts that they use.  Their podcasts alone have generated a listenership of over 35K while webinars have waiting lists of 300 people at times.  They also integrate other marketing activities into their plans, an example being the Fix Its competition with George Hook on Newstalk being used on the site.

Fred Caballero from Channelship set the scene for his presentation by talking about YouTube being the second search spot after YouTube, which was surprising considering the Google/Facebook supremacy stories but it could be for specific searches.  He also detailed YouTube’s 6.6 billion streams and 75% market share.   In particular I wanted to hear about what tools Fred used.  Below is a list of the particular good ones.

Finally the last presentation was from Donal Rice from the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design.  I have seen Donal present a number of time over a few years and usability has moved from a nice to do to a more structured need to do for some organizations.  His message has also become more commercial from opening points about grey surfers being the fastest growing market to level of normal diversity and disability in the marketplace.

Usability can tend to be associated with disability but some of his points on closed captioning and audio descriptors for YouTube videos related to people whose first language may not be English, working in noisy environment or who need to work in a quiet/silent environment rather than just people who are hard at hearing.

The pitch of increased usability being good for SEO made relative sense (kind of similar to advance tagging) and was creative in trying to enhance the level of usability investment.

These carrot items came just before the stick in terms of quotes from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and the Irish Disability Act 2005/Equal Status Act.  These are currently loose but further European legislation is expected where having an accessible website will be similar to buildings needing wheel chair access.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 are fairly detailed in terms of different levels of grading from A to AA but I cannot ever recall a web designer bringing it up with me on client projects.

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Posted in online video | Comments (2)

Nice position in a recession

August 5th, 2009

This post is a bit off the normal topic range but with all the doom and gloom and job losses the CEO vacancy in the IIA (Irish Internet Association) could be the dream job for someone looking for a change.  The current CEO Fergal O’Byrne is leaving the IIA after a very successful 4 years to join Wexford based Sonru.  

I have been on the board for over 5 years and have witnessed the great work he has done in bringing the organisation forward.  I have also seen the web of influence and the network potential of such as job, especially for someone who is a self starter.  In this recession the Irish internet industry has a real opportunity to shine as companies looks for more cost effective routes to market.  With this in mind the CEO has carte blanche to make connections, create new initiatives, influence policy and really make an impact.

Fergal has set a high bar and the person who fills his shoes and continues with the development of the Association would need to tick most of the following boxes below:

1) Ability to secure and manage sponsorship and sponsors
2) Experience in building and maintaining a membership base
3) Ability to understand, work on and monitor financial reports and budgets
4) Ability to manage staff
5) Events organisation and management experience
6) Experience in managing an organisation with similar stakeholders and understanding of the political tensions/vested interests
7) Understanding and experience in working in the Internet industry.

As well as being a very satisfying job it is also great for establishing contacts, working with a good board and great staff, making a difference to members, being part of the internet sector in Ireland.

If you or someone you know fits the bill, please ask them to simply email vacancy@iia.ie with the word CEO Job in the subject line. The full job spec is available on the IIA website.

The closing date is the 21st of August 2009.

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Posted in Jobs | Comments (0)

Business Blogging Survey

January 14th, 2009

One of the Irish Internet Association Working Groups is currently undertaking a blogging survey to gain insight into how much time companies spend blogging, why they blog and how they measure success.  Blogging is still at relatively early stages in Ireland and there is still a wide gulf between active bloggers and main stream Irish business.  The results of the survey will be published to coincide with a white paper that the Social Networking Working Group is producing.  The paper is being produce collaboratively both face to face as not all experts are equal.  The survey can be found here and all filled out entries appreciated.

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Posted in Blogging, Research | Comments (0)