Page 19 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 201519information that is more direct and less bur- dened by the tiresome opinion of chief editors who set the tone and listen to themselves instead of establishing a new dialogue with their readers.Is there a future for the press? I am convinced that there is, but unfortunately for those who write it today, not in the format with which they are comfortable. Paradigms change on the Internet, a cover ceases to have the importance it has on paper and becomes merely one of the many sides we must allow our readers to see.Technology should allow new models of pay-as- you-consume, micropayments and subscriptions adapted to each reader individually. Cultural events today can be funded through crowdfund- ing and/or micropatronage in which, instead of two or three major patrons, there are thousands of small ones, who are also the best means of disseminating the project or event.Paradigms change on the Internet, technology makes it possible to adapt new interactive and consumption models to the field of culture.In the fields of education and culture we should be able to rely on the effect of gamification as an element of interest to the user/customer. New generations are less fond of continuous reading than of the sort provided by interactive Internet environments in which we can go from a para- graph to a video, view it and return to the same place. This does not mean to say that people are no longer fond of culture. It is just that when you have enjoyed the advantages of the newmedia, you find the old media to be obsolete, slow and lacking in interest.Those of us who read books on a tablet and experience its features, despite reading a good traditional book from time to time, find ourselves increasingly captivated by the new immediate digital formats in which everything, from making annotations to finding out the meaning of a word, is just one click away.What is more, those who understand the medium offer us incredibly attractive book deals that take advantage of the new delivery format – for example, we can buy a whole collection of mystery books on Amazon for under $5. Bun- dles of this kind can give a new boost to authors who are no longer fashionable or little known.Films and videos can include immediate access to electronic commerce based on offering products that can be seen in them and may or may not be used by the main characters. Reve- nues are diversified and formats are modified by their development.When we speak of the “everything free” that people search for on the Internet, we forget that many pay for what they perceive to be high value-added services. What is becoming increas- ingly less possible is to carry on paying for content which is being provided free of charge on another site or provides no perceived value.Perceived value is something personal. I might see value in something in which my neighbour does not. Therefore, one of the most important characteristics of this century will be to allow every product, through technology, to come inRodolfo Carpintier