IMPORTANT: Project group formation info

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As I told you at the seminar today, we will form the project groups next week, on Tuesday.

I have asked our guest lecturer to shorten his talk, so we will form the project groups that you will work in from October to December immediately following his (shortened) lecture.

I hope we can do this quickly, but please take into account that there is a high chance that we will not be finished by 15.00 but rather a bit later. If you can't come to this lecture, please ask a friend of yours to represent you and your interests at the group formation exercise.

After the last two seminars (seminars 3 & 4), we now have 23 suggestions for topics for the project group. I would once again like you to VOTE on Doodle and indicated which three ideas/project groups (listed below) you could consider working with for the rest of the term!

We do this vote for several reasons, but the main benefit is not primarily for me, but rather for you to learn which topics seem more likely to attract enough interest to form groups around. It will also help us to speed up the process on Tuesday by not bothering to try to form groups around less popular topics. DO NOTE that you can go back to the Doodle page and edit your selections after you see what other people have voted for. Also please note that you are not bound by your Doodle-selections - this is just a way to reveal and coordinate your interests and preferences.

We are aiming for project groups with 5-6 persons in each group. It is possible to form two groups working on the same topic, but it is then crucial that these group find a way to divide the topic up and coordinate their work (loosely) so that that they don't overlap too much!

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Here are the suggested topics in order of popularity (number of votes) and with those topics that attracted two groups first.

1. School radio/podcasts

Some teachers have made experiments with using podcasts in education (for example Björn Hedin, some of you have taken his (Swedish-language) course on "Interactive media technology"). What is state of the art and what is the (future) role of radio broadcasts (in different countries) and/or of podcasts (or "enhanced podcasts" with powerpoint slides?) in (higher) education?

2. HCI challenges: always-present radio

How could technological/human-computer interaction (HCI) solutions allow us to always bring radio with us? How about tapping the phone against the computer to continue to play the podcast when you leave the office and tapping it against the car stereo to switch to the speakers when you sit down in the car and later to your home stereo? Sharing a podcast by tapping on someone else's phone? What other HCI ideas and challenges could make radio more useful in and fun?

3. The audio pool

Intelligent algorithms monitor your choices and add (similar) stuff to your "audio pool" based on your previous selections and feedback ("I like this", tags etc.) You can affect and alter the flow with a few "dials" and "buttons" (?); the proportion of talk/music, different "modes" (at-work, in-the-car, walking-the-dog, moods etc.). Perhaps people will subscribe to your audio pool or you to theirs?

4. Radio advertising of the future

Single advertisers (companies) could "own" whole shows at the birth of commercial radio, now they just buy time on popular channels. What is the history, the present and the future of radio ad formats, radio ad trends and the radio ad business? What kind of ads, or ad for what kind of products "work" on the radio? Could we see the return (development) of older radio ad practices with single advertisers owning or sponsoring a web radio channel or a podcast show?

5. Economic models of (future) radio

Skip the part about defining what radio is and what it will become (above) and jump right in to a discussion of how economic factors affect current and future changes in (the business of) radio! What new business models could/are arising? What formats will thrive in the future and which will be in decline (due to economic pressures of varying kinds)? What is the future of public service (license fees)?

6. Important message to the public - handling crises in a post-radio age

Radio/broadcast has and still does play an important role in times of crisis. How can the government reach citizens and a whole nation in a post-radio age? The hurricane "Gudrun" hit Sweden in January 2005. Around 75 million cubic meters of trees were felled by the storm and 100 000 persons had no electricity four days later (it took 40 days to restore electricity to everyone and it was fortunately a relatively warm winter). What is the role of radio in times of crisis and what will happen if radio itself will go through crises in the coming decades?

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7. Finding a balance between active and passive listening

Some people want to have total control and might spend a lot of time deciding content they will listen to on the radio. Others prefer to press one button once and then lean back and let others do the selection (filtering). How can these two modes of listening to radio be combined; what are the ways of finding a "balance" between "active" and "passive" listening?

8. Glocal radio

Mass radio mixed with extremely local content, for example customized/personalized information about the traffic flow on the road or the subway line you use when you travel to work (but not other roads or subway lines), about the weather where you are /will be during the day (but not other parts of the country), about stuff that has happened nearby where you live, or related to the sports team you cheer for (etc.). How would such radio come true?

9. Radio channels in an age of abundance

If there is an infinite number of radio channels (or an infinite number of podcast shows), how do listeners find their favorites and how do radio channels (or podcasts) find their listeners? How can you create meaning and find/form a taste of your own in the flood of content that washes over us? Can radio channels or podcasts be "tamed", classified, organized, clustered, tied to specific interests ("user who like this podcast usually also listen to...")?

10. Niche podcasts

What is the future of (amateur, zero-budget) producers of niche podcasts and their audiences? Who spends their leisure time doing weekly 90 minute long podcasts about recent events in World of Warcraft or about the Electric Vehicle scene (and why)? Who listens and how does producers and audiences find each other? What are the options to commercialize such podcasts as a supplement to or as a main source of income for producers? What does the world of (niche, amateur) podcasts look like, and what will the future bring?

11. Music radio and talk radio

What is the relationship between music and talk on the radio? What is the role of talkaboutmusic (for example in-between songs) on radio? Is it a nuisance, or is the talk, the point of view and the contextualization of music ("that was a great song from X and here is the latest from upcoming Norwegian trash metal band Y...") something that adds value (and that makes radio different (better?) than Spotify playlists)? Does talk about music bridge music and talk radio? Is there a role for music on the radio in the future? If so, which?

12. Listening habits of the young generation

Commercial radio forces public service to mind their quality, to not lean back and take it easy. Commercial radio also fosters a new generation of radio listeners to develop radio habits. These radio listeners might at a later point develop public service habits - so public service "loves" commercial radio. But what happens if/when young people stop listening to radio? Is that, or how is that a loss for society, democracy etc.? Could (or how could) radio become more popular among young listeners in today's saturated media landscape?

13. The death of radio

Radio is dead, long live radio! Radio as we know it (broadcast of electromagnetic signals through the ether - be they analog or digital) will soon be dead and it will be replaced by [please specify]. What will a post-radio world look like? Where (how) will we listen to music and talk formats (news, weather, documentaries, radio theater, sports etc)?

14. The comeback of the radio set

Radio was one furniture and later smaller (portable) radio sets. Now radio is everywhere, in our cell phones, in our iPods and in our cars. But could the radio set as a stand-alone gadget be revived, perhaps combing super-easy and convenient access to "long audio" podcasts, web radio and other sorts of "non-traditional" radio content and distribution channels (preset/programmable buttons? automatic subscriptions to favorite podcasts? - think of the audio equivalent of a digital photo frame)? Could it be customized in the manufacturing process according to different users' varying needs? What would such a radio set look like and what functionality would it encompass?

15. Pay for performances

Daniel Johansson indicated a shift when it comes to music from paying for recordings (a CD) to paying for performances or actual music "use" (concert, Spotify). In Spotify, a flat fee is divided into small pieces and sent off to the artists you listen to (although, as we have heard, most of the money stops at the record company). Flatter ("flatter" + "flat rate") allows you to donate an amount of money that you decide and divide it evenly among all the great content providers on the Internet that you like. What would a payment model that rewards "performances" on the radio (or podcasts or web radio) look like? This topic is related to the seminar 3 topic "economic models of (future) radio".

16. Future radio defined?

What is radio today? What will radio be in the future? A combination of distributions channels (FM, podcast, streaming, satellite etc.) and formats/genres (sport, news, weather, music, documentaries)? Is an editor (a filter) that/who chooses content for you important (excludes Spotify)? Does it make sense to talk about "radio" any longer, or should more fine-grained and specialized terms be used? Which distribution channels (transmission of signals through the air and/or Internet convergence) and formats will thrive in the future and which are doomed?

17. The future of digital radio

Is digital radio broadcasting dead before arrival? DAB+ (ongoing experiments being conducted in Sweden) is technically superior to both DAB and FM, but will that matter? Will digital radio make inroads and eventually take over, will FM broadcasting be terminated, or will we just stay with FM and go for Internet radio instead?

18. Bringing the Internet to radio

There is a lot of talk about bringing radio to the Internet, but little talk about bringing the Internet to radio. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter create "waves" of information cascading across the Internet. How can dispersed and potentially unreliable information be vetted/audited and broadcasted, bringing the latest Arabian spring news or the latest political chatter to a truly mass media channel by monitoring, summarizing and reporting on what is happening on the Internet right now?

19. Social networks and radio

Radio reached the masses (before). Today social networks reaches the masses. How can/might social networks + radio become a hit in the future?

20. Place-bound glocal radio

There was a glocal radio topic last week, but what if glocal radio was not something that just customized the radio content according to where you are at the moment and your personal habits, but rather tied to "places" that you could actively subscribe to? Perhaps people could subscribe to different geographic places or areas in different parts of the world to follow what is happening there?

21. Public service of the future

What is the role of public service in the future? More important than ever? A relic, a dinosaur looming towards its extinction? What is public service? Radio and TV, or, using available media/tools (including blogs and the Internet) in order to do [something important]?

22. Radiotwitter

Should they be 10 seconds long, or 20? Who should manage them (if not SR)? What connections to other existing networks, big or/and small, could attract meaningful soundbites? What kind of limitations would help keep quality high?

23. Radio for the deaf?

People who are deaf should not be excluded. Also deaf people want objective news and information about a crisis. Is there some way of bringing, or creating radio for people who can't hear? How can everyone be part of the community of radio listeners?

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Guest Lecture 17 - Oct 6 (10-12) - Fredrik Stiernstedt

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Time and place: Thursday October 6, 10-12 in seminar room Q31

Title: "The 'future of radio' as a discourse in radio production"

Guest: Fredrik Stiernstedt, Ph.D. candidate in Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University"

Talk: Music radio, especially formatted background radio, has faced new competition during the last decade. Digital distribution of music (filesharing and audio-streaming) have made music in general more available. Actors such as Spotify and Last FM have challenged the role previously played by music format radio: delivering playlists for background consumption. At the same time, social media in general, such as Facebook and Twitter, has been perceived as challenges to music radio. The ways in which they facilitate sociality, presence and "being-togetherness" is seen as posing a threat to the one of the central social functions of music format radio. How have these new forms of competition been handled by actors in the Swedish music radio industry? In my talk, I will give some examples drawing on ongoing fieldwork, of how the producers of MTG-radio (Rix FM, Lugna Favioriter, Bandit Rock, NRJ) have made sense of this new competitive situation. More generally, how has the organization and labour processes been transformed and challenged by new digital and social media? I will also give a brief history of Swedish music radio and a short overview of the current situation of Swedish music radio in relation to industry structure, production practices and audiences.

About: Fredrik Stiernstedt has a long experience as a broadcaster and DJ. He is currently working on a dissertation about creative labor and new media technologies in the Swedish music radio industry.

Literature: Fredrik suggests you have a look at (the Swedish-language) Sveriges Radios Framtidsutredning [Swedish Radio's Future Inquiry]. It projects different scenarios for the future for public service radio 5-10 years into the future (2015-2020).

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Guest Lecture 16 - Oct 4 (13-15) - Lars Jonsson

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Time and place: Tuesday October 4, 13-15 in lecture hall L1

Title: "Digital radio - future trends"

Guest: Lars Jonsson, Technical strategist at Swedish Radio (SR)

Talk: This presentation covers the alternatives for Digital Radio now used in Europe and world wide. Streaming live services - web radio over the Internet to cell phones and PCs are now gaining momentum as compared to Digital Radio via transmitters. Different options and technical systems such as DAB, DAB+ etc. will be examined. Radio DNS is a new international standardization initiative which can link FM, DAB+ and web radio to for the benefit of listeners, irrespective of which technical system they use. The current situation in Sweden for the roll-out of Digital Radio is wait and see from politicians, Public Service and commercial radio. Other countries, such as the UK, Norway and Denmark have millions of DAB receivers and now consider the time scale for the close-down of their FM services.

About: Lars Jonsson was born in 1949 and received an M.Sc. in Electronic Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in 1972. He has worked with developments in Swedish Public Service TV and Radio broadcasting since then. During the last decades, Lars has worked on digital radio, archiving, audio computer infrastructure and network projects within Swedish Radio. He has been active in many standards working groups with the Audio Engineering Society and European Broadcasting Union (EBU). He currently chairs the EBU Audio Contribution over IP working group, and is also the vice chair of the EBU strategic group of Future Networks and Storage.

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The executive group

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I usually don't publish reminders here, but I do notice that so much has happened and so much has been published on the blog since last week that some of you might need a reminder about the executive group. Today is the last day to hand in an application (1 page) if you want to be in the executive group!

Read more about it in the previous blog post.

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Doodle-vote for seminar 4 topics

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I think we are all tired after a long afternoon of lectures. I did add only one more suggestion for a topic. See all 23 topic here and VOTE for your three favorites here today (Wednesday) or tomorrow!

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23. Radio as the master storyteller medium

Nancy Updike passionately argued that human being are hardwired to listen to stories, and that radio isn't old-fashioned, but rather a timeless medium for telling stories. Radio is intimate; the reporter is right next the person being interviewed in the sofa and radio is right in the listeners ear. Radio is also inexpensive both in terms of time and money, so you can afford to throw out and redo something, or try something that would be much more expensive on TV. This group will describe the future of radio and why radio rules!

Visit to Swedish Radio Mon Oct 3

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The "lecture" on Monday is not really a lecture, but rather a visit to Swedish Radio.

Our contact person at SR is very busy with organizing the Radio Day (Thursday), so I don't have a lot of info about our visit at the moment beyond the fact that will probably meet someone who will talk about "future strategies", someone else who will talk about "business intelligence" [omvärldsbevakning] and perhaps someone who will talk about SR's presence in mobile phones.

I do have some practical information though:

- The program starts at 13.00 for a duration of two hours (at the most).

- We will be in the "Radio House" [Radiohuset] - Oxenstiernsgatan 20. You can walk there in 30 minutes at a brisk pace (see map below) or you can take bus number 4 from KTH to the bus station "Radiohuset". The trip takes 10 minutes and there are buses every 5 minutes.

- We don't have to go to the reception, but will rather go directly to "Studio 5". This studio is the studio furtherest away from the entrance/near the reception.

That's the practical information you need, I will get back with some supplementary info (probably on Friday) when I know more about our visit.

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On attendance

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As you all hopefully know, what is primarily examined during the start-up phase of the course is attendance - presence at lectures and at seminars. The requirement is 75% attendance (see further below).

Me and Åke are a little bit unhappy about many students' habits of dropping in 5, 10 or 15 minutes after a lecture has begun, or sometimes even after the break. Some of you probably have really good reasons at times, but for others it seems to be a bad habit. As a direct consequence, if you turn up after half the lecture you'll only get credit for half the lecture and we'll give you a harder time in general when you turn up late.

Just as mass media is selling eyeballs to advertisers, your eyeballs (or rather your attention) is what we "sell" (offer) to our guest who have graciously taken time off their busy schedules to come visit us. This week we will have the opportunity to hear lectures by four International "superstars" who have been flown in to Sweden for the Radio Day event. Be on time and do remember that you are KTH in the eyes of our guests.

There have been 14 activities this far (1 introductory lecture, 10 guest lectures and 3 seminars). Two of these were Swedish-speaking guests so we discount these. Almost all of you have met the requirements this far (75% of 12 activities = 9).

When I look at the schedule, I see 6 activities planned for this week, 3 activities next week and 2 activities the week after that for a total of 23 activities. That means you should attend a total of (at least) 17 activities in order to fulfill the requirements. Some of you are almost there after tomorrow, others have a longer way to go.

If you fail to meet the 75% attendance requirement, you will have a second chance by meeting two other requirements;

- Meeting a 60% attendance requirement (14 activities) and

- Giving a mini-lecture in front of the class at the very last occasion (Thu Oct 13).

The mini-lecture will consist of a 15-minute and will require you to do some independent research on a radio-related topic. Which topic? Well, after the last seminar this Friday, the class will have worked on ~25 topics during the last two seminars. Half of these will be picked by project groups. You can select any of the "remaining" topics that we leave behind. By looking into one of these topics, you learn more yourself and by presenting it you do the class a favor.

Post questions about this or any other blog post in the form of comments if you think your question and the answer is of interest to the class in general.

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Guest Lecture 15 - Sept 29 (15-16) - Simon Redican & Mark Barber

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Time and place: Thursday September 29 at 15.00-16.00 in lecture hall D2.

DO NOTE: This is a 60-minuter lecture - please be in time!

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, please note that we had to move the lecture one hour from 14 to 15 due to the fact that there was not a single KTH lecture hall or seminar room free at the earlier time.

Title: "Media and the mood of the nation"

Guest: Simon Redican, Managing Director and Radio Advertising Bureau and Mark Barber, Planning Director at Radio Advertising Bureau

Talk: The recent on "Media and the mood of the nation" chimes with the UK Government's attempts to measure the happiness of UK citizens with its index focusing on general wellbeing and not just GDP - and this research illustrates how powerful a boost media, and radio in particular, can have on the nation's welfare. It generated headlines around the world; "perfect research with perfect findings" according to BBC Radio 2's Vanessa Feltz.

Research carried out by Sparkler Research for the RAB (Radio Advertising Bureau), demonstrated that people who regularly use media are happier, with both higher levels of energy and happiness.

This presentation explores why, in the age of HD wide-screen TV and access to anything and everything online, radio continues to have such enduring appeal, and retrains that crucial ability to form a powerful emotional connections with its listeners.

About: Simon Redican began his career as a Media Planner and Buyer, working at Full service agencies LRC and DMB&B and then at media specialists Carat and Starcom MediaVest, where he was the UK Head of Planning. He made the move to the media owner side where he was Head of Sales at Classic FM and Planet Rock and then Head of Partnership for Times Media at News International. He has been Managing Director of the RAB since June 2007. Simon is married with 3 children and is a fan of Liverpool's original and best football club, Everton FC.

Mark Barber is, in his role as Planning Director at RAB UK, responsible for developing the company's research strategy. He is the architect of the UK's highly successful RadioGAUGE research project, which was developed in response to advertiser and agency demands for improved accountability and creativity in radio advertising, and is the co-author of the book "An advertiser's guide to better radio advertising" published by Wiley. Before joining RAB, Mark spent 18 years as a strategic media planner on blue-chip clients across a number of agencies, most recently as Communication Planning Director at Universal McCann where, amongst others, he ran the Bacardi Martini, Nestle, MasterCard and Microsoft accounts. Mark is married, and at the weekends operates a free mini-cab service exclusively for his two teenage children.

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Administrative: Attendance & photos

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I have uploaded two new documents into Bilda:

"110923 Attendance.pdf". Please check this document to verify that I have correct information about your track record. The vast majority of students are OK. A few students have to improve their attendance from now on in order to pass the requirements (Marco S, Kristoffer T, Fahad W). A few students are in the "danger zone" and have to improve considerably (Yashar M, Pontus W). A separate blog post will follow later about attendance and the consequences of not reaching the set goals during the start-up phase of the course (75% attendance).

"110923 FoM-photos.pdf" - photos of the class as of the end of last week. There are 73 students taking the course. For those 6 who have managed to avoid being photographed (perhaps believing in animism and refusing to be "captured" on photo?) - you are from now on safe! I will stop hounding and hunting you with my camera ("the law of diminishing return" is at play here).

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Literature for tomrrow

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I have updated two seminar invitations on the blog with some literature and copy it to this blog post as I believe many of you would not see it otherwise.

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Claire Wardle (lecture 15-17 tomorrow) directs you to a report she wrote about user-generated content at the BBC a few years back:

Literature: Claire Wardle and Andrew Williams, "ugc@thebbc: Understanding its impact upon contributors, non-contributors and BBC News". On user-generated content and the BBC.

I also recommend you listen to a This American Life podcast in preparation for Nancy Updike's lecture tomorrow (17-19):

Literature: Daniel suggests you listen to an episode of Nancy's radio show This American Life:

- You being media technology students, I would suggest the recent (July 22) show, "When patents attack!" about "patent trolls" who hinder technological innovations by suing companies that violate their tenuous broad-and-very-fuzzy intellectual property rights.

- Something else that might be of interest is the last episode (18 minutes) of the even more recent (Aug 26) show on "Gossip". It gives you an insider's perspective on how reality television shows create drama out of thin air and how the events we see on the television screen bears only a tenuous relationship to reality. ...Or maybe not, since this episode in itself is a work of fiction...

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Seminar 4 topics

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1. The human need for radio

What basic human needs do/can radio satisfy? Objective information (news, weather, traffic etc.)? Entertainment (sports, gossip)? Music (decreasing?)? How would those needs be satisfied if there for example was no public service radio, or if broadcast radio was dead? What makes radio - someone (intimately) talking right in your ear - special? How can those needs and those experiences be emulated or replaced by other media? Are, or how are these needs changing in modern society?

2. Displaydio

Radio as a social marker. How do you integrate your (non-music?) radio listening into your public presentation, i.e. how do you show other people what you listen to and who you are as a person? We know how to do this through clothes when it comes to music, but how could this be extended to radio and radio shows?

3. Radio for the deaf?

People who are deaf should not be excluded. Also deaf people want objective news and information about a crisis. Is there some way of bringing, or creating radio for people who can't hear? How can everyone be part of the community of radio listeners?

4. Bringing the Internet to radio

There is a lot of talk about bringing radio to the Internet, but little talk about bringing the Internet to radio. Blogs, Facebook and Twitter create "waves" of information cascading across the Internet. How can dispersed and potentially unreliable information be vetted/audited and broadcasted, bringing the latest Arabian spring news or the latest political chatter to a truly mass media channel by monitoring, summarizing and reporting on what is happening on the Internet right now?

5. On the synergy of old and new media

Competition is a point of view, synergy is another. Old and new media do not only exist in parallel, but depend on and strengthen each other! Radio and the Internet complement and blend into each other! New developments forces "old" media to find its unique strengths, to refine these strenghts, and ultimately strengthens its form and expression - just as the arrival of commercial radio in Sweden (1990's-) forced public service radio to improve. How will radio be strengthened by recent developments in media technology?

6. Finding a balance between active and passive listening

Some people want to have total control and might spend a lot of time deciding content they will listen to on the radio. Others prefer to press one button once and then lean back and let others do the selection (filtering). How can these two modes of listening to radio be combined; what are the ways of finding a "balance" between "active" and "passive" listening?

7. The ratings industries

Michael Forsman mentioned the ratings companies that measure who, what and where and then sell their results back to the radio channels. What is the history of measuring ratings and the specialized companies that do these measurements. What is the impact and implications of their activities - how does feedback affect the radio industries (content, economic decisions, radio personalities etc.)? What role will measurements, ratings and the rating industries play in the future and for the future of radio? This proposal can be linked to, or compared to last week's "Radio advertising of the future" proposal.

8. Language radio/podcasts

Some of you mentioned listening to radio to uphold language skills or when you learn a new language, for example foreign students listening to Swedish radio to hear more spoken Swedish and train their faculties of understanding spoken Swedish. What is state of the art and what is the (future) role of radio broadcasts and/or podcasts in language learning?

9. School radio/podcasts

Some teachers have made experiments with using podcasts in education (for example Björn Hedin, some of you have taken his (Swedish-language) course on "Interactive media technology"). What is state of the art and what is the (future) role of radio broadcasts (in different countries) and/or of podcasts (or "enhanced podcasts" with powerpoint slides?) in (higher) education?

10. Place-bound glocal radio

There was a glocal radio topic last week, but what if glocal radio was not something that just customized the radio content according to where you are at the moment and your personal habits, but rather tied to "places" that you could actively subscribe to? Perhaps people could subscribe to different geographic places or areas in different parts of the world to follow what is happening there?

11. HCI challenges: always-present radio

How could technological/human-computer interaction (HCI) solutions allow us to always bring radio with us? How about tapping the phone against the computer to continue to play the podcasst when you leave the office and tapping it against the car stereo to switch to the speakers when you sit down in the car and later to your home stereo? Sharing a podcast by tapping on someone else's phone? What other HCI ideas and challenges could make radio more useful and fun?

12. The audio pool

Intelligent algorithms monitor your choices and add (similar) stuff to your "audio pool" based on your previous selections and feedback ("I like this", tags etc.). You can affect and alter the flow with a few "dials" and "buttons" (?); the proportion of talk/music, different "modes" (at-work, in-the-car, walking-the-dog, moods etc.). Perhaps people with subscribe to your audio pool or you to theirs?

13. Pay for performances

Daniel Johansson indicated a shift when it comes to music from paying for recordings (a CD) to paying for performances or actual music "use" (concert, Spotify). In Spotify, a flat fee is divided into small pieces and sent off to the artists you listen to (although, as we have heard, most of the money stops at the record company). Flattr ("flatter" + flat rate") allows you to donate an amount of money that you decide and divide it evenly among all the great content providers on the Internet that you like. What would a payment model that rewards "performances" on the radio (or podcasts or web radio) look like? This topic is related to the seminar 3 topic "economic models of (future) radio".

14. The competition channel

Also traditional "one-way" (broadcast) radio has experimented with listener feedback through call-in talk radio ("Ring så spelar vi"). How can listeners become more involved through radio events and competitions? Could we imagine "user-generated content" where listeners create the entertainment value themselves? How is this done today, what could be done tomorrow? Is it possible to imagine a dedicated "competition channel"?

15. Changing conditions for radio workers

Gunnar Bolin mentioned the generous conditions and the expensive costs for Swedish Radio of maintaining 16 foreign correspondents abroad. He also mentioned the increased use of "stringers" or freelancers. Will increased use of freelancers lead to decreases in quality? Or, could it be possible to improve radio and widen the "intake" by using an extensive network of freelances or even "natives" who cover events and produce content that are later utilized/bought/payed/summarized and edited by editors creating great radio?

16. Radio/audio blogger

Is there a space somewhere between radio, pocasts and radiotwitter for audio bloggers? Some blogs, notably young women writing about fashion, have become among the most popular of blogs in Sweden. Could blogging go audio in the future? Could audio blog posts, perhaps automatically downloaded to you iPod/cell phone become a trend? Could the best, funniest and most popular audio blogger make it to broadcast radio much the same way that some bloggers start to write chronicles for newspapers and some radio personalities start to make TV?

17. Listening habits of the young generation

Commercial radio forces public service to mind their quality, to not lean back and take it easy. Commercial radio also fosters a new generation of radio listeners to develop radio habits. These radio listeners might at a later point develop public service habits - so public service "loves" commercial radio. But what happens if/when young people stop listening to radio? Is that, or how is that a loss for society, democracy etc.? Could (or how could) radio become more popular among young listeners in today's saturated media landscape?

18. The future of digital radio

Is digital radio broadcasting dead before arrival? DAB+ (ongoing experiments being conducted in Sweden) is technically superior to both DAB and FM, but will that matter? Will digital radio make inroads and eventually take over, will FM broadcasting be terminated, or will we just stay with FM and go for Internet radio instead?

19. Future of the electromagnetic spectrum

If the death of (broadcast) radio or the transfer from analog (FM) to digital radio frees up a lot of frequencies in the spectrum, what would the future of radio communications look like? The electromagnetic spectrum is used for many different things, of which radio is only one. What is the spectrum used for today, which uses are "on the rise" and how could the "frequency pie" of the future be divided up (and why) if radio exits the scene?

20. Future of copyrights

With abundant, niche (web) radio channels and an infinite number of podcasts, how will music copyright practices and laws adapt? Will there be no money in music, or is it possible to imagine systems that balance revenue for artists and composers on the one hand with listeners/consumers on the other hand in a "fair" way? What are the laws today? How have they developed and what are possible futures in this area?

21. Public service of the future

What is the role of public service in the future? More important than ever? A relic, a dinosaur looming towards its extinction? What is public service? Radio and TV, or, using available media/tools (including blogs and the Internet) in order to do [something important]?

22. The end of broadcast is the end of democracy and the balkanization of society.

Everyone should have access to the reliable and inexpensive news and high-quality information. Public service radio fertilizes the public sphere. A lively public sphere is crucial for a democratic society. What are the risks to Western democratic and to other societies if radio declines in power and scope? Is there a value to many people or even a whole nation listening to the same thing at the same time? Is radio (and limited choice) good for you, or, at least good for society? If so, how should societies work to "restrict" (?) diversity and choice (encourage mass audiences) for a better future together?

23. Radio as the master storyteller medium

Nancy Updike passionately argued that human being are hardwired to listen to stories, and that radio isn't old-fashioned, but rather a timeless medium for telling stories. Radio is intimate; the reporter is right next the person being interviewed in the sofa and radio is right in the listeners ear. Radio is also inexpensive both in terms of time and money, so you can afford to throw out and redo something, or try something that would be much more expensive on TV. This group will describe the future of radio and why radio rules!

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There were several more suggestions given, but while some ideas seemed promising they were sometimes also hard for me to (re-)formulate into topics (for example Maryam's far-out "Radio as religion" concept).

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Seminar 4 instructions (Fri Sept 30 at 10-12 in L52)

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Our next seminar will be held on Friday this week. DO NOTE that we all meet in L52.

Here are the instructions for how to prepare for the 4th and last seminar. You know the drill -it will be the same set-up as last week but with a twist (in bold style below). I will post a list of topics directly following this blog post.

1) Read through all the (currently 22) radio- and future-related topics in the blog post directly following this blog post. I'm bringing back three popular topics from last week for a second chance to be selected.

2) Since we have three International guest lecturers on Wednesday, it could be that we would like to extend the list with a couple of more suggestions for topics on Wednesday. I will therefore give you the link to cast your Doodle-votes in a separate blog post on Wednesday night. You will have all day Thursday to vote for your three favorite topics. These are the topics you could imagine yourself working with during the project phase, or, that you at least would like another group to work with during the project phase

3). You don't need to write or bring anything to this seminar except your own selves.

4) NOTE: We all meet in the seminar room L52 for initial information. Please be on time as we will divide you into seminar groups as soon as possible after we start!

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Tomorrow's lecture is cancelled!

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Anna Troberg, the leader of the Swedish Pirate Party, is ill and can't come tomorrow. She is very sorry about having to cancel this late.

If we are lucky, she might be able to visit us at the one "extra" lecture I have scheduled (just for the purpose of bringing back a cancelled lecturer) for Thursday October 13 after lunch. I'll get back with more info about this when I know more.

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Guest Lecture 14 - Sept 29 (8-10) - Anna Swartling

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Time and place: Thursday September 29, 8-10 in lecture hall D3.

Title: "Project TEAM work"

Guest: Anna Swartling, Usability architect at Scania CV AB

Talk: Successful project depend on a well functioning project team. But what does that mean in practice? In this seminar, we will examine and discuss this together. We will primarily focus on team work, leadership, communication and conflict management.

About: Anna Swartling is currently working at Scania, one of the premier truck and bus companies in the world. She has a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from KTH. She has long experience of team work and leadership from a variety of different positions and businesses, including KTH school projects, team manager, project manager for computer systems development projects as well as being an actor and a director in theater productions, chairman of several boards and research projects.

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Literature: Anna doesn't have any specific suggestions for literature, but I, Daniel, have. Please read the text on "Interdisciplinary cooperation" which is accessible in Bilda (Administrative/Literature/110929 Kim.pdf). Although the example in the text is about the difficulties of computer scientists cooperating with graphic designers, the lessons are applicable far beyond this specific case.

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How many students in each project group?

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Someone asked me about the project groups and about the number of persons in each group. While there were 4-5 persons in each group at seminar 3 (yesterday), we are aiming for 5-6 persons in each project group.

Yesterday the class as a whole worked on a dozen topics in parallel. We will work on another dozen topics next week. That means we will have around 25 topics a week from now, but "only" half of those will actually make it to the project phase ( ~ 70 students / 5.5 students per group = 13 groups - the executive group = 12 groups).

Some of you might want to continue to work on yesterday's topic also in the project phase (perhaps even in the same constellation as yesterday), others will want to go ahead with next week's topic and some might want to choose to something completely different.

You are of course welcome to discuss these issues (selection of groups) with your friends and classmates, perhaps "convincing" someone to join your group etc. In some ways the group formation process might have already started...

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Guest Lecture 13 - Sept 28 (17-19) - Nancy Updike

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Time and place: Wednesday September 28, 17-19 in lecture hall B3

Title: "Radio is better than other media and I can prove it"

Guest: Nancy Updike, Producer and reporter at the radio show "This American Life"

Talk: Radio in the US is doing shockingly well, while other media are struggling. Why? Nancy Updike, who has worked in television, print and radio, goes into detail about how to tell stories well on the radio, what makes a radio story good enough that people will remember it years later, and why radio beats TV and print.

About: Nancy Updike is one of the founding producers of This American Life. Besides radio, she has worked in television and in print, doing stories for The New York Times Magazine, The LA Weekly and others. Her television work won her an Emmy Award, and her hour-long radio documentary about U.S. private contractors working in Iraq won the Scripps-Howard National Journalism Award and the Murrow Award. She has reported from Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, as well as the US.

Literature: Daniel suggests you listen to an episode of Nancy's radio show This American Life:

- You being media technology students, I would suggest the recent (July 22) show, "When patents attack!" about "patent trolls" who hinder technological innovations by suing companies that violate their tenuous broad-and-very-fuzzy intellectual property rights.

- Something else that might be of interest is the last episode (18 minutes) of the even more recent (Aug 26) show on "Gossip". It gives you an insider's perspective on how reality television shows create drama out of thin air and how the events we see on the television screen bears only a tenuous relationship to reality. ...Or maybe not, since this episode in itself is a work of fiction...

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Guest Lecture 12 - Sept 28 (15-17) - Claire Wardle

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Time and place: Wednesday September 28, 15-17 in lecture hall B3

Title: "Moving beyond broadcasting: Digital technologies and collaborative radio"

Guest: Dr. Claire Wardle, Digital consultant (BBC College of Journalism)"

Talk: The majority of broadcasters now understand the power of social media for driving audiences to their output, and most radio stations, programs and presenters have Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. The majority however are not using them effectively, simply transferring broadcasting skills to a social environment. "Up next, we're talking about the Olympics..." This talk will examine some of the most successful uses of social media by radio stations across the world, and will focus on the need to build collaborative approaches. Rather than seeing social media as either an information source or a broadcast channel, I will discuss how successful community building initiatives can create incredible content as well as effectively engage existing audiences and connect with new audiences.

About: Claire Wardle, Ph.D. is a former academic who now works as a digital strategist and trainer, specializing in the use of social media by public service broadcasters across the world. She has worked most extensively with the BBC, developing and delivering different digital training courses as well as tailored social media consultancy to over 2000 persons from across the organization. She has also worked with broadcast organizations, charities and businesses in Europe, Australia and Africa.

Literature: Claire Wardle and Andrew Williams, "ugc@thebbc: Understanding its impact upon contributors, non-contributors and BBC News". On user-generated content and the BBC.

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Guest Lecture 11 - Sept 28 (13-15) - Nino Cirone

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Time and place: Wednesday September 28, 13-15 in lecture hall B3

Title: "10 things you should know about audiences"

Guest: Nino Cirone, Director, Broadcast Research Ltd

Talk: This talk will comprise of a 10 point guide on the motivations of audiences, triggers and elements that prompt media consumption, as well as some emerging trends in the media world.

About: With over 20 years experience, Nino began his career by conducting qualitative research groups for broadcasters and program makers. In 2000 he and his partners sold the company and moved over to Fremantle Media where he became a Program Strategist. His primary responsibility was to look for existing and emerging audience and program trends, as well as to understand audience behavior in a multimedia, multiplatform environment. Nino started his consultancy 5 years ago, concentrating mainly on his previous work on audience trends and introducing training sessions and workshops for pitching and development.

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Applications for the executive group are open

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As I mentioned in the introductory lecture, we will form a separate, special group called "the executive group" before the project group formation phase. The project groups will be formed as soon as possible after the last (fourth) seminar (Sept 30), i.e. the project groups will be formed sometime during week 40 (Oct 3-6).

The executive group will not work on a radio-related task/project idea during the project phase, but will instead be a "project management team" and an interface between on the one hand the course management (Daniel and Åke) and on the other hand the students/project groups.

The executive group will perform a number of tasks, some of which are mandatory and some of which are optional:

- Lead the executive group

- Produce the book, "Future of radio"

- Produce the final presentation/show "Future of radio"

- Produce a Future of radio project website (separate from the course website and blogs)

- Document the project (collect all material produced by the groups)

- Marketing/sponsorship/advertising (optional)

- Whatever else you can think about (optional)

It is usually quite popular to be part of the executive group and make use of the practical media technological skill sets that students have acquired over the years. You therefore have to apply for a position in the executive group. Send your application (1 page) to Daniel (pargman at kth.se) and Åke (aakew at kth.se) by mail. The deadline is September 29. Please specify what task or tasks (above) you are especially suited for and list relevant experiences and other reasons, arguments and supporting information that you would like to emphasize in your application. The executive group usually consists of 5-6 persons.

Part of the responsibilities of all members of the executive group is to participate in regular lunch/work meetings (usually every second or third week) with the course management and project group leaders during the project phase (October - December).

Due to the fact that this group will interact with many persons outside of the course, only Swedish-speakning students are welcome to apply!

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Voting/preparing for seminar 3 (tomorrow)

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While your Doodle "votes" are streaming in, more than half the class has yet to vote.

- For those of you who have voted: sorry for this "spam" message.

- For those of you who haven't: please do! Read the instructions and read about the topics you can vote on.

Every politician will state that "your vote is important" - that might be as it is, but in this case it really is important and you will find out how at the seminar tomorrow (please be there in time!).

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Schedule/Guest lecturers + cancelled lecture

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Do note that while you get information about who will come and what they will talk about a few days or at the most a week in advance here on the blog, a comprehensive schedule with information about who will visit us when is available in Bilda, in Contents/Guest Lecturers!

Do also note that the lecture on Sept 30 has been cancelled to (partly) make up for lectures that have been added to the schedule - but don't forget that we will still have a seminar (the 4th and last) on that very day (Friday Sept 30 at 10-12).

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Attendance & photos

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There is an updated document available in Bilda, "110920 Attendance.pdf", please check that we have the correct information (do note that attendance in Åke's seminar groups is not yet available in this document).

There is also an updated document with your photos available, but 1/3 of the class is still anonymous in this document. I will make yet one more attempt to capture the "missing persons" at the lecture and the seminar tomorrow so as to update this document.

Both documents are available in Bilda, in Documents/Administrative.

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Lack of "sufficient" activity on the companion blog!

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I have invited everyone who takes the course (who is registered to it) to become an author in the companion blog Future of Radio/Radio of the future. In fact, it is a requirement that each individual shows some level of activity online during the start-up phase (see this previous blog post that spells out what exactly that means).

Of those 77 persons invited, 56 have accepted the invitation (and can now write blog posts), but 21 have not (yet) accepted the invitation. Out of the 56, only around 15 persons have however actually posted something to the blog (not counting those few comments on other people's blog posts). Please also see my recent blog post about Daniel Johansson's lecture last week as an example of what you can write about (your post doesn't have to be as long as mine though).

I've invited everyone two and in some cases three times and I just now sent out a new invitation to those 21 who have not accepted these invitation yet. I know that most of you forward the mail that comes to your KTH account. In at least a couple of cases there are spam filters somewhere in-between that hides these invitations (do note that while the invitation is initiated by me, it is sent to you by Blogger). I just now (less than 15 minutes ago) sent out a new batch of invitations so please check your mail carefully if you think you have not received an invitation before!

And by all means, post stuff to the blog or comment on each other's blog posts. You still have another 2-3 weeks to meet the requirements ("contributing to the 'class conversation online' at least two times during the start-up phase"). While seminars are great, we only have four of them and there are so many people at the seminars that very of little of everything that could be said gets said in those precious 100 minutes!

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Seminar 3 topics

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1. Future radio defined?

What is radio today? What will radio be in the future? A combination of distributions channels (FM, podcast, streaming, satellite etc.) and formats/genres (sport, news, weather, music, documentaries)? Is an editor (a filter) that/who chooses content for you important (excludes Spotify)? Does it make sense to talk about "radio" any longer, or should more fine-grained and specialized terms be used? Which distribution channels (transmission of signals through the air and/or Internet convergence) and formats will thrive in the future and which are doomed?

2. Economic models of (future) radio

Skip the part about defining what radio is and what it will become (above) and jump right in to a discussion of how economic factors affect current and future changes in (the business of) radio! What new business models could/are arising? What formats will thrive in the future and which will be in decline (due to economic pressures of varying kinds)? What is the future of public service (license fees)?

3. Radio advertising of the future

Single advertisers (companies) could "own" whole shows at the birth of commercial radio, now they just buy time on popular channels. What is the history, the present and the future of radio ad formats, radio ad trends and the radio ad business? What kind of ads, or ad for what kind of products "work" on the radio? Could we see the return (development) of older radio ad practices with single advertisers owning or sponsoring a web radio channel or a podcast show?

4. The death of radio

Radio is dead, long live radio! Radio as we know it (broadcast of electromagnetic signals through the ether - be they analog or digital) will soon be dead and it will be replaced by [please specify]. What will a post-radio world look like? Where (how) will we listen to music and talk formats (news, weather, documentaries, radio theater, sports etc)?

5. On the synergy of old and new media

Competition is a point of view, synergy is another. Old and new media do not only exist in parallel, but depend on and strengthen each other! Radio and the Internet complement and blend into each other! New developments forces "old" media to find its unique strengths, to refine these strenghts, and ultimately strengthens its form and expression - just as the arrival of commercial radio in Sweden (1990's-) forced public service radio to improve. How will radio be strengthened by recent developments in media technology?

6. Music radio and talk radio

What is the relationship between music and talk on the radio? What is the role of talk aboutmusic (for example in-between songs) on radio? Is it a nuisance, or is the talk, the point of view and the contextualization of music ("that was a great song from X and here is the latest from upcoming Norwegian trash metal band Y...") something that adds value (and that makes radio different (better?) than Spotify playlists)? Does talk about music bridge music and talk radio? Is there a role for music on the radio in the future? If so, which?

7. Glocal radio

Mass radio mixed with extremely local content, for example customized/personalized information about the traffic flow on the road or the subway line you use when you travel to work (but not other roads or subway lines), about the weather where you are /will be during the day (but not other parts of the country), about stuff that has happened nearby where you live, or related to the sports team you cheer for (etc.). How would such radio come true?

8. Amateur radio 2.0

The parallels between amateur radio and modern day blogs are quite striking in terms of direct and fast ways of communication and the access people have to it. So, what could be learned from amateur radio (google “dissertation Bogdan amateur radio”)?

9. Niche podcasts

What is the future of (amateur, zero-budget) producers of niche podcasts and their audiences? Who spends their leisure time doing weekly 90 minute long podcasts about recent events in World of Warcraft or about the Electric Vehicle scene (and why)? Who listens and how does producers and audiences find each other? What are the options to commercialize such podcasts as a supplement to or as a main source of income for producers? What does the world of (niche, amateur) podcasts look like, and what will the future bring?

10. Radio channels in an age of abundance

If there is an infinite number of radio channels (or an infinite number of podcast shows), how do listeners find their favorites and how do radio channels (or podcasts) find their listeners? How can you create meaning and find/form a taste of your own in the flood of content that washes over us? Can radio channels or podcasts be "tamed", classified, organized, clustered, tied to specific interests ("user who like this podcast usually also listen to...")?

11. Radiotwitter

Should they be 10 seconds long, or 20? Who should manage them (if not SR)? What connections to other existing networks, big or/and small, could attract meaningful soundbites? What kind of limitations would help keep quality high?

12. Social networks and radio

Radio reached the masses (before). Today social networks reaches the masses. How can/might social networks + radio become a hit in the future?

13. Radio bringing people together

Some students commented that early radio ads that sold "togetherness" and "community" - listening to the radio was something you did together as a family. Today's radio use is primarily done alone with earphones or in front of a computer, but could this change? Could radio bring people together and be the basis of collective experiences in the future? Some persons in one seminar group referred to "radio festivals"...

14. Important message to the public - handling crises in a post-radio age

Radio/broadcast has and still does play an important role in times of crisis. How can the government reach citizens and a whole nation in a post-radio age? The hurricane "Gudrun" hit Sweden in January 2005. Around 75 million cubic meters of trees were felled by the storm and 100 000 persons had no electricity four days later (it took 40 days to restore electricity to everyone and it was fortunately a relatively warm winter). What is the role of radio in times of crisis and what will happen if radio itself will go through crises in the coming decades?

15. The end of broadcast is the end of democracy and the balkanization of society.

Everyone should have access to the reliable and inexpensive news and high-quality information. Public service radio fertilizes the public sphere. A lively public sphere is crucial for a democratic society. What are the risks to Western democratic and to other societies if radio declines in power and scope? Is there a value to many people or even a whole nation listening to the same thing at the same time? Is radio (and limited choice) good for you, or, at least good for society? If so, how should societies work to "restrict" (?) diversity and choice (encourage mass audiences) for a better future together?

16. Who listens to the listeners?

Instead of the managers of the public service radio company inviting listeners to a blog, why not have a “trusted third party” invite those managers and other insightful representatives from that company, and reps. from other companies and institutions to a focused discussion on the main challenges of Swedish public service radio? But who would that trusted third party be (students, being the future listeners), what other institutions would be invited (private radio, the press), and what are the real challenges to be discussed (decentralization)?

17. Public service of the future

What is the role of public service in the future? More important than ever? A relic, a dinosaur looming towards its extinction? What is public service? Radio and TV, or, using available media/tools (including blogs and the Internet) in order to do [something important]?

18. Journalism 3.0 moves to Wikipedia

Instead of the chaotic structure of the SR "blog book" "Journalism 3.0"/"Radioormen", why not a few wikipedia pages dedicated to the major challenges for public service radio? What would these themes be? "Media decentralization" (with a focus on radio, and refs. to Daniel Johansson, Adam Davidson and others)? "Mass self communication" (refs. to Manuel Castells, Henry Jenkins and others)? Adding a section “2.3 Relationship to radio” in the wikipedia article about Participatory culture?

19. The comeback of the radio set

Radio was one furniture and later smaller (portable) radio sets. Now radio is everywhere, in our cell phones, in our iPods and in our cars. But could the radio set as a stand-alone gadget be revived, perhaps combing super-easy and convenient access to "long audio" podcasts, web radio and other sorts of "non-traditional" radio content and distribution channels (preset/programmable buttons? automatic subscriptions to favorite podcasts? - think of the audio equivalent of a digital photo frame)? Could it be customized in the manufacturing process according to different users' varying needs? What would such a radio set look like and what functionality would it encompass?

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Seminar 3 instructions (Thu Sept 22 at 15-17 in Q31)

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Our next seminar will be held on Thursday this week. Here are the instructions for how to prepare for that seminar:

1) Read through all the 19 radio- and future-related topics in the blog post directly following this blog post.

2) "VOTE" HERE for your three favorite topics. These are the topics you could imagine yourself working with during the project phase, or, that you at least would like another group to work with during the project phase

3a). Preferably: You are inspired by the format of the 19 topics, but you realize that we have missed an excellent topic/suggestion that should have been in this list. Write down this topic (50-150 words) and bring it on paper to the seminar on Thursday. You can use bullets to make you idea/topic more clear. Don't forget to write your name on the paper!

3b) Otherwise: If you can't think of a new topic, take one of the topics and "develop" or specify it further. Take the topic one step further ("to the next level") and bring it on paper (50-150 words) to the seminar on Thursday. Don't forget to write your name on the paper!

4) NOTE: We all meet in the seminar room Q31 for initial information. Please be on time as we will divide you into seminar groups as soon as possible after we start!

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Guest Lecture 10 - Sept 23 (8-10) - Kerstin Morast

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Time and place: Friday September 23, 8-10 in lecture hall D3

Title: "Broadcasted radio - towards digitalization?"

Guest: Kerstin Morast, Head of licensing division, The Swedish Broadcasting Authority [Myndigheten för radio och TV]"

Talk: The Swedish Broadcasting Authority shall promote freedom of expression and support the possibilities for diversity and accessibility in radio and television. The authority shall also follow the development in the media field. This presentations gives a brief overview of the regulatory framework. It also summarizes the conclusions from a survey on the future of radio that the authority conducted in 2008. To follow the timeline the authority presented a strategy on digital commercial radio this spring and is now preparing a licensing process.

About: Kerstin is a bureaucrat at the Swedish Radio and TV Authority. She states that there really isn't that much more to say about her.

Literature: Read chapter 3, "Starting points", and chapter 4, "Radio in change" (pages 20-27) in the The Swedish Radio and TV Authority's report "The futue of radio" (2008).

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Guest Lecture 09 - Sept 22 (8-10) - Michael Forsman

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Time and place: Thursday September 22, at 8-10 in lecture hall D3.

Title: "With a local flavor?: On "localness" and competition in Swedish radio of today and of tomorrow"

Guest: Michael Forsman, Ph.D. Media- and communication studies, Södertörn University, Stockholm

Talk: Michael will use his dissertation on inter-medial and intra-medial competition within and around Swedish local radio as a point of departure for an argument around the construction of the 'the local' in contemporary and future radio. In the second half of the seminar, Michael opens up for a discussion about the concept of localness in a non-broadcast, digital web-based radio environment.

Michael's dissertation, "Lokalradion och kommersiell radio 1975-2010. En mediehistorisk studie av produktion och konkurrens" ["Local radio and commercial radio 1975-2010: A media historical study of production and competition"] (Stockholm University 2011) is available online)

About: Since the early 1990's, Michael has done extensive research on youth culture, popular culture, television, radio and media history. He is currently working on a project concerning young people's visual self representations on the net.

Literature: Michael refers to his dissertation (see above) and his book "Lokalradio i konkurrens: Utbud, publik, varumärken" (Ekerlids 2010). Among his other publications, the following can be mentioned:

Forsman, Michael (2000). Från klubbrum till medielabyrint. Ungdomsprogram i svensk radio och tv 1925-1993. Stockholm: Stiftelsen Etermedierna i Sverige

Forsman, Michael & Göran Bolin (2001). Bingolotto. Produktion, text, publik. Mediestudier vid Södertörns högskola, 2002:1

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Which future are we aiming for in the project?

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Although project groups will work on their own, it is a good idea to more-or-less agree on what kind of framework we have in this project as a whole.

When we talk about "The future of radio" and "Radio of the future" in this course and in your projects, we are talking about a future that lies 10-20 years ahead of us (2021-2031).

In previous years we have limited the course to a Swedish perspective (e.g. Sweden 10-20 years from now), but, with international students now taking the course, we open it up for also non-Swedish perspectives - for example pan-European or global perspectives.

Although the focus thus does not have to lie exclusively on Sweden, we would like you to not drop the Swedish perspective altogether. As a minimum and for your results to make sense, you have to at least use Sweden as an object of comparison.

You are welcome to discuss your proposed perspective(s) further with Daniel and Åke as the project phase starts up.

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Guest Lecture 08 - Sept 20 (10-12) - Gunnar Bolin

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This lecture is given in Swedish due to the fact that Gunnar will play many examples from Swedish Radio broadcasts!

Tid och plats: Tisdag 20 September, 10-12, lektionssal V32

Titel: "Att bevaka all världens kultur"

Gäst: Gunnar Bolin, kulturkorrespondent vid Sveriges Radio (SR).

Innehåll: Gunnar Bolin kommer i sitt föredrag att ge exempel på olika sätt att rapportera om kultur, samt utifrån sina erfarenheter som utrikeskorrespondent berätta om hur utrikesmaterialet förhåller sig till Sverige och till det svenska på ett företag som har Nordens största korrespondentnät.

Om: Gunnar Bolin är född 1957 och är utbildad på Dramatiska institutets radiolinje 1984-1986. Gunnar är anställd på Sveriges Radios kulturredaktion sedan 1989 och han har varit verksam där som programledare, kritiker och producent. Gunnar Bolin var SR:s korrespondent i Tyskland 2001-2003 och han har också varit krönikör vid fyra olympiska spel och ett fotbolls-VM. År 2010 fick Gunnar Bolin stora Journalistpriset för "lustfylld kulturjournalistik och imponerande bredd".

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Changes in the schedule - international guest & more

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As I mentioned at the introductory lecture, the "Radio day" (Radiodagen) will be held in Stockholm on Thursday September 29. I did some internet research and sent off e-mails to those international speakers that will pass Stockholm by and that seemed most interesting in relation to our course. Their response was overwhelming and each one of them accepted the invitation to come and give a talk at the Royal Institute of Technology and our course on "The future of radio". These lectures have been added to the schedule:

• Wed Sept 28 at 13-15, Nino Cirone, Director, Broacast Research Ltd, "10 things you should know about your audiences".
• Wed Sept 28 at 15-17, Dr. Clair Wardle, Digital Consultant (BBC College of Journalism), "Moving beyond broadcasting: Digital technologies and collaborative radio"
• Wed Sept 28 at 17-19, Nancy Updike, producer and reporter at the radio show "This American Life", "Radio is better than other media and I can prove it"
• Thu Sept 29 at 14-15 (Note: this is a 60-minute lecture), Simon Redican and Mark Barber, Managing Director & Planning Director, Radio Advertising Bureau, "Media and the mood of the nation"
• Tue Oct 11 at 13-15, Valerie Geller, President, Geller Media Internation Broadcast Consultants/Training, "Becoming a more powerful communicator"

The line-up for Sept 28 is so strong that I will invite others (from beyond our course) to come to these lectures.

One lecture (today's) have been dropped from the schedule and a few more will also most probably disappear during the coming few weeks.

Do also note that there won't be a lecture, but rather a visit ["studiebesök"] to Swedish Radio on Monday October 3 after lunch. It's not too far away from KTH and they are putting together a tailor-made program just for us (more info will follow later).

I have also added a final lecture on October 13 in case a guest lecturer becomes ill and/or as a resource for shorter "mini-lectures" by students who did not fully meet the requirements for attendance during the start-up phase (more info will follow later).

Finally, do note that after October 13 and during the rest of the autumn, the whole class will meet only once (for our "mid-term critique") before we meet up at the end of the project, in December. The mid-term critique has not been scheduled yet and will not be scheduled until the beginning of October.

For more information about the the international guest lectures, see the online (updated) schedule here.

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Changes in the schedule - seminars

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I have said in class that the schedule for the seminars will be updated and now it has been updated.

General info about the seminars:

- We had seminar 1 at the end of last week.

- Seminar 2 will be held at the end of this week (the instructions can be found here).

- Seminar 3 will be held at the end of next week.

- Seminar 4 will be held in the end of week 39 (Fri Sept 30).

The first two seminars are more oriented towards reading and studying up on radio, the last two seminars are more oriented towards generating possible project ideas (instructions will follow later). We will form project groups as soon as possible after the last seminar.

For more information about the seminars, see the online (updated) schedule here.

Specific info about seminar 2:

Half the class (family names starting with letters A-H) will meet in seminar room K53 at 13-15 on Friday September 16. The other half of the class (family names starting with letters I-Å) will meet in seminar room Q36 at 13-15 on Thursday September 15.

For further instructions about how to prepare for the seminar, see this previous blog post.

I however just heard there is conflict between our Friday seminar group this week and an unscheduled (darn them!) seminar in the course AK2038. We will try to solve this for those 10 students who are affected by this either by making the AK2038 course move their seminar or by allowing you to change seminar groups.

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Changes in the schedule - lectures

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I have made quite a few changes and "upgraded" the location of most of our lectures from (large) seminar rooms to lecture halls. Unfortunately we have to go wherever we can find lecture halls, i.e. all across campus.

Also, there are a few occasions where I have not succeeded, like for example tomorrow's guest lecture with Roger Wallis where we will have to make do with the room L52.

I strongly suggest you always check the blog before each lecture, because this is the place where I will post (late) notices, for example if one of our guests with short notice will have to cancel due to illness etc.

For more information about the lecture halls, see the online (updated) schedule here.

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Guest Lecture 07 - Sept 15 (8-10) - Daniel Johansson

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Time and place: Thursday September 15, at 8-10 in lecture hall V2.

Title: "When everyone becomes a radio channel"

Guest: Daniel Johansson, CEO of TrendMaze

Talk: Daniel will present how the shift from analogue to digital technologies for music distribution has influenced radio. In fact, Daniel argues that everything around radio has changed. Is listening to a Spotify playlist recieved from the Sveriges Radio P3 API on Radiofy.se radio or something else? Is a video recording from the studio during a live show at Mix Megapol that is published on YouTube radio or something else? And, how has decentralized distribution technologies changed filtering mechanisms within the radio business and what are the challenges for the future?

About: Daniel Johansson is the CEO of TrendMaze, a music industry firm working with artists like The Ark, Erik Hassle, Agnes, Orup, Eric Gadd, Vincent Pontare and many others. He is editor at www.musikindustrin.se and is also a Ph.D. researcher in computer science.

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List of attendance

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I have summarized the information I have about your attendance during the guest lectures of the first two weeks of the course. You will find the document in Bilda (Documents/Administrative/110910 Attendance.pdf).

As you do well to remember, in terms of examination, attendance (75%) is the single most important criterion during the first 6 weeks of the course (the start-up phase).

Please check the document to make sure that we agree on your attendance up to this point. If you have any questions (or complaints), please take the opportunity to discuss this issue before, during the break, or after a lecture (rather than by e-mail).

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On the project group formation process

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As I'm reading your essays about your relationships to radio and to the course, many interesting issues are raised. I will raise some of them here at the blog.

One (international) student writes (slightly edited):

"I would prefer for everyone to be assigned to random groups rather than people just asking their friends. In real life, you can't choose your teammates, and, it's more fair to foreign students as they would like to join and work with local students, but sometimes can't since these students already have their pre-configured native groups ready."

Up until this year, all students who took this course already knew each other a little or a lot, having (usually) started the same educational program together some years earlier. This is the first year when the group of students taking this course is more mixed. As those of you who studied my course on Social Media last autumn know, it's better to be a central member of a network than a peripheral member, and students who already have well-developed social networks have an advantage and much larger choice than those who know fewer people when it comes to finding teammates and forming project groups.

It might be the case that we will have to alter the group selection process some in comparison to how it has been done before so as to take this into account. We will however on the other hand not form random project groups.

On a practical level, the project groups will be formed as soon as possible after the final (fourth) seminar at the end of this month. Up until then, there are a few things that can be done so as to facilitate formation of new relationships between students, and for you to all get to know new people who take the course a little better:

1. All groups at the first two seminars are put together randomly (I hope Åke also did this for seminar 1).
2. I took photos of the students in my seminar group yesterday, and I want to catch the rest of you next week. The result can be seen in a document that is accessible in Bilda (Documents/Administrative/110909 FoM-photos.pdf). This will help you (and us teachers) to connect names and faces so as to have a better grasp of who-is-who in the course. I will replace the current document with a better version after I have more photos of you.
3. Write something on the companion blog! Comment on each other's blog posts! Don't forget to sign with your name if you have a "strange" (non-intuitive) signature/user name so that other people can identify who you are. Use the who-is-who document to identify who wrote that great blog post and take the opportunity to strike up a conversation (with that oh-so-attractive fellow student :-) during a break!
4. I want to urge you to choose seminar groups at seminar 3 and 4 according to your interest in the exciting project ideas that will present - rather than just based on who you already know. Perhaps something "magic" happens, and a project group forms around an exciting topic, rather than just around pre-existing relationships? If you don't know that many people in class and would like to know more, choose seminar group according to your interests, perhaps going as far as actively avoiding people you already know!

That what I can think of at the moment, perhaps you can think of something else? If so, write a comment to this blog post for everyone to read.

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