How saying no, and later yes to Arcade Magazine led me to architecture and Jeff Bezos signing my Kindle
As the director of a leading edge graduate program in digital media and engagement, as well as a content creator, I do receive a fair amount of invitations to participate, collaborate and give. Over the past few years, I’ve become a lot more parsimonious about accepting them, preferring to devote …
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YouTube’s Paywall: My take on HuffPostLive
Well it’s official, YouTube launched a paywall around certain premium content. As I said in my HuffPost Live appearance today, it was inevitable. Once the darling of the User Generated Crowd, YouTube began the shift to professionally-produced content all the way back in 2008 when it realized that advertisers were skittish …
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Smartphones as cigarettes: what would Don Draper “smoke”?
We pull out our smart devices in elevators, at meals, in line, in traffic — sometimes when we’re nervous, satiated or curious, often when we’re bored. Thank goodness cigarettes became uncool (and often illegal) almost in time to be replaced by the smartphone. As this cord cutter continues to watch …
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Own your own media: content marketing goes supernova
Even as we wrap up a successful Season 2 of our TV show, Four Peaks, we’re moving immediately into production for Season 3: “The Innovators,” thanks to a terrific new partnership with Seattle’s Museum for History and Industry (MOHAI). Amazon founder Jeff Bezos donated $10 million to create a new …
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The audience demands its voice: erasing the line between production and consumption
That’s what I heard loud and clear at the SXSW Interactive session Creator vs. Audience: Next Chapter in Storytelling. I’m embarrassed that I was unaware of the incredible DeviantArt community and its young founder, Angelo Sotira. Session headline: this is an incredible time when remaining deep-pocketed media conglomerates vote with their money, …
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Attention-grabbing through storytelling at SXSW
“The unthinkable has happened – a tornado touched down in the center of Austin at the height of SXSW. The epicenter is at the Austin Convention Center, which has been reduced to rubble. You have a flock of frightened conventioneers who don’t know the city, aren’t sure who to listen to …
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Get on with it: notes from a learning revolution-in-progress at SXSW Edu
Although we hosted TEDx Seattle in 2010, I don’t regularly seek out TED talks. However, here at SXSW Edu, Sugata Mitra’s Build a School in the Cloud from earlier this month was mentioned as “must-view” on multiple occasions. On top of that, he won the TED prize for his concept …
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Awesome video, music: The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
I’ve been a longtime fan of progressive rock impresario Steven Wilson. From Porcupine Tree to his work as a audiophile’s dream producer of Marillion, King Crimson and (soon) XTC, Wilson is serious about what matters to me: thoughtful music, haunted storytelling, audio and multi-platform, multi-channel media. His new solo album, …
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Four reasons why the social network I have decided to invest in is…
…LinkedIn. In the last week, I’ve gone on a Connections binge because I finally realized how important this platform is — something I’ve never done on any other social network. I already jettisoned my original Facebook account and access it only via browser (and not via mobile app because I …
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Why I still do TV
Yes that photo above is slightly over-the-top, with a slightly over-the-top statement, but I truly do believe in Seattle’s storytelling secret sauce. That’s because it’s a claim that goes beyond 20th century mass communication equivalencies of media (New York City) and entertainment (Los Angeles). It’s not just about the creation …
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New screens for old: is 4K OK for storytelling?
Media industry folks used to joke that you could choose a winning new video platform if you just followed the porn industry’s lead — from VHS to DVD’s to 1080p. But if you really want to follow the big money, you only need to look to the (somewhat) more respectable …
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Why we just created a new graduate program in digital media and creative engagement for professionals
I became an “accidental academic” six years ago when the University of Washington hired me to direct its graduate degree program in digital media (MCDM). I may have been a journalist and filmmaker who had been pushing the envelope with nascent digital and social media platforms, but did not know much about …
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How getting stuck in a Parisian elevator with a world famous war photographer last week prepared me for CES
I was jarred by the familiar Apple chime from the table adjacent, as I sat down for lunch with my wife in the shadow of the Pantheon in Paris last week. Across the street, was the scene of the crime from two decades past: a place where I attended a …
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Tech gifts not to miss: screens, screens everywhere!
Ah, my monthly opportunity to use the latest gadgets to promote my graduate program (and Four Peaks TV program). I did two separate segments today with KING 5 (which also syndicates Four Peaks on NWCN every weekend): one for Evening Magazine, the other with my friend Margaret Larson for New …
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Time shift: why I walk to work, listen to records and carry a camera
I’ve just pulled out my vinyl copy of Paul Simon’s 1986 album, Graceland — which I purchased in 1986 (“every generation throws a hero up the pop charts”). Over two decades later, I’ve begun spinning it again. It sounds great. I guess the teenage me took pretty good care of …
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The first (and last?) social media election: online resources and where to watch on second screen
After the 2008 election, I hosted a conversation called “The First Digital President.” Barack Obama’s win was partially attributable to his online engagement and fundraising — primarily via a still-novel Facebook platform. But as a German news organization reported today: There are now ten times as many Facebook users and …
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Am I a brand? And is that ok?
It’s a constant struggle — that balance between bragging/TMI (Too Much Information) and the need to promote our abilities and presence in this chaotic communications ecosystem. We’ve discussed this on several occasions in our “Narrative & Networks in Digital Media” class, driven especially by our reference to Networked: The New …
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Commerce as engagement? Starbucks pushes beyond classic earned, owned, paid media
This is the second year that I’m co-teaching our foundational “Narratives & Networks in Digital Media.” graduate class with Mac Parks and Shay Colson. At its core (and also the premise to the MCDM/”Storyteller Uprising”): Successful communication depends on the creation of compelling content and sustained multi-platform engagement by distributing this …
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Why I want to help scientists tell their stories better
“Can girls do that too and stuff?” my daughter Rose asked me, for the second time. We were both glued to the live YouTube feed of Felix Baumgartner’s awe-inspiring freefall jump from the edge of space, even as we were visiting Seattle’s Museum of Flight (which curiously, wasn’t screening the …
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Fame or authenticity? What’s more valuable for storytelling?
A fascinating development today: advocacy group Invisible Children just released an update to its KONY 2012 viral video. The new film, “Move” calls on supporters to march on Washington D.C. on November 17th to lobby politicians to keep searching for the Ugandan warlord, Joseph Kony. Frankly, it’s a courageous move …
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Hanson Hosein
educator, strategist, TV host, filmmaker, author, speaker
Director of the University of Washington's Communication Leadership graduate program in Seattle. President of HRH Media (co-founded with Heather Hughes). Author of "Storyteller Uprising: Trust and Persuasion in the Digital Age." Host of "Four Peaks" on UWTV and KING 5's Northwest Cable News. Award-winning documentary filmmaker ("Independent America," "Rising from Ruins") and foreign correspondent (NBC, CBC News). A lawyer and journeyman in a previous life, an educator, father and husband in the present one.
