On the road with new media

"Ugh!"
We've come a long way since a sound like that was uttered by one cave dweller in an attempt to communicate with another.
With one word in their vocabulary, prehistoric conversationalists had no need for dictionaries.
"Ugh!" was an all-purpose term -- used as verb, noun or article and serving equally well as an indicator of past, present or future events.
Of course then, as now, humans made use of multiple communication channels.
The word "Ugh!" by itself was ambiguous; but, employing it while ripping a chunk of roasted wooly mastodon out of someone's hands probably meant, "Pardon me, but this is my portion. May I suggest that you get your own?"
Then again, a more demur "Ugh!" crooned softly by a caveman into the ear of that special cavewoman might have signified, "Oh, baby! Oh, baby!"
Inevitably, some innovative homo sapien took up a stick or piece of charcoal and made his point with images, crudely sketched in the dirt, or on a wall.
Later, inks and dyes made it possible to create messages that stood the test of the elements and of time.
Creating that first crude record marked the end of PRE-historic times.
The first image imprinted on a cave wall that survived until modern times constitutes the beginning of history.
Before long, pictures led to pictographs which led to the alphabet and, voila! Writing was born. OK, it wasn't really "before long;" early developments took centuries and there were plenty of setbacks along the way.
But, eventually, we made it to Gutenberg and his printing press; and finally, with the industrial revolution, the modern mass media began to affect our culture in rather amazing ways.
Photography, broadcasting and the recording industry further transformed us. But it took the Internet to finally empower the average person.
Today, with an Internet connection, just about anybody can transmit a message to huge, diverse and widely scattered audiences. And information travels nearly at the speed of light. It truly is amazing.
New media channels have opened in the Internet Age and audience members who are on the cutting edge of communication are drawing from both traditional and new media.
An exciting aspect of this new era of information transmission is that it includes amazing opportunities for two-way communication.
Consumers are no longer relegated to the role of information receivers; it is now possible for great numbers of people to join the discussion -- and, in some cases, to command huge audiences of their own.
As a student of communication, I learned that before the Internet explosion freedom of the press was enjoyed mostly by those rich enough to own a press. Just like books, newspapers and magazines, radio, television and the recording industry also presented high financial barriers to newcomers.
But today it is possible to find free Internet connections -- at libraries, for example -- and to create messages that are accessible by millions of individuals in a worldwide audience.
Now a retired college professor, I have decided to spend most of my time traveling. It occurred to me that an audience might exist for weekly newspaper columns describing my adventures.
It's hard to achieve success with a self-syndicated newspaper column. But I realized that other opportunities exist for me to share messages -- and that I don't need to convince an editor or publisher to provide the channel.
Before long, my decision to travel and do a little writing changed to operating a mobile media extravaganza featuring the use of no fewer than seven channels.
The "magnificent seven" include: this newspaper column; a blog; a photo gallery; podcasts; a map room; a discussion board; and weekly radio spots.
My Wandering Dave web site provides access to all of these outlets; it can be found online at WanderingDave.com.
Of course few people will spend time on all seven channels. But that is actually the point of this venture. In today's media context, senders are likely to miss part of their target if they rely only on one or two channels.
Modern media moguls need not be wealthy or powerful; but if they want to reach mass audiences, they should consider doing so in bite-sized chunks accessible through a combination of channels.
Armed with a laptop computer connected wirelessly to the 'net, an inexpensive digital snapshot camera and a plastic, battery-driven audio recorder, I'm going to be on the road for over a year in the U.S. and Canada. I'm calling myself a "mobile media mogul."
It's a brave new world where the media, once again, is the message. Ride with me.