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0:00
Hello, my name is
Steve O'Connor.
My topic today is
Uncertainty in the
Information Industry.
I have held senior positions in
universities both in
Australia and in Hong Kong.
I'm also an adjunct professor at
the Charles Sturt University
specializing in
information studies.
0:23
I have lectured and consulted in
information studies and
future studies using
scenario planning, risk
and certainty techniques.
I've also had a long career as
a university librarian
and a journal editor.
In this talk, I'm applying
this learned experience to
the publishing and
library environments.
I hope that you will enjoy
what I've got to say.
0:48
The Chinese language is
a beautiful language.
I have a very limited
understanding of the language
and I use Pinyin
transliteration of the language
to communicate what
I'm trying to say.
For those who are
experts in the language,
please excuse my failings.
The word future in Chinese
using Pinyin is wei lai,
publishing, chuban,
library, tushuguan.
I will use short
terms like these
throughout the talk to highlight
one concept or another.
The very powerful
and cunning owner
of the Murdoch
empire may be aging,
but the observations he
makes cannot be ignored.
They are just not
controversial anymore,
but the consequences
are enormous.
He has recently in mid 2024 made
the prediction that
print newspapers will be
out of business completely
in 15 years' time.
He predicts that the
tactile editions
of our newspapers
will cease to exist.
We can readily observe
this prediction already
coming to pass, now with
the newspapers
ceasing to exist in
non-metropolitan
situations and to
some extent in the
city media families.
This of course is applicable
across the globe.
It is an interesting observation
to make that newspapers
in non-English speaking
countries are still flourishing.
They are still reliant on
the native local language or
tongue to communicate news.
Murdoch is interesting
in that his empire
started with print
newspapers but now has
predominantly moved into
the electronic media
including television
and cable TV.
The point I wish to make
here is that we have seen
this empire move from
one form of technology,
one form of media, to another.
Who is to say that the
transition has not stopped?
What is the next iteration
which the mode of
communication will take?
Another observation is
that the news has shifted
from a communication
of facts and events to
a presentation of news
through talking heads.
One might say we are having
facts and news mixed
up with opinions.
Many will let these observations
drift by their consciousness,
but these changes are
happening here and now.
They form some of
the core elements
of change here and now.
The Murdoch reference highlights
the emerging demise of paper,
but the reference is more about
power and how
journalism is changing.
Publishing is also
generally about revenue
and the application of
power and how these views,
research and news are
communicated and applied.
I'm very pleased to have been
