New Media Network

In the spring of 2007 a consortium consisting of the Municipality of Århus, the Alexandra Institute and the Central Region Denmark began the preliminary work to establish a network aimed at business and research professionals working within the field of media and communication.

The steering committee wanted the network to focus on the fast growing field of new media. To map the readiness of media companies, communications companies and other relevant businesses and research institutions Seismonaut was asked to take on the task of assessing the possibilities for a new media network in the Central Denmark Region.

Challenge

During recent years new media has caught the attention of companies wanting to explore new business opportunities. Furthermore, academic circles have intensified their research into how new media is changing the way we interact and communicate. New media is, to a large extend, a hybrid that contains part web, part mobile services and part user involvement. Therefore, it cannot be positioned in any existing frameworks neither in business nor academic research. A new framework for corporation had to be developed.

With this starting point Seismonaut set out to explore and map the viewpoints and needs of various companies as well as researchers working with new media. All with the purpose of identifying possibilities of how business and research ideally could be linked in a future new media network.

Solution

In order to assess the viewpoints and needs of companies Seismonaut conducted a large number of interviews with companies working with new media, as well as with academic researchers within the field. The interviews were conducted with not only internet and advertising companies, who work with new media on daily basis, but also with large Danish corporations, who are just starting to use new media as part of their general communications strategy. Having a broad variety of companies, including both suppliers and buyers of new media products, provided great insight into different approaches and needs regarding new media.

Apart from this Seismonaut looked at successful international examples of new media networks in order to draw upon their experience in this highly unexplored field.

Outcome

The result of the study has been published in a report, which summarizes viewpoints of the companies and researchers, while drawing upon the experiences from international networks. This report maps companies and researchers approach to new media as well as their degree of knowledge within the field. Furthermore, it looks at needs and wants regarding new media while assessing the need and interest for a new media network in the Central Denmark Region.

The report also provides substantial recommendations and a next step guide to assist the decision makers.

About the Client

The municipality of Århus governs the second largest city in Denmark. Central Denmark Region is on of the five overall administrative units in Denmark. The Alexandra Institute creates a links between research, businesses, public institutions and citizens mainly with focus on IT-based solutions.