The morning media panels at the Web 2.0 Summit haven’t been as energetic or exciting as the technology panels (I’ll add to the chorus: Dash seems very cool). Over the past three panels, AT&T Randall Stephenson waxed disingenuously about Net neutrality and other matters, executives from CBS Interactive and Comcast delivered the bullet points about how they intend to retain their incumbent advantage, and representatives from upstarts Current and Joost talked about how they were bringing aspects of the passive experience of television to the interactive platform of the Net. (Both Current and Joost have interesting interactive features, of course, but those services are more about aggregating audiences than creators.)
This is a conference about innovation. Over the past few days, we’ve heard from disruptors, some with wild ideas that have paid off, some with wild ideas that might pay off. But when it comes to media, an area in which you’d expect rebels and crazies to congregate, the stage this morning was full of people looking backward far more than forward. I’ll want my Internet to be more like a television right around the time I’ll want my word processor to be more like a manual typewriter.
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