.M.

From my part, I was glad to have seen the event through. I was so tempted yesterday to blow it off, especially after attending the 'Fringe' event (with talks from Microsoft and the BBC). There was a far more balanced world view considered on Day Two. Starting with China, then South East Asia, the Middle East and then Africa, the sea of white men subsided a little to reveal new perspectives. Live satellite link-ups forced the organisers to keep things ticking along like clockwork but the overall impression was of an impressive logistical exercise. I spent more time researching the details of the delegates and increasingly impressed that many had bothered to come at all. Perhaps what was being said in the structured sessions was largely irrelevent. Maybe the forum was never going to be a place for honest frank debate but purely the rub up against different backgrounds was enough. I started to see what the whole point was. I'm still not sure "We Media" is a fair label for the Media Centre's agenda but as frustratingly pedestrian as some of the talks were, it was clear enough (from reading blog comments and casual questioning) that people were learning. What they were learning seemed to be lessons and experience that is now years-old but still invaluable. It is so easy to become out-of-touch with other people's perspectives. There is never a better time to realise the scale of what is taking place. For indies like me, the Forum was a useful reality check. We have a long way to go before the concepts ingrained in new media are disseminated.

On that note I felt slightly (but only slightly) bad about trashing the Digital Assassins session the previous day. Fair enough... not everyone has been exposed to PSP, Myth TV, RSS and the million other technological innovations of the last few years. As more and more speakers took time to acknowledge, there really wasn't very much to say from the all the podiums and panels that was genuinely new. This is simple an opportunity for cross-fertilising and sharing experiences. The real forum took place un-facilitated between constant circling attendees listening out of and gradually narrowing in on voices they felt some connection to. What more can you expect? The biggest laugh of the day came with a short cheeky video entitled "Night of the Long Tail". The C word (conversation) may just continue.