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Interview with Web Producer and Designer Sean Tice

February 27, 2008

Sean Tice is a web producer and designer for daily video shows Wallstrip  and the forthcoming Moblogic.tv , which launches Friday, March 7. He lives in Brooklyn and spends his free time silk screening and blogging on web trends.
 

1. How would you describe your profession?
      
Constantly evolving. This is an exciting time for the web - more and more people are turning to the Internet to find premium video content you can’t find anywhere else.
 

2. How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications?  Did you see yourself getting into this field early on?  What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?
 
I’ve been using computers from a young age and am mostly self-taught in front end development and design. I’ve also always had a strong interest in graphic design and how images, words, and layout tie in to usability, whether it’s an ATM machine interface or a subway station. I considered architecture for a while, but found that web design and community management is incredibly similar in terms of employing creativity and organizational skills. The web is all about sorting and organizing information into an easy to consume, enjoyable experience, and I enjoy contributing to that space.
 

3. What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
      
Strong open source publishing tools are key to legitimizing online publishing as something you can monetize. Automattic’s WordPress is a great example - here you have a robust publishing tool that encourages developers to build plugins to suit almost any need. The end result is a product that can operate as a personal blog or a destination for tremendous amounts of information (i.e. a newspaper or television network). With a strong tool in place, the audience comes in and the money follows.
 

4. In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing/website development/web production?
 
How the dots are being connected. Web 2.0 is all about social interactivity and, to a large extent, short form video content. The next step? Web 3.0, and something we’re starting to see right now - take all of that content and information and organize it for user consumption. We can syndicate anything, but what do we do with all of those RSS feeds? It’s all just information floating around, and you need a way to connect the dots between ideas, products, videos, whatever, for the user. Products like NetVibes, Adaptive Blue’s SmartLinks , and to some extent Facebook are heading in the right direction.
 

5. What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster/website developer/producer?
 
There’s a need for custom management.  That is to say, you can’t just have someone with little programming knowledge moderating a site. It’s crucial to be responsive to evolving wants and needs, and you need a webmaster on hand who can deliver those custom goods.
 

6. Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?
 
It’s an excellent thing. It’s good to be a jack of all trades, but a fresh set of eyes can  only improve how you manage and present information. To that end, partnering with individuals and companies who specialize in any number of niche areas -relevancy indexing (i.e. Sphere), video distribution (i.e. TubeMogul), etc. helps you deploy a better experience.
 

7.  Do you think the industry is regulated enough?  Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive?  Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?
 
Regulation stems from two motives:  morals/ethics and corporate fear. The former is always a touchy area, but it’s important to respect the values of people, i.e. whether a parent wants to limit their child’s access to questionable content. Ultimately it’s the responsibility of the user to make sound decisions about what they want to see and not see, but I also question the actions taken by governments who seek to stifle the flow of information (i.e. the Pakistan/YouTube debacle that led to a global shutdown of the site last Sunday).
On the other hand, the web has leveled the playing field and changed the rules for publicly traded companies that thrive on controlling how information disseminates. This is particularly true for the record labels and increasingly for networks and studios. Many are adapting, but some still cry fowl when they can’t monetize their content. Like anything else - planes replacing trains, cells taking over land lines - companies need to accept that information on the web flows the way it does, and adapt their tactics accordingly.
 

8. What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
How to monetize content. While companies like Google have nailed down text ads, we’re still in an experimentation period with video content. It’s hard to retain eyeballs when users are programmed to expect online content without charge or commercial interruption. We’re also seeing a bubble of tremendous stupidity. A lot of people in the industry have long forgotten the fallout of the dot com burst, and all of a sudden sites like Facebook are valued in the billions while their books are still in the red. Again, we need to rethink how we’re going to make money off of things users perceive as being free.
 

9. What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?
      
Keep content fresh and take user comments seriously. You need a reason for users to keep coming back, and while they’re there you want to make their experience as intuitive and enjoyable as possible. Users have a lot to say about how sites function so make sure you encourage their feedback

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