On Wednesday I’m on a panel at DPAA talking about convergence.

The sexiness of cross pollinating mobile, social and DOOH is a hot topic. The coexistence of these technologies is often characterized as “Convergence.”

But convergence is a myth.

What is more important is interoperability.

If my device/network can’t interoperate with an audience’s device/network, it might as well be dead to the world. Media will be less measurable, less actionable, less engaging, less immersive, less… everything if it cannot interoperate. And when most people talk about convergence, they actually mean interoperability.

Convergence leads us down the wrong path - we do not need to build neighboring technologies into our devices/networks, we need to build connections and interfaces into them so that they can communicate with each other.

That’s why our DOOH screens, players, CMS, networks etc need to display tweets, checkins, Facebooks fans, text messages… because if they can’t they are like yesterday’s newspaper - old news.

Our DOOH screens need to co-operate with the outside world - and each other.

Interpretability is the word.

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We’re pleased to announce that we’ve welcomed two new members to the LocaModa Advisory Board.

Michael Quinn served as Chief-Strategist & SVP Marketing at Premier Retail Networks, generating over $1 Billion during his tenure at the company and executing the largest equity event in the history of Digital Out of Home. Michael is also a founder and Board member of the DPAA and a member of the Board of Advisors at RMG Networks.

Ralph Folz brings his experience as Global Chief Operating Officer of Isobar, the digital marketing unit of Aegis Media, and as the founder and CEO of Molecular, which he built into one of the most highly regarded Internet consulting firms.

We’re all excited to have them on board!

[full release]

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As reported on MediaPost this morning, OVAB (Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau) has changed its name to DPAA (Digital Place-based Advertising Association), largely in reaction to the industry trend towards ‘place-based’ as the preferred designation for locations serving audiences.

As DPAA President Suzanne La Forgia explains:

“Places are the distinguishing factor that helps to cultivate audiences and help cultivate interaction… It isn’t just something that is on a roadside, or on the side of a bus. It’s in places where people congregate, and how consumers and venue visitors are experiencing these networks.’

This is a name change we certainly appreciate, not only because it captures the expanding connotations of the term digital (as I discussed in yesterday’s post), but also because it recognizes the growing traction of the term we use extensively to describe our offerings (LocaModa’s tagline being Place-Based Social Media).

The DPAA will no longer support ‘static digital signage,’ which, again, falls right in line with yesterday’s discussion of what digital has come to mean (i.e. multi-channel, engaging, measurable, interactive).

I’m interested to hear the industry-wide reaction of the change, but we’re encouraged by the formal acknowledgement of a shift we’ve been tracking for years.

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