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by Larry Hughes
Introduction | Task | Resources | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion
Introduction
The Battle for the Future of Television has begun!. The
electronics industry is on the verge of the most dramatic advance in imaging
technology since the color television. Under the banner of High Definition
Television, telecommunications, broadcasting, and computer are being merged
into a single digital imaging system with a wide range of exciting new
applications.High-definition television (HDTV) will dramatically increase
the quality of the display of traditional television as well as the much-anticipated
set-top-box computer/television hybrids. And every major electronics company--and
the U.S. and Japanese governments--is already imagining the unimaginably
large financial rewards to be reaped by those lucky enough to have perfected
the right gear at the right time: just about every piece of hardware in
the television industry will be replaced or supplanted, from your television
to the international broadcast infrastructure. What will this change mean
for audiences, and for those of you who may be working professionally in
the brave new world of digital television?
You are staff members of a major metropolitan television station, WXYZ. Your station is rated #1 in your market, for the moment. That means you can charge the highest rates for advertising, and that your station has the most to lose if your ratings drop. The Board of Directors of WXYZ is concerned that your major competitor, WABC, will take the top rating spot by being the first to convert to digital broadcasts of HDTV. Should WXYZ invest millions of dollars in order to jump into HDTV broadcast now, or wait until they are required to do so by law in 2006? How can WXYZ stay #1 in a rapidly changing broadcast market? You have been assigned to research this issue, present your findings, and prepare a recommendation for the Board to vote on at their next meeting.
| Resources |  |
This is a list of all of the web sites linked to in this
assignment.
Close-up:
High Definition Television (HDTV) Info
HDTV Group:
Links
HDTV Wars:
Microsoft discovers Howdy Doody and gets Goofy
HDTV FAQ: What
is Digital TV?
HD
Television: An Introduction
Digital
TV: A Cringely Crash Course
HDTV links
Digital
Television: The Site
High
Definition TV (HDTV)
KCTS
DTV FAQ
HDTV
1. Divide the questions below equally among the members
of your group.
2. Search the resource sites on the internet for answers
to the questions.
Books, magazines, and other sources
may also be used.
3. Write answers to your questions and save them, with
your questions, in a word processor file.
4. You have all learned about a different part of the
HDTV issue. Now
come back to the larger WebQuest team with your
expertise on the important questions. You must arrive at a consensus
as a group. Each of you will bring
a certain viewpoint to the answer: some of you will agree
and others
disagree. Convince your teammates that your viewpoint
is important and should be part of your team's answer to the Task / Quest(ion).
Your WebQuest team should write out an answer that everyone on the team
can live with.
5. Prepare an oral presentation (with PowerPoint slideshow)
and deliver your report to the "Board of Directors" during class. Convince
the board to follow your recommended course of action.
Click here for an evaluation form for this WebQuest.
Many of you are considering future careers in television.
That future is digital. As video and computer technologies begin to merge
in a "golden convergence", the lines will blur between one medium and another.
You now have a much better idea what this new digital world will
look like, and what it will be like to work in this new world.
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