It has only been a few years since When Steel Talks jolted the media fraternity and people around the globe when we utilized the latest technologies to publish the panorama finals scores for the world, with accompanying pictures and full stories - before many of the panorama attendees had even begun to leave the Savannah.  We even took the then-veteran Trinidadian entertainment editor Terry Joseph by utter surprise, and he remarked in one of his columns 'how shocked he was after getting home from the Savannah' to find full coverage, with audio clips, pictures and articles awaiting him on the internet.  That simple move changed the concept of time in which the world has become accustomed to having the results available after the panorama competition.  Of course, now wireless internet access is commonplace even at the Savannah, and we were occasionally able to publish live from the event a couple of years later. 

Technology again weighed in heavily on this year's panorama competition.  The internet and panorama are now integrally and forever intertwined.  There is no turning back. The 2007 panorama had at least three local stations broadcasting with internet feeds.  Local radio media outlets such as i95.5fm (Sterling Henderson, Gideon Maximin, Roy Edwards) and WACK FM (Dr. Jeanine Remy, Ken Harris, Franka Headley) provided full audio coverage and analysis, while the event was televised on NCC TV4 &16 (Ruskin Mark, Alvin Daniels, Orville Wright), the video of which was streamed to the world on TriniTV.net compliments of Jamar Technologies.

TriniTV video streaming for 2007 panorama finals

As quietly as it was kept, Trinidad-based Jamar Technologies unleashed the steelpan art form's future at this past panorama, by providing the world that live visual feed of Trinidad and Tobago's 2007 panorama event, although there were hiccups and teething issues during the broadcast.  Overall, it was an overwhelmingly successful initiative, in that, it provided a limited amount of people around the world with the ability to see and experience panorama as best the facilities they had at their disposal, at that time, would allow.  Our own feedback from Jamar Technologies is that there were, conservatively, no less than two hundred thousand attempts to log on and access the feed  - and this was with minimal to no promotion, no advance warning.  People were out there searching for a way to experience panorama via the internet.  Due in part to their limited resources and the constraints under which they operated, Jamar Technologies was able to realistically provide streaming video for about forty-five hundred clients who were successful in logging on.  But with all things impacted on by external factors such as compromise, bureaucracy, restraints, resources and the fear of change, Jamar Technologies is experiencing all the attendant issues that accompany new ventures.  But the vision of Jamar Technologies for pan-related events is the future, and once again, there is no turning back.

TriniTV video streaming for 2007 panorama finals

When Steel Talks has become accustomed to seeing hundreds of thousands of hits in the wee hours of the morning immediately after panorama, from people around the world who have come to expect results, stories, pictures and video clips to be posted for their perusal.  And they expect this to be accessible almost immediately after the final steelpan music notes are struck.  Similarly, the expectations of what Jamar Technologies is trying to do, or has done for the 2007 panorama season, will be there from now on, and it is coming from a global audience rightfully expecting new technologies to put them in direct contact with that experience.  This reality will change all those involved in and having impact on the panorama structure, i.e. planners, marketing, and performers.  Jamar Technologies has shown that the technology is available and ready, and the market exists for this product.  The ultimate summary of this phenomenon, is that people will change their behavior patterns to accommodate this available technology.

The same way 50 inch-plus big screen LCD and Plasma TV sets fly off the shelves in stores as people plan their days and evenings around the upcoming Super Bowl in the US, people are already planning to take advantage of the opportunity and experience provided by such as Jamar Technologies.  In a larger setting, much like the ESPN zone at New York's 42nd Street, similar type facilities would become sought-after as steelband aficionados congregate for a wall-to wall-visual and audio experience on giant screens.

And in step with this newly-expanded global steelpan audience, Trinidad and Tobago broadcasters must leave behind the blithe attitude that they are relating primarily to a local listenership, and that it is the global audience's responsibility to make do with whatever they put out.  They are now charged with having a professional demeanor and a keen understanding of the art form; their delivery must be intelligent, factual and contain a historical knowledge base.  The pannists in the pan community have for years been operating on a global level in terms of the performances / product they deliver.  The local media also has to think in global terms, and understand the impact of, and be in tune with the technology as it relates to panorama and pan-related events, and their role. 

New and emerging technologies will continue to influence and impact pan.  With all the active participants and factors involved the question becomes: will the pan musicians be in a position to take advantage of it, or will they be left behind?

Contact denzil.james@jamartechnology.com