Season of Our Dis-Contents

This week, on Monday and Tuesday, saw the latest DICON held in Seoul, at the Convention Center. The fact that DICON stands for "International Digital Content Conference" gives you a pretty good idea how sensible this event is (i.e., not much). My puny brain would call that IDCC, but what do I know? Or IDCon2 or something.

Anyhow, despite being in its sixth year, DICON was a bit of a mess. Interpretations were very random, when they existed at all. The most potentially interesting presentation was canceled (Orion Ross was supposed to talk about What is Hot Around Asia). And the organizers managed to annoy more than a few of the guests by changing around plans and schedules at a whim. Which led to more than a few annoyed guests. I was told that Terrance Chang and Bong Joon-ho were both severaly displeased by how the whole event went.

And what is the POINT of DICON anyway? I know it is accepted industry jargon these days, but any time a bunch of bureaucrats start jabbering on about "content", I am usually pretty skeptical. Does anyone get excited about the thought of Content? Literature, sure. Movies, you bet. Music, games, stories, ideas -- all great. But "content"? Ugh.