Get Mike Bloxham's contact information
Title
Director, Insight and Research
Places you’ve called home?
Wherever I lay my hat (al la Paul Young)… In England—Herne Bay (Canterbury), Bristol, and various parts of London most recently in Greenwich. Currently in Muncie, Indiana.
What do you do all day?
I have an inordinate amount of fun developing research solutions to interesting and intractable problems. I work with industry to make sure those solutions provide actionable and meaningful results. I also spread the word about Ball State, the Center for Media Design (CMD) and work we’re doing to the media industry at large. All the while, I avoid doing administrative chores wherever possible.
If you were stuck on a desert island with only one media device or application, what would you choose?
I would have an MP3 enabled sonar reader that I could attach to a raft, which would enable me to find fish and listen to music whilst idly catching fish to feed myself. Failing that, I would have a chef. I am assuming this is a deeply desirable island which I wouldn’t want to leave, so that I would have fresh fish, nuts and berries, fruit, and fresh water.
Which device or type of media do you wish would be sucked in by a black hole in space?
Any mobile phone used by someone in the stall of a public bathroom.
What media device or platform do you think has the greatest impact on our media landscape right now?
It would be a toss us between TV and the computer. They are neck and neck as far as influence. The television has not diminished in its impact on the public, because society continues to turn to the TV for everything. It is still the 800-pound gorilla in the room as far as media is concerned.
That being said, computers have made a significant impact in more recent years because they are so multifaceted in their use. Computers have changed so many processes, whether we use them for entertainment and recreation, or for work. Computers have opened up a lot of opportunities for us in all areas of our lives.
What does your online presence look like?
I have various accounts, including Facebook, Kluster, LinkedIn, Names, and Plaxo. I also blog on MediaPost’s TV Board, which gets picked up for other blogs. I have an avatar in Second Life. Anything else is hard to remember and therefore not important.
What is the most random thing that you have done in a former life?
Stand-up comedy.
What was your most recent epiphany?
Frustration is the bedfellow of ambition and the spur to innovation. Learn to use it.
Also, fat and happy is a pretty good place to be.