Editor's Note - Onwards march: The next frontier

I am outnumbered and outdated. Fashion journalist Patty Huntington and industry consultant Kate Vandermeer, both of whom I suspect belong to Generation X, are asking me why I didn’t choose to conduct our ‘e-interview’ via Skype. I fumble.

Skype is a sophisticated software application that allows users to communicate online via instant messaging, video conferencing and live voice conversations. I have chosen Google Chat.

“Oh, it’s just … I mean I’ve used all sorts of programs in the past,” I tell Huntington over the phone, five minutes before our discussion on fashion and online media begins. I sense she knows better.

Later, Huntington will tell me that Generation X is developing some of the most influential technology in the world, while us Gen Yers watch on with feigned understanding. I don’t have the heart to tell her that just a few months ago, I thought Skype was a new brand of vodka.

Just like a few hours after our interview, I discover Google Chat also has video and voice messaging applications. I could’ve brought that up when they asked about Skype, I berate myself.

My point is, even 20-somethings can find themselves baffled by new media platforms such as Youtube, Cover It Live, Blogger, Qik, Twitter, Vimeo and vodka. I mean Skype. But with brands ranging from Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel to Sportsgirl and Metalicus now embracing these as powerful marketing tools, it’s not something that can be easily ignored. Nor should it be. 

“Those who refuse to engage in new media risk being left as road kill on the information superhighway sooner rather than later,” Huntington quotes an ‘unnamed mate’ who works for a major media group in New York.

While Ragtrader has covered these applications in the past, we felt it was time for an update on who’s using what and why. Our regular sections have taken a brief holiday. In this issue, we look at Air New Zealand Fashion Week’s approach to social networking websites, profile a progressive fashion PR agency and chat with Vandermeer and Huntington about this Brave New World we live in.

You’ll notice that in each story, we’ve interviewed savvy, well-informed and well-connected women from Generation X.

There’s a reason for this – and it doesn’t just relate to Huntington’s theories on their uptake of new technology. I have taken on the role Ragtrader editor because my predecessor, a 30-something brain of a woman, showed me the smarts and dedication it took to get there. 

Tracey Porter, this one’s for you.