34 GENIUS INTERVIEW Renard Jenkins
In all seriousness, I would love it if someone could invent technology that helps make the automated creation of unbiased modelling for machine learning easier. I think the complexity associated with it and the relatively small community of skilled resources working on it has limited its adoption. In my opinion, the potential for something like that in the media and content space is enormous.
MANAGERS HAVE TO BE TRAINED TO LOOKBEYOND THEUSUAL CANDIDATESWHENHIRING
who could play a significant role in the tech space. Unfortunately for our industry, many get frustrated and leave the industry all together. We can change that. Managers have to be trained and incentivised to look beyond the usual candidates when hiring. The same goes for recruiters and the C-suite. They have to look beyond the usual pool in order to see the potential of a different and inclusive workforce. FEED: What have you seen in your career that has been done well and worked well and what ideas do you have about how the media tech industry might do better? RENARD JENKINS: I am very blessed and have been throughout my career to have advocates who believed in my talent and opened doors for me. I believe what works well is when influential individuals are not afraid to invite someone to the table who doesn’t look, act or think like them. When they aren’t afraid to clear a path for and support people of colour being a real part of the conversation from the start – that’s when you see change. I believe that when people get beyond discomfort and begin to embrace it, we will
see change. You don’t grow without some pain and our industry is going to have to go through this in order to do better. I feel very strongly that companies need to invest in creating opportunities for people of colour that give them the space to thrive. It is not just good enough to hire a few here and there. However, it is imperative that they are nurtured and supported once they get the job. I am proud to be working at WarnerMedia, because they have publicly stated that they are not only willing to do the work in regards to equity and inclusion, but they are committed to doing it. Therein lies the difference between intent, action and success. FEED: What kind of technology do you wish someone would invent to make your life easier? RENARD JENKINS: Currently I am working on a device (or robot if you will) that will deliver an electric shock to anyone’s spine who uses the term AI when what they are really talking about is machine learning. If someone wants to help me with that, I am willing to entertain all interested parties.
FEED: What are you watching now?
RENARD JENKINS: Mainly news and HBO Max to decompress. It streams quite a few of my favourite series. I am catching up on Westworld at the moment. But, to be totally honest, I do more listening to music than anything else. Eric Dolphy and Pharoah Sanders are spinning today. FEED: And is there anything of special interest to you that we didn’t cover? RENARD JENKINS: The future of content transmission depends on its ability to evolve and adapt to a world that requires immediacy as well as quality. Platforms must be dynamically flexible and agnostic in design and functionality. While IP offers some of what is required, it still has a ways to go in regards to live production and event needs. If a product can assure accurate FEC, real-time PTP and reduce latency to milliseconds rather than seconds, we would have something on which we could build real-world production work streams. That’s something I would love to see someone invent.
feedzinesocial feedmagazine.tv
Powered by FlippingBook