“Podcasts, video podcasts, vlogs and becoming your own broadcaster”

I love the podcast. I can catch up on industry developments, learn new techniques, and find out why the JVC GY-HD100U camera is better than the Canon XL H1, and hear it from someone who actually used it.

The specificity of podcasting (and blogging) is incredible. The ability for niche experts to relay their experience and knowledge to a limited audience at a low cost has expanded the available (rather the accessible) Internet knowledge base greatly. This hits at the core functionality of the Internet. Information that one person is interested in (en mass) made available to the entire Internet community.

I like podcasts because they are so much like radio. You can listen and learn while doing other tasks. For me, it’s more like CBC radio. Most of the time I can listen while doing other things but, sometimes, I need to pay closer attention to understand what’s being talked about. Not true multi-tasking but as close as we humans can get.

So here’s the problem. V-logging, the vlog or video podcasting requires you to watch the show to be entertained (or edu-tained) so it dominates your attention. It does not enable multi-tasking in the same way as a podcast. As a heavy computer user I enjoy running multiple apps that can work in the background as I work on another program in the foreground. So I do not follow vCasts as much as podcasts unless I’m out to learn something specific and want to actually see it.

Now the huge benefit of vlogging is this exact same multitasking issue. It grabs and becomes the primary focus of your attention. It also is able to visually show information in the same manner as television. As a vpodcaster you piggyback on television’s conventions of relaying information with a dash of education combined with some advertising to create an entertaining product that distributes your message.

Once you begin Vcasting you are suddenly your own broadcaster with your own rules and mandate. For corporate use, you can (at a relatively low cost) produce your own employee informational show to disseminate video memos, new product demos or employee introductions. It’s wide open. Now, as with television, good production values and a clear understanding of your audience are critical to getting good show ratings, even on an internal level.

For the corporate sector I think the video podcast can be a fantastic tool (when created effectively) that will be watched and used better than text based information (email, posted memos, etc.). Especially due to the fact that you can set the player up to automatically update its library when you publish a new vcast. Now you just need to get everyone interested in watching and subscribing.

Video podcasting, vlog, vlogging, vcast are all interchangeable terms to describe this cutting edge tool. As I spoke about last week, because the technology is new you will have to ensure that you audience has the proper codecs and software to view the show. But with most corporate organizations usually their IT is coordinated and synced so this is not such a hurdle. Again, like television, you will need to develop an audience, go through style modifications, listen to viewer feedback and above all keep it entertaining. Television is an entertainment medium. Its success is not due to the information itself but rather how it is presented.

In Apple news everyone is still waiting for the Mac Pros to be launched in August. The one crazy thing I did hear though was the possibility for machines to handle more processors than the quad. There is chatter that the Intel chips can be configured to 4 chips per core or even more in the future. This would mean an octo-core setup. Eight chips running! To see Steve Jobs roll out that baby at the WWDC would bring a little tear to my eye I think. Less than two weeks to shut me up on this.

Look for new images off the front page and a photo gallery to arrive soon in the site.

Thanks
CM

www.cmcreative.ca