Vlog clog
: Well, it appears that I have already hit the bandwidth ceiling just from two videos. So I’ve moved the WTC video to my son’s account, hoping that works, and I’ve cut off the Christmas video for now, to see whether this helps. Yes, yes, I know: bandwidth is precisely the problem. But bandwidth (like memory and processor power) keeps getting cheaper and cheaper; it’s a trivial limitation. Video still has a future in this, our world.
NOTE: Instead of the links below, please use this link to see the vlogs: www.screenblast.com/buzzmachine.
Vlogging: Video weblogs
: Welcome to a new age of blogging: video blogging.
I’ve created two video weblogs — one about the new World Trade Center designs and one about my Christmas tree — because (a) there’s new software that makes it easy [more on that below] and (b) I’m becoming convinced that video is the next frontier for blogging.
It’s a simple equation: We bloggers do not compete with newspapers, because we do not have news operations.
Instead, bloggers compete with pundits because what we do have is opinions.
And where do you find the most pundits?
On TV.
TV is no big deal. Oh, TV people would make it look like a big deal with all their jargon and staffing and equipment and adrenalin. But the truth is, all you do to make TV is stare at a camera and read and say something: It’s easy.
There’s no reason a blogger should not be the next Andy Rooney or Charles Grodin or Ann Coulter (easy marks, all!). I’d take any of their jobs, tomorrow.
When you get right down to it, there’s no reason a blogger could not be a new-age TV anchor, for TV news is really just a weblog with pictures that move and talk: TV news links to the same video everyone else has (news being a commodity today) with a talking head tying it all together.
Well, bloggers have heads. Bloggers can talk (at least the ones I’ve met can). Ergo, bloggers can make TV.
So I decided to prove the point with these two vlogs, as I’ll annoint them.
They’re not slick; they’re not good TV; I talk too fast; I couldn’t get the reflection off my glasses; the lighting is harsh; the focus is funky; I didn’t get the graphics to zip and zap quite as smoothly as I’d have liked; I’m not as young as I used to be…. It’s a bit embarrassing but I’ll do anything in the service of populist media.
OK, it’s not GMA. But it’s not hard to see how you could produce a segment every bit as good as any on GMA with just a little work.
It’s TV. It’s only TV.
Now nominate all the bloggers you’d love to see and hear, not just read: Glenn Reynolds (whose video pro wife could make real TV)… James Lileks (soon to costar with real TV star Al Roker)… Josh Marshall… Elizabeth Spiers… Mickey Kaus… Ken Layne… Matt Welch… Virginia Postrel… Tim Blair… Corey Doctorow… Rossi… Richard Bennett… Nick Denton… Tony Pierce… and, of course, me…
Welcome to the future. Welcome to our future.
