Buzzmachine and NYC Video
Chatting with Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine on viral video after seeing him in the NYTimes. Viral is right. But old-line media types don't want to get viral. They think it means "steal". Or loss of message control. They don't master it. They really should read Sun Tzu. They also don't get that they're increasingly dependent on the whirlwind of the Internet, networks, computers, and other technology. That it's rapid response and message control by using the medium itself. Jeff's right when he says "welcome to the future of TV".
What else does he say. "There will need to be a Google of video -- a means of helping people find what they want. And, no, that's not just about creating a search engine. It's about capturing the metadata we create when we watch and share things and making sense of it. It's not trivial but it's vital for without a great guide, we'll never find the programming we want and this new medium won't work. This video Google thing will be the next Google and TV Guide and it will be big. And I doubt that either Google or TV Guide will be the one to create it."
Jeff's right on the money. And metadata has been quite an ExecProducer obsession for several years. We don't just do search for video - that's too narrow and doesn't leverage the medium well. We care about the metadata and the meaning. It's the end-to-end production to deployment that's key. Very difficult. Years of technical work. Operational system. Deep business model.
Why do I know about this stuff. Well, I'm a technologist, as well as the cofounder (just got another patent notification of grant of claims, yah), so I like what it takes to do this. Expertise in everything from the operating system to the Internet protocol to the database to stream to the video standards - even understanding the semiconductors on which the media is recorded. A very exciting multi-disciplinary study from a technical standpoint.
But it's also really great from the story perspective. Everyone's got a story to tell. They just need the means to tell the story without the tech getting in the way. We technologists have a real difficulty in considering how to make people's lives better. But that's my favorite thing to do.
And the fun is in the art of creation. Getting little movies made instantly, viewed instantly, responded instantly. No software. No tools. No training. Just great fun.
I'm pleased to hear that people are beginning to twig to metadata. Of course, I'm only now getting requests to understand work I did a decade ago in operating systems, so it's pleasing to see things moving a bit faster. :-)
If you like video, check out what our partner Valux is doing, and what I'm doing as well (see Lynne Jolitz and ExecProducer Technology). The latest video I did for fun to answer a VC's question "Why use a service - why not use software" was done in 18 minutes - 10 minutes to write the response, 5 minutes to shoot a few clips with a canon camera, 1 minute to put the clips in email and write the program listing, 2 minutes to produce into a movie - audio/titling/technical production/format choice (can do even SMPTE standard - it's all in parallel) - place it in the program guide on the web, and send out invitations. People start watching streams in about 30 seconds (seems a lot of folks just hang around watching the inbox). Ratings are best understood if you really are part of the medium from beginning to end.