Comments on: Is There a Future for Original Web Video Shows?

By: Chris Albrecht

Chris Albrecht — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:20:45 +0000

Hey Robert,

Thanks for the comment. I agree that there is a lack of imagination in web content, given the possibilities the internet presents. One area of interest though is in transmedia storytelling, where shows like “Heroes” are trying to create original web programming that feeds into a larger canon.

The problem with this transmedia storytelling that I’ve seen though, is that no one really wants to talk about whether people are actually watching it. Though Goodfried has said more people were engaging with Harper’s Globe than any previous EQAL show.

@Ken,

I think your comment feeds nicely into what Friedman was saying for this piece about the experimentation phase for web content. It sort of got its legs cut out from underneath it.

By: kenwirt

kenwirt — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:09:11 +0000

If you look at the history of other media (movies, TV, etc) — it takes about 10 years on average for the new medium to acquire a “language” of its own. Movies, for example, were first used to give people a taste of “reality” they had not experienced before: people in Kansas “seeing” the ocean or giving everyone the experience of seeing a play from the best seat in the house. Movies just “distributed” what already existed in another medium (stage plays). It wasn’t until 10 years after the advent of paid movies that The Great Train Robbery introduced the new language of close-ups and non-linear story telling (flash-backs).
In other words, it’s going to take a while for Internet video to do something truly unique rather than just distributing the video and film content we already have today.

By: Robert Bole

Robert Bole — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:32:22 +0000

I work in the area of public media, specifically working on digital strategy & investments into public broadcasting. One of the most vexing problems facing legacy stations, as well as PBS, NPR and beyond, is how to program in a multiscreen, multiplatform world. There is not yet a a coherent strategy nor tactical rules/standards.

This is a good article to broaden those conversations, especially considering the evolution of EQAL and how the other legacy media products are approaching them (or vice versa).

I am most interested in hearing others thoughts on “networked media” programming. Somehow restreaming the same content over various platforms seems somewhat flaccid and unimaginative. The other areas of media are so world encompassing that we have the opportunity to stitch together our own experiences, or use trusted filters, but that has not really translated into streaming/broadcast beyond the interesting experiment.

What is a programmer (not me by the way) to do?