Obama's Weekly Address

I see what Obama's going for with these weekly addresses to the nation through youtube, but do you think they're effective? Taking into account the medium, I guess that youtube just seems somewhat less presidential to me than the radio addresses of FDR's time. Is this an issue that Internet video is going to have to deal with in the future? Is there a sense of gravitas present in other mediums that it's lacking or is that just me?

Video Journalism and Activism

A blog post today over at left click blog analyzed what I think is one of the more exciting aspects of the changing face of video journalism. While television journalism was routed in an often cheesy and artificial form and print journalism has had various traditions governing its form for centuries, the form of video and digital journalism is still being developed and open for experimentation.

Left click blog took this fact to the next step and argued that because of this opportunity for experimentation, video journalism is a medium that is ripe for social activism. In fact, Dave Riley goes so far as to say that "formality collapses" with video journalism. I think that this is a perfect way to describe the current freedom and room for creativity found in the medium, and I would argue that that lack of a constrictive formality will be an overall good thing for journalism as a whole.

Case Study: Vanguard

This Death Train segment is one of my favorite pieces of journalism from Current TV’s ‘Vanguard’ series. A backpack journalist recorded the dangers that Guatemalan workers face as they attempt to migrate to America. The piece was incredibly moving and I think really serves as a testament to Current’s form of mass sourced citizen journalism. Last night, I noticed that Vanguard has recently been added to Hulu providing another outlet for people to stumble upon this great series.

Boxee could bridge Internet and TV Video

Bridging the gap between television and Internet video is going to become increasingly important in coming years. With formerly print publications adding video to their content, and formerly broadcast companies adding print websites, the ability to exist across mediums will come in incredibly useful. An article in The Guardian yesterday explored this emerging problem and what the possible solutions currently being offered were.

The first technology discussed is one that many of us are aware of: the xbox. Formally known as XBMC, xbox technology was one of the first to integrate television and Internet content. Many people who play interactive video games on their television already know this. Gamers are currently able to communicate on their Xboxes with each other while playing a game on their television.

Video Book Hybrids

A story in the New York Times about a week ago on the emergence of "vook" technology was analyzed further in an article for Salon yesterday. Both articles do a pretty admirable job of summarizing the fact that a sucky novel is not going to turn into the Great Gatsby by adding a slide show. What a surprise. But even though the specific content they are analyzing seems to be somewhat sub-par, I think that the integration of media in this specific format is exactly where newspapers and other news outlets should be heading in the future.