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Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Folha de S. Paulo: An interview about videoblogging

Here's another interview. This time it's with Mariana Barros from Folha de S. Paulo, a major Brazilian newspaper.

Since the resulting interview will be in Spanish, and most likely edited, here are the questions and my answers:

Question: First of all, I would like to know what´s the difference between video blog and blog casting.

What changes from one to another?

Are they a kind of an evolution of the same idea or are they based on different things?

Answer: It's similar to the difference between an audio blog post and a podcast.

An audio blog post that is delivered through RSS is a podcast.

A video blog is a blog which contains video in it's posts. When you subscribe to an RSS 2.0 feed with enclosures for that video blog, the resulting media that is delivered to your computer could be called a blog cast.

The content doesn't change necessarily, only the method that you obtain and consume the media.

Question: Is the process of making it the same? Where can I get more information, tutorials?

Answer: Here's more info on adding an RSS 2.0 feed to a blog. Everything is the same. You are just giving your viewers a way to get the new videos delivered to them instead of them having to check all the time on your blog to see if you have a new video.

How to add an RSS 2.0 Feedburner feed to your Blogger Blog
People want to subscribe to your weblog feed and get your new posts delivered to them. Use Feedburner to send out text, audio and video, just like the old time milkman delivered milk.

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Go here, http://www.antisnottv.net/, to get FireANT, a program for your Mac or PC that will allow you to subscribe to a video blog:


Question: Why did you start doing it? Where the idea came from?

Answer: On January 1st of 2004 I decided to make a New Years Resolution to figure out how to easily put video in a blog. As a frequent blogger and video producer, I wanted an easy way to share the videos I was making.

On January 1, 2005 I decided to get my wife involved and started the weekly real reality show, The Carol and Steve Show. When we watch reality TV shows, she always kids me that I like to think everything is real. So we decided to do our own reality show where everything IS really real. No desert islands and no food challenges. Just real life. We just set out to record our lives and share our experiences through videoblogging.

Question: How does it feel being a "web celebrity", having popular website? Did you expect it?

Answer: The celebrity, if you could call it that, or popularity that has come about has been surprising to me. It's totally unexpected. I'm just making small films about my life, things I see and do. One person that I make these videos for is my mom. You know how mom's like to get phone calls to hear what you are doing? Well, I could be on the phone with my mom for 24 hours straight and I wouldn't be able to explain to her what I can easily show her with video.

The surprising thing is that people all over the world find these videos interesting. The comments area associated with each video allows us all to join in a conversation. People from Australia are surprised to see snow at the beach in winter, people in Italy can't get over hte size of my supermarket, and people from California enjoy listening to the Boston accent.

Question: Do you think the future of TV will be mixed with internet? How?

Answer: I do think that the future of TV will be mixed with internet. In fact, it already is. I'm involved with a company called Akimbo that is delivering video content over the internet to tv. They carry my videos right along with BBC and CNN. It's democratizing the distribution method for video so that soon anyone will be able to create video programming and have it distributed to people in their living rooms.

On the other side of things, TV producers are looking towards the internet to get more content out there to fans and viewers. The recent Rockstar INXS show is a good example with video clips that are not shown on TV. The producers say, "MSN(R) Video has streamed 7.1 million clips of the rockers competing for the chance to become the new lead singer of INXS."

Question: In your opinion, what do you think will be the next video midia tendency? How we´ll be wathcing videos in five years?

Answer: In five years I think we'll still watch video on the same devices that we now have, TV, Movies, Internet and handheld devices. What will be different will be the providers of that video. Although we'll still have mainstream media and Hollywood, in addition to those providers we'll also see content produced by what we today consider passive viewers.

For many years people have been making movies on their home video recorders and storing them in a shoebox. As editing tools get easier to use, we'll see more people creating their own video stories. We're seeing it now with videoblogging. Regular people like me are telling their stories. Each day new stories are delivered to my desktop, that enrich my life. Through video I get to know these people from around the world.

There are going to be easy ways to find video that interest viewers, through search engines, program guides, trusted sources, tagging and communities. We're already experiencing the excitement of seeing the possibilities that the future will hold, and I for one can't wait for the future to get here. I'm so excited by it, that I'm there already.