Anything I go to and write about here is always going to be seen through my glasses, whether they’re tinted by my cranky, happy, drunk, sad or excited experiences — and the Podcast and Portable Media Expo was no exception. Overall it was an eye-opener; I had no real reason to go, but I wanted to sort of see the state of things. Podcasting is way, way different than when I started out (for me as well as podcasting culture), and all the rapidly evolving information dissemination tools and culture coming out of it is fascinating.
If you want overview coverage, check out the Technorati Portbale Media Expo tag, and Steve Friess over at Wired wrote an informative piece from the expo about the Apple litigation that came down right before the convention started. As I mentioned in a previous post, Robert Scoble was there shooting video, but I don’t see anything of his from the weekend up yet (this is the page to watch for his video show updates). Let me just say outright that I think it’s a huge, glaring oversight for an audio/video new media expo to *not* have its own dedicated coverage. What gives?
Well, the wifi sucked, so maybe that’s part of why. But there were so many interesting people there and a signifigant number of companies who weren’t necessarily there to sell stuff but to just represent and share the crazy new things they’re doing with audio and video. The expo should have reflected all this forward thinking, and made their own media to show it off.
So far, the only video of a panel I’ve found is this video Sacredwhore shot of the Blip.tv videoblogging discussion (including Mike Hudack and Deena, Casey on Ms. Kitka’s Kitcast, me on Geek Entertainment TV).
Which is perfect for the point I’m making here. I know I joke about flirting with the Blip staff, but in reality I’m filled with fascination and awe at what they’re up to — Blip’s kind of media and information sharing is actively, shockingly forward-thinking, as I discovered in the panel. And a just bit thoughtfully subversive, too. I mean, I liked them already as a smooth videoblogging service par excellance, but whan I saw what they’re up to I was blown away. I already loved the kick-ass user interface, with Creative Commons options for each video, multiple media presentation formats seamlessly blended into the upload process, and cross-platform integration with things like Flickr. And my videos look ten million times better than YouTube, plus they have a great Google Safe Search style approach to explicit content (though note: no porn here — really).
But they’re free, free, free — and they want individuals to be successful and to build a videoblogging community. I chatted with them about this at length — they’re pushing to get media making into *everyone’s* hands and to blend it with traditional media to affect change. Why? Because everyone knows old media is broken. Example: Blip’s I-Report page on CNN, where anyone can upload video they think is breaking news (launched in August, then parodied on the Daily Show in Put Your Balls on Wolf Blitzers Head). Fun example: a Go Fug Yourself scented bad fashion photo upload page with Glamour.
And then the thing that really got me excited wasn’t a Blip feature or service, but a videoblog they’re especially proud to host and sponsor — Alive in Baghdad (actually featured in iTunes last June; see where this is going?) Here, “Through the work of a team of Americans and Iraqi correspondents on the ground, Alive in Baghdad shows the occupation through the voices of Iraqis. Alive in Baghdad brings testimonies from individual Iraqis, footage of daily life in Iraq, and short news segments from Iraq to you.”
This is the kind of stuff that really matters, and that’s what we can do now. It’s a shame that videoblogging wasn’t pushed at the PME like it should be (because it’s the *real* future of podcasting), but the value of I what walked away from the expo with is worth it. Granted, everyone was walking around saying that Vloggercon 2006 was the best convention they’d ever been to (!), so things like the PME have a lot to learn from all of us, its media makers. I’m more proud than ever to be actively involved in participatory media like GETV (and the multimedia integration I do with my own work), and incredibly honored/excited to be a judge in the upcoming Vloggies (submit a videoblog to the Vloggies here).
Now I need a real video camera! (Drool!)
