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GLOBAL*BEAT - G21 INTERVEIWS: HOLMES WILSON - Our publisher chats with the co-director of the Participatory Culture Foundation, the people who have brought a new video channel to the Web that threatens to make the "Idiot Box" history and we the people produce our own television.G21 World HQ - I'm not sure anymore how I stumbled across the Participatory Culture Foundation, trawling this medium as I do for inspiration for articles on my Day Job(s) as a business and technology writer and, sometimes, like you, just surfing for fun. It was many moons ago and I immediately signed up for their Internet television service. Even having satellite TV, which I do where I live now, it was too much of "200 channels and nothing to watch." Where as the Democracy platform actually offers stuff that informs me and inspires. It was TV was people "on the ground," which fits very well with the G21 credo.
So when the opportunity to chat with one of the creators of this idea and platform, Holmes Wilson, came along, I veritably leaped at the chance.
Holmes and I started talking last month. Herewith, a transcript of our conversation.
< p>G21: How did the Democracy video-casting project get started? What was the motivation to launch this Internet television offering?WILSON: We realized that in terms of the basic technology, everything was in place to let people broadcast high quality video to huge audiences over the internet. The only problem was it was too difficult because you had to piece together disparate tools in ways that were not at all obvious.
G21: On what platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, etc.) is your software now available? Why did you choose this route?
WILSON: Our software is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. We think this is very important, because if you're making video and you want to get it out to tons of people, you don't want to be worrying about what kinds of computers they have, or what operating system they're using.
G21: Who do you work with to add channels to your "station"?
WILSON: The Channel Guide (what you see when you turn on Democracy Player for the first time) is an open directory of RSS feeds that carry video ("channels"). Anybody can submit their channel, and there are already over 300 channels in the guide.
G21: Where do you plan to go in the future with this project?
WILSON: Well, we're working hard on making the software faster, more stable, and more flexible. Pretty soon we're going to make it very easy for anyone to offer their own version of Democracy Player that comes with their channel or group of channels. We also are going to be working on a drag-and-drop way to publish videos to your own channel.
G21: Considering America's addiction to traditional broadcast television, via the "Idiot Box," how to you view your prospects for success?
WILSON: More and more people are watching video online. Even the big, traditional television networks are putting their shows online. So this shift is happening already and it's happening quickly. We're building the infrastructure so that it's as easy for individuals and small groups to start broadcasting as it is for ABC and MTV.
G21: Podcasting has been denigrated, even by some Bloggers, as an insignificant fad. Why do you think vidcasting, to coin a term, won't meet the same resistance?
WILSON: The internet TV show "Rocketboom" has a daily audience in the hundreds of thousands. That puts it on the same level as some of the less popular shows on CNN or Fox News. And we're still in the very early days of this thing.
Podcasting has had so much hype and power as a catchphrase, so I'm sure it's tempting for some people to see it as a bubble. But I think saying podcasting is merely a fad is just as much an overreaction as saying it will replace radio in a few years. The truth is people have found a very simple and handy way to do radio & TV online, and there's a lot of substance under the hype.
The internet is an extremely democratic medium. As TV and radio move online, the implications for media and public discourse will be huge.
G21: Where do you see the future of this convergence of types of media, moving to the Internet, going? How will your Democracy offering address this future vision?
WILSON: I think that while audio and video programming will increasingly be delivered over the internet, web pages won't always be the best way to present this media. Podcasting showed that you want your audio to go straight to your audio player.
Likewise, Democracy Player offers a much better experience for watching video; you can watch smooth, high quality, full-screen video without the interruptions common with streaming video in webpages. We think most people are going to want to watch video from the internet, but in a way that feels more like TV.
G21: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
© 2006, GENERATOR 21.
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