Internet Learning Curve for Business 101

Change or die? Old dogs can't learn new tricks? Fear of the unknown?

How many people have never seen, used, or even heard of the internet... I have no statistics here. All I know is that if my Mom ever bought herself a laptop, she would junk her remote and browse QVC's website all day and night long. As it is, the UPS driver already knows her address by heart.

But if you're in any kind of business and still fumbling with getting information... how to improve your website, gain traffic, acquire basic geek skills, or just learn anything, pretty much, I bet you can find all of that in whatever skill level and language you will understand. Heck, you can even take online classes at M.I.T. if you want. FOR FREE!! (No, you don't earn a degree. But the courses are the same as if you enrolled. For some of us who value knowledge over mere paper, that's freaking awesome. Thanks, M.I.T!!)

I did a three-part blog post recently about the internet being a "series of tubes" - you know, the joke that's actually true, wink, wink?? So this time, I'm going to rattle off some cool stuff for beginners. The thing with the internet is that once you start looking and finding answers, you can't help increasing your knowledge. First, you will find answers, challenging as it may be to discriminate facts if you're a casual user (or gullible). But one must acclimate oneself. Think of it as hazing for a college fraternity, haha. Then, once you figure out the difference between snake-oil and useful information, you will develop a keen method of tracking down specific information through blogs, forums, and specific communities related to what you do.

I personally feel that this routine is as important (more so) than plain networking on Facebook or whatever. If you only pay attention to output (yackity-yacking online) but seldom find input (investigating how people actually DO THINGS in your industry) then "joining the conversation" will be nothing more than being in a high school clique. If that impresses you, go for it.

I'm not knocking socializing with inter- and intra- corporate collegues, your co-alumini, and connections surrounding your field. Heavens no... But if you can't bring fresh stuff to the table or understand the lingo of your peers, you ain't adding much to the conversation.

Okay, Blogs... I have this one on my blog feeds which is pretty direct and intelligent information. You can dig through this blog to learn a little about SEO and social networking, etc, etc… Useful for brushing up on guerilla marketing.

http://www.conversationmarketing.com/

The blogger above has a particular article on Google Analytics that might help those who haven't taken advantage of that application's power to reorganize their sites. It's not just for checking how many hits a page gets. You can use the information to figure out what direction to go and make adjustments whenever necessary. Follow the links to his "cheat sheet" from this article:
http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2010/01/google-analytics-cheatsheet.htm.

What I do with blogs, simply, if I feel like following them… is add it to my blog feed, which is similar to adding favorites on your browser. This way you don’t have to deal with the person’s blog page… you just browse through their headlines and click on whatever article you might like to read.

Learn how to do stuff… Tons of sites that explain stuff!! It’s nice to have the internet. I don't care if you think the following are lame. I've been an IT guy with a couple major corporations, and I still use these:

Ehow.com
Yotube.com (for the reading challenged or time challenged)
Howcast.com (video how-to's)
Ask.com
Howtodothings.com
Howstuffworks.com

Also, search your field or industry by typing in the word "forums" along with the kind of work you do. I myself belong to several related to videography. Some forums are hosted by the manufacturers of the products I use. Those are absolutley great! Some are independent of the manufacturer. But their users/members have a huge cross-section of knowledge outside the product lines. They talk about techniques and solve problems amongst themselves which can be invaluable. Join forums like that... just stay away from the trolls. And don't be one. (Trolls are those idiots who have nothing better to do than picking fights with other members over stupid things. Or they're just interested in spamming the forum with their BS websites while never adding anything useful to the thread.)

Asking questions is always fine. Be sure to state that you're a noobie 'cos the other members will figure that out and you might get yourself embarassed. Usually, there's a noobie section in a forum. Also, you will find a section called a "sticky," which is kind of a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) thing along with general rules of engagement for using the forum. If you break the rules, you might get kicked off.

So, there ya go. Educate yourself and pass it along. Practice safe cyber-surfing. Be sure to use an anti-virus.
Have fun!!

Web Video Reporter and Vlogging for Journalists

A Facebook friend of mine asked me a couple things about video cameras the other day. My answers got so involved (because I'm anal, remember?) that I figured - hey, why not turn it into a blog post?

First, let me mention that "Web Video Reporting" and "Vlogging" (or video blogging) might not be identical. Lots of people "vlog" on video sites or by embedding videos onto their regular blogs. Much of their vlogging has nothing to do with hard journalism. It might be entertainment news or commentary. Lots of times, vlogging is just done for the hell of it. Pros with large audiences monetize their blogs/vlogs. Vlogging generally focuses on the person who runs the blog and on his or her own interests. Viewers come for the personality and the flavor. There are vloggers who specialize in comedy, how-to's, politics, the stock market, and so on.

"Web Video Reporting" is an extension to traditional reporting, carried out by journalists who now feel the need to write, shoot photos, and even gather some short supporting videos. We're not talking about broadcast news people running to a scene to shoot with their $20,000 company-owned Genlock-equipped video cameras. This is more like on-the-beat indie journalism and local event reporting by writers who are actively involved with their community. Television broadcast and cable news stations have been asking the public to send in "iReports" for several years. Mainstream media figured out a way to be omnipresent by proxy. The indie reporter learns to be where a good story is through his or her community participation... it seems to be more than just an assignment. And because it's not the local station's gig, the fancy crew isn't going to be there either.

So what does the Web Video Reporter need to know when starting out with video technology? Should the gear be cumbersome? Will you need fancy editing software? How much money should you spend? This all depends on whether you want to focus on being a journalist or being a camera crew and video producer. If the event needs a nice production for promo purposes, it's best to get a pro. Video work can tie up equipment staff, a production house, and marketing department for one shoot. If you solo an ambitious project, prepare for little sleep and no days off until you reach your deadline!! But if you just want to whip out a cam to get impromptu moments of an event, you'll still need to know some do's and don'ts. Straight-forward stuff is easier to gather. Just remember the editing will be waiting for you soon after.

Basics:
Keep it simple when it comes to reporter-style video. Focus on your story. When shooting, watch out for geometric inconsistencies, like the floor and ceiling lining up unevenly. (I have a few videos with that problem due to being in a hurry.) Most importantly, get good audio whenever someone is speaking. I don’t always have the opportunity to use microphones, but when I can, I do. Keep a mic in your bag of goodies. You’ll also need the mic to add narration. Zoomed-in shots will make shaking appear more noticeable no matter how steady you hold the camera. Avoid zooms or use a tripod. Lighting your subject is essential, however you will often have no control over that as a reporter. Try to correct what you can during editing. Most Windows-based PC's and Mac's have free video editing software included. Unless you need clever graphics and animation, or you need to bring in multi-camera angles, etc, these should do the trick. Lastly, use fades and hard cuts for your scene transitions in editing. I have experimented with cool-looking transitions, and they always came out looking like Uncle Eddie’s Family Reunion video. Avoid. (I don’t have an Uncle Eddie… but you know what I mean.)

Geeky:
I don't mean to bombard you with technical info, but you'll be seeing these terms come up a lot with video, especially in editing. 1080i is the highest resolution you can get with a consumer cam. The settings for 60, 30, 24 (on many video cameras) are frames-per-second. If you are buying a newer HD cam, 1080i at 60p will probably be the preset. Older cams will have lower resolution, like 640 or 720. The funny part is that after editing, the typical setting for uploading to most web video host sites will be tops 640x480, and similarly the same resolution for rendering your video in post-production (the time when you make your final copy of the file ready for viewers). If you are uploading video to the web, render them to MPEG2 or 4 as they are the best compressed files at the smallest size that hosts will accept, except maybe flash. Uploading to YouTube changes them to a flash type file, called .FLV. Be aware that you will have time and file size limits on all free host sites.

Legal:
I don’t know if signed releases are used in reporting, but for video you might need to have a generic video release on hand for people to sign. People’s likeness and voices as well as recognizeable visibilty of private enterprises, their properties, structures, employees, and customers are delicate issues that can have legal ramifications. (Usually not a problem if you are cleared for an event, unless you add people on the fly.) For commercial purposes, it’s mandatory. Either way, to cover your butt, add a disclaimer notice on your video web site stating that you will remove anyone’s likeness if they object and have your contact info available for them. Trust me on that one. Also verify that your current insurance covers all aspects of media.

Last Thoughts:
I would recommend the Flip – they are nice and I myself had been tempted to buy the Flip 8 gig HD cam for $299. The Flip is very easy to use and non-threatening to those you are shooting/interviewing. If you think shooting up-close is all you’ll need, then go with the Flip. If you want more control, $500-600 range is the starting point and pre-owned will be even better because you essentially will be getting an $800-1000 cam.
Think of what you can and cannot live without as far as features. Also consider what media you want your video to be recorded on, if it matters to you. For the reporter on-the-go, perhaps hard disk memory or a chip is best.

Each of the above categories has so much more to discuss. I will have to continue some other time... Good Luck and have fun!!! See you around Downtown!!