Every year I create a music video for my wife that is the video highlights of the previous year staring our two children. The video is my annual Mother’s Day gift to her and I feel especially good when it makes her misty eyed (even better if I can get a tear). While I have often thought about the content that I’m creating as the actual video, it has dawned on me that there is other content created in the process which I’m just throwing away. In the course of creating this video for her I have developed a process that I go through – loading the raw footage, selecting the best clips, selecting a song, creating a story, editing it all together and getting it onto a DVD. While the finished product is not Coppola-quality, friends watch the video and say, “How did you do that?!” My response is generally a few sentences of high level explanation, not providing the in-depth information that someone would actually need to replicate the process. It was this insight that lead to the creation of my current pet project 123Hints.com which provides how-to tutorials as screen casts and makes we wonder more generally about the opportunities that all of have to share our accidental content.
Here is the main idea – through out the course of our day each person creates lots of content (have conversations with people, create email or presentations, make a spreadsheet, jot down notes and ideas) but we rarely capture this information and when we do capture it we share it even more rarely. It doesn’t have to be that way. I believe that the biggest obstacle to an absolute explosion in content capture & sharing is . . . societal. Four things are needed for this content explosion; the ability to easily capture content, platforms to share the content, tools to find content, and people willing to share their content.
The obstacles to capturing information are falling rapidly – most cell phones can capture audio & video. The platforms for sharing are also improving – blogs, Flickr, podcasts. While solutions exist for both of these obstacles there are still improvements that can make them even easier. For instance, the ability capture video with a consumer camcorder and transfer the video to a computer has existed for years, but products like The Flip are making that process even easier, thus reaching a broader audience. Tools to find content also exist and are improving. Search engines like Google get better every day. New networks (Podango, Mevio, Revision3) and new portals (iTunes) are developing. I believe that the biggest obstacle is a societal one.
We have learned from companies that information is something to protect with footers on documents like “Company Confidential – Don’t share or you will be fired.” but it doesn’t have to be that way and there are some great examples of new paths forward.
TWiT
Leo Laporte is the main conductor behind the TWiT network of podcasts, a movement that he founded with former co-workers when his TV show on technology was canceled. His podcasts are considered required listening for a community of tech savvy people. In April 2008 Leo began video & audio streaming of his of production process – a behind the scenes look at his day and how the shows are made via TWiT Live. Sometimes he is talking to camera (the people viewing him on the Internet) and sometimes he oblivious to the fact that thousands of people are watching him. His goal is to create 25 hours a week of this streaming video, a goal that some peers say is “nuts”. However, I think it is brilliant. Yes, there is the geeky behind-the-scenes things that some people would tune in for, but there is also additional, valuable discussion that goes on between the recording of his shows. That is why thousands of people log in 5 days a weeks to watch Leo.
What will be even more powerful is when this accidental content is captured, tagged and posted for non-live viewing. Interested in a discussion between Leo and his agent about how advertising needs to change to accommodate the niches that exist in podcasting? I bet that lots of ad-agencies would be interested (since they haven’t figured it out yet) and lots of marketing students would be interested as well. Do you want to know what your favorite/respected security expert really thinks of Microsoft’s latest effort to lock down Windows and what loopholes remain? Chances are that was captured in a candid conversation between Leo and Steve Gibson during a break between shows.
123Hints
My personal example is much smaller but still relevant. Recently, my two sisters have made the move from Windows computers to Macs and since I’m the family tech support organization they call me with questions about how to do things on their new Macs (I’m always happy to help). As long as I was explaining how to do something for them which other people might find helpful, I decided why not capture mini-tutorials and post them on a web site & create a podcast so that other people could benefit. That is exactly what I did when I created the 123Hints web site and the 123Hints podcast. Now, anyone who searching for “setting up a smart playlist in iTunes” can stumble across my 5 minute screen cast on the topic. I have already had people from India, England, Spain, Sweden and Brazil visit the site. It doesn’t take me much time to put these mini-tutorials together and it creates content that others find helpful – how great is that?!
So here is the personal challenge for me and anyone willing to accept it themselves – what thing that you are doing right now could be interesting/valuable/helpful to someone else? Can you capture it? Can you share it? Could you share something every month? week? day? Don’t worry about “finding an audience”, they will find you. Don’t worry about the quality, people want the information not some polished video (if they really want the quality and it exists elsewhere, they can go pay for it).
Are you presenting to your local Chamber of Commerce? Why not video tape it and put it on YouTube?
Did you just create a great presentation on team building? Why not post the slides on SlideShare?
Sent an email to your friend with thoughts on the upcoming election? Put it in a WordPress blog?
Throw out your inhibitions, capture your accidental content, post & share it and then marvel in the life that your ideas take one when they are freed.
Filed under: Web 2.0
