Opinion | New Media Interchange

May 18, 2015 • 9:12 am 0

Audio: New Media Interchange 5: UpFronts NewFronts & YouTube Celebs with Douglas E. Welch

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Please subscribe, review and rate via iTunes

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

Listen to New Media Interchange 5: UpFronts NewFronts & YouTube Celebs with Douglas E. Welch

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

New Media Interchange 5: UpFronts NewFronts & YouTube Celebs with Douglas E. Welch

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

Networks vs. New Media at the Television UpFronts”
YouTube Stars vs Mainstream Celebrities
Some Amazing YouTube Stats from Syracuse University
News Followups about Virtual Reality, Ubisoft and 4k video delivery
Final Part of my interview with Michael Anderson, CEO of GameWisp.com which is helping game play video makers expand their monetization optons
Next entry in my Subscribed series where I share the great podcasts, YouTube Channels and blogs I’m subscribed to.
See the complete show notes at 3rdPass.media

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books, including the great business and productivity book, Getting Things Done by David Allen. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

See the complete show note at 3rdPass.media

Networks vs. New Media at the Television UpFronts”YouTube Stars vs Mainstream CelebritiesSome Amazing YouTube Stats from Syracuse UniversityNews Followups about Virtual Reality, Ubisoft and 4k video deliveryFinal Part of my interview with Michael Anderson, CEO of GameWisp.com which is helping game play video makers expand their monetization optonsNext entry in my Subscribed series where I share the great podcasts, YouTube Channels and blogs I’m subscribed to.

Filed under: Audio, New Media, News, Opinion, podcast, podcasting, Show, Technology

May 11, 2015 • 9:53 am 0

Audio: New Media Interchange 4: Is Your Production Ready For 4K? & The Launch of Virtual Reality with Douglas E. Welch

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Please subscribe, review and rate via iTunes

Listen to New Media Interchange 4: Is Your Production Ready For 4K? & The Launch of Virtual Reality with Douglas E. Welch

Your Production Ready For 4K? & The Launch of Virtual Reality with Douglas E. Welch

In today’ show…

Is it time to move to 4k video for your New Media project?
Oculus Rift plans on selling to general public in 2016
Comcast has more internet than cable television subscribers
Part 2 of my interview with Michael Anderson of GameWisp.com which is helping game play video makers expand their monetization options
Next entry in my Subscribed series where I share the great podcasts, YouTube Channels and blogs I’m subscribed to.
See the complete show notes at 3rdPass.media

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books.Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King – a great non-fiction history book that explores the world of Michelangelo as he toils on the Sistine Chapel. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

See the complete show note at 3rdPass.media

Filed under: Audio, New Media, News, Opinion, Show, Technology

May 4, 2015 • 8:46 am 0

Audio: New Media Interchange 3: Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks with Douglas E. Welch

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes

Listen to New Media Interchange 3: Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks

Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks

In today’ show…

Podcasting Patent Trolls Turned Back
.Sucks domains also suck for new media creators
Part 1 of my interview with Michael Anderson of GameWisp.com which is helping game play video makers expand their monetization optons
I’ll round out the show with the next installment of my Subscribed series.

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – an amazing magical fantasy novel. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

Podcasting Patents Invalidated

In a move that is sure to warm the hearts of many a New Media producer, The US Patent and Trademark Office invalidated a number of claims on podcasting patents that were held by the company Personal Audio. Personal Audio made a splash in the podcasting world a few years ago by claiming that they owned a patent on the various podcasting technologies and everyone — especially the big boys of podcasting including Adam Carolla, Leo Laporte and even CBS — either paid them licensing fees or face being sued. CBS even settled a lawsuit that was filed by Personal Audio in Texas rather than fight the claim. They might be wondering what they paid for now, though, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) effectively countered Personal Audio’s patent claims, leading the USPTO to invalidate key portions of the company’s patents. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Personal Audio, or others, won’t try to claim these patents in the future, but it certainly limits their options.

The USPTO ruled that the patent granted did not take into consideration the fact that the technologies and methods of podcasting were quite obvious at the time of filing and therefore not new, unique or patentable.This is a very common problem with patents in the US as it struggles to deal with technologies never even imagined when it was first set up. The New Media world will be continue to be threatened by “patent trolls” such as this due to the nature of the US patent system, and its inherent flaws, If people can find a way to exploit the system to their advantage, they will, until some of those flaws are corrected.

In an EFF Press Release, Staff Attorney Vera Ranieri said, “We have a lot to celebrate here. But unfortunately, our work to protect podcasting is not done. Personal Audio continues to seek patents related to podcasting. We will continue to fight for podcasters, and we hope the Patent Office does not give them any more weapons to shake down small podcasters.”

For my own part, in 10 years of podcasting I have seen many people attempt to make money on the back of content creators. Individuals and companies have tried to insert themselves as content gatekeepers, subvert podcasting content and RSS feeds to their own ends through portals and basically acting as “digital carpetbaggers” — attempting to extract income in every way but creating content themselves. Every new industry faces this particular type of intruder as it grows, so all New Media creators must be constantly vigilant of how they might be abused and how to stand up for themselves when issues occur.

You’ll find links to additional information, as always, in the show notes.

Why .sucks — sucks

.com. .org. .edu .mil. These are all familiar endings to Internet domains we type into our browsers every day. They are called Top Level Domains or TLDs by ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. These are the folks that control a large part of the Internet, including domain name systems. For years, we lived with relatively few TLDs like those mentioned earlier, but lately there has been an explosion of new TLDs being offered including .tv, .guru, .tips, .events and even — as our own network 3rd Pass Media uses — .media. There are a host of reasons for adding new TLDs, even if the average Internet user still reflexively types .com when entering a web address. Companies and individuals want to reinforce their brand. I understand that. They are looking for web URLs that somehow better reflect the nature of their business. I have a variety of issues with one new TLD, though, .sucks.

Yes, you can now purchase a domain name like xyz123.sucks to host your blog and other content. As you might be able to see though, .sucks is different. Unlike other Top Level Domains, .sucks is almost universally derogatory and I believe, like a recent article on The Next Web declares, “This new domain is the future of trolling.” There are very few scenarios I see for someone purchasing a .sucks domain and none of them are pretty.

First, there will be the trolls mentioned in the article, buying well-known names in order to harass companies or individuals and generally make a pain of themselves. Trolls, spammers and other nefarious Internet users already cause a host of trouble. Do we really need to give them another weapon in their arsenal. While I can’t imagine DouglasEWelch.sucks being that popular, you can imagine sites like apple.sucks. windows.sucks and more have already been snapped up. This is inevitable with such a derogatory TLD. We are basically giving people the right to troll others in ways unheard of before. Sure people could have registered applesucks.com or some such name, but being able to use the new TLD certainly makes it easier to brand the site and for people to find it.

I am not sure what ICANN or Vox Populi — the company hosting and selling the new TLD — were thinking when they set up .sucks, but it sure feels like nothing more than a money grab.

It strikes me much like the old unlisted phone number scam used by telcom companies before the Internet. They’d sell your phone number to telemarketers so you could get sales calls every night of the week and then, when you looked for some relief from this, charge you for the privilege of making your phone number unlisted. Talk about double-dipping.

Not only will Vox Populi make money selling the TLD to discontented Internet trolls, they can also sell the .sucks domains to large companies and individuals in a peremptory effort to keep it out of the hands of these trolls. For me, this smacks of exploitation, if not outright extortion. “Buy your .sucks domain now or who knows who might snap it up and use it against you.” This same tactic has been used to sell nearly every previous TLD additions like .net and .info, but we have never had to face such a singularly derogatory TLD like .sucks. before. Those who might have been inclined to ignore previous calls to buy every permutation of their domains might be more inclined to buy when it comes to .sucks.

Some, but not all, it seems. In an interview with NPR, Adobe’s associate general counsel J. Scott Evans said, “I basically think it’s extortion. We are not going to participate in any kind of extortion scheme. I’ve told my people the best way not to get included is not to suck.” I feel much the same way and I’m glad to see someone standing up against the process.

Vox Populi stands to make a lot of money on .sucks, especially when allowing trademark-holding companies to purchase any pertinent domains during the so-called “sunrise period” before the new domains are sold to the public. Vox Populi is charging trademark holders almost $2500 per domain during this period, although the public will be able to register .sucks domains for around $25 when they are made available to everyone. Large companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google have reportedly purchased large numbers of .sucks domains in an effort to protect their trademark and brand.

For me, this points up a large problem with TLDs in general. While all new TLDs are promoted as providing some special cache, some special need, some special benefit, the end goal seems to be to simply make money, as quickly as possible. Derogatory domains like .sucks only ramp up the process and send companies and individuals into a frenzy of buying in what I consider a misguided attempt at self-protection. Are we going to see an escalation of these tactics into even more threatening TLDs like .die, .kill, .hate and more. I know it sounds a bit ludicrous, but after seeing .sucks approved as an official TLD, I’m not so sure.

Buying a domain so that it can never be used shouldn’t be a business and Internet content creators shouldn’t feel that it is required of them. This seems the very definition of extortion to me. “Buy .sucks now or we’ll sell it to some troll who will make you look bad.” Not cool. Not cool at all.

What’s your opinion on .sucks and other domain TLDs? Sound off in the comments or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast.

YouTube starts move towards providing ad free subscriptions

A few months ago, YouTube floated the idea of providing a subscription service that would make all videos on the site free of ads. As a YouTube content creator myself, my first question was “Ok, if you remove ads, then how I am going to get paid.” YouTube monetization via Google Adsense is a main income stream for many well-known YouTubers, so I am sure that my question was echoed by many content creators around the world.

Lacking any additional information from Google at that time, I imagined the system would be similar to Amazon’s KDP Select Program for Prime Members, where I am paid from a collective fund whenever a Prime member downloads my books for free. Now that YouTube has updated their terms and conditions, it seems I was close. Subscribers who pay a monthly fee will see my videos without ads, but I will then receive a portion (which looks to be 55%) of the subscription proceeds based on my “share” of the audience — how many views, how many minute watched, etc compared to other channels.

Now that this missing piece has been filled in, we will probably see further movement towards this ad-free environment. As music services such as Pandora and Spotify have shown, people are willing to pay to avoid advertising if they can. As a long time podcaster, I’ve never really been convinced that traditional advertising was really the best way to earn a profit from my content. This move by YouTube could be part of an on-going trend to break out of advertising models and follow along the path of other subscription services available for Pandora, Spotify and Twitch TV and patronage systems like Patreon.

There is one major issue yet to be resolved, though. YouTube seems to be choosing to be a bit of a bully when it comes to enrolling people in this new program. If YouTube Creators want to monetize any of their videos in the usual way, they will also have to enroll them in the new subscription service or risk having those video set to “private” mode. This would still allow them to host the videos on YouTube, but make them virtually undiscoverable on YouTube itself.

While I can understand that YouTube wants to insure a large amount of ad-free content is available for subscribers at the start and simplify their placement of advertising on videos, it seems a bit extreme to force everyone to make all their videos available to subscribers ad-free. For small channels like myself, I probably would have registered with the new service anyway, but being pressured into doing so still doesn’t feel very good. Larger YouTube Channels might find that they can make more money outside of the subscription system and won’t like being forced into this program either. This could result in the exact opposite of the desired effect — reducing the number and quality of the videos available to subscribers. We won’t truly know how it affects YouTube Creators, though, until YouTube and Google provide more info.

Ad-Free subscriptions are just one way in which New Media can provide a service traditional television or radio cannot and yet another way for services like YouTube to build their — and hopefully content creators — profits. I know that I will eagerly watching for more information on this ad-free subscription service and how it will work for both the viewers and content creators.

Followups

In a followup to the media fragmentation story in the last episode, MediaShift from PBS has an online series on Cord Cutting — viewers who are abandoning cable television subscriptions in favor of over-the-top services like Netflix, HBO Now and Amazon Prime.

In their article, MediaShift writes, “Cutting the cord to cable has gone from a fringe action to a way of life for millions of Americans that have given up on expensive cable and satellite TV packages and built their own on-demand TV experience with streaming TV.”

I am a cord cutter myself, turning off my cable television subscription in favor of over-the-air broadcasts for those few mainstream shows I watch and a combination of Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Instant Video for movie rentals. We cut the cord when our cable television cost, along with Internet service rose above $100 per month. After a quick review, we realised how little television we were watching and how we would only ever watch a fraction of the channels provided. My son was aging out of the world of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and was focusing more and more on his YouTube subscriptions, so that made the decision even easier.

Some people warn that you can end up paying more for online subscriptions than you were paying for cable television. That said, even if you are paying a similar amount, I believe that the quality and quantity of content you receive is far more in-line with your entertainment wants and needs. You might be paying the same or more, but you are getting far more bang for your buck.

A recent edition of MediaShift’s companion discussion show, MediaTwits discusses cord cutting and the move of both HBO and CBS’ into the over-the-top streaming market. You can watch the entire episode of MediaTwits using the link in the show notes and their online article includes a large number of links for further reading on cord cutting in our New Media world. You’ll find a link in the show notes.

Cutting the Cord 2015: A Special Series on Streaming TV

SFX: Theme for Harold (var. 3) by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetch.com) under Creative Commons License

Interview with Michael Anderson of GameWisp – Part 1

SFX: Interview audio

SFX: Science @ NASA Opening audio

Subscribed

Science @ NASA

A geek in one thing, a geek in all things. This is how I often describe myself. I can geek out on nearly anything — gardening, robotics, beekeeping, architecture, whatever. Since my earliest days as a student, I have also always geeked out over science in all its forms. This love of science means that I am always tuned in to what is happening at NASA and other scientific organizations. I even have a friend who works at JPL who helps to keep me informed and has provided me several opportunities to visit and hang out with the scientists there. Despite what many of us older folks may have believed in high school — science is cool!

One great way of keeping in touch with the many scientific projects and discoveries at NASA is by subscribing to their YouTube channel, Science @ NASA. Amazing and informative new content arrives nearly every week and recent episodes have included “How Desert Dust Feeds Amazon Forests”, “The Mystery of Nanoflares”, and “The Strange Way Fluids Slosh on the International Space Station.” Science @ NASA is a great way of feeding my geek needs and it is always a pleasure to see it pop-up in my YouTube subscription list of new videos.

On the Science @ NASA YouTube page, you’ll also found even more links to great NASA channels produced by installations like NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Kennedy Space Center.

You’ll find Science @ NASA’s YouTube channel at ScienceAtNASA or you can use the link in the show notes.

Science @ NASA on YouTube

SFX: Music Bed

That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

Want to get each new episode of the show automatically? Be sure to subscribe via iTunes, the Podcasts app or Stitcher on your iOS devices or any other of your favorite podcasting clients. You can use the direct links in the show notes or search for New Media Interchange and look for the red, white and black New Media Interchange Logo

Some music written and produced by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com and used under Creative Commons License by the author.

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media network. For more information, visit 3rdPass.media. Do you have questions or comments? Send them along to NMI@3rdpass.media or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast .

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

***

Filed under: Audio, New Media, News, Opinion, Show, Technology

April 28, 2015 • 4:17 pm 0

Audio: New Media Interchange: HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!

New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.

Subscribe Via iTunes

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

[audio http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/10478/997932/nmi_002.mp3]

Listen to HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!

HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!

In today’ show…

HBO’s Silicon Valley takes their show directly to the gamer audience via TwitchTV,
Video Killed The Television Star: Why Total Fragmentation Is The New Norm
Meerkat and Periscope put live streaming in your hand

I’ll round out the show with a book review of video game storytelling and the next installment of my Subscribed series.

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Hobbit. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

SFX: Silicon Valley Trailer Clip

HBO’s Silicon Valley takes their show directly to the growing gamer audience via TwitchTV

A recent article in The Verge details how HBO is taking their newest comedy, Silicon Valley, directly to an existing audience that is probably predisposed to watch it — the viewers of Amazon’s TwitchTV streaming service that focuses on all types of gaming related content. These TwitchTV viewers likely already understand the joys of “cable-cutting” or freeing themselves from cable television subscriptions in lieu of “over-the-top services” like Twitch, YouTube, Netflix and now, HBO Now..

For me, this move makes a great deal of sense. Through Twitch, HBO can reach an audience that almost directly matches their desired audience. Through HBO, Twitch expands its programming beyond game play and into other aspects of their members’ lives. HBO also gets a chance to give Twitch users a taste of what they might be able to watch if they subscribe to HBO Now — content that was unavailable except via cable television until very recently. As The Verge article states, HBO is using “video games as a trojan horse” and getting their content in front of “roughly 100 million monthly active users” of Twitch. It is my bet that it will prove to be great promotion for everyone involved — HBO, Twitch and the users of both sites.

I imagine we’ll see more and more collaborations like this between all the players in what I call the “alternative TV” market. As the choice of content and services increases, discovery of exciting new content grows more difficult. Users can be overwhelmed with choice, but “giving them a taste” of content has always been a way to gather new viewers and it will continue to be important long into the future. Video content producers still need to find receptive audiences, as HBO has done here, but the opportunities for these collaborations in new and unique ways will continue to grow.

Video Killed The Television Star: Why Total Fragmentation Is The New Norm

All this collaboration, cross-over and cooperation between various content providers continues to push the fragmentation of the television and online video content market and David Armano over at the Logic+Emotion blog has written posts detailing exactly how this is happening and the trends he sees being created. First came DVRs, then YouTube, then other online video services signalled the end of television’s stranglehold on video entertainment. It gave consumers more choice over the type of content they wanted to view and provided the technology to time shift entertainment so viewers could watch what they wanted, when they wanted it. They didn’t need to rely on the curation and control that was wielded by mainstream media anymore.

Once the technology advanced to a certain degree — with relatively easy-to-access high speed Internet and software — content creators and providers immediately saw the opportunities it presented. Once content was available in significant quality and quantity, users quickly began to explore and enjoy the viewing options they had and — despite claims to the contrary — began cutting the cord more and more frequently.

For myself, I haven’t had a cable television subscription for several years now, opting to use broadcast to watch the few mainstream shows I do watch and a combination of YouTube, Netflix and other online video sources for the remainder of my viewing. Even though I am older than the target demographic for cord cutting, I have no problems leaving the “vast wasteland” of mainstream television behind, now that I have plentiful options. I can imagine that younger viewers, who tend be be a bit more tech savvy find it even easier to explore the myriad of options available. For me, the fragmentation of the industry is a welcome change and one I think will provide more unique and diverse content than ever before. There is a whole new entertainment world out there and I plan on taking great advantage of it.

While YouTube, Netflix and the other current “big boys” of online video content will continue to thrive in the coming years, even they are seeing competition and fragmentation in the form of live streaming sites like TwitchTV, and smartphone apps that put streaming in the hands of anyone with a smartphone.

SFX: Music Bed

…and that thought leads us into our last story for this episode…

Meerkat and Periscope put live streaming in your hand

In the last couple of weeks there has been an explosion in the mobile live streaming space with first the indie app, Meerkat, exploding to life during this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference followed closely by recent Twitter acquisition, Periscope. Both of these apps all offer nearly one-touch live streaming from your smartphone or tablet and use Twitter as the main discovery and interaction source, with streams being announced immediately via Twitter and interactive chat messages, in the form of Tweets, overlaid right on the video stream. The release of these two services caused a veritable flood of live streams with everyone testing out the services and how they might be able to use them. Things have settled down considerably since launch, but I am still seeing quite a bit of activity in my Twitter stream.

For me, live streaming is a special use case. While I wouldn’t use it everyday, it can be dramatically useful during special events or breaking news stories to give immediate and alternative views a forum for the event. Other content creators thrive on live streaming. Both they and their audience love the immediate interaction via Twitter or chat room. it does indeed bring a much different feel to a show which is quite different from pre-recorded videos such as those on YouTube and elsewhere.

It will be a while before we see exactly where Meerkat, Periscope and other live streaming options fit into the overall online video market, but I think we can all be certain that we will see other, similar apps in the near future.

You can read more about Meerkat and Periscope in the articles linked in the show notes.

Is Meerkat winner-take-all?

Periscope, Twitter’s answer to Meerkat-style live streaming, is now available

The Race To Make Everyone A Livestreamer

Angry Joe and Nintendo

In a follow up on our story from last episode about Nintendo claiming copyright and advertising revenue from YouTubers who share their game play, it looks like the company finally forced one major YouTube personality, Joe ‘Angry Joe’ Vargas to give up on them entirely. Vargas boasts nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube, a significant audience in the gaming space.

In a multi-part, self-titled “Rant” Vargas details how much money he has spent on Nintendo products and how much time he has spent sharing and promoting their devices and games and his extreme disappointment in the company’s YouTube policies. He has decided to totally drop the playing, recording and reviewing any of Nintendo’s devices and games rather than deal with constant copyright claims or joining Nintendo’s Creators Program which takes 40% of a YouTuber’s revenue for the right to post and share Nintendo games and doesn’t cover usage of all Nintendo games, only a portion.

You can find all of Angry Joe’s Nintendo rants, and all his other game reviews and game play videos on his YouTube Channel – AngryJoeShow.

YouTuber Angry Joe Swears Off Nintendo Videos After The Company Claimed His Mario Party 10 Take

Also in the news this week:

HBO Now Live on Apple TV

HBO’s over-the-top service HBO Now launched this week exclusively on Apple TV and Apple mobile devices for 3 months. Fans of Game of Thrones and other HBO shows can finally get them, legally, without a cable television subscription, for $15 a month.

Roku 3 Media Streaming Box adds new remote with with voice search

Along with Apple TV and Google Chromecast there are other streaming media players out there on the market, including the somewhat lesser known Roku 3. Press releases report the Roku has added a new remote to this device which allows you to do Voice Search to find shows over about 17 major apps, including Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu Plus.

Pixar’s Renderman released for free

Now anyone with a powerful enough computer can use the same animation software used to create PIxar movies like Toy Story for their non-commercial projects. This follows on the release of various gaming engines like UnReal Engine 4 and Unity in free non-commercial use versions. And also better licensing options that allow independent game makers to use the software for free up to certain levels of earnings.

Links to all these stories are in the show notes

SFX: Music Bridge – “Theme for Harold (var. 3)” by Kevin MacLeod (http://Incompetch.com) under Creative Commons License

Book Review: Video Game Storytelling: What Every Developer Needs to Know about Narrative Techniques by Evan Skolnick

Check out the book on Amazon.com

At first glance, an outsider to the world of video games might see little relation between a major motion picture and a video game. They seem to be different genres, different worlds, even when movies crossover to become games and games crossover and are developed into movies — often badly. The action, the interactivity, the immersion of video games can make their stories seem unlike a standard narrative program. Surely, due to the player’s control of characters, video games can’t be written in the same way as a television script. While that might be true in some regards, when you go deeper into the creation of story that drives the final narrative, there are more similarities between writing for film and video games than you might imagine. These similarities also mean that many similar challenges exist for these writers regardless of their genre.

Writer Evan Skolnik is an international speaker and educator who conducts workshops on storytelling techniques and has worked on large scale video game projects such as Star Wars 1313, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 and Spiderman 3.

The first half of Video Game Storytelling would be familiar to anyone who has ever taken a film writing course. It discusses the “three act structure”, “The Hero’s Journey” and the Monomyth that are the basis for many of our most classic books and films like Star Wars and Alien. Skolnick uses these well-known films to illustrate various writing concepts but then expands his examples with examples from well-known video games and how they also use these same techniques. These games include the Bioshock series, Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid. Thankfully, just as with movies, many scenes and playthroughs of these games are easily available via YouTube. This allows the reader to familiarize themselves with games they may have never played and fully understand the lessons Skolnick references.

While there is a good deal of video game examples spread throughout this first half, I found myself wishing for even more examples of how the traditional writing and storytelling rules applied to video games.

The second half of Video Game Storytelling details the many disciplines involved in creating a video game and how each of these affects — and is affected by — the narrative tools he has illustrated in the first half. For incipient video game developers this is where they will find the “meat” of the book and the majority of the author’s expertise. The information found in the first half might be found in any good book on screenwriting, but the detailed breakdown of all the video game development disciplines, their challenges and their relationship to the narrative of any video game should probably be required reading for anyone considering a career in video game design and development.

In the “In the Trenches” section, Skolnik details the responsibilities of each important discipline including Game Character Development, Level and Mission Development, Environments, Audio and several others. He also details how a video game writer needs to work with each of these disciplines in order to create a well-balanced, successful, and most importantly playable video game.

Throughout Video Game Storytelling you will see and hear a complaint common to any collaborative writing and creative enterprise — the lack of inclusion, if not outright respect, for the creator of the narrative of a game. There are several common mistakes in dealing with a writer, whether in traditional media such as television or film or the relativly younger video game industry. Skolnick lays out the biggest mistakes creative teams can make with their narrative experts i.e. writers. These mistakes can range from not hiring a writer at all for your game to hiring a writer but then not giving them the power and support to defend the narrative from the competing demands of all the disciplines mentioned above. Too often writers are given all the responsibility for the narrative, but very little power to defend that narrative. This can often translate into taking much of the blame for a less-than-successful game, even when many of the narrative decisions were taken out of their control.

Skolnik’s best advice when hiring a video game writer can be summed up as — hire as early as possible in the development process, integrate them fully and equally with all the other disciplines and teams, listen to their guidance about the narrative. A game developer is paying their writer for their experience, advice, and knowledge. They should then take it. Too often, though, that is not the case. The writer — and the narrative — get shunted aside by cool gaming mechanics, great explosions and intricate AI characters.

One of the main reasons I requested a review copy of the book from Blogging for Books is so I could better familiarize myself with game development and be able to discuss it more intelligently with my high school aged son, who is looking at a career somewhere in the game development industry. As I read the book, I found myself reading him some of the stories and ideas out loud and also encouraging him several times to read the book as soon as I had completed it. I think there is a great deal of knowledge to be gained from both sections of the book. The “Basic Training” section gives an excellent introduction into the world of the Three-Act Structure and the second half applies that knowledge in very concrete ways specific to video game development. It is a great starting point for learning about an industry — video gaming — that is rapidly becoming a huge entertainment industry on the level of traditional television or film.

SFX: Far Lands or Bust Opening Clip

Subscribed

Today in my Subscribed series is Far Lands or Bust. This series is where I highlight those Podcasts, blogs and YouTube Channels I subscribe to and watch regularly.

Years ago my son, Joseph, was just getting into online gaming and his introduction to that world was the now common gateway drug of Minecraft. In Minecraft and online in multi-user worlds he found a great collection of people. I was almost universally surprised and happy with the quality of folks he found there, which made me feel more comfortable with allowing him to play more video games as he grew up.

His interest also developed my own interest in Minecraft both as a player and viewer of Minecraft-related content. He shared his favorite YouTube personalities and their channels with me and they became — and remain — a significant part of my online video viewing. Far Lands or Bust and its creator, KurtJMac was one of my first subscriptions.

Far Lands or Bust is a series of Minecraft videos with a good cause. Like a virtual walkathon, Kurt is walking to the “Far Lands” of Minecraft and raising money for the Child’s Play charity. He has raised over $269,000 so far with his travels. The show is combination of various things. It’s a travelogue as he walks through his Minecraft world, a bit of a video blog, and as some people see it — an audio podcast with some pretty scenery. As he walk and has adventures in the Minecraft world, Kurt talks about gaming-related topics as well as his other interests including space exploration and astronomy.

Each season, Kurt hosts a marathon live stream as the culmination when he and the viewers reach their fundraising goal for Child’s Play. This brings in special guests, special live episodes of Far Lands or Bust, group gameplay in Minecraft and other games and, typically, a lot of fun and laughter.

Kurt also does a host of other video shows, some are Minecraft related but he also enjoys a variety of driving games and loves to check out quirky, artistic or just plain odd games from independent game publishers. You can find everything at FarlandsorBust.com or on his YouTube Channel KurtJMac. You’ll find links in the show notes.

Far Lands or Bust

KurtJMac on YouTube

SFX: Music Bed

That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

Some music written and produced by Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com and used under Creative Commons License by the author.

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

***

Filed under: Audio, New Media, News, Opinion, Show, Technology

April 20, 2015 • 7:19 pm 0

Audio: New Media Interchange: Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos and more!

This is the first episode of my new podcast series, New Media Interchange. While I will probably be re-posting the podcast here, it will have it’s own feed via the 3rd Pass Media Network. I’ll announce that here, including subscription links, as soon as that site is live. I might be re-directing this domain to that site or maintaining this presence, but I’ll be sure to let you all know — Douglas

Listen to Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos and more!

Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos and more!

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

Nintendo wants a piece of that YouTube Money and plans on taking it out of the pockets of Let’s Play video makers, Netflix plans on spending over $5 billion on programming in 2016, and Tubefilter explains the best times to post your YouTube videos for maximum impact.

Will round out the show with some words about “Attracting Attention to Yourself” and end up with the first entry in my Subscribed series, highlighting the podcasts, blogs and YouTube Channels I am subscribed to.

More after this…

Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

Gaming is the #2 category on YouTube, behind music, and you can find a wide variety of gaming reviews, recaps and a growing number of Let’s Play video series, where a gamer walks you through their experience of game from beginning to end. Some of these Let’s Play series can go on for 30 or 40 episodes as the gamer hacks and slashes their way through the zombies of Dying Light, works to save the fictional country of Kyrat from a crazed dictator or performs speed runs of amazing dexterity in Zelda or Mario Brothers. While many game manufacturers have a good relationship with Let’s Play producers — even providing them explicit license to play the game on video — the aged “big boy” of the gaming world — Nintendo hasn’t been playing nice of late.

Back in mid-2013, Nintendo starting claiming all YouTube revenue from many videos that included Nintendo Copyrighted content, like Let’s Play footage. They eventually backed off this wholesale money grab and last month created a “licensing” program that allows YouTube producers to continue sharing YouTube videos of Nintendo games in exchange for 30%-40% of the revenue according to articles from Game Informer. com.

While this certainly is a better deal than taking 100% of the revenue, I always look suspiciously at large companies taking money away from some of their biggest fans — turning off many of these fans from ever playing or sharing a company’s products in the future. Is this a sign that Nintendo is struggling overall and looking for a quick way to gain a quick cash boost? The company has been struggling of late, but I think trying to level out their balance sheet on the backs of fans might not be the way to do it.

What do you think? Are YouTuber’s getting a free ride on Nintendo gaming content? Is Nintendo making a desperate money grab? What does this mean for the thousands of hours of Nintendo gaming already available on YouTube and its creators? I’d love to know what you think. Send along a comment on the blog or via Twitter to @NMIPodcast.

In our next story, courtesy of Business Insider, Netflix will spend $5 billion on programming in 2016…

Netflix will spend $5 billion on programming in 2016, more than everyone but ESPN, says Janney

I often comment to people how I am amazed to took so long for large, Internet companies like Netflix, Google and Amazon to get into content creation for their services. Living here in Hollywood itself, I have seen the production companies — those entities that do the actual nitty-gritty work producing a television show — don’t really care who pays the bills, as long as there is money to be made. I knew it was only a matter of time before they started to see services like Netflix, Google Play and Amazon as potential partners in content creation.

Therefore I see no surprise at all that Netflix is going to be spending even more in the future creating exclusive content. With critically acclaimed series like House of Cards, I think they can see a great potential for content beyond the traditional, mainstream, broadcast networks. I would expect to see even more players enter this market, both in the existing ranks of high-tech businesses as well as new startups focused on becoming the next, great, content network.

You can read the complete story using the link in the show notes.

Finally, for all you incipient content creators out there, TubeFilter provides a detailed article on the best days and times to post your videos for maximum viewership. If you are looking to turn your content into an on-going moneymaker, information like this can be critical. Moving the number of views 5% upwards could result in a significant boost in advertising earnings. As a fairly casual producer of YouTube content myself, I tend to post videos whenever I have time and whenever they are complete. After reading this article, though, I think I am going to spend a bit more time and consideration on my video release schedule. All the detailed tables and charts are available in the TubeFilter link in the show notes.

Want To Know The Best Days And Times To Post YouTube Videos? Here’s A Yearly Calendar.

Attracting Attention Yourself!

Ever since I first heard George Carlin’s comedy album, Class Clown, a certain phrase has always stuck with me… (paraphrasing) The job of a class clown is…ATTRACTING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF! I call this “Carlin’s Law of Attraction!” Replace class clown with any other profession and you will see the universal truth of that statement. Replace class clown with “podcaster” and you can probably see where I am headed.

Podcasting offers anyone the ability to “attract attention to yourself”, your business, your cause, whatever is important to you. Sure, it can be difficult to rise above all the other folks who have already discovered podcasting, but the odds are certainly much better than they ever were in the traditional media.

Carlin’s Law of Attraction, also dictates that you want your media spread as far and wide as possible. This means posting your videos to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and any other spots where your audience might stumble across them. That said, each piece MUST have some links driving people back to your home site where they can subscribe to your content directly.

Everything depends on your ability to attract attention to your content. Scripts and books don’t sell themselves in your drawer (or trapped in your computer), art does sell when it sits in a closet and your podcast doesn’t attract an audience if no one ever gets to see it.

Apply Carlin’s Law of Attraction to everything you do, podcasting, writing, office work, whatever, and you will find that things just start to happen for you.

That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

Filed under: Audio, New Media, News, Opinion, Show, Technology, YouTube

July 22, 2013 • 2:36 pm 0

News: WGA Opens up standard award categories to “new media” productions

The popularity of Netflix’s House of Cards has, I believe, caused some large changes in the awards criteria for the Writers Guild of America, according to this article from Deadline.com. While House of Cards is a big budget, network-quality television production, its new delivery method required opening up the awards categories to be more all-encompassing due to the impact of Internet “broadcasting.” Of course, for me, the best result is the now, all New Media projects over 15 mins in length compete directly with other, more traditionally distributed shows — removing them from the New Media Ghetto where they had previously been placed. I welcome all such changes in the New Media world, as I believe we will be seeing more and more productions emerging from this relatively new production and distribution system. My only wish is that it had happened much more quickly.

Wga logos

From Deadline.com and the WGA…

Writers Guild Makes Changes To Awards Eligibility & Submission Guidelines; New Media Series Like ‘House Of Cards’ OK

Los Angeles and New York – For the upcoming awards season, Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have changed awards eligibility and submission guidelines for the television and new media categories, and have added a new Quiz & Audience Participation writing award.

“Whether you’re watching content on a TV screen, online on a laptop, or with a hand-held device, outstanding writing and great storytelling deserve the same recognition,” said WGAW President Christopher Keyser and WGAE President Michael Winship. “These changes in eligibility and submission guidelines reflect the evolution of distribution models in the entertainment industry. We are also looking forward to giving out the new Quiz & Audience Participation Award in 2014.”

Read the entire article

Filed under: New Media, News, Opinion

March 2, 2013 • 5:38 pm 0

New Media Prescription: Don’t “Complain to the Choir” when producing New Media

We need to talk…

One of the great strengths of New Media — be it blogging, videos, photos, social media — is the ability to connect directly to your audience. You don’t have any middlemen distorting your message or otherwise getting in the way. Unfortunately, this also means you don’t have someone watching over your shoulder to gently nudge you and say, “Perhaps you might want to re-think that.”

One common trap I see for New Media producers is, what I all, “Complaining to the Choir.” Like the age old adage against “preaching to the choir”, it is to be avoided for a number of reasons. First of all, though, what does it mean when you are “Complaining to the Choir?” It means to complain to those people who are actually the opposite of those you want to address.

When things aren’t going well for a new media producers — videos are getting liked, viewed or shared — blog posts are being ignored — revenue isn’t coming in — producers can spend entire posts, videos or podcasts complaining about the issue. They’ll cajole, they’ll berate, they will express their sadness and their fear that they might have to go back to their old way of work. As a fellow producer, I can empathize with them. Being a producer means facing criticism, nasty feedback, Internet trolls and other burdens on a daily basis. That said, I also understand that bringing this negativity into a show or blog can have exactly the opposite effect they wish to have. Focusing on the negative can actually reduce views, downloads and readers ben further , if you do it too often.

As a producer, your best approach is to ignore the negativity and simply move on to your next production. Focusing on the negative will only depress you further.

Here is why “Complaining to the Choir” is such a bad idea:

You annoy your biggest supporters

It is a simple fact that those a producer would most like to reach with their message probably aren’t watching, listening or reading anyway. Instead you are complaining to your biggest supporters — and perhaps driving them away, too. Your supporters come to your blog, your video, your podcasts because they love the content you produce. If you produce a show full of complaints and low on content, you are actively disrespecting their support. It is like a preacher complaining to the choir that no one comes to church anymore, even those these people do come to church AND also participate in other ways.

You produce yet another show with low viewership, low likes and low shares

When you produce a complaining show, you are expanding the effect you are complaining about and driving your ratings even lower. It is fair to say that a show filled with complaints, directed at the wrong people, is sure to garner less views and popularity than one of your traditional, content rich show. I had that very experience today. I watched the complaining show, but I could not bring myself to click the Like button, as I couldn’t honestly recommend it my followers as a show they should watch. They wouldn’t find it enjoyable and I would feel that I had offered a bad recommendation.

Complaints don’t drive success, great content does

While I can understand producers feeling worried and upset over various issues, it is always important to remember that content, not complaints drives your success. Viewers don’t really care if you are struggling. They come for the great content and many will support you by clicking Like or subscribing. If you want to truly have an effect on your issues, produce more great content. It is the only thing that matters. It is the only thing that will attract the support you need and desire.

Share your personal life, but perhaps not your producer life

Producing new media can be a lonely world, but beware of sharing your feelings about your show with your audience. They probably don’t care. Sure, you can share your thoughts about other personal issues, life changes, struggles, etc, but when you bring your producer complains to the conversation a subtle line is crossed. People lose sight of you as a person and start to think of you as just another faceless media drone. Viewers love to know more about your personal life, but they don’t really care about the nitty-gritty of being a producer. Most viewers don’t want to know “how the sausage is made” as long as it results in great content.

The next time you are feeling worried or depressed about your New Media productions and their success, seek out a close personal friend or a New Media user group to air your complaints and worries. Don’t take them to your audience. Your complains do nothing to benefit the audience and can only harm your standing with them.

Now, get back to work and produce something GREAT!

Filed under: Blogging, New Media, New Media Prescription, Opinion, YouTube

December 28, 2012 • 8:28 pm 0

Subscribed 018: Thinking Allowed from BBC Radio 4

Subscribed is my series highlighting the Podcasts, YouTube Channels and Blogs that I follow on a daily basis. Check out this entry, and past entries, for some great New Media Content — Douglas

Subscribed 018: Subscribed 018: Thinking Allowed from BBC Radio 4

I figured I might as well double-down on last week’s post about another BBC Radio 4 show, In Our Time, and post my other, favorite show from the BBC. Thinking Allowed with host, Laurie Taylor is all about culture and society. His guest regularly include authors and experts on sociology and culture as he explores 2 topics during each episode. Recent shows include discussions on Intoxication and Drugs, History, Heritage and Tradition in British Politics, Children in Hospitals, Family Funerals and Red Tape in India.

I love the far ranging topics of the shows and also the unique British take on problems and issues that effect all nations and cultures. It gives a fresh perspective on topics that have become the realm of dogma in American society. I tend to listen to both these shows as I drive around on client calls or as an educational moment when I am in the kitchen cooking dinner. As an audio podcast, it perfectly fills those 2 podcasting niches for me.

Like In Our Time, I highly recommend Thinking Allowed as a large part of any self-directed educational program. We should all be learning something new every day and this show is a great way to do it!

Check out more info on the In Our Time web site at BBC Radio 4

What are some of your favorite Subscriptions? Share them here in the comments!

Previously highlighted on Subscribed:

Filed under: Audio, Elsewhere, New Media, News, Opinion, Subscribed

July 11, 2012 • 2:38 pm 0

Real World Example: Moving to a new podcasting web host and why

This post originally appeared in Careers in New Media with Douglas E. Welch…

As you may have read a few weeks ago, when Apple released its new Podcasts app for iOS devices, I discovered that my long running podcast, Career Opportunities, had disappeared from the iTunes Podcast Directory. When I looked at the listings for my other podcasts, I noticed that they seemed to be having issues updating their information and logo graphics. When I tried to re-submit Career Opportunities to the iTunes Podcast Directory, I also found that my GoDaddy Shared Hosting did not provide the byte-range request feature that iTunes now required to register a podcast. This set in process a whole series of actions which have now all been completed. This post is an attempt to catalog what I needed to do to repair the situation and put my web site and podcasts on good footing for the future.

Career Opportunities in iTunes Podcast Directory

New Web Hosting

First, I needed to find a new web host that could support podcasting, hosting my own media files and also 5 WordPress blogs. Based on the recommendation of (fellow Friends in Tech member) Steve over at the GeekCred podcast, I decided to move to Dreamhost. I contacted Dreamhost with a few questions and they confirmed they did indeed support byte-range requests on their server and could also deal with the more the 20GB of data that make up my web site.

One Dreamhost feature that made my web site move easier than ever before is that they support shell access for their web hosting accounts. This means I am able to login to a command line on my web host and use that command line for various functions. In my case, this meant I could use the WGET command to mirror my entire web site directly from my GoDaddy server to the new server. The reason for doing this, of course, is speed. To upload just one podcast, A Gardener’s Notebook, from my home computer to the new web host was estimated to take almost 7 hours at the full speed of my cable Internet connection. Because the web servers are on higher speed connections, though, I was able to move the files directly between the web hosts at 3MB/sec and accomplish the entire move in about 1.5 hours. This dramatic difference made me realize how critical shell access is to anyone is who moving their web site to a new host. I understand from others that Dreamhost is one of the few web hosting companies that provides shell access, but I would find this to be a critical need for any podcaster who hosts their own media files. We simply have too much data to be troubled by uploading our entire library from a standard Internet connection.

WordPress Database Move

Since I have 5 WordPress blogs on my site, after all the static files had been moved to the new web host, it was time to consider moving all the databases that hold the content for these blogs. This is not something I am experienced with, so I called on another Friends in Tech member, Kreg from the Technorama podcast, to help me move those files. Kreg wasn’t available immediately, so I began to poke around in the process and see if I might be able to do it myself. As it turned out I was able to export all the data from the old system and import it into the new. A few quick changes to each wp-config.php file on the blogs and I found that everything was working on the new site. It was a great learning exercise and also means I won’t be so leery of moving databases in the future. Once again, Dreamhost’s Control Panel and help files made it a straightforward and easy process.

Re-submitting to the iTunes Podcast Directory

First, as a word of warning, if your podcast is dropped from the iTunes Podcast Directory, you will be able to re-submit it, but all your ratings and reviews will be lost. Your podcast will also receive a new, different, ID number and link in the iTunes Podcast Directory. This could be quite damaging for a particularly popular podcast, so do everything you can to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.

Mainly, make sure that iTunes can easily and regular access your RSS feed. In my case, it appears that GoDaddy is doing such aggressive traffic management that external services like iTunes, Feedburner and others are refused connection to your web host on a regular basis. I found this to be especially true when trying to re-submit my podcast. I would get 10-12 error messages of Connection Reset before iTunes was able to access my RSS feed. Conversely, when re-submitting from Dreamhost I received no Connection Reset errors. iTunes immediately recognized my feed.

One big issue when re-submitting your podcast is that you cannot submit the RSS URL that you are currently using for your podcast. If you do, iTunes will tell you that it is a duplicate podcast. Instead, I took my existing RSS feed, saved it to a static file (in my case, I named it index-fix.xml) and then stripped out all by a few podcast entries. Then I used this URL to re-submit the show to iTunes. Since my feed already contained all the appropriate iTunes XML entries (since I use Blubrry Powerpress to generate the feed) iTunes recognized all the settings and re-addded the podcast. Career Opportunities then reappeared in the iTunes Podcast Directory in about 1 day.

Of course, you want iTunes to use your old RSS feed as the main feed for its listings, so you need to re-point iTunes back to your original feed. Once the podcast had reappeared in the iTunes Podcast Directory I was ready to take the next step. iTunes provides an XML tag that allows you re-point iTunes to a new, different RSS feed. This tag is

<itunes:new-feed-url>http://welchwrite.com/career/feed/</itunes:new-feed-url>

Of course, you should use your own RSS URL in place of mine above. You place this tag immediately after the <CHANNEL> tag in the RSS file. I edited the index-fix.XML file and added this tag using a text editor. Within an hour or so, iTunes had seen this change and re-pointed the iTunes Podcast Directory listing back to its original feed.

Don’t forget email accounts and subdomains

On my web site I had quite a few email aliases and 2 subdomains on my old web host. Remember that these will need to be set up fresh on your new web host. I prefer to set all of this up before pointing my domain name at the new site. Every web host will provide you a temporary domain name for your new site so that you can test out nearly all functions before “throwing the switch” to send everyone over to the new web host. In my case, everything seemed to be working well at this point, so it was time to reset the DNS servers to point to the new web host.

Switching your domain

In my case, my domains will remain hosted at GoDaddy for the time being, although I will probably move them in the future. I prefer to take one step at a time so I don’t create multiple problems for myself. The process of moving is complicated enough without adding additional, simultaneous issues on top of it. Dreamhost provided me with the IP addresses for their Domain Name Servers so I only had to visit GoDaddy and enter those numbers for each domain to point it away from GoDaddy’s web servers and off to Dreamhost’s.

It can be a bit difficult to tell when the switch over has occurred as, ideally, the sites should function in exactly the same way. In my case, I added a small notice to my home page telling visitors that I was moving web sites. I only added this note to the front page of the new web host. Every so often I would reload my main page in my web browser. When I saw that the page included the web move notice, I knew I was looking at the new web host and not the old one. Within about an hour I noticed that visits to http://welchwrite.com were already pointing over to the new web host.

Complete

I has now been about 3 days since I made the move and I am quite happy with how it worked out. The new web host at Dreamhost seems a bit faster and, more importantly, it doesn’t seem to throw up the Connection Reset errors I was seeing with GoDaddy. I have also noticed that the listings for my other podcasts now have been updated and include the appropriate logos and a current list of episodes available. I am fairly confident now that I shouldn’t have any on-going issues with my podcast listings down the road.

If you have any questions or comments about my experience, please add your comments below. I would love to hear them!

Filed under: New Media, Opinion, podcasting, Real World Example

March 19, 2012 • 10:51 am 2

New Media Producers need to pay their workers SOMETHING!

This post originally appeared in “Careers in New Media by Douglas E. Welch“…

It is a sad fact of the entertainment business that many of the entry level workers are unpaid interns who are working in order to build their “reel”. Working to build your portfolio is fine, up to a point. In reality, we all need to eat. We all need clothe ourselves. We all need to support our families. Low pay is one thing. NO PAY is another thing entirely!

I understand that in the past, New Media projects have been cash poor. These shows and channels were typically bootstrapped on nothing more than the time and pocket change of those involved. Pay was little, if any, simply because there wasn’t any money to give. That’s not true anymore.

Today, money is beginning to flow into New Media projects, through advertising and programs like YouTube’s Content Initiative, Amazon and Netflix production programs, DVD sales, merchandising, online rentals and more. As this money comes in, producers need to make sure that some of it makes it down to every level of their production organization. Asking someone to work for free when the producers are working for free is one thing.

Asking others to work for free when there is revenue coming in — revenue they helped to generate — is entirely another.

Producers, if someone is good enough at their job that you want them working on your project — PAY THEM! To do otherwise is offensive and disrespectful. Respect those who are helping you develop your project — with your actions, your words and your dollars.

I’m not saying you need to put all your revenue into payroll, but some payment commensurate with the work and with your current revenue is the right thing to do. As your revenue increases, so should your worker’s pay. You benefit from this arrangement, too. Paying your workers helps to insure that they work for you and don’t have to (or want to) go work for someone else.

So, to put the finest point on it possible….

New Media producers should pay all levels of their staff — SOMETHING — ANYTHING!

It is productive. It is important. It is right!

For me, in my business dealings — everyone has to win…or everyone will eventually lose. You would be wise to remember that.

Filed under: New Media, Opinion

June 9, 2011 • 8:44 am 0

Elsewhere Online: Opportunity is the chief ROI of social media

“…opportunities are the chief currency of social media. These opportunities can be social, life-enhancing or monetary, but it is the opportunity itself that is the dollar bill of today’s society.”

From Careers in New Media…

As the social media world matures the discussion surrounding it has become all about ROI (return on investment). How many followers do I have? How many subscribers? How many viewers? And finally, how much money am I making. There is a lot being lost among all the talk of Klout scores, Twitter Influence and Facebook Likes. For me — and I would guess for most people who aren’t making a living working in social media itself — opportunities are the chief currency of social media. These opportunities can be social, life-enhancing or monetary, but it is the opportunity itself that is the dollar bill of today’s society.

Quality, not quantity

The problem with social media, and traditional media for that matter, is that we are constantly looking for that one metric, that one measure that “proves” just how important we are. We are frustrated by not knowing something and not knowing just how popular or productive we are irks us to no end. We jump from service to service looking for the magic bullet that will explain our place in the social media universe. What a sad and sorry lot in life. It is this search that leads to Twitter spam, endless begging to “Like Me on Facebook” and social media pyramid schemes that are nothing by mutual, mental, masturbation.

There are countless articles available that seek to prove that the number of followers does not equal influence — that it is the quality of those you interact with, rather than the quantity, that is most important. In some ways I believe this myself. While there is a certain number of people (I guess at around 150) that can turn into a self-generating conversational group, it is the quality of what these people are saying that is important.

For myself, this is exactly how I choose who to pay attention to online. No matter how nice they might be as a person, or how well-known, if what they are sharing online doesn’t have value for me, I do not follow. If I can find their information in a hundred different places i.e. celebrity websites, I do not follow. They may be writing amazing things about knitting or programming or horse care, but if it doesn’t have value to me, I do not need to clutter up my online living room with it. I look for the under-seen, the under-heard, the people who have really neat things to say regardless of how well-known they are.

Opportunities

After immersing myself in the social media world for years now, including writing and consulting about it, I have come to believe that “the opportunity” is the only social media currency that matters. If you want to measure the ROI of your social media interactions, watch closely for the quantity, and quality, of opportunities it brings your way. These opportunities can range from the very personal to the very public, from high personal value to high business value and everywhere in between.

If your social media goal is to meet and work with interesting people, “the opportunity” might be finding these people online and then meeting them in person. You might even find yourself collaborating with them on a project. If this is your goal, then it has much higher ROI than someone Liking your Facebook page or following you on Twitter. In this case, social media was the tool you used, but the opportunity for collaboration was, by far, the biggest benefit. For me, one, great collaborative partner outweighs a score of social media follows. It is a much better metric for measuring your success and influence than any other score you can find.

If, on the other hand, your social media goal is to sell as much product as possible, your “opportunities” might take a different form. Sure, you can count sales and dollars (which are really just a different kind of opportunity) or you can judge your success on the other opportunities these sales bring to you. Perhaps more sales means you can expand your store, expand your influence, expand your lifestyle. This is the true goal and measure you need.

Too often we get caught up in keeping score of those things that don’t really matter. This is where I think that social media goes most astray. We focus so hard on the numbers — the followers, the likes, the sales — that we start doing things we might not do otherwise. We spam our friends. We scam our customers. We shout so loud and so long that, after a time, no one wants to hear anything we have to say. In some extreme cases, we can even cross the line into illegal activities like fraud and embezzling. If the social media numbers are all that is important, then some will do almost anything to achieve them.

Time for a change

It is time to reevaluate our relationship to social media and being to realize that it isn’t something apart from our lives, but instead an integral part of our lives. We need to stop chasing the illusive rainbow of social media metrics and instead focus on how it effects our lives. We need to look at the opportunities is brings to us each day and evaluate our actions accordingly. These opportunities may be small and personal or grand and corporate, but they are the true currency of social media. In this way, the act of meeting an amazing and interesting person can carry as much weight as landing a huge contract — a short, deep, amazing conversation takes on as much value as investment in your startup. Social media can mean many things to many people, but opportunities, in all their forms, can be seen as a true benefit — a true ROI — by nearly everyone.

Do you have questions or comments on this topic? Please leave a comment using the link above.

Filed under: New Media, Opinion

March 7, 2011 • 4:42 pm 1

Promote your favorite podcasts and help other listen/watch

From Careers in New Media with Douglas E. Welch…

You may have noticed my recent posting series, “Recently Listened Podcasts“. Each week I collect the list of shows I have listened to (or watched, for video shows) and place that in my blog with links back to iTunes.

As someone interested in New Media, may I ask you to do the same on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc?

There is a lot of great content out there in the New Media world, but it can still be difficult for the average person to find and download shows that might be of interest to them. Help them out by highlighting your favorite shows and, when you can, help them subscribe and listen to podcasts. I often take a few minutes to introduce my computer consulting clients to podcasts whenever I am with them. This is especially true of clients who are purchasing their first iPod, iPhone of iPad. I try to recommend shows that already meet their interests and even give them a quick walk-through of how to find, subscribe, listen and watch to podcasts.

As podcasters and new media professionals, we can all do more to get the word out about great podcast content and help others find shows that can entertain, educate and enlighten.

Filed under: Elsewhere, New Media, News, Opinion

January 31, 2011 • 2:23 pm 3

How do you make a living in New Media?

Re-posted from Careers in New Media…

Listen to the podcast

How do you make a living in New Media? I received this great question a few weeks ago and wanted to answer it publicly in hopes that others may benefit.

Here is the question…

“Hi, Mr. Welch. I’m a mom. My son is going to college majoring in (guess what) new media. As a parent I’m wondering how my son is going to make a living in new media, and not feeling like I knew enough about it, I found your Welchwrite.com site. I watched your speech to the Independent Filmmakers, and I have a clearer understanding of what new media is and the best way to use it, so thanks for that. However my fundamental question remains: how does one make a living in this field? Please help. Thank you.”

..and here is my answer…

There are several ways of building a career based on New Media. Two typical career paths include:

Taking the entertainment route and becoming a producer of your own New Media content, such as producing your own audio or video show
Using your New Media skills to help others produce their content.

Entertainment Path

Here in Los Angeles, many people are taking the traditional entertainment industry approach and attempting to create their own New Media properties in hopes that they can gather an audience, support themselves and perhaps even rival the success of mainstream entertainment.I find this a harder road to follow, as there is a lot of competition, but there can be great rewards for those who hit upon the right property.

This approach to a New Media career tends to be the preferred method for those working, or hoping to work, in the entertainment industry, such as actors, comedians and musicians, as they already have a talent to showcase and New Media provides them an easy distribution method for their work. They can use New Media to show “what they do and how well they do it” to a large number of people and gather an audience around them. This can then lead to mainstream exposure or, in some cases, provide significant income to support themselves from their New Media shows, along with the income from ancillary products like live shows and merchandise.

It is important to remember that there are levels of success in the entertainment industry, despite its focus on the “star system.” While a New Media personality may not garner the money and attention of a Hollywood star, they may find that they can gather a dedicated audience who see them as a star in their own, smaller world, and also provide enough monetary support to provide them a life which many would see as successful. You shouldn’t get caught in the trap of thinking that you must become the next Madonna or Kevin Smith or Jon Stewart. There are many levels of success and New Media could make you very successful indeed.

Consulting Path

Another approach to a New Media career is to become an employee or consult with those people who want to establish their own New Media presence. Your skills at creating and managing New Media are in demand from a wide variety of companies and clients. This is the direction my own New Media career has taken. While I produce my own shows around my personal interests, my long experience in podcasting and New Media allows me to help others create their own New Media properties as well as speak and instruct on New Media topics.

The major benefit to this type of New Media career is that, much like computer consulting, you can work in a wide variety of companies and industries. You might work creating video promotions for a major retailer or develop in-house video materials for a local manufacturer. You could help a local chef build their profile through an Internet cooking show or teach a non-profit how to better communicate with their supporters. Since New Media crosses all boundaries you can look for ways to combine your New Media knowledge with other expertise you might have.

For example, if you are a paralegal or have other law-related experience, you bring more to the table than just your New Media skills. You are well positioned to work with a law firm or law-related public advocacy group as you have skills and expertise on both sides of the equation. Perhaps your are a musician. You bring specific knowledge to your consulting that other musicians can use. This combination of skills give you many more options when choosing between jobs and can open up significant opportunities.

Whether you choose the entertainment or New Media consulting path through your career, I think you are positioning yourself well for the future. Mainstream entertainment is fragmenting under its own weight and high production costs, so I see New Media as a rising market while mainstream production is a diminishing one. There are simply fewer and fewer opportunities in mainstream production with each passing year, so careers there become more and more difficult. New Media provides the ability to combine your New Media expertise with your other talents and create your own unique career based on your own wants, needs and desires. This flexibility is one of the best features of developing a career using your New Media skills.

So, get out there and start building your New Media career today! I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the opportunities that are available to you.

Filed under: Audio, New Media, Opinion, podcast, Question and Answer

October 12, 2010 • 8:10 pm 2

Ignore ALL New Media advice — maybe even this

From Careers in New Media with Douglas E. Welch

After 6 years of podcasting and a deep immersion into the New Media world I find myself wondering if we all need to stop listening to New Media pundits and just GET ON WITH IT!

As with any new trend, meme, idea, service, product, whatever — there will always be those who think themselves experts in exactly how it should be done. You must post 1.4 Twitter messages each day, each being only 120 characters (to allow for Retweets and blog 2, 500-word blog posts each day, each with a call to action and comments specifically written to your target niche., etc, etc, etc.

Talk about sucking the life out of something!

My own advice, which you are — of course — free to ignore, is to “DO” New Media in whatever way seems fit, in whatever method seems fun or useful, on whatever time frame fits your schedule, directed at whatever audience you care to address. JUST DO IT!

Following too much advice can be more damaging than following too little. Each new pundit, each new expert hones and grinds New Media in their image. They take all that was new and exciting about New Media and turn it into yet another widget that can be commoditized and sold. They reduce the power of these new tools down to a lowest common denominator that seeks to serve everyone, but only seeks to serve them with mediocrity.

What good is it if you simply get better and better and doing what everyone else is doing? If you use New Media tools like everyone else in the crowd you become just one more anonymous figure within that crowd. New Media gives us the ability to stand out from the crowd, find our audience and make a difference in the world. Why squander it being the same as everyone else?

Every new idea goes through this phase? Goth was cool and edgy, now it can be bought in the mall. Punk music was loud and downright dangerous, now its commoditized just like Top 40 pop. Blogging used to be cool and cutting edge, now many do it with the same energy and excitement as a burned out accountant might bring.

Start with yourself when you develop your New Media projects. Sure, you can find some interesting ideas among the pundits, but when the advice starts to make everything look the same you would do better to think about how you can make your work different. Different is where new things happen. Different is where big success lies. Different is what keeps you from being swallowed by the big ocean of mediocrity.

What do YOU want out of New Media? How are YOU going to achieve it? What are YOU going to do? After all, if you are just going to do the same as everyone else — why do it at all?

Filed under: Elsewhere, Member, New Media, Opinion, Tips

September 4, 2010 • 12:39 pm 0

Question: WordPress — Is it hype?

This post originally appeared in Careers in New Media…

NMI Founder, Douglas E. Welch, gets a lot of questions every day and here is a one from today…

Q: Seth Godin uses TypePad. Is WordPress hyped VS a Reg. Website and using Typepad as your blog platform? I like WP but seems like it has to be watched like a hawk for it not to freeze up or slow down. What will this cost me in WP maintenence fees.

A: Hmmm, is WordPress hyped? I don’t think so. It does what I need it to do. There is certainly some personal choice and preference involved. I don’t use TypePad myself, but many people seem to, so it must have something going for it.

I find WordPress easy to maintain and manage and the number of plugins available for it make it quite extensible, even for someone like me who really isn’t a programmer, although technology-savvy. I do like having my own install of WordPress on my own web host, as opposed to having my blog hosted elsewhere — at least for my own personal blogs. I do use WordPress.com extensively for other, shared project blogs, though. I even have one blog still hosted at Blogger.com, where I started.

Speed is more a function of your web host and the number of plugins/features you have installed on your WordPress site. As with anything, installing too much cruft can slow it down. I find that the amount of traffic you have is more a concern than the actual software though. WordPress has caching plugins available to help in high-load environments., though, so that can help if you have a really popular web site.

I don’t find I have to “watch it like a hawk” to keep it running. In fact, I don’t think I have ever had a problem with WordPress other than those I have caused myself through badly configured plugins or themes. You should be able to maintain WordPress by yourself, as typically it only involves clicking a few buttons and waiting for the upgrade. In fact, I always recommend that bloggers know how to control and maintain their own blogs, rather than relying on someone else — especially if that person is charging by the hour for basic maintenance.

The new automated upgrade utilities built into WordPress make it almost a plug and play environment. Most web hosts have a one/two-click install for WordPress, making it even easier.

Overall, I like WordPress, both self-hosted and hosted at WordPress.com. It serves me well and I regularly recommend it to others.

Do you have a question? Why not drop me a line? Use the Comments link above, send email to me@douglasewelch.com or call the voice mail line at 818-804-5049

Filed under: Elsewhere, Member, New Media, Opinion, Question and Answer, Software, Wordpress

August 30, 2010 • 12:18 am 0

Question: Should I stay on Facebook?

Originally from Careers in New Media with Douglas E. Welch…

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been asked this question more than a few times, both face-to-face and via email/Twitter. The on-going privacy policy battles with Facebook have turned off a lot of people on the large (and growing larger) service, but for the foreseeable future, if you leave Facebook, you might just be reducing your social media effectiveness.

First, let me say that I haven’t had a large problem with Facebook privacy settings for two important reasons.

I joined Facebook after it had opened up for everyone, not just limited groups of high school and college students so I never developed an assumption of privacy there.
As with any social media, I consider anything and everything I post there to be public by default, so changes in Facebook’s privacy policy didn’t really effect me or the way I used the service.

For most people, you want (and perhaps, need) to be on Facebook for one very important reason…it is where the people are. In shear numbers, Facebook far outweighs any other social network and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Removing yourself from that mass of people will limit the effectiveness of any social media campaign, both person and professional, that you might care to create. You need to connect with the quorum of people that exist on Facebook to spread your message as far as possible. Deleting your Facebook account might make your feel better, but your online relationships and business will suffer.

Will Facebook always be the big event in town? No. History has shown that companies ebb and flow over the years and sometime, somewhere, someone will create a new and better service and will do to Facebook, what it did to Myspace (and others). Until then, we all need to “dance with those that brought us.”

That said, if you want to continue to have private conversations via Facebook, you need to look elsewhere. Facebook has shown every indication that they will be “public by default.” Even if you manage your Facebook Privacy Settings perfectly, you will be exposing your “private” updates to any number of people. Look towards closed email lists or other services which promise closed communications and leave Facebook for your public-facing activities. Remember, though, that even then information can leak out of these so-called “private” realms very easily. A forwarded email, a Twitter message, a casual mention by a fellow group member over the phone show you just how fragile privacy can be. In some cases, the only way to truly private about something is to be the only person who knows about it.

You need to engage on Facebook, publicly, if you want spread your message and thoughts to the widest audience possible. Move your private conversations elsewhere. Facebook isn’t going back so you need to do what is best for you.

Filed under: Member, New Media, Opinion, Tips

August 3, 2010 • 4:52 pm 1

Not every video needs to look the same as every other

Sometimes it is entirely too easy to believe that every video you produce must look like every other video on the Net. It has to be something stupid, it has to look exactly like mainstream TV, it has to have a presenter, it has to “mean” something, it has to look like every other video on the Net.

While you might want to make videos like take the standard form of interview, music video or silly clip, sometimes it pays to stretch yourself and do something entirely different. One type of video I create regularly is something I call and “environmental” video. This has nothing to do with sustainability and saving the planet. Rather, they are designed to give you the feeling of what it might be like to be in the environment, just for few minutes.

Sometimes these videos have several cuts from different angles and sometimes, like the video linked below, they have only one static shot with natural sound and some background music. While these videos certainly aren’t for everyone, I hope they show you that every video on the net need look like every other video. Experiment with different themes, different styles, different views of even the most common object and you will be surprised at what you get.

Download “Santa Barbara Palm Trees – iPod Ready Video

Filed under: Opinion, podcast, Show, Video

March 3, 2010 • 10:47 am 1

Elsewhere Online: [Tip] New Media Assignment: Capture your great ideas

From Careers in New Media…

When I am talking New Media, one question that always arises is, “…but what do I have to say that people will be interested in?” That fact is, we all have something interesting to say. We just don’t take the time to recognize it for what it is. We let it slip away instead of turning it into the powerful new media it is.

Assignment #1: Capture your great ideas!

Everywhere you go, take notepad or journal. This is both your capture device and your reminder to be aware of opportunities to gather great ideas. The act of carrying it around, setting it on the table when you sit down at the cafe, putting it your bag is like tying a string to your finger or snapping a rubber band on your wrist.

Now, whenever you are talking with someone, be aware of when you and they are particularly enjoying the conversation. Are you laughing out loud? Are you ranting? Are you commiserating over some lost opportunity, job, lover?

Now, write down in your journal the topic of your conversation. It doesn’t have to be a detailed reconstruction of the conversation, just a quick line noting the topic and perhaps why it was so interesting.

Before you know it, you will have a whole series of pre-vetted ideas for blog posts, audio podcasts, videos and even books. You already know these topics are interesting to you and at least one other person, so you can turn them into something more without worrying about whether they are interesting enough — a common pitfall of folks just getting started in New Media.

Do you accept my assignment? Start doing it today! Share your stories about how it works for you as comments here on the blog of on the New Media Interchange Community site. I’d love to hear what your are capturing and how this tip works for you.

Filed under: New Media, Opinion, Tips

September 17, 2009 • 12:11 pm 0

New Media is about sharing your message, not being a star

Douglas E. Welch, Founder, New Media Interchange

When I talk to people about the opportunities of New Media, especially here in Los Angeles, their thoughts often turn to the stereotypical image of television or radio shows. They see elaborate sets, expensive lighting and sound equipment and maybe even a live audience. This is NOT what New Media is about. Sure, New Media shows often take on some of the forms of radio or television shows since these are our most familiar examples of media. That said, New Media can have a higher goal than simply entertainment. New Media is about sharing your message with the world, not about being a star.

Sure, there are pure entertainment shows out there in the New Media world. That is the message that those people have decided they want to share. That doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to that framework. Television isn’t made up of only scripted drama series. There are a variety of show types. New Media takes that variety and adds countless new concepts.

For the first time in the history of media, you now have the ability to take your message, about anything, directly to your audience. This is a great power which almost anyone can use. Do you have a real estate company? Use New Media to communicate directly with the buyers and sellers who are most interested. Run a restaurant? Communicate directly with both your biggest fans and people who know nothing about you. Have a freelance business? Develop your own show to share the best of your knowledge and skills with those that need it most — and are therefore more willing to pay for it!

“For me, New Media isn’t about the show as a property unto itself. It is about the message.”

For me, New Media isn’t about the show as a property unto itself. It is about the message. In most cases, you will not make money on your New Media show alone, you will make it on the customers that it brings to your business, the side products that you sell and the attention and authority the show and the quality information you offer bring to you as an individual.

Since New Media is not about being a star, we don’t have to worry about huge budgets, fancy lighting, costumes, actors and more. Your show is about you, at a very personal level. People will come to you looking for great information and, in many cases, to know you better as a person. There is an intimacy to coming into someone’s computer and home on a regular basis. You will learn more about your viewers, your customers, your fellow hobbyists as they learn more about you.

Don’t let your long experience with mainstream media limit your view of what New Media can be or what it can do for you. We are still at the very beginning of New Media, still finding its power and its limits. This is the time for innovation and play. Let’s see how far we can stretch the bounds of this new tool. Let’s see how it can change our work, our businesses, our lives for the better.

It has been said that complete freedom can be one of the most frightening things in our lives. It paralyzes us with the possibilities. New Media Interchange is dedicated to breaking through this paralysis and helping you find a way to make New Media work for you, regardless of what message you are trying to share with the world.

How Can Mobile Billboards Help Your Business (adamzaius.net)

Filed under: New Media, Opinion, Arts, Audio, Business, Los Angeles, Marketing and Advertising, Mass media, message, New Media, newmedia, podcasting, Television, Video

September 13, 2009 • 12:20 pm 0

Open up your company, store, and life to the world

: Image via Wikipedia

I posted this tip today on the NewMediaTips Twitter feed today, but I wanted to expand on it here.

“Stores have viewing windows and open kitchens for a reason. New media opens your viewing window to the world, not just those nearby”

Nearly everyone likes to see behind the scenes. Cake stores have viewing windows into the decorating area and more and more restaurants are designed with open kitchens where diners can take in the entire process of preparing their meal. Krispy Kreme Donuts exposed their entire production line, making it a show unto itself. Factory tours are everywhere and their are entire television shows dedicated to showing “How it’s made”

Considering the public’s love for behind the scenes information, why not use new media tools to expose your business, your work, your life, to those who might be interested. New Media is like opening your viewing window, your backstage, to the world instead of just the few people who happen to walk by your storefront. Increasingly, the Internet is your storefront and you should be using New Media to give people a look, a taste, of what is happening.

You can do this by putting photos on your web site, recording audio interview with your staff, or taking video of a particular process. All of these types of media can be easily captured and shared using inexpensive equipment and cheap or free Internet services.

What’s stopping you? Leave our questions and comments on this post and I will give your some great ideas for getting started today.

Why we share (welchwrite.com)

Filed under: New Media, New Media Tips, Opinion, Business, Marketing and Advertising

New Media Interchange

Audio: New Media Interchange 5: UpFronts NewFronts & YouTube Celebs with Douglas E. Welch

New Media Interchange 5: UpFronts NewFronts & YouTube Celebs with Douglas E. Welch

Audio: New Media Interchange 4: Is Your Production Ready For 4K? & The Launch of Virtual Reality with Douglas E. Welch

Your Production Ready For 4K? & The Launch of Virtual Reality with Douglas E. Welch

Audio: New Media Interchange 3: Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks with Douglas E. Welch

Podcasting Trolls Turned Back and Why .sucks…sucks

Podcasting Patents Invalidated

Why .sucks — sucks

YouTube starts move towards providing ad free subscriptions

Followups

Interview with Michael Anderson of GameWisp – Part 1

SFX: Science @ NASA Opening audio

Audio: New Media Interchange: HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!

Audio: New Media Interchange: Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos and more!

News: WGA Opens up standard award categories to “new media” productions

New Media Prescription: Don’t “Complain to the Choir” when producing New Media

Subscribed 018: Thinking Allowed from BBC Radio 4

Real World Example: Moving to a new podcasting web host and why

New Media Producers need to pay their workers SOMETHING!

Elsewhere Online: Opportunity is the chief ROI of social media

Promote your favorite podcasts and help other listen/watch

How do you make a living in New Media?

Ignore ALL New Media advice — maybe even this

Question: WordPress — Is it hype?

Question: Should I stay on Facebook?

Not every video needs to look the same as every other

Elsewhere Online: [Tip] New Media Assignment: Capture your great ideas

New Media is about sharing your message, not being a star

“For me, New Media isn’t about the show as a property unto itself. It is about the message.”

Open up your company, store, and life to the world

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Podcasting Patents Invalidated

Why .sucks — sucks

YouTube starts move towards providing ad free subscriptions

Followups

Interview with Michael Anderson of GameWisp – Part 1

SFX: Science @ NASA Opening audio

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