Light a fire that will illuminate the world…
Today we wrap up another 4-day Travel Channel Academy at the Travel Channel HQ in Chevy Chase, Md.
At tonight’s final screening we’ll certify another 40 new TJs, or Travel Channel Journalists, and set them on the path to video literacy and content creation.
As graduates, the Travel Channel will nurture them, and pay them for the content it uses – both for online and for broadcast. But in a larger sense, they are entering a rapidly changing world where their newfound skills should serve them well.
The average American today spends 8.5 hours a day staring at a screen. It is increasingly our only activity. And as video becomes increasingly easy to manipulate and place on screens, its a fair bet that more and more screen based content is going to be video.
Which brings us to Amazon’s Kindle.
The idea of Kindle, or course, is so that the reader can download books from Amazon and read them without paper books.
But wait… if Kindle is a screen, which it is, how long before someone comes along and ‘writes’ a novel that is both text and video.
I mean, why not?
Kindle can handle it.
And so can your laptop – both to make and to ‘read’.
Kindle does more than just give us a place to ‘read’ text (as does your phone) – it gives us a platform for an entirely new kind of storytelling. Video+text+graphics.
Why not?
So as we make today’s grads video literate, they’re already text literate – the potential before them is not just to make video for The Travel Channel, but also to transcend the current boundaries of what it means to communicate an idea or tell a story.
The world is ripe for something new.
And maybe, just maybe, one of the people is ready to create it.
4 Comments
william graham April 06, 2009
One word.
Netflix.
$ April 06, 2009
Rosenblum: “But wait… if Kindle is a screen, which it is, how long before someone comes along and ‘writes’ a novel that is both text and video.”
Funny!
I think someone beat you to the punch!
They are called movies!
Some are documentaries and they’ve been airing on broadcast stations and movie theater, as well as and over the internet, for years now!
Time to wake up sleepy head! 🙂
Brooks Andrus April 05, 2009
Oh, and here’s the link to the full Charlie Rose / Jeff Bezos interview:
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10105
Brooks Andrus April 05, 2009
Jeff Bezos, in an interview with Charlie Rose, indicated the E Ink displays used by the Kindle don’t currently have a high enough refresh rate to support video playback. It also seems like an underpowered device like the Kindle would probably need to have an onboard h.264 decoder chip (battery + cpu needs).
Regardless, long term your point is well taken–mixed media narratives with a video emphasis delivered to mobile devices is the future (social media interaction will be a major element as well).
Here’s a short “video quote” take from Charlie Rose’s interview with Jeff Bezos where he talks about video and E Ink:
http://www.brooksandrus.com/jing2/index.php?name=bezos_eink_not_ready_for_video.mp4&autostart=true