One of the goals I have for this upcoming baseball season is to create more multimedia content than I have in the past. I've put together a few videos for Sportszilla, and the odd audio-only piece, but this year I think it's time to execute a couple ideas that have been bouncing around my head for a while.

Weekly Baseball Podcast
This is a project that's eminently do-able, and the other guys who write the blog can help out by either recording content themselves, or over the phone. It's not a new form, but I think I can challenge people's perceptions of what a podcast is supposed to be.

Create 4 or 5 Live Action Videos
In the past, I've primarily made video slideshows, but recently I procured a new memory card for my digital camera that will allow me to gather the requisite quantities of footage to later stitch together segments with some meat to them.

The keys to both of these endeavors are:

1) Keep everything short. For web consumption, audio and visual media especially, it's easy to lose audience simply due to the amount of time asked of listeners and viewers.
2) Fresh ideas. Good content draws an audience. It's as simple as that. If I can offer something that can't be found anywhere else, or can't be done as well as I can, then the experiments will be successful.

Tangentially, I think it's funny that Will Carroll is embracing video to present ideas on BP Unfiltered, and doing a poor job of it. His videos aren't working for me because nothing he's done so far has necessitated filming. In other words, all of the BP videos I've seen have been repurposed columns, just Carroll sitting in front of the camera talking. If you look back at all the videos I've created for this site, in each case there is a good reason I chose the video medium; otherwise, I would have simply written out the ideas in prose.

Why is it funny that Carroll's embracing video? Well, in December 2005, I suggested to him on his blog (my username: deadteddy8) that the plummeting costs of video production would lead to a dedicated someone creating new ways of following sports on the web. With the rise of YouTube (which, unbeknownst to me, had launched two days before that conversation!) and video recording equipment becoming ubiquitous, web video publishing is ripe for someone to shake the system. Carroll dismissed me then, but he now seems to be falling into the trap he himself warned against, falling in love with the opportunities the technology offers without developing the great ideas needed to make the technology worthwhile, and without applying knowledge of the technology's strengths and limitations.

I want Sportszilla to be that website that shakes the system.

***

Besides these projects, I also came up with one more idea that I will be unable to carry out, but that might be worthwhile for someone in a slightly different situation:

Podcast Your Own Play by Play
I've looked and looked, and there really doesn't seem to be anything pro sports leagues or broadcasting outlets can do to prevent someone from podcasting his or her own play by play accounts and descriptions of games, as long as the podcasts are not streamed live and are released after the games. In essence, the podcasts would then be an after-the-fact commentary, released on the same timetable beat writers are on. Also, as long as major websites are allowed to publish live play by play data, unchallenged by the leagues, then there's a precedent supporting the independent commentator.

I won't be able to do this because of my particular employment situation, and because the San Francisco Giants have such good announcers the audience just won't be there for an alternative account of the games.

Comments

Good points and yes, you were right. The video we've done so far are essentially public experiments. We're testing systems, trying to improve the quality, see what bandwidth problems we have and what people react to, before going out and doing something more technical. I'll agree -- the videos haven't been compelling yet, but if you'll allow me the time to grow, I think it could be a nice addition.

So what changed my view on video? Doing TV. I mean, look at me. Face for radio. Then ESPN gave me a shot and I figure if I can do something compelling, then my big round head shouldn't matter as much.

Finally, I'd advise strongly against the alternate PBP. ESPN and Sportsline are rightsholders, paying for the right to gamecast. You know that "express, written consent" speech they make every game? As cool as it would be to do and assuming you could get the sync right, I wouldn't want MLB's teams of lawyers all up in my business.

Thanks for the criticism.

Posted by: Will Carroll | February 19, 2007 12:54 PM

Ideas for Multimedia

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