I’ve been involved with streaming media on the internet since my days at Ziff Davis Publishing, starting with audio-only programming at PC Week Radio in 1996.
Then during COMDEX Fall 1997, I was production coordinator for our first live video webcasting from our studio booth on the show floor in the Las Vegas Convention Center. This daily regular programming made IT industry news from the show available on the web all during that week and as archived webcasts in the weeks following the show.
Also that year, we expanded our coverage to include a regular spot on Real Networks’ Daily Briefing program, producing a regular five minute IT news digest available on the RealPlayer program guide. During this time I continued to produce special features as well as on-demand special event programming like PC Week Labs Shootouts and special interviews, as well as our expanding our trade show coverage, including live and on-demand video webcasts for both COMDEX Fall and Spring, COMDEX Canada, PC Expo (C3 Expo) and Networld + Interop Spring and Fall.
By this time we were PC Week Webcast, becoming eWEEK Webcast in May of 2000 when the name and format of our parent publication changed from PC Week to eWEEK. Later that year, Ziff Davis Publishing spun off eWEEK Webcast to create ZCast.tv, a full time webcasting web site, presenting daily breaking IT news and features.
In my role of ZCast.tv’s Features Producer, I created, developed and produced six pre-recorded shows that aired regularly on the ZCast.tv streaming media site, as well as many special programs.
Following the demise of ZCast.tv in 2001 due to corporate downsizing, I then started a freelance multimedia consulting business including webcasting, video and audio production, still photography and web design and in 2003, joined the staff of MultiMediaPros, Inc. as executive producer.
I have since left MultiMediaPros and have been tackling freelance web and media projects ever since. Throughout, I have always avoided depending on the video and/or audio stream as the primary mode of communication in webcasting. The key to effective streaming presentations and websites is to focus on the total delivery of information. Streamed video, audio, presentation graphics and even copy, all need to be aggregated in a single integrated “show” to fully inform and create a great user experience.
