There’s a thought-provoking article in this months Vanity Fair magazine titled Generals, Gadgets and Guerrillas . At the start, the author Michael Wolff cites the sea of “i” products out there from “iPhone-iPod-iTV-iCar” to argue “It’s the age of the media gadget. The gadget is the culture.” To many this statement might feel a little inflated and if noticed it would undoubtedly become a thorn in the side of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping or even those of us who are growing a little sicker each day of Apple’s proprietary nature. However where Wolff’s position becomes significantly more intriguing is when he writes “The real point of the gadget, and a reason, beyond fashion, why people are so proud to display their gadgets, is that it sticks it to some larger, more cumbersome, less responsive media system. A little gadget takes on the big networks.”

Now this is something we can talk about. Can I get an Amen Reverend Billy?

Wolff elaborates “as a consumer [of gadgets] you’re getting the service you want at the time and place you want it, more cheaply than you could have ever hoped to get it, as well as, often, critical help in stealing the particular service or tune…..Men with big jobs in big corporations have a word for this anywhere-anytime (let-us-help-you-steal-it) breakdown in distribution norms: anarchy. They’ve, in fact, had laws passed to inhibit it. But more and more, as gadgetism explodes, as it undermines every fixed notion of who delivers what to whom, as the big men with big jobs try to develop their gadget strategies, it’s comedy too. Everybody in charge of distribution channels is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. People at music companies, television networks, movie studios, cable providers, phone companies, and satellite systems are all trying, vainly so far, to figure out their place in a gadget-driven world, and are, mostly, looking like fools.”

Fools or not, it becomes clear as you read on, that as the value of their content becomes peripheral to the simple coolness and usability of the gadget, content providers are losing the turf war to Mr. Jobs and the gang. To some of you it just might feel like both sides are jockeying to be the face on the larger, more cumbersome, less responsive media system we’ll all be sticking it to 5 years from now…

At the very least this is a solid example of a D.I.Y. alternative to what tends to be an overly expensive production tool if purchased through say….B&H. While it’s easy to question the mobility and durability of the end-product you gotta dig the spirit behind the project…

VCAM volunteer extraordinaire, Jeff Botas, has been experimenting with streaming some VCAM shows live on the Internet as well as offering them up for on-demand playback as podcasts and/or video blogs. So far, the experiments have been on Jason Piche’s Talking Trash, Brian Kling’s Street Signs and L.J. Palardy’s Global Sounds. Once we have a streamlined system in place for doing this regularly, we will offer training to producers who wish to do this for their own shows.

Jeff uses a combination of free web applications and Macintosh software to do the streaming and podcasting of the shows. For streaming shows live online, Jeff plugs the output of the record deck in the control room into his Mac laptop (we’re working on getting a machine in the control room for this specifically) and sends the live program up to a site called ustream.tv — a free web-based streaming and social networking site. As it’s uploaded, ustream sends the signal out live over the net. Anyone in the world with net access can watch the show, call the studio line (if the show is live on the air at the time) or even participate via an IRC chat session that the show’s host monitors during the broadcast.

For podcasting the video and audio of the completed show, Jeff is using blip.tv. Jeff writes…

This site rocks. There are a plethora of features that allow me to do everything I want and more with my video. Unlike YouTube, I can upload an entire show with no time or file size limits. No more splitting a half-hour show into 4 pieces with poor video quality. FTP is available so that I am easily able to upload one or multiple shows. The available distribution methods are phenomenal. I only use the RSS syndication for iTunes, the Facebook API, and Cross-posting, but there are many others (Internet Archive, del.icio.us, Twitter, MySpace, AOL Video, etc). The Facebook method puts a Blip.tv video player in your profile and automatically displays the most recently uploaded video. The Auto Cross-posting feature automatically makes a new post on your blog with embed code that shows your most recently uploaded video (ex: http://streetsignsvt.blogspot.com).

Thanks to Blip.tv, it’s easy to host and syndicate a video podcast while iTunes makes it easy to find for a large audience. Since I have Blip automatically creating the RSS feed for me, all I had to do was submit the feed URL to the iTunes podcast directory. Though the podcast has been available for several weeks, Jason and I finally found the time to do this for Talking Trash last night. I would have done it sooner, as I would for Street Signs, but I thought it best to have the show’s producer make the submission (using their Apple ID).

Here’s last Wednesday’s Talking Trash, which was streamed live over the web and then uploaded to blip.tv…

As Paula Routly mentioned at Friday’s Producers’ Recognition Dinner, we are entering an age of new media. The only question is, will we willingly embrace these new methods of online publishing and video distribution or will we fight, kicking and screaming, as we are dragged into this brave new world. We at VCAM are aiming for the former option. Thanks to people like Jeff and forward-thinking producers like Jason, Brian and L.J., the rest of us are able to learn by their examples.

On October 31st, the FCC made some decisions concerning media ownership and franchising rules that could adversely affect public, educational and government access centers nationwide. It’s one more push towards a cliff that PEG centers have been inching closer to over the last several years. Basically, the FCC is attempting to remove rules that permit local franchising authorities (in this case, the Vermont Public Service Board) from requiring cable companies to set aside funds for PEG services.

If that sounds confusing at all, Toward Freedom has published an excellent piece on the various threats facing PEG centers that spells it all out in plain English. If you care at all about VCAM, local media, free speech or empowering the citizenry with technology, please take a minute and read the article. Here’s a snip…

Cue unsettling music that foreshadows ominous events: The Telcos, eyeing television as their next mile marker, have “determined that local franchises are just too troublesome for their business model,” according to SaveAccess.org. Instead, the phone companies want a national franchise agreement, which would allow them to enter communities without negotiating with municipalities, thereby gutting any local control over channels and rights-of-way, or public spaces.

“The municipalities have a lot at stake, primarily with rights-of-way,” Eisenmenger said. “When that telephone or cable company comes in and digs up the streets [and put in cable boxes], having the municipalities have control… to make sure those go in appropriate places, that the streets are cleaned up and repaved.”

The Telcos tried first to tip Congress in its favor, but a national franchise bill died in the Senate in 2006, though frighteningly, the House passed the bill. Always a survivor, the phone companies have switched gears, now pursuing state video franchises – comprehensive state-wide agreements negotiated at the state level which usually circumnavigate local governments.

…

In a separate court, the supposed referee, the FCC, is taking sides. In 2006, the agency made its own order to allow for a national video franchise. Several PEG advocacy groups have sued the FCC, including the Alliance for Communications Democracy and the Alliance for Community Media.

SaveAccess.org also reported in September that the agency is expected to “rule that existing cable operators can, under certain circumstances, back out of key provisions in their current franchise contracts with local governments, renegotiate lower municipal fees, and reduce the benefits they currently provide to the public.”