Archive for September, 2006

Like the Web 2.0 revolution that leverages user-generated content, broadband connectivity and open source technology to create web sites that behave like desktop applications, Video 2.0 is a corresponding landslide of network, studio and user-generated content that’s rapidly re-defining the market for video programming.

In New York the Video 2.0 Meetup Group offers a monthly forum for people who are “…passionate about revolutionizing the way people create, distribute, monetize and consume video in an IP world. We discuss emerging broadband-driven media trends and get to know innovative local startups and content producers.”

Several companies present their products at every meetup. A few of the more impressive offerings include:

• http://www.blip.tv - vblog hosting and syndication services
• http://www.cruxy.com - DRM (digital rights management) and adminstration for any digital content
• http://www.feedroom.com - web 1.0 survivor offering web video platform to the mainstream media and corporate market
• http://www.magnify.net - build your own web video channel like this one I made called Only in New York
• http://www.motionbox.com - web video hosting with editing features
• http://www.phanfare.com - consumer oriented video and photo hosting services
• http://www.revver.com - monitize your viral videos
• http://www.veotag.com - add meta data to your web video to make searching for what you want easier

<more to come on this topic soon>

Designer-developer Larry Rosenthal of Cube Productions who I worked with on early interactive projects like Maintenence Men’s Lounge Adventures Below Curb Level for Paramount, and MarkeTalk for CBS, has been working in 3D virtual worlds so long that I’ve wondered if he was born there
A few days ago he posted about his experiences developing for Second Life and it’s a good reality check. Yes, 2L is a cool experiment in user generated MMO content, he reports, but it’s not perfect by a long shot. Here’s what he says…

Tasty Research posts about a research study on MMOG’s as “third places” distinct from home and work.

<more to come>

Gaining a 360 degree view of the emergent serious games market, never a simple task, has become much easier with Mark Prensky’s updated Social Impact Games website, which offers a comprehensive survey of games with non-entertainment goals including training, education and social change. Currently more than 200 games are referenced and indexed in categories such as Education and Learning Games, Public Policy Games, Political and Social Games, Health and Wellness Games, Business Games, Military Games, Advergames, Commercial (COTS) Games. Additional entries in this excellent survey are reportedly in the works.

Though I’ve blogged on Second Life several times the education-oriented facets of this growing virtual world keep hitting my radar. The Second Life Community Education website is a good starting point for understanding the potential of this “unique and flexible environment for educators interested in distance learning, computer supported cooperative work, simulation, new media studies, and corporate training.” And Second Life Education Wiki is a good resource for educators and academics interested in using Second Life for “distance learning, computer-supported cooperative work, simulation, new media studies, and corporate training.”

Serious Games Source posted a facinating article last week on Developing Library Services in Second Life that describes how the Alliance Library System of East Peoria, Illinois, “started the Second Life Library project in April 2006 in response to a shift in people of all ages from media consumers to media creators. They are all spending more time on the Internet and they want to create and contribute, not just consume.” A real library operating in a virtual world? That’s serious!

Are you ready to do some Second Life homesteading? The Electric Sheep Company “…offers professional Second Life content creation and application development services” (and) “excels at creating Second Life environments as well as designing interactive experiences, games, and applications hosted within Second Life.” Electric Sheep also operates Second Life Boutique where you can buy off-the-shelf avatars, body parts, clothing, accessories, landscapeing, tiny critters and more.

For more on Second Life read my previous posts Avatars of Second Life, Unite!, and It’s Not Just a Game Anymore, and visit the ever-growing Second Life tag cloud on del.icio.us.

Or tune into GETV (Geek Entertainment TV) zs reporter Irina Slutsky gets a first life interview with former Linden Lab’ber Wagner James Au, currently an embedded journalist in Second Life who writes the New World Notes blog. Find out how in-game citizens get fancy threads and make phat Lindens, and discover the secret double lives some gamers lead. Click here to play.

Using IM and Skype to communicate in-game has become second nature to many players, and now voice chat is coming to online games. A Massachusetts company called Vivox has developed a voice service designed for games and social networking applications, that premiers when Eve Online launches this fall.

Educational Game Development: Partnering with K-12 Schools in Serious Games Source this week is an excellent article on partnering with K-12 schools based on David Hutchinson’s presentation at the Toronto Independent Games Conference. Article includes “ten points that independent game developers should keep in mind when planning a development project for the K-12 school market” which could be turned inside-out into “ten points that academic partners should keep in mind…” when working with game developers.

Recently while discussing product management with the senior managers of division of Thompson Education, I learned they had organized their technology product development teams according to the Product Marketing Triad that was developed by Steve Johnson at Pragmatic Marketing. I hadn’t been aware of this framework before and was impressed by how clearly the the tasks are defined and divided between strategic, technical and marketing roles.

Ah, life should be so simple! Realistically every company, team and project are different, so I would argue for more flexibility in assigning tasks to roles than is suggested by Pragmatic Marketing. Nonetheless, their framework is the best starting point I’ve come across and a welcome addition to the product management tool kit.