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{ Category Archives } Any Media

Posts and information common across doing media of any kind.

Preserving Media


As we (OK, me) get older we start to think about the stuff we accumulate. Personally, I have 4 large totes (those plastic boxes with the two-part lid) filled with my life’s work. It goes back more than 20 years to television programs I shot in grad school. I’ve always kept them in the house, [...]

A Man After My Own Heart: What is a YouTube video?


Tom Clifford and I are members of a group on Facebook. A group affiliated with a professional association, MCA-I. So, it is with wonder, but not necessarily surprise, that one of his blog posts popped up in my Google Alerts.
In “Huh? A “YouTube Video?” What’s That? ” Tom hits the nail on the head. It echos the [...]

Hillman Curtis on “Video on the Web: Getting Started”


Hillman Curtis has been shaking things up in the design community for awhile. Well, he’s written an article over at the Adobe Design Center, Dialog Box section that isn’t earth shaking but lays out the basics of digital video production from equipment selection to editing and distribution. This is an excerpt from his 2006 book [...]

Is Webpage Navigation Leftist?


Should navigation for a website be on the left or right side? That was question posed by a friend.
One of our directors has a significant other who has been doing web work for us at a very reduced price. He tells us that the new site needs to have the menu selections on the right [...]

Petition to Save a Video Institution


A video industry institution is facing a dire end. Dick Reizner’s “Tips to Clip” column is being canceled. Apparently, Videography’s management felt it “wasn’t cutting edge enough.”
This move seems indicative of an attitude in technology circles that “old” is bad, “new” is good. Dick’s column doesn’t cover technology really. It’s all about the “how” of [...]

Making Professional Connections


As I build my communications design and production practice I find myself reconnecting with colleagues and making connections with new ones.
Connecting to other media people may be the most valuable activity you can do or skill you can develop. Media production is a great team sport, even with the advent of cheap cameras, editing and [...]

The Information Architecture Pyramid


My friend Susan Reetz asked about her site keywording. She had her site analyzed at the “Extreme Makeover: Website Edition” session at the MCA-I ProTrack conference in September and the presenter (Susan Price from MediaRich) noticed that her site pages had no keyword or other meta tagging. My friend’s web guy said “Oh, don’t bother [...]

Essentials: Audio - One More Take


(One of a series about media production essentials.)
You’re working to a deadline and you can’t wait to get the perfect clip or sound bite. Well, a little gentle massaging when you’re recording is all it takes to come back with exactly what you need in time for dinner… or bedtime.
There are purists in the media [...]

Your Lean, Mean Web Content Management Machine


(The following is derived from conference proposal I submitted.)
Implementing a web content management system can be a long and painful process. By the time you send an RFP, review vendors, make a selection, refine requirements and specs, configure the tool, develop custom functionality and, well, everything else, you’re done. You’re really finished! When you hear [...]

The Windmill that is UGC


I got a comment on my latest post about UGC and I thought, well, maybe I was tilting at windmills. So I Googled and found I wasn’t alone.
Ethan Kaplan at BlackRimGlasses posted “User Generated Content, or how to enforce media hierarchies while appearing not to…“. Nice to have company.
How so many smart people can think [...]