There are many flexible video booth solutions available in the market-place and are often used at exhibitions and for personal events such as  Weddings and Christenings.

We recently spoke to some clients who consider Video Booth technology as an essential way to capture opinions, especially during for example, workshop breakout sessions or public meetings.

A recent project at Knowledge Hemispheres involved the set-up of a manual video booth. A council was conducting an campaign against the expansion of a transport station. They wanted to gather opinions that were both pro and con the central issues. Dates were booked for a video booth to be made available firstly after a public meeting and then for up to 3 weeks at local libraries. NB An essential  consent form was also completed before any video opinion was recorded. The final consolidated video was delivered to the client including a full recording of the public hearing.

The content was then re-purposed by being compiled into a series of Video podcasts that were time released. In addition, content was re-used internally.

There are many advantages for using a dedicated video booth especially through some wonderful automated stand systems, for example:

• Branding and Professional capture
• Focused questions through a survey mechanism
• Automated consent
• Forming part of the entire story.
• High Quality recordings
• Collection and moderation post event

With regard to the latter, an integrated approach is facilitated using such technologies, i.e: It encourages dialogue, captures views from people who may be shy to speak in public and in many ways is a enabling technology of democracy.

Other ways of capuring opinions, e.g: You Tube Direct
Youtube have recently released Youtube Direct. Combined with video booths, further content can be captured from personal camera mobile phone and video footage. The interface using an open source approach and includes a moderation panel. Once content is moderated it can be published on an Intranet or on a public website. One of the benefits of this virtual video collection mechanism is that the Bandwidth is YouTube’s with built in navigation!

It is a wonderful tool for Citizen Journalism, for example if you run a news-site, for example: BizBuzzzz you can ask for citizen reporting. Non profit organisations can call-out for support videos around social campaigns. From a commercial perspective businesses can ask users to submit promotional videos about your brand.

NB We consider Youtube Direct as a complementary service to reach an blended New Media solution -  just as outlined in the example above. i.e: Recording conventional footage, virtual/adhoc video from mobile devices and providing a mechanism to readily access opinions through dedicated video booths. The latter as previously stated will produce higher quality recordings.

In addition, in conference voting can also provide another way to capture opinons and feedback:

However, is there not a danger that without proper policing/moderation it could be vehicle for spammers delight?!

For corporate testing of view-point / gaining instant feedback it will be extremely useful.

It is clearly early days as Facebook have recently announced a concept called an ‘inlay’, i.e: As a user you can view links shared in the Facebook newspage in the context of your friends.

The power offered by Sidewiki is that now potentially every webpage has become social.
To avoid chaos I suggest the need to develop procedures, moderation/monitoring panels, roles with escalation policies and published Net-etiquette.

The harsh restrictions that have been placed on travel regarding flights may be reduced if this new technology proves successful.
The technology that is being introduced takes the form of a new scanner that is supposedly able to detect harmful chemicals in liquids that can be mixed with other ingredients to produce explosives i.e. hydrogen peroxide.

The hi-tech  X-ray technology, which detects dangerous chemicals inside bottles and cans without having to open them, was developed by a team of advanced doctors and scientist including Dr Arnab Basu, and is called the The Kromek scanner. This scanner will  differentiate between different liquids, which to the human eye look similar, by looking at their “spectral signature”.
and will cost roughly about 50,000 dollars (£30,000) each.

According to Dr Arnab Basu, chief executive of Country Durham-based Kromek,

“This is completely new technology in terms of X-rays. It’s like the transition from black and white to colour television…this is taking a big step forward…the product is ready and we have interest from around the world.”

The device works by requiring firstly that an airport security staff to scan a bottle’s barcode before placing it in the machine. An X-ray beam would then be shone through the liquid detecting the unique “spectral signature” of the image recorded on the other side. The machine then uses that “signature” to distinguish between harmless liquids such as water, and potential explosives.

To View Video Click Here.

With the development of this new technology, the future of travel can be drastically improved.

Dancing wedding videos as a future business marketing campaign?

Though ideally not your typical board meeting proposal as a future marketing scheme, this unconventional way of broadcasting seemed to do the trick. Whether it was stumbled upon accidentally, innocently or as a new business venture of some sort, according to the numerous views, high publicity and ratings this particular video has received, this means of marketing seems to create quite a buzz.

Jill and Kevin simply wanted like every other couple to make their day magical and special. What they didn’t expect was the 12 million guests that their wedding would attract, and it only took a hit song, a bridal party and a few dance moves down the isle, that catapulted this day into a business opportunity.

So Can viral Video support a business marketing campaign? Lets look at the stats.
YouTube claims that since the release of the video, the demand for the song “Forever -Chris Brown”, have sky-rocketed,  taking into consideration that this song was released over a year ago!

Due to the publicity the video has created, the charity Wellstone Action, that the couple supports has gained a significant amount of publicity resulting in an immediate increase in funds and in addition,  proceeds form the video as well as external  donations will help to boast the organizations cause.

And as for the couple, as if the publicity of the video on youtube was not already enough, they recently recreated the moment live on the highly acclaimed NBC’s The Today Show, elevating their popularity even further.

Clearly, a viral video hit like the JK Wedding Entrance Dance, which has been viewed over 12 millions times, has the power to sell music. Expanding on a venture using a similar method as this, can make millions as well as attract attention to various other future business projects.

However though they can be very entertaining as well as profitable, viral video hits are few and far between, so it could be a mistake to try and draw conclusions from this one. For every JK Wedding Entrance Dance, there are millions of YouTube videos that get only a few views.

What do you think? Is the JK Wedding Entrance Dance video an example of how companies should be capitalizing on user-generated video, or is it just an extreme case?

We’ve been busy putting the final touches to the site, it has been put off on a few occasions, just to ensure it is more consumer friendly and has a much greater accessibility.

The website has been redesigned to make it easier to use and understand the services that we offer, how you can use these services to advance your business or organization and how we can help you in doing this.

The new site our team have been working on now includes our four main areas of expertise which our business engages in, Audio, Video, e-Learning and Web Development and Training. Under each main heading we further branch off into sub-sections, giving a detailed outline of the different types of features that each main topic will contain (ie Audio – Audio Podcast), and how we can help you in developing each area for your organization according to your specification.

We’d love to hear what you think about the new site – so any and all comments are welcome.
To subscribe and listen, head for i-tunes or listen now by clicking on the play button below:

The wonderful featured music is courtesy of the amazing Travis Vega

This month (February ’09) – In part one we consider the potential of jobnexus - a social job recruitment network.

In part two we discuss the potential of niche video sharing sites.

To subscribe and listen, head for i-tunes or listen now by clicking on the play button below:

The wonderful featured music is courtesy of the amazing Travis Vega

Certainly, the proliferation of Youtube type clones has started. Some offer some great additional features, for example – tagging at specific points. The latter, is great for eLearning but also helpful for skimming!

The list of sites below shows you how many different (think longtail!) types of specialisms/niches there are:

• Social Network for Collectible Game Players
• African Friend, Pen pals & School Friends
• MyModeltalk.com Castings and Auditions
• Social Network for Models and Actors
• MC Hammer’s (Remember those trousers!) – Dance site
• UKskate.com
• The place for the albanians to meet
• Asian Space
• Motorcycle Syndicate
• Art Calendar Forums
• Supporter.com
• Specialist music sites
• Connect and share with football fans.
• Medical Students Community
• 24 Hour Streaming Hip Hop
• Disabled World Community
• TeenSkate.com
• Grandparents Network
• Sports Community
• RadioHead Space
• Social Network Community for Radiohead Fans
• Plastic surgery friends
• Cancer sufferer support sites
• Be my Own Publisher
• A place for Writers and Readers
• jobnex.us
• Zowned – Games Showcase
• Animation Showcase
• Jazzmatrix.com

The value of these sites is that members can engage without the noise of everything else. They offer more than standard membership systems as they can incorporate mass mailing and the benefits of RSS.
Interestingly, I remember YouTube before the Google takeover. At the time suprisingly many corporations never considered placing a multimedia advertisement, for example, client testimonials there.

The central issue about the niches listed is the old adage from the Jerry Mcguire movie, i.e:Show me the money’, i.e: To run these sites can be costly in terms of set-up, stability, features, security and bandwidth charges. How can owners recoup their costs.

There is also the question of how far can these sites be customised. A good place to experiment is Ning. We use Ning it on an invitation only basis for the development of eLearning modules. We consider video sharing business opportunities from two main perspectives:

1. Mash-up opportunities within a context of specialism

2. Support for learners, for example: eInduction and

3. a way of introducing greater interactivity and efficiency when of sharing ideas, especially when collaborating on a project.

It is also worth viewing the following to understand user behaviour with on line video:

I look forward to 2008′s summaries to see if Video is really becoming more prevalent, especially with the advent of more mobile devices and associated mobile blogging – the latter promised back in 2003 but now more of a realty with excellent applications such as Twitpic and Qik.

From a corporate Video Podcasting perspective, there is certainly a lot more Corporate Video Content on the Internet.
Take a look at Regonline’s channel. Regonline offer an excellent webbased Training booking system.
Here they can communicate:

• Company President messages
• New features

Click here to view the embedded video.

In addition, a really useful feature is when we see that their website uses Youtube for Client testimonals – They call it Reviews:

Interestingly, personal Vlogging adds another flavour to communicating opinions or is it an excuse for exhibiting. more on that soon!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The concept is to gather opinion and encourage participation with local and national issues.
The client happens to be a council that is keen on capturing an ‘on the ground’ ear of understanding.

Video is ideal for communicating opinion as it:

• Brings a ‘real world’ perspective – for example, a true expression of passion of the subject area
• Proliferation of content – for example, availability of content through a number of channels.
• Rapid deployment / immediate availability – albeit, assuming good quality editing or first takes. NB today’s video recording technology makes it slightly easier to shoot, edit and post.
• Sharing – Although related to the proliferation of content, this is more about compounding or building on a point being made.

With regard to the latter, if an on-line video (you only have to see what is most popular on YouTube), ‘strikes a cord’, then discussion, wider bookmarking / referencing and a building of momentum is facilitated. Voting can also be added into the mix.

New technology for mobile phones is worth understanding, e.g: the brilliant video networking tool mDialogue

The latter deploys a wonderful methodology:

Upload Engage Distribute…

In summary, use of video as a corporate podcasting opportunity is both efficient and engaging.
The pictures show some of the Knowledge Hemispheres crew setting up a video booth at a library location, the exercise is to be repeated for 3 days at 3 different locations. The final video will provide opportunities for gathering and verifying wider opinion on a major council and national issue.

Commercial examples could include: communication of key business drivers by a CEO or simply re-iterating Sales strategy and associated progress.

We also need to remember that two-way communication is an essential part of the mix for new media solutions.
Video is a great way to combat ‘death by powerpoint’.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyone from anywhere in the world can perform a live show on the internet! -  this statement probably know to all of us it surely is an alternative source for people like Erin and Susan who were unable to find distributors for the video broadcasting of their film “Four-Eyed Monsters”. They finally build up their own video podcast to reach their audience and to everyone’s surprise “Four Eyed Monster” is the first full-length movie to be there on YouTube! Isnt’t this an awesome achievement for these two to start their career with?

Jetset live has surely done some good for its publicity by persuading its viewers to visit and quote their comments. Actually it compounds to much more to their identity than adding just the comments!