Thursday, January 17, 2008

Tied up in knots

I've got some Omnimedia videos to deliver to you today.

The first is a new activity that the girls have coerced me into participating in.

The second, though not strictly related to the first, was a whim activity that I experimented with this past weekend. I liked how it turned out and will likely try again.

*****

Regarding Omnimedia, I've been thinking about dabbling with podcasting (since that seems to be the only web-based convention that I haven't bothered to do yet), but I find that it poses a few problems:

  1. What, exactly, will I talk about?
  2. If I can come up with a theme with any recurring necessity, who cares what I have to say? For instance, (naturally) something I thought of right away--providing "on-the-spot" commentaries/reactions to LOST season 4 episodes might interest some of you, but it poses . . .
  3. Logistical problems--not the least of which is that I have never attempted podcasting before and I don't have a microphone/headset to plug into my laptop. I could purchase one of course, but I might want to do a bit of research beforehand so I get a decent headset that provides quality audio. Then, I'd have to learn how to use podcasting software. (I've previously downloaded "Audacity," which I hear does a good job, but I'm sure there would be a learning curve for the editing of whatever I record. And then I've have to work out the mechanics of the recordings. It wouldn't be workable to actually record while watching the show live. First, it would be disruptive to Lynda (and she doesn't get lots of relaxation right now, so it would be rude of me to cause lots of disruptions). Second, I would absolutely NEED to record the show, since if I attempted to record on top of the regular broadcast, I would miss lots of details while talking. So, if I'm going to record it anyway, I might as well do my reaction recording while watching it the second time.
  4. Then . . . if I even got this far, I'd have to edit my recording (learning curve) and post the podcast in a timely manner. (No one cares what I think of an episode two weeks later.) This bumps up against the most significant problem of all, which is
  5. Hannah. Surely I won't have time to be messing about with this highly frivolous podcasting lark while new baby is in the house. What sort of heartless cyborg would that make me?
So, I'll file it away for now and maybe begin tackling it in increments at an unspecified future time? I think it would be cool (for some topic or thing), but the timing may not be right at this time?

3 comments:

lulu said...

I would love podcasts from the Japanese Friends. Doable?

David said...

Not "out-of-hand" undoable, but again logistics is an issue.

I don't know how to do it without being tied to a laptop, which makes it hard to do group podcasts. Heck, it would even make it hard in the comforts of my own home.

But, I'm not giving up on the idea.

Sven Golly said...

heartless cyborg!

I happened to hear a little bit of an interview on World Cafe last night (my only contact with current popculture) with a former member of the Clash (Mick Jones?) whose new band is called Carbon Silicon, a reference to the coming human condition, of which you are on the leading edge.