PodCampDC: NPR, NBC News discuss Qik, Twitter, video for radio stations

http://www.wirelessmuse.com/photos/nokia_n82/

I attended PodCampDC (see above) this Saturday and the most interesting session for me was by Andy Carvin of National Public Radio (NPR) and Jim Long of NBC News.  Carvin and Long discussed the value of Qik and Twitter for news gathering.  Also, I had a brief but interesting conversation with Carvin after the presentation.

Carvin is the senior product manager for NPR’s “Community.”  He’s a champion of blogging, social networks and camera phones.  He’s a blogger, has a Twitter account, uses Utterz (that I need to explore) and he and Long have a Qik account.

I don’t know Long’s exact title, but he’s a cameraman for NBC News who travels around the world.  He blogs and uses Qik (including interviewing singer/activist “Sir” Bob Geldorf).

Presentation on Qik

Carvin asked PodCampDC attendees in the room if they would use Qik to capture the presentation, and two people helped out by using his Nokia 95 to record a video.  About half of the presentation is on Qik (see below) and if you’re interested in these subjects, it’s well worth viewing. 

The Qik video was transmitted via WiFi AT&T Mobility's HSDPA network, and both the video and audio quality aren’t bad.  However, the signal crashed during the presentation, which is the reason it isn't available in its entirety on Qik (see Carvin's clarifications in the comments section).  (Near the beginning of the video you can hear Carvin say he was using Qik — “it is Qik and we’ll be talking about it later” — in answer to a question from me, whom you can’t see.)

Long notes that many people using Twitter learned about the recent earthquakes in the Midwest.  Carvin was instrumental in getting NPR to use Twitter (by first posting just news headlines).  He discusses how the NPR radio show “The Bryant Park Project,” now uses Twitter as a major source to obtain ideas for its New York City-based program.

Video for NPR

After the presentation, I asked Carvin whether he thought video would be a significant part of NPR, and he said yes.  This is a fascinating concept:  An audio medium posting videos.  NPR already posts videos on its Web site, and more are on the way.

(In my mobile TV weblog I wrote about a newspaper using Qik for videos of pro-Tibet protesters during the Olympic torch bearers running in San Francisco.  A print publication posting videos.  This is game-changing as radio and print publications become more multimedia oriented, especially being able to post newsworthy events as they happen, thanks in large part to camera phones.  As I’ve been writing for some time, live streaming cellular video is revolutionary.)

Carvin told me he is ordering more demonstrating Nokia N95 camera phones to NPR and hopes, but doesn't know, whether the network will order any (see his remarks in the comments section). 

The N95 has become something of a standard for many bloggers and video bloggers because of its excellent (for a camera phone) video recording capability at 30 frames per second.  I agree that the N95 is great for camera phone videos (and a great phone in general), but the new N82 (that isn’t available in the United States) might be a bit better. 

I’ve posted several N82 videos and more are on the way (courtesy of Nokia’s blogger program allowing me to test the handset).  I've also posted photos taken with the N82 and, as with the videos, more are on the way when I get a chance to upload them.

Comments

[Jim Long]

i'm glad you enjoyed our presentation! Andy is a very smart guy and made the job easy for me.

AS for my title, it's just "cameraman" for NBC News.

[Alan A. Reiter]

Hi Jim,

Ah -- the wonders of the Internet and being able to quickly find an article that mentions oneself!

Thanks for clarification about being "just" a cameraman.

You and Andy did a great job.

[Bhaskar @ Qik]

What a great presentation!

By the way, for long duration streaming - would suggest getting a tripod. I got one recently from eBay for $20. Just search for N95 tripod on eBay to find it.

[Alan A. Reiter]

Hi Bhaskar,

Even though I have a good idea about how this new-fangled Internet works, I'm still amazed how quickly some people are able to find out when something is written about themselves or their company! (Not that I have have established my own keyword alerts or anything of the sort .)

I think one of the reasons -- perhaps the main reason -- why Andy decided to stop the Qik streaming was because of battery life (or lack thereof). I'd like to see Nokia promote an extended-life battery for the N95 (and other video-centric camera phones). I'd also like them to offer an adapter for an external microphone (omnidirectional and directional) -- and have mentioned it to them.

Good idea about using a tripod. Courtesy of Nokia, I have one, although I didn't bring it and I was near the back of the room, anyway. The tripod certainly can be very useful.

But the presentation room was very crowded and the Nokia tripod, if available, probably would have had to be placed on a stack of books, for example.

And then there's the problem of panning around the N95 to capture a person asking a question. I guess it could have been done, but perhaps not during a spur-of-the-moment shooting with a volunteer being asked to hold the handset.

[andy carvin]

Thanks for the kind words about our presentation! It's too bad the stream crashed after about 20 minutes. I probably should've told the folks holding the phone what the warning signs are and how to deal with it. At least we managed to capture the feel for the session. I also think a couple of folks videotaped the whole thing; I'll see if I can track them down.

Also, just a couple of minor corrections. The stream wasn't done through wifi; it was actually over the phone's data plan, which uses AT&T's 3G network. And I haven't ordered more phones yet - that's just wishful thinking on my part. I'm still making the rounds and demoing the n95, and I hope that translates into us acquiring a few more phones for reporters to use, but that hasn't happened yet. Fingers crossed. :-)