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As a former TV newsman, I recently got curious about the organization that promotes community media - public access, educational access, and government access cable channels.
I joined the organization.
It's called the "Alliance for Community Media."
It's headquartered in Washington, D.C.
After joining the group, I received their e-mails and I was very curious to see which video editing software programs were in use.
Of course, AVID software dominates television newsrooms.
I have to admit that my preconceived notion of community media was that it was the domain of rank amateurs who would be inclined to use the less expensive tools.
I've since learned that my preconceived notions were not accurate.
While there is a lot of less-than-stellar-quality material cablecast on community access channels, there is also plenty of high quality material.
I recently accepted an invitation to visit the NORTHWEST CHAPTER conference in Seattle, Washington.
I attended various community media workshops.
I visited the University of Washington and watched an incredible demonstration of how HDTV digital video/sound was transmitted over the INTERNET - yes the INTERNET - linking the University of Washington with a university in Beijing and a university in Rome. They talked about the future of video/audio transmission and what will be possible within the next 5 to 10 years and I was amazed.
I visited the Seattle Community Colleges, which blew my mind with their massive online video distribution system.
I toured numerous video production facilities.
My tour included a visit to the non-profit digital video production studio in Seattle called the 911 Media Arts Center (no relationship to September 11th).
I was struck by one fact.
The dominant platform wasn't a Windows PC with Ulead.
The dominant platform wasn't a Windows PC with Sony Vegas.
The dominant platform wasn't a Windows PC with Avid.
The OVERWHELMING platform in use at virtually EVERY video production studio I visited was the APPLE G4 or G5 running APPLE FINAL CUT PRO!
Even in the production facilities where "newbies" were trained, they used iMacs running APPLE IMOVIE.
It was absolutely surprising.
All of this was in Seattle - just a short distance from the campus of Microsoft.
I guess I wasn't expecting the APPLE platform to be that dominant.
I used the opportunity to ask visiting members of the NORTHWEST REGION to share information about their own equipment.
In almost every case, they were using APPLE equipment.
The academics all had nothing but praise for APPLE.
In Montana, the universities emphasize APPLE hardware/software and Montana Public TV does as well.
Here in Idaho, Idaho Public Television got permission to buy a bunch of new APPLE workstations for their creative professionals.
To do so, IPT had to get permission to go against state government policy that prefers Windows PCs.
On my recent visit to Seattle, I advised some of the individuals that Ulead was my software of choice.
Many of them had never heard of Ulead.
Others told me that they didn't know Ulead marketed professional products.
Wow.
Ulead has a lot of work to do to convince people to take them more seriously.
I'm not going out to buy a new APPLE setup anytime soon, but I must admit I'm more inclined to do so than I was before I took this recent trip.
Based on what I observed, APPLE is winning the hearts and minds of creative professionals.
Jerry Jones
I joined the organization.
It's called the "Alliance for Community Media."
It's headquartered in Washington, D.C.
After joining the group, I received their e-mails and I was very curious to see which video editing software programs were in use.
Of course, AVID software dominates television newsrooms.
I have to admit that my preconceived notion of community media was that it was the domain of rank amateurs who would be inclined to use the less expensive tools.
I've since learned that my preconceived notions were not accurate.
While there is a lot of less-than-stellar-quality material cablecast on community access channels, there is also plenty of high quality material.
I recently accepted an invitation to visit the NORTHWEST CHAPTER conference in Seattle, Washington.
I attended various community media workshops.
I visited the University of Washington and watched an incredible demonstration of how HDTV digital video/sound was transmitted over the INTERNET - yes the INTERNET - linking the University of Washington with a university in Beijing and a university in Rome. They talked about the future of video/audio transmission and what will be possible within the next 5 to 10 years and I was amazed.
I visited the Seattle Community Colleges, which blew my mind with their massive online video distribution system.
I toured numerous video production facilities.
My tour included a visit to the non-profit digital video production studio in Seattle called the 911 Media Arts Center (no relationship to September 11th).
I was struck by one fact.
The dominant platform wasn't a Windows PC with Ulead.
The dominant platform wasn't a Windows PC with Sony Vegas.
The dominant platform wasn't a Windows PC with Avid.
The OVERWHELMING platform in use at virtually EVERY video production studio I visited was the APPLE G4 or G5 running APPLE FINAL CUT PRO!
Even in the production facilities where "newbies" were trained, they used iMacs running APPLE IMOVIE.
It was absolutely surprising.
All of this was in Seattle - just a short distance from the campus of Microsoft.
I guess I wasn't expecting the APPLE platform to be that dominant.
I used the opportunity to ask visiting members of the NORTHWEST REGION to share information about their own equipment.
In almost every case, they were using APPLE equipment.
The academics all had nothing but praise for APPLE.
In Montana, the universities emphasize APPLE hardware/software and Montana Public TV does as well.
Here in Idaho, Idaho Public Television got permission to buy a bunch of new APPLE workstations for their creative professionals.
To do so, IPT had to get permission to go against state government policy that prefers Windows PCs.
On my recent visit to Seattle, I advised some of the individuals that Ulead was my software of choice.
Many of them had never heard of Ulead.
Others told me that they didn't know Ulead marketed professional products.
Wow.
Ulead has a lot of work to do to convince people to take them more seriously.
I'm not going out to buy a new APPLE setup anytime soon, but I must admit I'm more inclined to do so than I was before I took this recent trip.
Based on what I observed, APPLE is winning the hearts and minds of creative professionals.
Jerry Jones
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