As I lead my New Media Technology students (at MSSU) down the road toward streaming media, I thought it only appropriate that I start experimenting with movie production software myself. Now, in the past, I’ve captured and imported video, edited, etc., in Adobe Premiere. Let me tell you…that software…not for the faint of heart. But at the same time, I wanted to see what else was out there. I’m teaching my students about iMovie (Apple’s product, built into most iMacs), but at home and work I use PC. Enter Windows Movie Maker. 

 A few nights ago, just for laughs, I spent a good hour putzing around YouTube for videos. I happened across one called “Kitty Cat Dance” and am still laughing uncontrollably. I’m am completely amazed at the content that is out there. While I use quite a few YouTube videos in my teaching (because I believe it adds some visual content to the typical boring lecture), I’m starting to see the entertainment, instructional, and information conveyance uses of streaming video.

Let’s look at the fact that 66% of all learners are visual-spatial. What does that mean? That means most of us want to see something before merely hearing it or reading it. It will stick with us longer if we see it (I’m part of this 66%). Now if I could just get past the distaste I feel when I hear my voice recorded…

 Long-story-short, I took my first foray into streaming video content by posting a video to YouTube called “Age of Chickens.” No, it’s not instructional. It’s supposed to be funny. It could be considered “machinima-lite” (machinima being the capture, manipulation and publishing of original MMORPG/game content, including voice-overs, etc.). I pulled together captured content from the MMORPG Age of Conan (a new favorite game of mine), various sound effects (including “Yakity Sax,” also known as the “Benny Hill” theme). While it’s rough, I’m proud of it. I can’t wait to see my students one-up me with their convergence assignments, though!