dose

two new video services have come to my attention recently:

* cbc video (vids from CBC archives and current shows)
and
* mediascrape (a collection of news snippets from around the world).

Both make their videos available through embedded windows media players, and neither has an RSS feed of new vids.

I suspect the reason is to force watchers to go to the webpage to watch, which allows the site owners to generate ad revenues on their web pages. But not having easily downloadable media files, and not having an RSS feed means people like me won’t spend much time watching these files… especially since almost all my media consumption now is generated through collectik. I don’t like to go to a web page to check if there is something interesting for me there - I want it to turn up in whatever RSS aggregator I use (say, ahem, collectik), so I can decide if I want to watch/listen or not.

Here’s a proposal for video makers who want ad revenues: find a way to stick banner ads on the bottom or side of a video image - embedded in the vid, so that if I want to watch the vid I have to watch the ad. Then do everything you can to get the video all over the internet - torrent, RSS, and get it in collectik.

finally … CBC has added a bunch of new podcasts. Some missing (where, oh where, is wiretap?, the best radio show in the world) … but Ideas is in there as is Words at Large (a booky show), among many others.

so thank you to Tod Maffin and the rest of the CBC for finally making this stuff available.

I’ve added a few CBC podcasts into my Collectik collection. If you’d like to see some other podcasts I recommend, see my whole collection here.

And to check out all the CBC stuff I listen to, here’s a search of my Collection, tagged CBC:

• mackinaw’s collection tagged CBC

and here is an RSS feed (generated by Collectik) of all the CBC podcasting I’m downloading:

• RSS: Hugh’s Collectik CBC Feed
• iTunes 1-click: Hugh’s Collectik CBC Feed

This will be udated automatically, so if you subscribe in iTunes, all the CBC stuff I decide to download, will go into your iTunes (if you want it to).

Finally, if you are interested in getting a feed of ALL the podcasts I listen to, here it is:

• RSS: Hugh’s Collectik Feed
• iTunes 1-click: Hugh’s Collectik Feed

You could also filter that and just subscribe to my feed of music, or politics podcasts.

The best thing though, would be if you go visit Collectik and sign up for an account; and you could add me as a Friend, and easily keep track of what I listen to.

If you are baffled at all by Collectik, please let me know & I’ll be happy to explain it in more detail.

UPDATE: I emailed CBC Podcast Team, and I actually got a response! And it’s the one I was hoping for!

Hugh:

Thanks so much for the encouragement - we are thrilled to be able to
offer so much of our CBC Radio content in podcast form.
Wiretap is a SUPER show and as we move into our next phase of podcast
roll-out, we hope that it will be added to the list. Stay tuned! We’ll
let you know when we have more to add!

Thanks again,

CBC Radio One Podcasting Team

I was interviewed about LibriVox for CBC Radio One’s banter-filled afternoon show, Freestyle. CBC Radio podcasts a pathetic 3 shows, and they don’t provide mp3’s, but I will happily break their stupid anti-podcast policy, and their immoral and should-be-illegal-for-a-crown-corporation copyright policies (for my thoughts on this, see here and here), and give you this pirate mp3 recording.

(I recorded it on my little mp3 player/FM receiver, and it gets a bit staticky - sorry about that. … Oh, and yes maybe it’s a bit of cheap to post pot shots at the CBC while being happy that they did a spot on LibriVox, but what can you do? This is the exact sort of reason it drives me crazy that they don’t provide mp3s).

Ouimet, an undercover CBC insider, has a great post about CBC, and the “free” underground distribution already happening. Read: bandwidith costs are a ruse.

François has a new blog, called Broadcasting2.0 that looks interesting - coming from the hard tech side of new broadcasting networks (p2p etc etc.). And no I’m not linking to Francois *just* because he linked to me.

And just a random, non-related thing: anyone else notice that since del.icio.us got bought by Yahoo! they seem to have spent more time down than up? And the millions in cashola has apparently impacted their spelling and grammar: Says del.icio.us:

Due to the power outage earlier in the week, we appear a number of continued hiccups. We’ve taken everything offline to properly rebuild and restore everything. I apologize and hope to have this resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued patience.

Indeed, del.icio.us does appear a number of hiccups. But keep the faith!

I have had a couple of exchanges with a number of people about my CBC frustrations, including Justin and Ouimet. I suggested that we need a CBC 2.0, and that if CBC doesn’t want to play - by, for instance, not allowing people to use their RSS feeds as RSS feeds, by doing deals with AOL, by wanting to charge for podcasts - that the rest of us should just tell CBC to stick it in their Freestyle, and build CBC 2.o without the CBC. One response was, “how can you build CBC 2.0 without CBC?”

But it seems to me that CBC per se is not so interesting - it’s CBC’s content (OK and nostalgia, and an idea of a unifying voice of diversity thoughout Canada - or something). But really it’s the content, which has also come from a vision of what CBC ought to be, that more or less I have supported in the past.

But if CBC becomes CBC-AOL Inc., well I guess I’ll listen if they provide me with good content — for free. Which I expect they won’t. But I don’t see any reason to prefer CBC-AOL over, say Global.

So if they go that route, the rest of us will just have to create CBC2.0, or Public Broadcasting Canada (PBC), or whatever you want to call it, and if CBC doesn’t want to play, well what can you do? If that happens, then CBC does not deserve the name.

Producing & disseminating audio is so cheap and easy now, and so much wonderful audio will be produced in the coming years — by smart public broadcasters, and also by joes and janes at home — all of it accessible on net. Why listen to CBC if they insist of becoming AOL audio, and do not understand what’s happening on the web? Why support an institution that does not reflect anything i believe in? (freedom, the responsibilities of a public broadcaster, diversity, non-commercialness etc).

This hasn’t completely happened yet, and Tod Maffin assures me the CBC podcast strategy will be interesting … so we’ll wait and see what develops.

It may be strange that I put so much emphasis on podcasting - but I think it represents everything exciting about the net, and audio - finally CBC & others don’t control what gets produced, exciting! - if CBC can’t understand what that shift implies, or even what the net is FOR, well then…

It was also suggested by some in the know that the strategy for CBC’s web presence seems to be to try to piggyback on a larger company - AOL or whomever - to generate visitors. And the “problem” is that this has worked fairly well — they are getting hits and ad revenue — and convincing CBC that a better interactivity/rss/blog/podcast strategy will get them the same results is difficult. CBC sees that approach as “risky.”

Which is bizarre. What about the experience of other successful public broadcasters? Shouldn’t that be the template? BBC and Australia Radio National, NPR (now at an astounding 223 podcasts!)? BBC is probably one of the most-visited sites in the world. Do you want eyeballs, BBC got em, by giving away their content, not by doing exclusive deals with AOL. Where is the risk with this approach? It’s not like RSS is complicated technology … not as if podcasting is exepnsive. Host on archive.org if you’re so worried about bandwidth. The problem is this: CBC wants to be a business instead of a public broadcaster.

Again: CBC wants to be a business instead of a public broadcaster. This is a problem.

Slightly aside, but related, my own CBC listening has trickled to almost nothing recently. I work at home, so radio (audio) of some kind is on almost all day. The Current is good, but: montreal’s morning show is terrible, Sounds Like Canada is (increasingly) pablum, Freestyle is truly unbearable, Montreal’s Radio Noon call-in makes me cry, evening news is fine, but too short, and As It Happens usually pretty good - but then you have to get through Shelagh (again), and I’ve already listened to the Current. So I switch to something else before Ideas, which of course is excellent, but I rarely remember to switch back, so rarely hear it.

There’s so much available online (for Writers & Company see ARN’s Books & Writing, KCRW’s Bookworm, Mobylives; for Ideas see: ARN All in the Mind, ARN Science Show, BBC In Our Times, BBC Documentary Archive. For Dispatches, see: BBC From Our Own Correspondents. And NY Times is podcasting now too! plus lots of great DIY podcasts, to get better and better). CBC still has good content but I can’t get it when I want it, so I listen to other stuff.

And so CBC fades from interest for me. Which too bad, but if CBC does not care much about listeners like me, I can’t get too choked up about it.

All the big players have figured out where the web is going, see:
Yahoo gets social (from the Globe & Mail)

In any case, it’s worth remembering that Yahoo and Microsoft haven’t gone away, and Yahoo in particular has been making some moves recently that are aimed squarely at the “Web 2.0″ market that Google (and Microsoft) also covet — that is, the world of blogs and “social bookmarking” and so on. They are small moves, but when combined with some of the other developments at the company they make for an interesting picture. Yahoo CEO Terry Semel told the Globe and Mail’s Grant Robertson recently that Google is where the Internet is, and Yahoo is “positioned for where the Internet is going.”

And Dave Winer, rss inventer, on:
how to make $ on the internet:

The way to make money on the Internet is to send them away. Google proved this, in the age of portals that were trying to suck the eyeballs in and not let them go, Google took over by sending you off more efficiently than anyone else. …

Yahoo doubled their share of the online news market by adopting RSS and sending readers away as fast as they can. Who to? Their competitors, of course.

Where do you go to get the latest from CNN and MSNBC? Yahoo. Makes sense.

Now the fundamental law of the Internet seems to be the more you send them away the more they come back. It’s why link-filled blogs do better than introverts. It may seem counter-intuitive — it’s the new intuition, the new way of thinking. The Internet kicks your ass until you get it. It’s called linking and it works.

And finally, back to podcasting, here’s a little warning from Vancouver’s
Notes from a Teacher:

As I said, I filled in the [cbc podcast] survey and I hope it helps give the CBC a push. When they do come around, though, I’m afraid it’ll be too late for me. My podcast time card is full with pieces (primarily from the US and Australia) that I consider essential and I can’t add anything to it without shedding something, and I’d be loathe to do that.

Which is one of the things about a new media age, driven by the speed of ‘net evolution: Snooze. Lose.

ie it’s not just me that thinks CBC is going the wrong way, but Google, Yahoo, Dave Winer, and some guy in Vancouver. All of whom are a hell of a lot more interesting than AOL, which will die soon with CBC because they have the web backwards.

So CBC is doing a podcast survey. It’s not too well designed, and my favourite question is: “would you be willing to pay for downloading podcasts?”

To which I wish there had been a button that said: “You have to be fucking joking, don’t you understand ANYTHING?” … but there was just yes/no.

So I hope anyone reading this, wherever you are in the world, will take the 3 mins or so to answer the questionnaire. For those not interested in CBC, but willing to fill out the survey just to be nice to me, note that the shows you really want to hear podcasted are: Ideas, Writers & Company, and Wiretap.

I am told this survey is a good sign, but it sure as hell doesn’t give you much confidence that CBC will boldly lead us to the future.

Link to: CBC podcast page
Link to: CBC podcast survey

Note also that you have to go to the CBC podcast page to find the survey!

Also note, here’s CBC’s article about podcasting being the word of the year for 2005.

I think CBC’s current podcasting policy may be in violation of the Broadcasting Act ( 1991, c. 11 ):

Part I section (3)(1)(d)(iv), states that the CBC should:

be readily adaptable to scientific and technological change

Part I section (3)(1)(k) states that:

a range of broadcasting services in English and in French shall be extended to all Canadians as resources become available

Part I, Section (3)(1)(m)(vii) states that CBC programming should:

be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose

It seems that these articles were written (in 1991) with the understanding that new technologies - internet, podcasting - would be on the way, and that the CBC is legally required to use them. They are clearly appropriate, and definitely efficient. I have not looked through the doc to see about the freeness issues, which to me is of critical importance.

Anyway, if there are any lawyers reading, do you want to take this to the CRTC? Here’s what happens if we do:

25. (1) Where the Commission is satisfied, after a public hearing on the matter, that the Corporation has contravened or failed to comply with any condition of a licence referred to in the schedule, any order made under subsection 12(2) or any regulation made under this Part, the Commission shall forward to the Minister a report setting out the circumstances of the alleged contravention or failure, the findings of the Commission and any observations or recommendations of the Commission in connection therewith.

Report to be tabled
(2) The Minister shall cause a copy of the report referred to in subsection (1) to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the report is received by the Minister.

(via http://cbc.stasis.org/)

So I was just looking at CBC.ca, and got all excited when I saw CBC OnDemand … how did I miss this progressive use of the internet, to let Canadians watch CBC TV shows when they want on their computers?? Why did no one tell me of this visionary approach CBC is taking?

Oh, it’s a pay service for those with cable. Shaw & Rogers. Says CBC:

“If you are not serviced by Shaw or Rogers, speak with your cable provider about their plans for on demand service.”

ah well.

Readers of dose will know that CBC has been on my brain of late, particularly their still-dismal podcasting “plan,” of which there is none to speak of yet — though Tod Maffin is working on one, and we’ll all put our shoulders in to help if we can, assuming whatever is devised is good for the world.

I would like to see the CBC embrace podcasting, not just to make their radio content more available to more people, but also to embrace the technology to promote and support Canadian creativity and documentarianism (?). That is, to use CBC resources to support podcasting throughout the country. This content could be available only by podcast, with perhaps a best-of getting a weekly 30 mins or something.

Anyway, here’s the National Film Board’s fabulous program, Citizen Shift:

Citizen Shift is a web magazine that integrates written, audio and visual media and provides a space where filmmakers and citizens can share knowledge, be entertained and most importantly debate social issues.

NFB provides help and resources, and bandwidth, to citizens who produce documentaries, and make them available online. This is what the CBC should do for podcasting: a CBC citizen podcast page.

Sort of a disclaimer: I’ve been trying to set up a program teaching kids at-risk of violence to podcast, with NFB, citizen shift indirectly involved, at the Atwater Library, with sylvain carle of interstructure. (And I note that among the groups involved in Citizen Shift, there are a good number of names I know, some better than others: plank design, sylvain carle, martin lessard, patrick tanguay).

So I decided to take my crusade for CBC podcasts to shows themselves. I sent emails to the three shows I would most like to hear via podcast (Wiretap, Ideas, Writers & Company), and one show that is podcasting (Quirks & Quarks).

Here’s (roughly) the email I sent to them:

Dear Ideas,
I enjoy your show, and listen when I can, which is not very often. I would be very happy if you could podcast your show, so I could listen when I want, where I want. As it is now, I am getting all my ideas-type content from podcasts from BBC (In Our Times) and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (All in the Mind). Please consider podcasting Ideas so I, a Canadian, can get my public broadcasting from CBC, not BBC and ABC!

Here is Ideas’ response:

Thanks for taking the time to write to us. At the moment CBC.ca is experimenting with podcasting which is why few radio progams are available. I know that they are hoping to add more shows in the future but there are other legal issues like copyright that will have to be addressed before this happens. Hopefully this issue and the matter of resources (bandwidth) will be worked out so that IDEAS will be available in the near future.

Sincerely,
Liz Nagy, Associate Producer/Web Master, IDEAS

Here’s Writer’s & Company’s response:

Thanks for your note, and for your kind comments. We are in the middle of rights negotiations, etc. in order to be able to podcast our program. CBC management does consider it a priority, and I do hope that it’s all settled soon. In the meantime, I don’t know if you’re interested in satellite radio, but we’ve just started airing on Sirius Satellite radio 137. Writers & Company has four airings on that station - 3 on Thursday, and 1 on
Sunday. The other option with Writers & Company is that we have a second airing (albeit in shortened form) the following Friday evening on The Arts Tonight. The Arts Tonight airs on CBC Radio One, just after the 10 o’clock news. I’m sorry not to be able to be more helpful than that, but I thank you for your interest in the program.

Sincerely,
Nancy McIlveen, Associate Producer CBC Writers & Company

Here’s Quirks & Quark’s response:

Glad you enjoy it. Thanks for the kind words.

And here is wiretap’s response:
…

(that’s silence, by the way).

It seems to me that it’s important that the people making the shows know there’s a demand they aren’t filling because they are not podcasting.