Is video inherently flawed, or is this consolidation in operation?
Thanks Josie for pointing this out to me. For teachers concerned with feedback, this is a key question: two really, because the consolidation question is separate from the question of the affordances of the medium. I am interested in the affordance question but do not know the answer. I do know that it is easier to write than to speak in most of the environments I work in. Or, that is, I find it easier. In open plan working environments or coffee shops or trains the rattle of the keys is normal (and normalised), whereas speaking out loud at a computer is not. Telephone conversation is becoming more acceptable, but monologues on dictaphones are more annoying. For me the heavy overhead of video is in part having a studio-like environment in which to work as well as having and knowing how to use the tools. I follow Change da channel on Youtube. He gets regular video commentary. He is great (imo). The video commentary: well, my mother said if you don’t have anything nice to say… Let’s say the discourse is just not made much richer. I have adopted Twitter and blogging and a little IM on Skype and discussion forums. Each tweaks the old epistolary conventions, allowing for more or less dialogue, more or less reflection, more or less extension. I have tried adding audio into the mix, recording feedback for students. It should work. It really should. But, I find myself going blub blub blub and having to re-record. Maybe I need elocution lessons? Video magnifies the blub blub blub effect: is my hair OK? And one is expected to be clothed. In epistolary conventions (and on the Internet) no one knows you are a dog (or naked, or wearing a torn Metallica t-shirt). The visual semantics have to be taken into account, as do the expectations of the audience. Some of my students wouldn’t mind the t-shirt. Others would prefer more professional garb when getting commentary on their 52%. With epistolary conventions I can write properly dressed prose from a scholar’s office no matter where I am or how (or if) I am dressed. On video I have to look as well as sound the part. Even my accent has to be taken into account. Video is inherently different. I find it much harder to use.
Oh yes. And, there does appear to be consolidation in operation: see, e.g. Research and Markets, “Internet Video – Conditions of Profitability” http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/660784
rWorld2 