Sunday
Jun282009
Still Figuring It Out
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 04:47PM
My CBSNews.com Webcast on Friday was a little rough. I am mostly happy with how it is shaping up but it was stressful, mostly due to technical difficulties.
First, the broadcast was delayed because of my need to upgrade my hardware. I used a MacBook during the first pilot a month ago. On Friday I decided to use a 13" MacBook Pro but the hardware is slightly different. The VGA adapter is not the same. Since the newsroom only had the Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, we had to think outside the box. We took a camera and literally filmed the laptop instead of pulling a video feed directly from it. That was embarrassing. And my bad.
Then our Ustream chat went down.
Then I conducted half of an interview with music writer Rashaun Hall when we were not broadcasting. Again, my bad.
We will get this eventually! If you showed up and participated, thank you! I don't mind letting viewers watch this project in its awkward phase. I am happy to crowdsource the idea, even if it means you see me in several deer-in-headlights moments. You've seen it before. Meanwhile, keep your feedback coming. Even if I haven't responded to you personally, I am digesting everything you have to say.
We are planning another pilot on Tuesday, June 30 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. I hope you can watch, participate, and provide feedback. And if it is rough again, so be it. I read a book today called "Ignore Everybody" that made me feel a little better about it all. Here is one of my favorite quotes:
Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece on the back of a deli menu would not surprise me. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece with a silver Cartier fountain pen on an antique writing table in an airy SoHo loft would seriously surprise me.
I am lucky to be working with the proverbial Cartier fountain pen in the way of CBSNews.com. But this is Web and resources are tight and the broadcast is a brand new idea that I am still developing, which makes it more like my own proverbial deli menu. So in the immortal words of Michael Jackson from the Bad video, "That's the way it goes down."
First, the broadcast was delayed because of my need to upgrade my hardware. I used a MacBook during the first pilot a month ago. On Friday I decided to use a 13" MacBook Pro but the hardware is slightly different. The VGA adapter is not the same. Since the newsroom only had the Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, we had to think outside the box. We took a camera and literally filmed the laptop instead of pulling a video feed directly from it. That was embarrassing. And my bad.
Then our Ustream chat went down.
Then I conducted half of an interview with music writer Rashaun Hall when we were not broadcasting. Again, my bad.
We will get this eventually! If you showed up and participated, thank you! I don't mind letting viewers watch this project in its awkward phase. I am happy to crowdsource the idea, even if it means you see me in several deer-in-headlights moments. You've seen it before. Meanwhile, keep your feedback coming. Even if I haven't responded to you personally, I am digesting everything you have to say.
We are planning another pilot on Tuesday, June 30 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. I hope you can watch, participate, and provide feedback. And if it is rough again, so be it. I read a book today called "Ignore Everybody" that made me feel a little better about it all. Here is one of my favorite quotes:
Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece on the back of a deli menu would not surprise me. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece with a silver Cartier fountain pen on an antique writing table in an airy SoHo loft would seriously surprise me.
I am lucky to be working with the proverbial Cartier fountain pen in the way of CBSNews.com. But this is Web and resources are tight and the broadcast is a brand new idea that I am still developing, which makes it more like my own proverbial deli menu. So in the immortal words of Michael Jackson from the Bad video, "That's the way it goes down."
Reader Comments (11)
Well it would be very boring if it would work straight away wouldn't it?
About the chat, it might be a good idea to link the ustream chat to an actual IRC server (like we did with BOL, but with a different channel) this way it is easier to monitor for everybody, and most importantly, it will be easier to moderate. That way you won't have the crap that was 'shouted' in the chat with your last try. If you want more information just hit me up at 'alexcfaber' on the gmail ;-)
As for the macbook: I think we all hate Apple for changing the stupid ports. It is something that will probably grow to something spectacular. Everybody has start-up problems!
--Tales
Come on you work for CNet the last place you should be having technical difficulties,*metaphore moment :)- you wouldn't starve in a grocery store would ya. I caught your 1st broadcast and it did seem like a highschool student's you-tube project, oh well, you got my support. Lastly I've noticed that you have quite a few deer-in-the-headlight moments, considering..."let say the situation", you kept your composer.
I participated on the broadcast and as a whole I thought it went pretty good considering the technical difficulties you were experiencing. I think every newsgroup spent too much time on MJ's death, but that's just my opinion. I think this is the wave of the future where more and more people are going to their news information from the internet rather from the traditional TV Networks news. Keep up the good work.
I^m so proud of you Natali and I hope that your new web show with CBS is a tremendous success. Your the best yay!
Keep up the good work, the little details will be worked out soon. That's why it's a pilot and not the finished show :-)
I agree with Tales about the chat. There were a lot of complaints about the ustream chat and people left. Connecting to IRC would be ideal.
Couldn't hardware expertise from the CNET side of the house be brought to bear on this http://CBSNews.com" rel="nofollow">CBSNews.com problem?
Do your thing Nat. I've been following from the beginning and you just keep getting better and better. Stay with that thought that you always move forward and upward in everything you do. I see greatness in your journalism and your reporting. You look great on camera and have a way of capturing your audience. I have turned some of my friends on to Loaded and they love it. Keep on moving forward, you're great!
Well we can blame Apple too for changing the ports!
A problem was the 1 min lock out after each comment in the chat, it really slows down the natural flow of thought when you have to wait for the clock to countdown so you can post again.
Technical difficulties & other problems are to be expected when you think outside the box to bring the news to us in a different way.
I'm enjoying the access to something new & I'll try to check back on Tuesday!
Ira Glass says it took him many years of being terrible to finally get any good at his job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE
Natali, don't sweat it. I've been a TV producer for almost 20 years. One thing I've learned is that it's a process. But I've also learned that the Devil is in the details, especially the technical ones. If your given enough time to build some momentum (budgets are tight and management wants things to be a hit right out of the gate it seems) you'll work through the issues and find your rhythm. I applaud you for taking the risk to mount this ambitious project, and I look forward to further webcasts.
MK
Was that 30th June 2009?