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Last night I attended an interesting user group meeting with Kenny Bunch about the Future of Video. We saw some pretty cool applications he was doing with video and he discussed the future of video. When it came to discussing the future of Flash video, I was a bit surprised that people were putting the focus on deployement platforms rather than the actual asset itself. Sitting down to watch a tv show is generally a passive experience. In terms of timecodes, you move ahead in a linear fashion. And its the linear experience we seek, when we sit down in front of that couch. But what if video, especially in the web realm, became more conversational? Conversation is not necessarily linear, but a series of connected diverges and sidethoughts and interruptions. Think about a convo you might have with someone - even if you are relaying a story, which most tv shows do, you may diverge by explaining where an actor is from, or explaining part of the plot more in detail as it was revealed in another connected story ... etc etc. What if video was delivered in a more conversational way - making it inherently more interactive? Video itself doesn't have to be interactive- but the way it is presented can be.. Not everyone would want to watch their video like this - for most they want it to remain a passive experience void of the necessary commercial breaks. But for some, maybe a sports fan, someone watching a cooking show etc, they might want to have a more interactive experience. Imagine watching a cooking show and having non instrusive ads telling you where to get items the person is using - going to purchase the item and returning to your video where you left it, without leaving the house, without opening a new browser. Of course much of what I am suggesting is marketing driven - but it could be expanded to go beyond that if the current infrastructure can support it. Kenny talked about the social movement of tagging in regards to video, and if you take that one step further, it would be cool to say tag a video and then have related ad rolls, links etc come up on the tagging. Lots of companies out there are pushing this idea of how to present and interact with video - Tony MacDonell and Robert Reinhardt are two flashers I can think of that are really pushing not just the technology but the very conceptualization of video as a linear and passive experience. I agree with much of what was said, deployment platforms for video will change with the progressive development of gaming consoles,mobile phones, even as Kenny suggested the ipod. But I don't think the deployment platform is going to be the only thing to consider when it comes to the future of video in regards to Flash and some flash developers out there have proved that.

All sorts of articles are up on the abobe site for the 10 years of flash celebration - read mine. That's right, I said mine :) I was flattered when I was asked to participate in the feature. Ps. if you make a comment about my photo I may have to inflict everlasting pain upon you.

Lots of news to eventually come from this end, once I sort my thoughts out - but something I've been meaning to mention is the blogothon that took place last weekend for GalaxyGoo. If you have a chance, head over to Kristin's site and check out some of the experiments. As usual, I was crapped out for time and wasn't able to contribute in the ways I had planned to- isn't that always the way?:) However, there are some very cool experiments up there - and once again, its been a reminder that experimentation is key to creative vigor. I don't seem to slot enough time for the sandbox - and once I started playing a bit, I forgot how much fun can be had by making mistakes and seeing what comes of it... I would like to thank Kristin and the crew for the inspiring me to explore and dive in head first - the blogothon experience has definitely carried over and I've found myself playing around with ideas daily since then - something I've been trying to get myself to do for what seems like forever. YAY!