AmericanWebcast - Streaming video for the law office (sm)

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Webcasting 101: TV on Your PC by Kendall Callas
Thanks for tuning in again for another look at streaming video in the legal community. I hope you’ll tune in every month to join us in exploring how law firms and law schools are using webcasting — video over the World Wide Web. In a moment, we’ll take a look at the seminar video footage available over the Internet from venture capital firm Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault. But first, we interrupt our programming for a quick review of the main points of our series thus far:
THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION: Since the 1995 invention of computer chips that could see light, the digital video (DV) revolution has exploded. Photography is changing from a chemical reaction on celluloid film to an electronic process using computer chips to record pixels of light on magnetic tape. By now we are well into the curve: The format has matured, software standards are in place, economies of scale progress — all fueling an explosion of features and decline in prices for DV cameras, software, and services. STREAMING VIDEO: Webcasting — broadcasting video over the Internet — is emerging as an important global and economical business tool. They call it streaming video, because it does not get downloaded before it plays (avoiding delay as well as copyright issues). Simply click a link in a web site or e-mail message and within seconds you could be watching a training seminar or a lecture by your favorite author, right on your PC screen. FASTER IS BETTER: A 56K modem is barely satisfactory when viewing webcasts — you need speed! A high speed Internet connection, such as ISDN, DSL, cable, etc., will deliver improved visual detail, better color, smoother motion, a larger viewing screen, and less waiting. (You’ll need speakers, too.) PLAYER SOFTWARE: To watch a webcast, you’ll also need free ‘player’ software: Windows Media Player from Microsoft (comes with Windows), RealPlayer from RealNetworks (works on PC and Mac — but it must be downloaded), or Quicktime from Apple (pre-installed on Macs). The software is very easy to download and install.
WHAT'S ON TONIGHT? Scouring the web for your viewing pleasure, I recently turned up a couple of interesting videos on the web site of Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault. Based in Boston, the firm has over 350 attorneys. “TH&T Video Archives” http://www.tht.com/thtvideo.htm The firm’s home page states that last year they were ranked the “Most Active Venture Law Firm in the Nation”. Emphasizing their strengths, the firm’s webcasts offer a video record of seminars given by the firm’s partners on the subjects of finance and the SEC. The web site currently offers two webcasts which require Windows Media Player: Financing Alternatives for Public Companies in Today’s Volatile Markets (3 hours, 13 minutes - in 2 parts) Reg FD - The SEC’s New “Fair Disclosure” and Insider Trading Regulations: How to Talk to Analysts and Investors, Avoid Insider Trading Liability, and Otherwise Stay Out of Trouble (3 hours, 5 minutes) The web page is no-frills, offering each video at two speeds: Click 56K or 150K and you get to watch the firm’s partners in action at the podium in front of a live audience in a seminar setting. The webcasts are effective and fully functional — a good basic effort. DURATION What makes this offering worth discussing is the duration of the videos. Each video is over three hours. Most producers of webcasts realize that watching the small screen can be tedious; messages typically are kept short — under 10 minutes — or sometimes encompass an hour long program. At 3:13 and 3:05, these videos are long by any standard. The lack of editing spotlights an important issue. Obviously, the firm’s goal was to cover the entirety of these live seminars (and minimize processing). Nevertheless, judicious editing would make these two videos much more useful and accessible. I would recommend breaking the webcasts into smaller pieces perhaps making each speaker’s presentation available separately. Editing would also spare us the excruciating few minutes it took for one of the speakers to reboot when his laptop locked up. I have to confess, I only watched about an hour of each webcast. But, I'm glad I watched the Reg FD video; I was pleased to hear the speaker’s opinion that webcasting qualifies as an acceptable form of public disclosure. (Due to vacations and conflicting schedules, the firm’s representative was unavailable for comment.) *Too many webcasts, not enough time.* If you see streaming audio or video you think would be of interest to our readers, please URL and description. Has your firm produced a webcast? We want the details! If you'd like a clickable list of the web addresses from this and past columns,
Kendall Callas, , is president of American Webcast and a 19-year veteran law office technology consultant.

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT?

DURATION