In keeping with the spirit of Web 2.0 -- interactivity -- and the essential spirit overall -- sharing -- CNN now lets users/viewers embed its news videos on non-CNN sites. (The video most recently embedded here was of people leaving New Orleans after Mayor Ray Nagin advised them to get out as the 'mother of all storms' bears down barely three years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.) The danger, in terms of the old business model for publishers hosting journalism, is that people will not need the actual site once they can see the video elsewhere. Nor will their "clicks" count as the "eyeballs" sales reps sell to advertisers. However, others contend that people viewing a CNN video, no matter where, will be likely to trust CNN enough to seek out that site for future news. And, it's free brand distribution. But there's a bigger danger. Bet you don't see a video here. That's because each time CNN updates, the link goes sour and you can no longer see the embedded video. Unless they fix it after the time of this posting, that's a serious frustration. I'm tempted to go elsewhere because CNN has now wasted my time -- I embedded two videos that worked and then didn't -- and, even worse, make the embedder look foolish.
UPDATE: About 60 minutes later, the video embed is working. Must have been my criticism, right? (Not.)
One of the best features of the Soundslides program is its ability to produce publishable work quickly. At the (Richmond, Va.) Times-Dispatch, tonight, the editor in charge asked that a show be put together of the top AP photos of people preparing for Gustav to hit in New Orleans. Then, after putting together a narrative from the related AP stories, he recorded the voice track. Sometimes, the images are synced to the audio points, but not tonight. The result, "Preparations for Gustav," can be seen here. It was linked off the home page as part of the storm package:
