CREATIVE CRITIQUE #1
Democracy Player - Systm Episode #5: Asterisk
By: Anh Nguyen
This is a creative critique on Systm's Episode #5 Asterisk, which I found via the Democracy Player. Systm http://www.revision3.com/systm is a tech video blog that covers a variety of techie topics which aren't too tech heavy, so most anyone can watch this and understand what is going on. Some of the things they have covered include: Building a War Spying Box, MythTV, Making high quality A/V cables, cracking open the iPod Nano, Podcasting and most recently the Maker Faire.
To begin, I found this video on the Democracy Video Player, looking under the technology section of their channel guide. Their latest episode at the time was about Asterisk, which was automatically downloaded onto my computer. I didn't watch the full video for quite some time, it is 47 mins, which is pretty long for a webisode. After a couple weeks, I finally sat down and watched the whole episode which was a quick overview of what Asterisk is, how to set it up and some examples of its functionality. They make it look easy, but really you have to know a couple different things before you can set up an Asterisk system like they did on the show.
// WAS THIS INTERESTING AND WHY?
I found this video quite interesting because I am interested in Asterisk and wanted to learn more about it. Obviously, this is targeted for a tech audience. To find the video in the first place, you have to know about Systm via RSS or some distribution application like Democracy, which is not that common among everyday people. If you are into these things though, the video is not hard to find and easy to follow.
// ORIGINALITY AND PRODUCTION VALUE
There is nothing groundbreaking about this video or Systm. They are basically running a low cost introductory DIY show, much like those we see on regular broadcast television everyday. The main differences being an internet distribution model (which I prefer because I don't have TV) and the low low cost of production. The host of the show, Kevin Rose, is also the executive producer, so I get the impression it is kind of a one man show with the help of friends and special guests for each episode- which I really appreciate. The credit list is pretty short and I imagine the cost of putting together one of these shows is very low. It feels very DIY, but not cheap, which is important because it is able to maintain a certain level of integrity while still keeping things simple and easy to produce, which I really appreciate and would like to do myself. They even have interstitial animations between the different sections of the video.
// HOW DOES IT USE THE MEDIUM?
It is basically a regular TV show but distributed over the internet. It takes no advantage of the medium and doesn't need to. I like how simple it is and feel the only real improvement they can add without complicating things is to integrate a chapter guide/ markers on the video that designate different parts of the episode. This can be done with quicktime pro fairly easily and is one example of a distinct advantage of the medium.
Overall I recommend the video for most everyone interested in Asterisk. They give a basic overview of what Asterisk is and how you can implement it into your regular phone system. The technical help, John Todd, explains things clearly and really knows what he's talking about. They don't deviate much from the topic and keep things at a pretty introductory level so this is accessible to most anyone. The host, Kevin Rose, is a pretty young guy and is not annoying which is nice. He's not great, but passes the job and is not bothersome which makes the show watchable.
