By Margaret Wong
Audio is not the only media being streamed across the World Wide
Web these days. Plenty of sites boasts real time streaming video of
important events such as the news broadcast of the presidential race,
music concerts, private weddings, and even the MIT net carried a live
stream of its June 2000 commencement. The need for streaming media
is the foundation for sites like www.streaming.com. Though in its
current "under construction" state of faulty database retrievals
and broken message posting boards, it does have potential for advancement.
www.streaming.com appeals
to businesses as well as private users. From providing streaming training
sessions to broadcasting reunions, they are harping on the emergence
of DSL and other broadband technology to take the world by storm.
Without such high-speed connections, the entire company would fall
to ruins. As streaming video is very much limited by the advancement
of technology, the timing of this company's entrance onto the market
is crucial. Targeting U.S. customer is a risky move, since European
and Asian broadband markets are more advanced. The wireless videophone
in Japan has already become a reality and its use has already been
employed in society. In the U.S. wired broadband has been slow to
take off, much less in wireless forms.
Assuming the high-speed connections will be in place by the time
this company reaches its full functionality, the site would not necessarily
be successful. Unlike the onset of streaming audio, streaming video
might not generate as much popularity. The interrelations of society
can sway either way with this technology. At the current promotion
of commercial uses, it will not succeed. Big corporations might employ
this company but it is unlikely due to the fact that they already
have better video conferencing equipment that overshadow simple video
streaming. A change must happen for this idea to take off. They must
appeal to the individual user.
As an individual user the private uses of video streaming will be
appealing if the video streaming is to replace the Internet phone.
Web cameras are becoming more popular in the homes already. Free software
such as NetMeeting and CUSeeMe already support such video streaming
but at slow rates. The only advantage www.streaming.com has over these
tools is to provide faster service or multi-user conferencing with
virtual spaces as chatrooms. When broadband arrives in every home,
it is not certain that www.streaming.com will provide better service
than the free video conferencing softwares. It has yet to find the
necessary appeal with its potential audience.
From the current situation video streaming will not take society
by storm and most likely will not alter the social norms of communication.
However it is not totally out of the realm of possibilities. www.streaming.com
has a shot at changing the face of communication, they just have to
alter the angle of their approach a little more toward the personal
interactions each user will have of the system, instead of passive
media consumption no different than that of static television. Interaction
and personalization is key and if they can achieve a true feel of
personal "virtual" space on the web, another society will
emerge to take the place of the current.