Sound, Image & Video

Of course, the relative ease of production and distribution of digital content over an ever-growing range of hardware platforms (PCs, laptops, PDAs, mp3 players, telephones etc) is not restricted to alphabetic text. The digitisation of audio files, for example, has given rise to peer-to-peer file sharing communities, personalized music sites like pandora.com and commercial sites such as Apple itunes. This ease of production and distribution has been combined with the ease of syndication provided by RSS to give rise to podcasting.

Many podcasts have modelled themselves on talk radio. There are a number of 'entertaining' podcasts dedicated to technology and web developments (I subscribe boagworld ,for example, to keep up with web design news). There are also more 'creative' uses of the format. Dramapod.com, example, is promoting the idea of "free new audio drama podcasts". I recently subscribed to 'The First Law' (a UK-based, DIY, Sci-fi podcast) and listened to it on my iPod on my journey up to Nottingham today!

The digitisation of image files has facilitated the rise of sites such as flickr and ringo which provide image storage and sharing services. This has given rise to a vast number of images in the public domain. Many of the creators have chosen to make them freely available by making their photo albums open to the public and giving them a Creative Commons licence. Many of these image files are tagged with data descriptions, so that it is possible to search on these images (flickr has several million images with a Creative Commons licence).

The sharing of files of 'user-generated content' has become an important cultural and economic activity. del.icio.us has facilitated the communal use of bookmarks and favourites.

The YouTube phenomenon is based on users uploading video files. It has also given rise to a YouTube dramas that parody the stylistic characteristics of many of the webcam performances uploaded to the YouTube site. LonelyGirl15, for example, draws on a growing tradition of internet work (see, for example, JenniCam and Online Caroline) that uses the 'pseudononymous' quality of an internet identity to create a drama that played with notions of 'is this real?'. Fancy writing a YouTube soap anyone?

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