We Want Media

Amanda Congdon of Rocketboom fame paid our class a visit. She discussed a variety of topics, from an odd encounter with an Amish fan to her sleeping pattern over the last year (not much). Most interesting to me was her vision for the future of video blogging.

She sees Rocketboom as the beginning of a network of daily Internet distributed original content. This is important because the Internet lacks any sort of universal standard of regulation. The only thing that keeps Rocketboom remotely "clean" is its desire to not offend its audience. In traditional broadcasting, regulation is conducted by an opaque government agency.

I love the idea that viewers have control over what they consider acceptable in their programming. I see foresee a future where a viewer can choose from a variety of daily Internet video content. The highly fragmented marketplace will allow for more unrestrained creativity. National standards of broadcast decency will no longer matter, as people from all over the world can share in the same programming. Imagine if everyone on the Internet could watch an uncensored episode of Chappelle's Show or The Sopranos. People around the world would be brought closer together through racial comedy and gangland warfare. Sounds like a wonderful future.