20/02: Media Streaming. Are we there yet?
If you follow the news lately or listen to radio shows or audio broadcasts, or you have "connected" friends then you must have heard of streaming. Not necessarily the word streaming but jargon words that in essence all map to streaming. To name a few examples: follow us on twitter,listen to our podcasts at ...,rss feeds,youtube,internet radio etc... All these buzz words rely on streaming, without streaming they simply cannot exist.
Internet is the backbone that streaming uses to carry the stream from point to point. Not to go into much technical details a simple analogy can be drawn between conventional radio broadcasts and streaming. As conventional radio broadcasts uses sound waves to carry the audio signal, streaming uses the internet infrastructure to carry the media data. As one realizes the internet streaming is not limited by distance nor by geography. Meaning anyone anywhere in the world having an unrestricted internet connection can stream media content anytime.
Streaming technology is a revolution in itself and is being used to the fullest extent by many political movements in the world. To name a few examples, Iran, Egypt, USA during the 2008 presidential Election campaign. Media streaming draws its power from the almost immediate access to the large young audience and the inherent broadcasting capabilities. This is crucial for campaign organizing and for quickly mobilizing activitists on the ground.
Aside from its political power, streaming plays a role in entertainment and in the business world. Youtube is a very good example of becoming the star maker in the entertainment world. Many virtually unkown artists became famous in very short period of time due to Youtube.
As a consumer how to make the best use of streaming? Streaming can be used as a tool to get exactly what we need anytime of the day. A quick google query can retrieve the available streaming content that we desire to see or hear. Streaming can be used to learn and to teach.
Streaming has made it possible to acquire very hard to get information in a click of a button. To grasp its power just compare it with a book research done at a library 10 years ago! In addition to massive information storage the internet has become the largest single source of information. The key to the streaming success is the virtual access to massive information without the geographical limitation, time limitation and at wire speed. Imagine the whole world is connected by a single highway mesh and traveling between two points is done at data speed.
With streaming the possibilities are endless and limited only by our imagination.
Comments?
Internet is the backbone that streaming uses to carry the stream from point to point. Not to go into much technical details a simple analogy can be drawn between conventional radio broadcasts and streaming. As conventional radio broadcasts uses sound waves to carry the audio signal, streaming uses the internet infrastructure to carry the media data. As one realizes the internet streaming is not limited by distance nor by geography. Meaning anyone anywhere in the world having an unrestricted internet connection can stream media content anytime.
Streaming technology is a revolution in itself and is being used to the fullest extent by many political movements in the world. To name a few examples, Iran, Egypt, USA during the 2008 presidential Election campaign. Media streaming draws its power from the almost immediate access to the large young audience and the inherent broadcasting capabilities. This is crucial for campaign organizing and for quickly mobilizing activitists on the ground.
Aside from its political power, streaming plays a role in entertainment and in the business world. Youtube is a very good example of becoming the star maker in the entertainment world. Many virtually unkown artists became famous in very short period of time due to Youtube.
As a consumer how to make the best use of streaming? Streaming can be used as a tool to get exactly what we need anytime of the day. A quick google query can retrieve the available streaming content that we desire to see or hear. Streaming can be used to learn and to teach.
Streaming has made it possible to acquire very hard to get information in a click of a button. To grasp its power just compare it with a book research done at a library 10 years ago! In addition to massive information storage the internet has become the largest single source of information. The key to the streaming success is the virtual access to massive information without the geographical limitation, time limitation and at wire speed. Imagine the whole world is connected by a single highway mesh and traveling between two points is done at data speed.
With streaming the possibilities are endless and limited only by our imagination.
Comments?
