Most of you
have probably
noticed
the influx of
videos to electronicdesign.com over
the past year or so. For the most
part, these videos were shot at trade
shows. Typically, a staff member at
the show who knows something
about video cameras hooks up with
an editor to do video interviews.
We shoot with a handheld, harddisk-
based camera. When we get
back to the office, a member of our
production staff adds a video intro
and overlays some text to identify
the speakers. Lately, we’ve been trying
to speed up the process by sending
the video back to the office for
processing the next day or by sending
a production person to the trade
show and processing the video when
the day is over.
We’re going through some growing pains, I have to admit,
since most of our production department is busy working on
the magazines. But this should work itself out over time, as
both editors and production alike become used to video being
an integral part of the job.
This whole video experiment started a couple of years back
for us with the launch of EngineeringTV.com, a joint effort of
the electronic and mechanical engineering publications that
our parent company, Penton Media, produces. The ETV site
got such rave reviews from both viewers and advertisers that
we were encouraged to expand our video offerings on all of our
magazine Web sites as well.
EDITORS IN THE FIELD
At last month’s Design Automation Conference (DAC), EDA
editor David Maliniak conducted 21 video interviews—a
record for us and hopefully a boon to any viewer involved with
EDA (see the figure). Video interviews are a departure from our
traditional coverage, but we think it’s effective nevertheless.
Embedded/Systems/Software Editor Bill Wong was on
hand at April’s Embedded Systems Conference, filing copy for
the magazine as well as video for the Web site. For example,
Dan Monopoli of LeCroy showed off his Guitar Hero skills
via an oscilloscope demo. Check out this interview and others
at http://electronicdesign.com/shows/ESC2008/.
When he was at February’s
APEC 2008 show, Analog/Power
Editor Don Tuite spoke with representatives
from International
Rectifier, On Semiconductor,
Texas Instruments, and other
power industry heavyweights. You
can find these video interviews at
http://electronicdesign.com/subject/apec2008.
Meanwhile, Digital Technologies
Editor Daniel Harris was on the
scene at DesignCon 2008. Communications/
Test Editor Louis E.
Frenzel tackled CTIA. And, I even
shot video during my trip to the
International Electronics Forum in
Dubai. You can find videos from
these shows and more via the navigation
bar at electronicdesign.com.
THE ELECTRONIC DESIGN STUDIO
We’re constantly thinking of new types of videos to deliver
to our audience. We’ve just started filming new product videos,
which you can view at http://electronicdesign.com/shows/new_products/index.cfm. Companies often visit us at our offices
in Paramus, N. J., and provide great explanations of their latest
products and technologies.
Typically, these company spokespeople expect us to simply
write about their products, and their presentations were prepared
with print coverage in mind. They haven’t said no to our
video cameras, though, as video can be an equally powerful
medium for delivering their message.
We also see lots of great product demos. Last year when
I was at our sister publication, EEPN, Bob Zollo of Agilent
Technologies gave us a terrific demo of the company’s N6705A
DC Power Analyzer. At the time, we had no video strategy in
place. But I asked Zollo if Agilent would produce a video of
the demo for us, and the company did. We posted the video on
www.eepn.com, and I hope some of you got a chance to view it.
What does the video future hold? We’ll continue to conduct
video interviews at all of the shows and conferences that we
attend. We’ll also add to our store of new product videos and
demos. What else would you like to see? We can do video tutorials,
panel discussions, and whatever else our editors and readers
alike can imagine. Let me know what you think.