Vlogs: Next big thing or niche experiment?

Adam Reineke, Boone, IA: Quite a few people still connect to the Internet using a dialup modem — including me. Loading a 10MB vlog just isn't practical because it would take over an hour. Text loads quickly — in just a couple seconds, a blog appears.  A few minutes later, I know how my friend is doing and I can move onto the next blog. 

Adam has a good point about bandwidth. But I think that within a few years we’ll see federally-mandated low-cost broadband access for everyone, similar to today’s universal telephone service requirement. And as far as searching goes, that’s turning into the big technology race on the Web. Everyone — from Google to the TV networks — is working on how to make video as searchable as text. Somebody’s going to make it happen.

And as for whether the video makeover of the Web will lessen the importance of reading:

/sms ;-), Lake Constance (Germany/Switzerland/Austria): i guess we are since a long time ago in the "post-literate culture". so what? in addition: i like your columne, even though i cant write/speak english! again: "so what?"

Michael KW, Texas: We can't help but form a bias about someone based on how they look -- do they look as smart as their words sound? Some people will let their words exist without the bias that visual images can impose. But some morphed blend will probably end up the most prevalent form as technology makes it easier.

Sal, Novi, MI: Reading will always have a place in communication due to the higher rate of assimilation by the human mind. Writing will be replaced by verbal recognition software as a faster, more accurate method of notation. The creativity to generate the words will always come from a human.

Manny, Carolina, P.R.: Writing will always exist, but as for reading, you'll have one camp of "readers" (read: literates) and others who may read but not necessarily with the same comprehension.

I fear we’re going to see a decline in reading comprehension as it grows easy to provide audio-video instruction and information at all times. People will still need to recognize basic vocabulary of a few hundred words, but reading and interpreting long pieces of text may become a more specialized ability. As Sal points out, when text is absolutely required, very intelligent dictation software will let workers create crude but understandable memos, with no actual writing skills of their own. In retrospect, the 20th century may be seen as the high-water mark of general literacy. I’m not suggesting this is a good thing — a decline in reading skills will almost certainly lower the level of public discourse and create a populace far more easily manipulated by those who can read. On this one, let’s hope the Practical Futurist has it all wrong. 

To end on a brighter note, this from an anonymous reader: 

When WiMAX covers cities, people will have life-vlogs shot with body jewelry cameras.  A high school girl might ask her girlfriend, "Were you watching my log (life-vlog) when that dork asked me out?”

Yeah, but that dork has his own life-vlog and he’s probably just Photoshopped that snotty princess into a toad on his site. 

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