Since the dawn of the Internet, it’s been an article of faith that connection speeds will get faster and costs will drop. We might be seeing the end of that trend. If predictions are correct, we’ll be facing a mobile bandwidth shortage in just a couple of years.

Once upon a time, web developers knew that we had to keep graphics to a minimum, since many Internet users had slow dial-up connections. Today, we’ve become dependent on multimedia, which, in many cases, is a crutch for those who don’t have the time or just don’t want to bother to write effective site content. This is a bad idea. Sites with content that is wholly, or mostly, contained in videos are probably not reaching:

• Most of the people who use mobile devices, including iPhones. Over 50 percent of Internet shoppers are using mobile devices, most of which don’t support Flash, and have small screens that don’t display images — especially moving images — well.
• Many people with mobile connections who have data plans that cap bandwidth use. Exceeding those caps can be very expensive. You and I are probably already considered part of the “mobile workforce,” and this category is growing rapidly. One-third of all workers are anticipated to be mobile by 2013. These users will likely be on capped connections.
• People who don’t install Flash for security reasons.
• People with old browsers.
• People with visual disabilities.
• People who are behind corporate firewalls.
• People who use software or browser add-ons that block multimedia content.

If you’re a web developer, or are updating your web presence, try not to get too dependent on video, audio and other bandwidth hogs. I like a friendly multimedia experience as much as anyone. But do yourself a favor and ask these questions.

• Is this video (or audio) really necessary, or is it being included because it’s easier than actually writing a cogent description of what the site is about?
• If you must include a video, then what will people see if they can’t load the file? Will the site degrade gracefully? That is, will people see helpful alternative content?

It’s possible that faster, better and cheaper bandwidth may be on the horizon. Google seems to want that. But they are also pushing projects to increase the efficiency of the web. So living with limited bandwidth may be the next “inconvenient tech truth,” and we should plan our web projects accordingly.

How can you make your web projects more bandwidth-efficient?

Image from sxc.hu user CDWaldi

With the rise of services such as AudioBoo, voice memos and voice notes are increasingly becoming a useful mobile productivity and publishing tool (see Aliza’s post, “How to Use Audio Microblogging for Your Work” for a roundup), and are beginning to outpace Apple’s in-house app in usefulness and features.

The latest to join this space is YiqYaq’s Soundbiter for iPhone, a free “rolling recorder” that’s constantly capturing your sonic environment, enabling users to “bite” the last minute of recorded audio for editing or publication. Indeed, Soundbiter actually seems ideally pitched at roving journalists wishing to capture soundbites for later publication.

As well as the continuous recording mode, other features include:

• A sound editor with waveform cropping and previewing.
• Uploading to the Yiqyaq’s companion RadioWeave “personal radio” publishing service.
• Tools to add metadata, such as tags, images and location data
• Automatic sharing of a clip with a user’s Twitter followers.

The relationship with RadioWeave is an curious one; though pitched at “bloggers, bird-watchers, concert-goers, life-streamers and journalists,” the company is blending user-submitted clips with professional audio content as a kind of personalized radio stream.

Constantly Recording Your Context

Regardless of the RadioWeave integration, the constant recording concept is interesting in of itself, and suggests a useful precedent for any number of mobile applications. Rather than having to load task-specific applications, what if your device was constantly recording its location, camera data, audio environment and applications simply dipped into that pool of data to edit, share or annotate? A little like the conceptual “blind camera” that records context rather than images.

In any case, Soundbiter is a richer and more useful alternative to the iPhone’s voice recording app. iPod touch users will need to use an external microphone — a perfect excuse to get hook up that pro XLR microphone!

Download Soundbiter for free at the iTunes App Store.

A quick rundown of the ones we haven’t mentioned before on WWD:

AudioBoo – Using an iPhone app, you can easily record a message or podcast. The sound quality is good. Ease of use, check. Upload time — not too bad, but keep in mind this is eating your data plan, so make sure you have a good one. Listen to a sample recording.

Chirbit – You can upload an MP3 or record straight from your computer, just like Utterli. Sound quality is not so great, so if that’s a concern, you want to try a USB mic. Without an iPhone app or number to call into, this app lacks true portability, unless you have your laptop with you wherever you go. Listen to a sample recording. You can also record a Text 2 Speech Chirbit. I’ve always thought Text 2 Speech sounds very creepy. You be the judge.

Trottr – Like Utterli, Trottr has a call-in number. Unlike Utterli, Trottr is much more international with multiple access numbers. Call in using any phone (you can register multiple phone numbers), speak into your phone, hang up. A cinch. Sound quality is fuzzy, so the quality of the phone connection definitely affects the end product. Listen to a sample recording.

Using an Audio Microblog

As I’ve been playing around with these sites, here are some ideas I’ve had about how we can use audio microblogging for our work.

1. Memos – The obvious use of private audio microblogs are audio memos to yourself or memos to people to whom you give access. I used to have a tiny digital recording device for this and frankly never used it. The few times I’ve tried to get in the habit of leaving myself audio reminders, I’ve forgotten to listen to them! But some swear by audio notes and memos.

2. Notes – While recording someone else’s speech or a meeting could be infringing on privacy or copyrights, using this for your own noncommercial and private purposes could certainly come in handy. Most audio microblogs do have a time limit, so they’re probably not ideal for trying to record an entire meeting or workshop, however, you could take notes or record snippets to share publicly (if appropriate) or use privately. I could see using it to recap meetings and phone conversations and sharing it with the people involved as a way to make sure we’re all on the same page.

3. Internal Tutorials – One of the hardest things to do when training new people is to get consistent instructions down in writing and then get new hires or team members to actually read them and follow them. I’ve started experimenting with audio podcasts of instructions for how we like to do things at our company. Using an outline is helpful so you don’t ramble. Shorter audio tutorials are also more effective than longer ones, so focus in on a single task per tutorial.

4. External Tutorials - In the same way audio recordings can be good teaching tools, you could extend this teaching outside of your team or organization and publish quick tips and how-to’s. While people tend to expect good production value from podcasts, I think they’re more forgiving about audio microblogs because they are more “in the moment” and conversational. Still, if you are going to go public with your audio lessons, a script is probably in order to keep the recordings concise and on track.

5. Audio Diary - If you are traveling, attending an event or are somewhere that others would like to be, you can send “audio postcards” or audio diary entries from the road. I can see how an audio recap of a workshop or lecture could be much easier to produce than writing out a summary and posting to a blog. If you are pressed for time or on the move, you could record your update in transit (as long as you have the right app, device and connectivity).

6. Conversation - Many of us use Twitter daily as a watercooler. An audio microblog could be the next step in these impromptu conversations. I do think, however, that the adoption of audio conversations will be slower going, as they’ve been on video microblogging sites. There are a core of avid users conversing with one another, but there is still something a little unfamiliar and odd about holding a conversation with audio or video that is not real time. We seem OK with this time lapse in text but less so in multimedia. Non-synchronous conversation is certainly handy when communicating between time zones. As people continue to adopt audio microblogging as another means of communication and publishing, I think that back and forth conversation among several or many will begin to come into its own.

What ways are you using or thinking about using audio microblogs?

I was poking around the comments on my Preparing to Live Blog an Event post and came across a conversation about live blogging events at ProBlogger that made me think more about how I’m going to handle single-handedly “live blogging” a 3-day conference. The discussion also made me think more about what exactly “live blogging” means.

The social media maven for nonprofits Beth Kanter defined Live Blogging as: “basically taking notes, photos, or recordings at lectures, conferences, and presentations of what was said and posting it to your blog.” (quote found here) I agree with Kanter’s basic definition, but for anyone who hasn’t tried live blogging before, I think this definition isn’t detailed enough.

If I had to define live blogging, I’d define it this way:

“Live (multimedia) blogging is capturing the words, sounds, and images at an event and posting them online to a variety of Web 2.0 enabled sites with the goal of sharing the experience for those who cannot attend while preserving key moments in an archive.”

Here are some more of my thoughts about live blogging.

1. The view is skewed.

I think that there is no way to avoid the fact that each live blogger will bring their own personal perspectives, experiences and understandings to the multimedia content they share. Is this good or bad? I think it can be both. Knowing where a live blogger is coming from is key – although they will quickly reveal their POV after a few posts.

Should a live blogger remain totally neutral? Sure, like a journalist should. Is that realistic? Not at all, but it is worth striving for. When I live blog the upcoming 3-day event, I’ll be covering specific sessions requested by my client. However, I may hear things differently than others in the room because I’m not in the same field as the attendees. That can be a good and bad thing. The client sees it as a good thing as I will likely bring a fresh perspective to the coverage.

2. Live Blogging doesn’t necessarily mean real-time.

I think some people mistake live blogging for real-time coverage, which you can’t really achieve if you are typing, even if you are a phenom typist. So unless you stream live video or audio, you can’t consider live blogging real-time. With microblogs like Twitter, you can certainly attempt near-real-time live blogging, but if you’re flying solo like I am, I’m not as concerned about near-real-time or real-time.

In my case, the goal isn’t to create a real-time experience for people who cannot attend. If that were the case, I’d stream it all live using Ustream.tv, Qik.com, Justin.tv or another such site. I’d even look into CoverItLive which many live bloggers are raving about. But the tools you choose are based on your goals.

My goal is to carry out a proof of concept, demonstrating how Web 2.0 tools can work in concert to create a rich, dynamic and unique presentation of an event that can be distributed/shared and archived for future reference. They key is to know your goals before live blogging and pick and choose the tools and methodology that will best achieve those goals.

3. Live blogging needs to be “vibed.”

By “vibed” I mean that the live blogger should use their social media instincts to pick and choose the right medium at the right time for the right effect. I don’t think that there is any way to dictate in advance which tools you will be using at what point of the live blogging project. Each session requires a creative gut check.

If one session features an incredibly dynamic speaker, a little live video streaming might be in order. If another speaker relies heavily on PowerPoint, a few photos of choice presentation slides could pepper a culling of key points that are posted as text quotes. Picking up audio often can be helpful, especially during post production to fill in the gaps and go back to post quotes that you missed during the session.

I don’t think a live multimedia blogger has to feel obligated to use all tools or stress out over using more of one over the other. Sometimes the decision of what medium to go with is also a comfort level. A writer may lean more toward text, a photographer more toward still images, a videographer more toward video. The key is to be open to the instinct to grab an audio recorder when that feels like the tool needed at the moment or even to put down the digital tools altogether and use pen and paper for a while then transcribing the notes later.

4. Go deeper.

Because I’m not attempting to document every moment of every session I attend but instead to capture standout moments (which, of course, will be subjective based on the way my brain responds during a session), I want to supplement the session content. I’ll be conducting spot interviews with panelists and speakers before and/or after sessions in a catch as catch can fashion.

Having been a reporter for a number of years now, I feel very comfortable posing a few questions to total strangers. Not everyone feels comfortable interviewing others, however, so that activity would not be in their bag of tricks. I’ll toggle between video interviews with my Flip camera and audio interviews with my Roland Edirol. I’ll also grab interviews with session attendees to get their feedback and takeaways.

5. Flexibility is key.

If I happen to have my Nikon Coolpix still camera in hand at an opportune moment to grab a soundbyte, I’ll just use its digital video capabilities rather than digging through my bag for another device. If the wifi goes down for a while, I’ll just type my text offline and archive images, video and audio to be pasted into a blog post later. If one device runs out of juice, I have several fallbacks and won’t stress over it.

Live blogging isn’t about perfection. It is about spontenaity and point of view. It is a collage and montage. It should be dynamic, organic and flexible. Too much structure or rigidity can kill a live blogging project (or the live blogger).

6. Do your homework.

I’m going to score over the session descriptions and panelist and speaker bios and make some notes to trigger some interview questions and give me some background as a framework. But I’ll also be careful not to let the description or bio color my perspective or limit my thinking.

How many times have you attended a session based on what the description said only to find that it wasn’t about anything related to the blurb? In those cases, we often spend more time examining the disconnect than we do listening to the actual presentation – we’re so worried that we’re in the wrong room or peeved that the description wasn’t accurate. Just letting go and being open to the new, unexpected information is important – especially as a live blogger.

7. Be at the top of your game.

For me, getting plenty of sleep, limiting my evening alcohol intake to one glass of wine, and drinking plenty of water is key to being fresh and alert for work as is eating carefully to keep my energy level up and sugar level even. I’m partial to eggs for breakfast and fish or chicken with a salad for lunch. I need to avoid caffeine until I can no longer avoid it and try to take it in the form of chocolate when my energy really starts to flag after lunchtime. While I love the clarity my brain thinks it has with coffee, the crash is often too staggering to be productive.

Another very important tip for any live blogger: Identify the nearest bathroom at all times. Then run your audio or video device while you are taking a bathroom break to review later and see if you missed any nuggets.

8. Not all live blogging is public.

My challenge live blogging the 3-day event is that the client wants all the elements to be private. I had to verify that each site I’m using online offers private posting. Twitter does. As does Utterz. And Vimeo for video (as well as YouTube, of course). Also, I have a feeling that those who cannot attend this conference don’t have the time to sit around and watch Twitter and the blog all day to see what new content has popped up. I think they’ll eventually poke around out of curiosity when pointed to the archive of content from the client’s e-newsletter or web site home page.

Knowing who you are live blogging for is just as important as knowing why you are live blogging. A non-techie audience will be much more forgiving about the speed of posting because frankly they are just not that into the instant gratification of Twitter, Seesmic and the like.

What other things do you do or think about as you prepare to live blog?