New Video Meetup Features Streaming Media Editors

Longtime readers of StreamingMedia.com will remember the email lists that we sponsored until 2010, especially the Streaming Media Advanced Forum, which served as the go-to place where video engineers, encoding fanatics, and hardcore streamers of all stripes could talk about new technology, ask for help solving vexing technical problems, or debate about the direction of the industry. Streaming Media magazine contributing editor Dom Robinson decided to attempt to revive some of that community spirit by launching a monthly live video podcast called SM Advanced Forum, where he, Streaming Media editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen,  contributing editor Tim Siglin, and industry veteran Mark East will meet on the first Thursday of each month at 12 p.m. EST/5 p.m. GMT to discuss the same kinds of issues that animated the original email list.

"The aim is to create an informal monthly hangout which you can tune into and interact with us via the chat room," said Robinson in a Facebook post, "and we will be opining on the month's streaming news, commenting on new technology and developments, and sharing tips and tricks. It will be fairly unstructured and intentionally fun—there are no direct sponsors or commercial angles, so expect some free thinking and sometimes perhaps a bit of strong debate."

This is not an official StreamingMedia.com endeavor, but we welcome the chance to be part of something that actively works to foster a sense of community among veterans and relative newbies alike, and gives everyone involved the chance to speak their mind and have their questions answered and topics addressed. Robinson, Siglin, and East each boast 15+ years in the video industry, and each of them can speak to a wide range of topics, from the technical to the creative.

For now, you can watch (and join in the chat) on SMAdvancedForum.com or the YouTube channel (where you can see some of the trial runs we've done over the last few months). You can also get a taste of the kind of topics we'll address each episode by looking at our Flipboard collection of articles.