Last week, I had lunch with Eli Chapman (also part of unmediated), who put forth some ideas so fascinating, I wish I was rolling tape. However, being a business lunch, that wasn't the case. Incidentally, I got clarification to talk about the following ideas.

There is a notion that audio and video are difficult media to create, more so than writing. This could directly relate to the fact that we live in a print-oriented world. Letters. Alphabets. It's easy to write a letter. That's what is taught in schools. The creation of media that affects the other senses, sound and vision is not as strongly encouraged.

The question: What if making video (moving pictures) was as natural a process as writing?

What could be a potential solution for getting future generations into other forms of media creation, not just as part of The Arts, but also as a fundamental skill? Teach children to make media on equal footing with writing. This is not to replace any other skill.

Teaching the art of making audio (beyond music) and video (moving pictures) could also be part of The Arts, much as sculpting, painting, drawing, and dancing, are all part of a bigger picture.

It took me some deep thinking to process this, as it's not a concept that has an immediate return. I believe it might have a 50-100 year return. Maybe less. This could affect our basic choice of tools to communicate.

Take for example, that we have the telephone, and have learned a way to communicate aurally. Writing and reading letters require basic, fundamental skills. Video could potentially refine our face-to-face interaction method.

I've already involved my three and four year old boys in the video making process. They recognize that I'm 'making movies' when they see me work. Since I have the tools and the resources (read: kids!), I'm going to
do it.

I am going to teach a young child to make video, which is to really mean, teach the ideas behind filming each step of a linear process. Essentially, I'm teaching the science of storytelling. And of course, do it in the language they can understand.

I'm going to edit and assemble movies based on the 'direction' of my four year old, who has the understanding of the steps involved in simple tasks like getting juice, making toast, drawing a picture. We will talk about these steps, make small movies out of each step, and finally put them together to form one big story.

Then, we'll make little movies out of each step. Put them together and make a bigger movie.

It's an experiment, and why not take the first steps and just do it? There are already plenty of youth who are doing video. Why not go deeper into the learning minds of kids?

If anything, it's a fun experiment that will totally maximize the time I work at home.