ED NOTE: Published originally in 2008
A recent news story in the paper was headlined “World to see W-B via videos.†I am all for the world seeing us. If it brings dollars to NEPA whether from new business or a tourist bring ‘em on I say. But I am troubled by this deal. The idea is that there will be video feed on the city’s website highlighting aspects of the city to entice people to come see for themselves. My problem? The videos are being produced by a firm called CGI Communications. CGI is from Rochester N.Y. I checked out their web site. They look like the real deal and have done this sort of thing across the country. The product looks very professional. Everyone is happy.
Except me.
Now an important point is that no taxpayer dollars will be used for this project. Local business leaders will make it happen with donations. So what is my beef? Here it is in a nutshell. Why do we farm out something like this to Rochester N.Y.? Is it because we don’t have the expertise here in the “Valley†to do it? Now I am not a video guy, audio is more my field. But I have to guess that with firms like Pepperjam and Solid Cactus here who employ hundreds doing web stuff that somebody in town could do this important job. I just finished working with producers of a documentary on the life of Francis Slocum. My part was to record narration and music. The quality of this video is terrific. And it was done right here in good old NEPA.
Now I am not saying that they guys and gals at CGI wouldn’t do a great job. They probably will. And I am not carping that the money is going out of town, although that is a shame. The problem is that no one knows us like we do. I have lived here for 27 years and I barely understand this area. It is in a word, unique. To expect someone from out of town to show us to the world is a lot to ask. It will take a lot of local involvement. Someone who knows and loves the area will have to be involved. I have seen many locally written blogs and some of them contain video of the area. Some of them are quite good. If amateurs can do this, why can’t we find LOCAL professionals to do the job? Or maybe the amateur efforts really are better. In any case we need to show the world what we have known all along. That this is a pretty good place to live, work and play.
ED NOTE: Published originally in 2008
