It didn’t really surprise me to get the app update notification from Twitter telling me about the new ‘Go Live’ button. I’d been expecting it for a while. A welcome addition that makes it more convenient to access this feature. However, the concept of live streaming isn’t new. It’s made possible by Periscope, a free consumer accessible live streaming service acquired by Twitter in January 2015. Since its acquisition I’ve seen Periscope used a few times particularly at Learning and Development conferences. ‘That’ Tim Scott is one of the first I saw using it to capture news as it happened from CIPD’s Annual Conference and Exhibition 2015. In the same event, Mike Collins had introduced me to the app that day and I supported him by broadcasting his session to the outside world.

Even before Periscope, L&D has been using live over several years. Webinars, or virtual classrooms as some like to say, have been perhaps the obvious use of live. At another end of the scale I’ve seen the possibilities of live broadcast HD streams from Learning Now TV and have been fortunate to be involved in broadcasting pre-recorded content as well as live event coverage. Developing my knowledge of live doesn’t stop at my professional work. Facebook live particularly has brought about opportunities to consume live from worldwide locations being explored by friends to bands performing at gigs I couldn’t physically make. Live broadcasts of Wii Dancing have been quite entertaining as have many an evening practicing my skills with paraffin fuelled fire juggling gadgets.

It’s my digital learning specialist duty to learn about live but I do believe it should complement not eradicate the other side,one which is just as powerful as live. On-demand is as important and shouldn’t be the poorer cousin. The two should be worked together.

Think about this in relation to how we consume TV and film now. Many of us have a live pause, rewind and record button. We can access whole libraries of content on-demand. These features exist for a reason. Whilst live solves the challenge of location it doesn't solve the problem of time. On-demand gives us flexibility in when, for how long and at what pace.

The differences in the strengths of the two signals a need to use these solutions hand-in-hand not in isolation. They are a great partnership. A recorded webinar made available after an event is perhaps one of the most recognised applications of using live content on-demand. In a similar way, a You Tube live broadcast recorded and made available for viewing afterwards. The other way around might see a pre-recorded interview shown in a webinar or embedded in a Powerpoint.

There are several other examples I can think of and perhaps you can think of your own. What is important is mixing these two methods and taking advantage of both. In order to do this well, consideration and thought needs to be given to each audience type there are different considerations. 

  • Did the on-demand viewer need the whole sixty-minute recording or would the most important clips or resources have sufficed?
  • The live audience is able to ask questions within the session but what about those watching on-demand? How can they engage?
  • The on-demand viewer can pause to reflect and take notes; is your live audience given this space too?

To help you think about these different groups I’ve shared here my thoughts in the image below on the four different audience types. I’m not yet sure about the titles or whether this works. It is work in progress.

I would be interested to hear what you think though. What are the varying needs? How do you accommodate these? 

 

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