If you're tuning in late, a few details bear repeating from the debut of this column in the April issue:

FASTER IS BETTER: A 56K modem is mostly satisfactory (don't even bother with 28.8 except for audio-only webcasts), but it is a minimum — you need speed! Broadband delivers improved visual detail, better color, smoother motion, a larger viewing screen, and less waiting.

PLAYER SOFTWARE: To watch a webcast, you'll also need "player" software: Windows Media Player from Microsoft (pre-installed with Windows), RealPlayer from RealNetworks (works on PC and Mac — but must be downloaded), or Quicktime from Apple (pre-installed on Macs). The software is free and very easy to download and install. You'll be able to view a wider range of offerings if you install two out of the three.

DV REVOLUTION

In the not distant future this will lead to a wave of streaming video for all kinds of uses. In pioneering law firms, we're already seeing web sites enhanced with video for innovative purposes. Soon these will expand to include:

• Firm intro (“Welcome message”)
• Legal seminars and panel discussions
• Recruitment “commercials”
• Training delivery (“New employee orientation”, policies and procedures)
• Meetings
• Managing partner's report
• Newsletters and legal updates
• Attorney bios
• Speech archives
• Signings, ceremonies, announcements
• Vendor gateway (“How to do business with us”)

One important factor helping to drive the adoption of streaming media is that it's a technology that's already on your desk. Though you may not know it, you already have it; the player software needed to view a webcast is built-in to most Mac and Windows machines. For everyone else, it's a free download.

THIS NEWS JUST IN ...

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT?

The Saturday School Program - “Video Archives”
http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/saturday_school/video_archive.shtml
Harvard Law School sponsors this lecture series presenting videos of authors discussing their books and celebrities addressing the topic of the day. This is serious stuff — most webcasts are over an hour. You will need RealPlayer; those sensitive to pontification will need sun screen.

This collection offers over 50 videos from 2000 to date with speakers ranging from an astronaut to a governor, on a smattering of topics from jazz to race. Headliners include:

• Johnnie Cochran (2-17-03) discusses his latest book, A Lawyer's Life. (1 hour: 23 minutes)

• Kenneth Starr (1-10-03) speaks about his new book, “First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life”. (1:10)

• Rev. Al Sharpton (1-6-03) speaks about his book, “Al on America”. (1:01)

• Alan Dershowitz (10-15-02) speaks about his new book, “Why Terrorism Works” in a talk entitled “Terrorism, Israel, the United States, and Human Rights.” (1:06)

• Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (4-19-02) and her brother, co-author H. Alan Day, discuss their book “Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest”. (1:05)

• Professor Anita Hill (11-5-01) presents the annual Higginbotham Lecture on race and politics along with comments on sexual harassment. (1:03)

• Rev. Jesse Jackson (9-24-01) presents a speech entitled “America's Response to Terrorism” addressing the tragic events two weeks prior and the U.S. reaction. (1:15)