Yuk.
This month we explore the muddy edge of technology as we plunge ever deeper into the
world of law-related streaming video. Each month we look at legal community
“webcasts” — audio/video over the World Wide Web. This month
you’ll wish you were wearing your waders as we venture slightly off the path to explore a
miasma where legal advice mixes with commercialism.
One form in which the Internet might organize to provide legal services, is what could be called a
‘co-op portal’ — a web site offering information products (information, links,
advice) to lure visitors with a focused interest and give visibility to member law firms. For
example, it’s easy to imagine a bunch of firms banding together around a timely topic to
create a news or research site as a focus for business development. To me, it seems likely
we’ll eventually see a webscape crowded with NoJailTime.bizs,
WeBeWorkersComp.orgs, AdoptNow.TVs, Sarbanes-Oxley.infos, and DivorceRus.coms.
WHAT’S ON TONIGHT?
Niche markets would seem to be up for grabs, and in the scuffle for the elder care market, one
contender is using webcasting for leverage.
“Elder Law Television”
![[play
button]](aw_images/playbttn.gif)
http://www.elderlaw.tv/streaming_videos.asp
ElderZone, Inc., offers “Elder Law TV” which aims to serve as a focal point for the
legal and medical interests of America’s seniors. The video archives offer a collection of
TV news reports and legal talking heads in the following categories:
- Elder and Long-Term Care
- Estate Planning
- Retirement Planning and Investing
- Nursing Home Care
- Financing Long-Term Care
- Driving and the Elderly
- Alzheimers
- Social Security
The site offers about 40 videos, from 1999 to date, requiring mostly Realplayer, some Windows
Media Player.
THIN CONTENT
The site is consumer-oriented, so don’t go looking for much actual legal substance, though
it may be a useful resource for client education.
Many of the videos are taken from TV news programming. That, and the obvious need to avoid
actually giving legal advice, leaves much of the content a bit superficial.
TEAM + MAGNETISM = SYNERGY
But the way the site works is what’s interesting here. Some of the content is produced by
Elder Law TV (half a dozen videos), but the majority is not. Click on most any webcast link, and
you’re transferred to a sponsor’s web site, where you often need to search around a
bit to find the video (just like the old retail store ploy of hiding the escalator).
The synergy of banding together, boosting the depth and variety of content, helps Elder Law TV
serve as the magnet, drawing visitors interested in senior issues. In turn, by placing some of the
content on partners’ web sites, these visitors are routed to Elder Law TV partners (mostly
TV and news media sources).
A law firm version of this model would have several firms partnering to create a web site with a
topical focus and an array of media (webcasts, articles, links, photos). When a visitor clicks on a
resource, they are transferred to find it on the web site of the providing law firm.
NITPICKS
One basic bit of advice I give to all webcasters: List the duration. We want to know how long a
webcast will be before we click to start it!
Unfortunately, the Elder Law TV website is beginning to show its age and suffers from the
disease slowly gripping much of the Internet: lack of maintenance. Some webcasts can’t
be found on the sponsor’s web site, one or two links are broken, and a couple of the
webcasts yield only a ‘Coming Soon’ message.
For more information on senior issues (including videos, news, and articles on prescription
drugs, Medicaid, wills, living trusts, and estate taxes), check their home page,
www.elderlaw.tv
Too many webcasts, not enough time.
If you see streaming audio or video you
think would be of interest to our readers, please
URL and description.
Has your firm produced a webcast? We want the details!
If you'd like a clickable list of the web addresses from this and past columns,
![[American Webcast logo]](aw_images/banner.gif)