On The Cutting Edge of a Revolution

It all began here

In 1452 Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith from the German town of Mainz put ink to movable type and changed the world forever.

Prior to Gutenberg, all books had to be laboriously written by hand.

It was complex and expensive.

As a result, there were precious few books in circulation and those that did exist were mostly Bibles or religious tracts. Most people could pass their lives without ever seeing a book, and almost no one knew how to read. What for?

With the coming of the printing press, the whole world changed.

Gutenberg had originally invented the printing press as a way to make cheaper bibles. He was broke.

But it soon become apparent that the printing press meant a good deal more - it meant that anyone with an idea, any idea, could now publish books.

This was earth shattering.

And in a very short period of time Europe went from almost no books at all to more than 15 million titles.

Think of it as the Youtube of the 16th Century.

It also set off the notion of a free press, something we arduously defend.

Television, as a medium, is far more powerful than print - ironically.

The average American watches 4.5 hours of TV a day, but buys but one book a year.

If you think a free press in print is important, think about TV.

TV is still thought of as expensive and complicated.

As a result, it is made by only a handful of people - mostly in NY or LA. And it is they that decide what 300 million people will 'get' to watch.

Is it any wonder that there are 500 channels with nothing to watch?

Now a new technology has come along that has the potential to do for television and video what the printing press did for books - give anyone with an idea the ability to publish - or at least to try.

This is the democratization of the most powerful medium in the world - moving images. And whether they arrive in your house over a TV set or a computer or an iPhone is increasingly immaterial.

What is important is the content.

At places like The BBC or BET we are busy empowering the staff to express their own visions and tell their own stories.

Here at NYVS.com we are also busy empowering 'regular' people to also take control of this most powerful medium and experience the remarkable freedom of being able to tell their own stories as well -

This is a revolution.

And welcome to it!