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Broadcasting with Qik

As more people start using smartphones (e.g., Droids, Blackberries, iPhones, et al), we’re also starting to see a lot more applications that can be downloaded and used on them.  One I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting with is Qik (prounounced like “quick”).    While the tagline for YouTube is “Broadcast Yourself,” I feel that might actually better suit this particular app.  Qik allows you to not only record video directly to a web page from your smartphone, but it allows you to do so live. That’s right–you can be broadcasting your library’s events, as they’re happening, to an online audience.

So, what do you need to do to make this happen?  Not much, as it turns out:

  1. Smartphone that can run the Qik app (supported phone list here)
  2. Qik app, downloaded and installed to said smartphone and
  3. A free Qik account (which will create a broadcast channel for you).

I’ve done a couple of public videos you can check out, to get an idea of the quality of the video; you can see them at my Qik channel, http://www.qik.com/laurasolomon.

What does this mean to me, Laura?

  • This could be a quick and dirty way to capture and broadcast library programs and/or meetings.  Keep in mind, however, that there can be some delay between what you are broadcasting and it being captured on the Qik channel. (I noticed about 3-5 seconds of lag during my most recent test.)
  • You can’t edit the video before it is broadcast or captured, so make sure that you’re comfortable broadcasting whatever it is before you start.
  • You can make certain videos private and others public.
  • The Qik site also has some social media features; videos can be tweeted directly, and people can also comment and discuss individual videos.  Live chat is also available, so if you’re broadcasting live, you can also see chat feedback in real time.
  • You can also add a map (location) to the video, to let people know where it took place.
  • Yes, you can embed Qik videos in a website, much like YouTube videos.
  • Conveniently, you can also sign in with your Facebook account.