Videomaker is celebrating 25 years of helping people make better video! Join us this Thursday, June 2 at 5:30 PM PST at ustream.tv/channel/vm25anniversary as Videomaker founder and publisher Matt York looks back on a quarter century of helming the nation’s premiere video training resource. This is a special presentation just for Videomaker fans and readers, so we hope you’ll join us!

Ever since the first movies caught the public eye, people have dreamed of harnessing the power of moving pictures to tell their own stories. There was once a time when, unless you had some connection to either the Hollywood film industry or professional television, there was virtually no way to get your message in front of an audience. The advent of home video technology changed all that. Suddenly, it was possible for ANYONE to be a movie maker. All across the world, ordinary people began to discover their own potential, becoming documentarians, citizen journalists and indie movie directors or just using video to document their own lives for fun. Community activists could turn the spotlight on vital overlooked issues, young directors could create professional-grade movies in their own backyards, and new parents could record their childrens’ first steps for posterity.

It was in those heady days when that first generation of videographers was just discovering its new potential that one young upstart video enthusiast had a dream: Matt York wanted to create a magazine to help ordinary people to master video technology. The result was Videomaker, the first magazine dedicated to home video enthusiasts and prosumers. Today, Videomaker is still going strong. Although it’s still dedicated to the same core mission – helping people make better video – it’s changed in ways that Matt never could have foreseen. Today’s Videomaker is more than just a magazine: It’s also a thriving Internet community, a series of online webinars and live workshops, and a line of trusted expert training DVDs. Looking back, it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come!

This week, we’re taking a moment to really think about all the changes we’ve seen. From the rise of the Internet to the dawn of digital video, the video world is astonishingly different than it was in 1986. No one knows this better than Videomaker publisher Matt York, who has personally overseen the creation of every single Videomaker issue since we first began printing 25 years ago. Join us this Thursday as Matt reflects back on the history of video and Videomaker, how it’s changed over a quarter century and – perhaps more importantly – how it’s stayed the same. Check out
ustream.tv/channel/vm25anniversary Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PST to view live streaming video of this event.

Since the birth of moving pictures, film and video have been used in all areas of life. For many it’s a source of entertainment, a means of income, or simply a way to spend their free time. For others it has been recognized as a powerful teaching tool that can help change the way we interact and learn about the world around us.

Since 2007, Matt York, Publisher and CEO of Videomaker Magazine, has been helping teachers all over the world to educate its citizens through his organization One Media Player per Teacher (OMPT). “OMPT’s bold idea is to build the capacity of teachers in the most under-served places on earth with the innovative use of specialized, portable, audiovisual devices to deliver educational content. Mini-projectors and digital audio devices (Media Players) are coupled with small, but sufficiently loud, audio speakers to enable groups of up to 100 students to share a high-quality learning experience.” The versatility of the technology allows people in even the most hard-to-reach places of the world to receive quality instructional courses.

“OMPT works with international partners and instructors to provide instructional technology, content and training that helps them accomplish better results with their instructional programs in many areas of international development.” Currently, Matt York is visiting India, and then Bangladesh, to work with three charities: Digital Green (provides advice to farmers), Gram Vikas (provides clean water and sanitation systems), and English-In-Action (a program that teaches the English language). He will also be helping the NGO embrace portable media players for small groups.

For more information on the efforts and progress of One Media Player per Teacher check out its site www.ompt.org. Or follow Matt on his trip through India and Bangladesh via the OMPT blog.

So if you haven’t heard yet… Apple is holding an invitation only event January 27 to reveal their latest creation, the iSlate. Speculation has been all over the net the last year about Apple releasing their tablet, the iSlate, and now those rumors are starting to become reality!

What does this mean? Well, I know we drilled you with how big 3D was at CES – but did we mention tablets too! Tablets could change the way you receive your latest issue of Videomaker Magazine. Imagine getting your new digital issue with integrated video tutorials and additional interactive content. This will change the way ads are made, the way you view and receive content, ultimately bring interactive text and video together into a magazine!

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