I love tools that allow writers and producers to create digital-native content in a hurry. One of my new favorites is Qwiki – a video-generating platform that gets several things right:

* It recognizes that digital devices are non-linear, and benefit greatly from annotation.

* Unlike, say, Final Cut Pro, it is stupid easy to learn.

(I’d show you the first Qwiki I created – it took only 20 minutes – but I built it by annotating a simple speech. (Hey, the video was laying around, so I grabbed it.) Here’s a much better use case, from fashion blogger Shea Marie:

Play the Qwiki: 5 Easy Summer Hair Styles to Try

I just spent 45 minutes showing the tool to some colleagues from around PBS. I think it’s safe to say you’ll see some interesting tests in the coming weeks (and for once, nothing bad will happen to poor Beaker. I think).

(Edited to fix a typo. H/T to Dani Abraham @Qwiki for the catch. Hey, I was a line editor, and always grateful the copy editors were behind me.)

I’ve been having interesting conversations with a number of folks lately around a basic premise:

Webinars suck.

They seem a useful way to disseminate information to a large audience at once. But the format isn’t terribly engaging – and as a friend always reminds people, on the Internet, porn your email is just one click away.

I’ve conducted webinars that seemed engaging – yet when I looked back at the dashboard later, I’d see that at any given moment (even during my best jokes!) a third of the audience or more had some other app at the front of their screen. (Yes, the webinar system spies on you.)

So what’s better? Well, I’m playing around with that, and I’ll share results when I know more.

But along the way, a couple interesting free/low-cost tools:
– Have a PowerPoint that you really need turned into an embeddable video? Yeah, the latest versions of PPT will do that for free – but if you’re using PowerPoint 2007 or earlier, try Brainshark. (Free to try; as little as $10 a month per prezo to get rid of the nagware and open up the full feature set.)

Here’s a sample (one that happens to emphasize how cheap digital technology has democratized content):

* And speaking of video, I’m especially intrigued at how people are using overlays to add hyperlinks to video content. It reminds me of the first days of (quotes imply irony here)  “hot links.” (Or, to date myself even more, HyperCard).

Video is on the verge of becoming a non-linear, ever-extensible story-telling form … and my obsession of the moment is Qwiki. Play with it and you’ll probably see why. (And your reactions are welcomed in the comments.)