What is quality in Social Media?
by Rob Paterson
In my work in Public TV and Radio, when I hear the word “Quality” I usually know that I have met a person who is having trouble with the idea that a person who is not a communications expert is on the air. “Quality” represents often an idea about form – lighting, sound, image etc.
Intuitively we know that while these are important, that there can be a “Quality” of story and of emotional truth that transcends all of these conventions .
I would like to offer up to you an example of what I mean. This 2 minute clip is taken from Ohio Stories – a joint effort by the Ohio Public TV stations to offer their members the opportunity to tell their war stories prior to the opening of Ken Burns epic new documentary on The War that begins on September 23rd.
To this end, WOSU, Columbus, had a kind of Antiques Roadshow, where people could come in and show and tell about themselves or about family members and their experience in the war.
In this clip, we see a woman of about my age, who is a pastor talking about a chalice made from the scrap metal from both a German and an American plane that was used to
celebrate communion. In itself a neat story.
But is it in the last few seconds of the short clip that we go to her heart and to the heart of all of us and what could have been sentiment becomes truly profound. Behind the words we hear her own pain and her own confession – this is not a pastor preaching but a woman opening her heart to all who wish to hear.
But the clip has none of the “Qualities” of a conventional clip. The sound is terrible, the lighting poor and the frame awkward. None of this matters – the “Quality” is in her truth and in her daring to be human.
This is the power of story when story is elevated beyond “performance” and becomes universal.
