lots of interesting things happening in Canada with ZED, a user-content initiative that is doing what lots of people are talking about - turning TV over to the viewers.

As ZED managing editor says in a pice on Wired News: ""Anybody who has watched public-access TV will know that not all viewer-submitted content is good," said McLean Greaves, executive producer of ZeD. "You need to filter content."

Greaves, a former AOL Time Warner executive who has worked with Spike Lee and P. Diddy, said ZeD's mission is to democratize media production, but filters must be put in place. The most popular type of media uploaded, for example, is skateboard videos set to music.

So ZeD employs a team of online editors to sift through the content, check it for copyright issues and either publish it on its website or pass it along to a producer who will give it a lick of professional polish. If chosen, the network will pay $200 per minute for the video (although it does not pay for pieces that are shorter than one minute).

ZeD's most popular pieces tend to reflect the program's eclectic mix. For example, it acquired Anne Troake's Pretty Big Dig, a film that sets dancing construction vehicles to music, and Corey Rutley's Sheriff of the Tub, a monologue by a guy in a cowboy outfit who's eating chicken in a bathtub."

The article and be found HERE. It talks about Al Gore's interest in ZED, and a coming trip for the Current team to explore their system.

Also - in related news - ZED has opened it's source code. I'm not sure how significant that is, but i'd love to hear from folk who have seen the code and understand just how complex and important it is. In any case, it's a great way to put your code where your mouth is regarding open source.

Having lived with user content for 4+ years at MTV UNfiltered, i can certainly agree that some sort of filter is usefull. As to the idea of 45 people full time sorting - that seems pretty old media oriented to me. The point is, there's some distance between where we want to be, and where we are. Audiences learning how to make content, networks learning how to play with auidience content, and all of us getting smarter about how those interactions work. Add on top of that rights issues (a moving target) content creator profit sharing (very important) and audiences understanding of new forms (not just half hours and hours). It's all part of the mix.

btw- signed up for Google Video Upload - lots of thinking there, and lots more yet to do. But they're jumping in feet first - which will move them fast into an intense learning curve. Really impressive - i must say.