Life In 19x19

I really enjoyed the commentary provided by Myungwan and the others on KGS. However I think it could be improved for two primary reasons. First, eight hours is a long time, and it is hard to fill that time with good content. Second, I suspect many people only caught part of the broadcast. I would therefore suggest the following:

1) Periodically, say every half-hour or hour, have the speakers identify themselves so we know who's talking. Note, we need to hear them identify themselves, or we won't know who is who. Also mention what the game is, and why people should care. This is also a good opportunity to thank whoever is letting them broadcast (national go association, KGS, etc...)

2) Periodically, say every two hours, rewind to the beginning, and play through the game, highlighting what they think were the key moves so far, and replaying variations. This would be especially useful if it was announced at what times the game would be replayed (every two hours starting at 0300gmt, for example). This could be a great way to schedule their breaks, too. Take a break at 0445, come back at 0500, and review from the beginning for all the late arrivers. I see no reason why the review couldn't be done by Matthew or Andy. (Heck, one of them could do it while the others take their break.)

3) Encourage the other speakers to ask more questions of Myungwan. "If I was black, I would have played a knight's move at h7 here. Would that be okay?"

4) Interact a little more with the viewers. Maybe occasionally ask why move A doesn't work, which could provide good problems for DDK or SDK. Maybe occasionally ask, "Okay KGS, who is winning?"

5) If a speaker makes an inside joke, please explain it. Most of us aren't insiders.

6) Maybe promote the concept of tournament go and the AGA during the broadcast. They could also mention, "And for you non-Americans here, there is probably something similar in your area. Feel free to post links to your national association for the next five minutes." It just seems like a good opportunity to grow the game in the West.

7) Please keep it on KGS. Many of us can't access Myungwan's Tygem lectures. (Yes, this isn't an improvement, just a maintenance issue, but it is one that is dear to my heart.)

What else? Can anybody think of other ways to improve the broadcast?

Thanks.

Keeping speakers straight is a persistent problem of mine when I listen to podcasts. You can sometimes also handle it organically by remembering to directly address or mention cohosts from time to time ("yeah, I think that idea also works, jimbob").

0) Improve the audio quality. It was extremely poor so that I didn't get much information out of it. After a while I quit, switched on the music and enjoyed the game on WBaduk (KGS broadcast was partly minutes behind the WBaduk broadcast).

Subtitles!

First, thanks to the KGS folks for the commentary we have and I am already looking forward to the next game in February (and hope we can raise the profile of go my more 'big match commentary' on, perhaps, the finals of the Japanese big seven or the Korean matches)

To echo wineandgolover's comments, it might be helpful if the commentators took a look at recent chess match commentary, particularly that of the Carlsen-Anand world championship match that was held this past fall. The commentators on those games, many of which lasted upwards of five hours, do many of the things already suggested.

Another suggestion of a different nature. If this match is to promote go to non-go players it might be nice in the long run to host it on a website as well as directly on KGS. Promotion on a go playing server that is basically used exclusively by people who already play go is pretty useless in drumming up new go players and new interest in the game. What would be far more effective would be a web site with flash-based video commentary, where in-game analysis could be done side by side with the live board, as they do in those chess commentaries I mentioned. This would really be fantastic and I suspect would garner much more interest than what we have on KGS.

Again, thanks, well done, and let's keep it up!

Todd

I'd like to forward this. Could somebody PM me Myungwan Kim's email address, or let me know how best to contact him? Thanks.

wineandgolover wrote:3) Encourage the other speakers to ask more questions of Myungwan. "If I was black, I would have played a knight's move at h7 here. Would that be okay?"

From my experience the best color commentary on competitive events like these have at least one commentator who's not afraid to "play dumb".

Basically you have the expert talking about what is happening, then you have the second person who serves to pose whatever questions the audience might be thinking (even if they already know the answer). In go it might mean having a commentator asking about lines of play that anyone above 5k or so could obviously see fail, but it helps include the whole audience who may have a quite varied range of strengths.