2005 January | Momentshowing

Archive for January, 2005

Q. What’s the Point? A. What Point?

Monday, January 31st, 2005

I usually dont know how to explain to people what I do online.
This.
Videoblogging.
"Yeah I spent 5 hours last night watching videos."
"What videos?"
"Well there’s this guy in England who kind of like Seinfeld. These two girls in New York who make these crazy short collborative videos. My friend in LA made a video of his kid playing a virtual reality game to rap music….."
ANT and me-tv are like crack.

I watch and watch.
Then I talk to the people who make the videos.
I post my own videos.
People contact me.
We’re connecting in a way that I’ve never experienced before.

I write passionate emails about videoblogging…trying to explain the experience.
After sending one of these emails recently, someone I know said I had a serious problem and that I should see a therapist.
She even let me know that my insurance should cover it.
She wasn’t kidding. jeez.

So I went to my friend Noam for an outside opinion.
Other videobloggers are in too deep to give me perspective.
I told him how much time i spent online, watching people, having experiences, feeling close to them…
He said he understood.
How?
Well, he made me a video about his own secret life with his wife Mary.
(its about 6 minutes long…he made it for his TV show)

Seriously, I joke about my addiction to videoblogging being a problem…but it’s really just incredible.
like my friend Noam says…it’s all about being with someone.
Doesnt mattter if it’s always in the flesh or not.

I love that we’re creating a backchannel conversation, completely unmediated.
I love that anyone can do anything…and everyone is really respectful.
I love that i can see and hear someone…AND ask them stuff directly.
Can anyone think where else this exists?
The more people who join in…the cooler it is….especially when it’s people who usually arent included in the conversations.
That’s extra cool.

After Vloggercon, this is just my phase of freaking out.
My kids will read this and say "oh dad, what was the big deal? you couldnt even teleport then."
I guess my big questions are:

how much do we really want to connect to each other?
As these tools inevitably become normal everywhere, will different cultures join in?
What is it we want to know about each other?
With no longer any barriers between us, what are will we say?
Is it going to make life any less complicated if we can talk to each other directly?

This is my time to ask the big questions.
wonder. wonder. wonder.

Posted in Other's Videos | 9 Comments »

We’re making a stage

Tuesday, January 25th, 2005

The Videoblogging group has exploded over the past several months.
It’s getting difficult to keep up with all the videos that people are posting.
Peter made me-tv, which is an RSS reader for video.
It’s definitely very cool.

We have worked on another tool to distribute and watch video.
It’s called ANT.
ANT stands for Ant’s Not Tv.
A funny play of the GNU (GNU Not’s Unix).
haha so geeky.

ANT is a free application for MAC 10.3.
( we are working on a windows/linux version)
It is a video aggregator.
You subscribe to RSS 2.0 feeds with video enclosures.
ANT downloads new videos automatically.
You can arrange the video in the playlist, and then watch them in the viewer.

ANT automatically trashes videos you’ve watched.
You can also tell ANT how much space you want to give video downloads so your hard drive never overfills.
If you see a video and want to save it…just drag the video to a folder on your desktop.
Maybe you use it to find video you want to remix for later…since many feeds are under Creative Commons licenses.

The coolest feature is the "comment button".
When you watch a video…you can go to the original permalink of the video post…and make a comment to the creator.
This is where the blogginess comes out and creates that positive feedback loop between viewer and videoblogger.

So you can add any video feed…and we are building directory.
But we really hope its used to distribute and watch ORIGINAL video.
We loaded ANT with some default feeds.
So just download and hit "REFRESH ALL".

I got to give props to Daniel Salber who actually developed ANT.
I approached him with the idea and he intuitively understood what we needed to do.
He also busted out a professional, smooth tool in about 2 months.
Word.

Josh Kinberg is the other part of the ANT triumverate.
It was his vipodder that started all this.
He is a supertester..pushing each version to the max…and helping work out the bugs and design new features.
Josh also created the cool ANT logo and website.

Click.

ANT is what we make it.
What i’d love to see is a completely decentralized system of videos feeds.
All these creators publish their own video…and put them in RSS feeds.
Everyone can use a tool like ANT to create a "channel’ of the videos they want to see.
And when you watch a video you like, you always click "comment" to tell the creator what you thought.
That’s why any of us make video anyway…to create that conversation.
And if creators feel like their work is appreciated….a stage for performance develops and spawns more creations.
Hopefully, that’s what tools like ANT can provide.

Posted in Projects, Resources, Tools, Visions | 7 Comments »

A famous TEXT blogger has a breakdown on VIDEO

Monday, January 17th, 2005

Check out this video. It’s about 10 minutes long at 74 MB.
Kid needs to learn to compress. You can tell he’s new at posting video.

But he’s not new to blogging.
This is Justin Hall…who is well known for spending the past 11 years of his young life obsessively blogging his life.
The amount of words he has written is insane.
He is a "personal" blogger which can be translated as "honest" or "self-absorbed"….depending on your point of view.

But this video documents how he now feels alone text blogging.
He says he cant have relationships because he ends up writing about the relationship too openly.
People avoid him at parties because they know everything he says will go on his blog.

My advice to him is start VIDEOBLOGGING.
You meet someone and write about it..dreching it with your judgement of the person and the situation.
This may be honest but it’s going to hurt feelings. Duh.

This is the magical paradox of video:
Video doesn’t lie…though each person will read into it differently.

So if I record a moment between us…you will think it’s cool…while i may think youre a dick.
And we’re both right.
It’s not the video that’s judging…only each person’s interpretation.

I say this because text blogging forces you to have judgement.
If i decribe a moment between us, i am forced to color it with feelings…if I am to be honest or interesting.
But with video, you let the viewer choose what to think.
"This happened…no denying it. What do you think?"
Words force choices on you.

So maybe the famous text blogger Justin Hall will become a videoblogger….where he can join a community of other videobloggers…and NOT FEEL ALONE.
But can he go from a monologue to a conversation?

This is why I became a videoblogger.
Instead of being forced to purely write about how I felt, experienced and saw…I could videotape it.
The video gets everything.
And I can just show it to you….expecting you to do the same.
I’m in it for the conversation.

Posted in Other's Videos | 7 Comments »

VIDEO: Hi I’m Jay and I’m an Addict

Monday, January 10th, 2005

I spent the afternoon with with Peter and Maria.
Both are videobloggers.
They live in Hoboken New Jersey…and will soon give up their apartment to travel in Nepal…and hopefully videoblog.

Peter is also the creator of me-tv.
And awesome, awesome tool that lets us keep up with all the videos being made.
It’s an RSS reader for videoblogs.
He is a good friend who has helped me tremendously in the past couple years.

Anyway, in the video I admit to them my addiction.
I need help.
Help me.

Posted in MY VIDEOS | 14 Comments »

Meet Thom or “Im not afraid of stinkin’ Torrents”

Monday, January 10th, 2005

My friend Thomas just posted his first videoblog.
It’s funny because I know him through email and reading his posts on discussion lists…and i’d say we’re friends.
But I’ve never seen him until now.

Thom is also coming to the Con with his wife on Jan 22 in Manhattan.
When i see him in person…there will be less awkwardness because Im really getting to know him through video.
This is a common occurence amongst videobloggers.
It’s like when you see a movie star in a deli…you feel like you know them because you’ve been with them in video.
And videobloggers are movie stars in my book.

Okay, meet Thom.

If you just clicked on the image…your computer wants to download a "torrent".
and many people still dont know what this means….
so we’re going to learn now.

First you need a Bit Torrent client.
Download the free Blog Torrent application here.
Like any new app, once downloaded…drag the icon into your application folder in your hard drive.

Then, click on the image of the wacky duck…and a torrent file will appear on your desktop.
Double click this file.
The torrent should automatically open up in Blog Torrent…and begin downloading.
Thom and I are both seeding…so it should be fast.
Once you have the video on your computer, you become a seed as long as the Blog Torrent app is open.
The more people who are seeding, the faster the video will download for newcomers.
See how this works?
(email me if not jay.dedmanATgmail.com)

So this is Peer-2-Peer sharing that we will be using more and more of.
Thom is using no server bandwidth for his video…because we’re using our computers for sharing.
His desktop IS the server.
He didnt upload his video anywhere.
He just created a torrent and posted it to his site.
Blog Torrent then connected me to his desktop to get the video.
Since many of our computers are "always on"….the video will usally always be there for me.

okay, it’s a lot if youre new.
just try it.
It will all start clicking in your head.
You’ll now know how to get torrents as they start popping up more and more on the web.
You’ll also meet Thom at Vloggercon and he’ll talk youre ear off about bit torrent.

Posted in Other's Videos, Process | 2 Comments »

The Con

Friday, January 7th, 2005

So Vloggercon 2005 is a go.
or as we like to call it…the Con.
It’s free. Just register.
Manhattan.
Jan 22.
Its an all day affair of show and tell.
Check out the list of events.

Just for the record…it started out as a joke and has turned into something very real.
It’s happneing only because people want it to.
No one is responsible because everyone is responsible.

Oh videoblogging.

Posted in Random news | 2 Comments »

How a star is born…and then shows us to just be normal

Sunday, January 2nd, 2005

This is the continuation of a previous post on Dylan, the Youngest Videoblogger in the World.
It’s a funny story which goes like this.

Michael Verdi is part of our videoblogging group.
Being the coolest dad he is, he got Dylan, his 11-year old daughter to make a videoblog.
She already had a regular blog.
The group linked to her videopost because it was so amazing.
Then, it got hit almost 2000 times in one day and spread around the net.
ABC World News Tonight happened to be looking for a videoblogger…and there was Dylan…full of star potential.

Michael posted this great story on the surealness of the whole 2 weeks.

It’s good that Michael and his wife are so savvy.
They won’t let it all go to Dylan’s head.
It’s cool that ABC recognized the power of a videoblog by an 11-year-old girl.
Maybe other young people will start videoblogging like they IM each other.
But it’s really about us…about building a second world in here…where we always need ABC or whoever to tell us what’s going on.
We tell each other.
Just like how Dylan does it.

Posted in Cool People, Other's Videos, Process | 2 Comments »

Peter makes the tough decisions

Saturday, January 1st, 2005

Peter does the job here.
In this video post, he finally has the courage to tell it like it is.
Ive been too timid, and it’s good to see him take the leap.

Okay.
Not everyone can videoblog. Period.
No matter how simple we make the tools, many people will just never post video to the internet.
Why?
Because videoblogging is like playing the guitar.
Everyone theoretically could play, but only the enthusiastic and talented ever really follow through.
With videoblogging, there will always be a bit of a learning curve with the technology.
And creating video takes a creative skill that not everyone has.

Working in community TV, we have this same dilemna.
We preach that everyone can make TV.
The tools are cheap and easy to learn.
But not everyone has something to say.
Not everyone has the drive to sit with their ideas and work their way through them with a camera.

So let Peter take you through this line of thinking.
Now that we agree that not EVERYONE can videoblog, we can now focus on the people who have a passion for showing their world.

Posted in Other's Videos, Visions | 1 Comment »

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