Archive for February, 2006

The Challenge of Recording

Monday, February 20th, 2006

When I got my first hi-8 camera in the early 90’s….I fell in love.
The images were so clear, and the color was so rich.
I would record all day, go home, hook up to my TV, and watch the world I captured.
There was no place to put the video, but it was cool for the time being.
I was learnig HOW to record the stuff I wanted.
I was learning about things by watching it.

The big issue I went through the first several years of having my camera was the fear of recording people. This is the subject of a series of videos that Dee Harvey is creating. She recently started videoblogging and is dealing with issues of recording the moments that are important and cool.
Maybe other people dont feel uncomfortable pointing cameras at people…but I do…especially strangers.
Why? Because the moments of life are often out in public…but recording them is very private.

The best video is the stuff that is intimate and needs trust between the recorder and the person.
"This is who i am…i’ll let you record it."
The people who can do this..are the ones with talent.

Posted in Projects | 2 Comments »

This is why I love Videoblogs

Monday, February 20th, 2006

Our friend Melanie just started a new project called the New Media Collective.
We met her at one of our presentations at the Apple Store…and at Node101.
Below is her announcement.

"My name is Melanie Morgan, and I’ve been videoblogging since October 2005, and blogging since April ‘05. I’ve also been lurking on this forum for a while, and have really learned a lot; some of which I’ve applied to my newest project, The New Media Collective (launched February 1 2006). The focus of this site is to showcase digital media makers of color (videobloggers, podcasters, bloggers, photobloggers); to let people know—and see—that we’re very present in the digital realm.

Although not actually a videoblog, the site will have video on it, as well as other media. The goal is to create an information resource and social network teaching and promoting citizen media, particularly to those who would not otherwise have knowledge of, or access to it. We all need to know and understand these outlets and technologies and use them to tell our own stories—accurately.

If you find any of this of interest, please check out the site (http://newmediacollective.org). And if you are a person of color, please add your vlog, podcast, blog or photoblog to our directory. (People need to know where to find us!) I’ve also included a resources page with a list of media-related sites. At this time, I’m in the process of interviewing media makers throughout the blogosphere (right now there are 2 up). As we go along, I’d like to add more content in
the way of video, audio, and text articles. If anyone would like to
contribute content (articles, media, site links), please let me know
(melanie [at] newmediacollective [dot] org)."

To start your own videoblog for free, go to Freevlog.org.
Go Melanie.

Posted in Projects | No Comments »

How to Bit Torrent can make video scale online

Thursday, February 16th, 2006

It’s now officially Josh Kinberg month here on Momentshowing.
JD Lasica interviewed Josh recently about his ideas on web video.
watch here

There seems to be different camps forming around online video.
Some people like the Flash video that you can easily watch on the page.
But you must also skip around page to page to watch it.
The other school of thought is pushing the meme of delivering video in RSS feeds…allowing tools to help manage this media locally and sync it to devices.
But some people hate having download the video to watch it.

In a year, as more people are educated, we will hit a sweet spot where people realize that each is good for different purposes. Flash video is good for adding stuff to MySpace-like profiles or web pages so people can pop in and watch. Video in RSS is good when you really want to distribute far and wide. Whe you can watch web video on TV, you’l need to download the large files locally. Think an open-TIVO system.

It’s my sneaking belief that as more and more people start watching video online…even the biggest servers will have problems keeping up. Soon, even the silliest goof will have a thousand viewers because hundreds of millions of people are online. The most popular content will have TV network audiences of millions.

How do we handle this?
Big media companies will have little problem throwing money at the problem.
But how do make sure the individual person, the independent creator, can stay in the game?
Distribute the load.
Bit torrent is a proven method for trading files between many computers.
People must become accustomed to downloading media when they aren’t using their computers…and "seeding" it for other people. Communities will form around video they like and support…since not all creators can afford the absurd bandwidth bills of hosting media themselves for huge audiences that they deserve.

But aren’t torrents complicated?
If you use aggregators to subscribe to torrent feeds, it’s all invisible.
Just subscribe, download, play.
Since we now have "always on" broadband connections…it’s all good.

But torrent technology has a huge PR problem…the stigma of piracy.
It’s all perception though.
Nothing in the technology says you have to trade copyrighted material. Hollywood has just created the situation where "stealing" is the option if you want to watch something.
(Think "war on drugs". Don’t provide logical alternatives and criminalize the user.)

Digital Bicycle is a site that lets Community TV producers trade entire programs through torrents.
You make a show, upload a torrent, and then anyone can download it and air it on their local Public Access station. It’s all in the use case.

Anyway…lots of educating needs to happen. Different scenarios must play themselves out this year. Tools need to be created and evolved. Realities will push us to change. Fun stuff.
Video online is happening fast.

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

One moment in August 2005

Saturday, February 11th, 2006

I’ve been on a Josh Kinberg kick the last week.
Check out this short interview that Josh gave Daniel Steinberg for O’Reilly’s "Distributing the Future Podcast".

Segment: distributing-the-future-2006-02-03_josh.mp3
Original link here: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/02/distributing_the_future_podcas_1.html

I’ve gotten to know Josh over the past couple years, and it’s funny hearing him in a "show" context. I’m always impressed how well-spoken he is.
No one can deny his passion for videoblogging.
I think that’s what keeps FireAnt going.
We know that the video that all of us are making needs to be found, watched, and interacted with. It helps information flow and changes things.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Video Pop-Up Link Maker

Friday, February 10th, 2006

Josh Kinberg made this cool hack: embedthevideo.com – Video Pop-Up Link Maker

You simply add the links to your video and blogpost…and it gives you the code for a pop-up video player. Why is this cool?

Quicktime videos allow for "fast start"…which means the video starts playing even as it’s downloading the rest of the video. But Microsoft’s Internet Explorer does not allow Quicktime to fast start. An IE user clicks on a QT video and nothing happens. It looks broken.  The video doesn’t start playing till the whole video has downloaded…meanwhile you get no progress that it is downloading. Usually you end up clicking away because you think something’s wrong. This is a big reason why PC users who use IE bitch about Quicktime.

Since so many people still use IE, Josh created this hack. Now when an IE user clicks on a QT video, a video pop-up box appears which allows the video to play immediately…and the user can see the video as they were intended to.

God bless us all.

Posted in Projects | 1 Comment »

“While I was Art-making”

Saturday, February 4th, 2006

This post is about a videoblog post I just watched.
But first let me tell you a story.

For the first year of Videoblogging, it was pretty easy to keep up with every regular videoblog on the web. There was one email list where people connected to each other, gossiped, and argued.
This was where we figured about RSS feeds…with enclosures…and the right compression settings.
We learned how to make video for this 320×280 screen, how much of ourselves we could put out there, and tried to find language to explain what we doing.
So we talked a lot and experimented.

Videoblogging started exploding as big companies like Apple started paying attention.
Podcasters were getting as popular as they could.
Videobloggers started doing amazing things.
Everyone had their own ideas what to do with it.
Andrew Baron started scaring the shit out of commercial TV with Rocketboom by showing that it was possible to get huge audiences with a small financial investment.
Others started just having fun and posting anything that came to mind.
We even started building our own tools(here, here, here, here, here)
The Wild West had begun.
Video on the internet was really here and no one was in control.
No rules.
Nothing to really give guidance as to what would come next.
Anyone could be right.

More email lists sprung up. Everyone’s talking and posting videos.
People argued over "what is a videoblog"?
Purists tore apart anything that felt like traditional TV programing. A videoblog had to be personal.
Defenders said that we could do TV better. A videoblog was just a video in a blog.
People explored cool, new formats and styles. Pushing pushing.
Collaboration could thrive.
Evilvlog pissed everyone off.

Money.
Oh, the conversations about how to make money videoblogging.
Ads? Text ads on the page? Ads in the videos? Ads only at the end of videos? Only cool ads from companies I like? Maybe sponsorship? Product placement?
Will accepting money taint a videoblog?
Could you make a really good regular videoblog without being paid?

And all this discussion continues up to this moment.
One of the offshoot Videoblogging lists I’m on is the VlogTheory group.
It’s a really great group of people. Small. Lots of brain power.
Long conversations about definitions, possibilities, predictions, visions.
And crap. But I love it all.
Why we talk and write so much about video is funny to me.
I post so few videos now a days…though I write so much.
Yet video is what I love.
I go in cycles because I like my videos to mean something to me.
At times I get so into life that I don’t have time to look at it, record it, and reflect.

So I’ve been watching a lot of other people’s videos.
Daniel Liss posted a video tonight to the Vlog Theory list that shows why I love videoblogging.
He demonstrates the difference between theory and practice.
He shows how a videoblog is made in the normal course of a day.
He explores why a videoblog can simultaneously be different from a TV show can borrow the same language.
He also shows himself. This is how we al get smarter.

Just watch it here.

Liss1

Posted in Cool People | 11 Comments »

Josh Leo is cool

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

The big craze currently are the content companies rushing to put their TV shows on the web.
iTunes, Yahoo Music Engine, MTV, CBS….they all are creating ways for you to pay to download the shows you can already watch on TV.
This is an obvious sell.
You like it on TV, then you’ll like it on the web.
This doesn’t change much of anything except a company’s revenue AND their ability to survive these fast-moving times. It’s a smart move.
If I want to watch the 152nd episode of Seinfeld right now, I should be able to…and I’ll pay a buck or two for this convenience. Though if they don’t offer the service, people just find what they want elsewhere. (DON’T MAKE PEOPLE PIRATES!!! TAKE THEIR MONEY DUMMIES!!!)

Enter videoblogging. Almost 2 years old and growing.
Josh Leo was recently on Michigan public radio to discuss his work.
HERE is a link to the 4 minute story.
Josh is so clear in his intent and vision for putting his videos on the web.
"This is my life and I want to share it with you".
(this is my life)

The reporter does a good job putting videoblogging in perspective. She captures the passion Josh has for creating his own media…and the passion people have for watching it.
More of us are craving feeling, some unmediated communication, and the power that comes when you know that what you see is not illusion or manipulated.
It’s funny when we get so cynical that we make fun of personal videoblogging as being "naive".

I like TV because it lets me turn off my brain. It takes me away.
When I was 12, my folks gave me their old 12" black and white TV for my room.
I was in heaven. I was a TV baby.
I got into Videoblogging because I was going nuts with the rift between what I saw on TV and what I experienced and knew to be true in the real world. I can only be numb for so long. Since traditional media wasn’t offering a bigger buffet table, we started cooking our own meals.

Videoblogging as practiced by Josh Leo is the revolution.
His videos will never rival the audience of CSI…though there is nothing technically that would stop him from having an audience that big. But when there are a million Josh Leo’s around the globe with their small audiences….then you have something.

It’s not about the eyeballs they attact or CPM’s…it’s about the ideas that will flow across the globe through direct video publishing and distribution.
It’s the effect and influence. Pull your head out.

Just as text blogs have changed the way newspapers/cable news report on issues by becoming fact-checkers and offering competing conversations…videoblogs will follow a similar path.
But whereas text is dependent that you can read the language, video can cross many more of the invisible cultural and geographic boundaries because you can SEE what is happening.
And unlike TV, a huge global archive of video is already being created that will keep our great-great-grand kids closer to understanding what we were like.

Anyway, there will be videoblogs that aim to rival TV entertainment and make money doing it.
There are text blogs that make a lot of money.
Anyone can now make an extremely popular "show" and distribute it globally. The sustainable business model is still being sought. Good news.

But you can also just pick up a camera and say something…and see if anyone feels the same way.
The army of ants has arrived.

Posted in Visions | 3 Comments »

When press is good…

Thursday, February 2nd, 2006

Who says all journalism is bad?

Josh Leo had an article written about him in his local paper in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Here it is.
Josh even put some photos of the paper here and here.
He got some of the props he deserves.

The journalist did a good job understanding what personal videoblogging is all about.
He even has a videoblog now.

Josh Leo is also starting a Node in Grand Rapids. It’ll be held at the progressive Community TV station in his city.



Posted in Cool People | 1 Comment »