It's been a month. Still no end to the Comment Challenge in sight.
What do I have to do to get a response? Maybe it's because I haven't offered anything in payment.
No one wants to bother if there's nothing in it for them. Perhaps I need to offer to go vegetarian for a week, or do someone's laundry for a month, or offer money! Would that do it?
Note to potential sponsors - look elsewhere. No one comes here but me.
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Avid :30 Spot Contest
Avid may have gone off the boil somewhat with their products in recent years, but someone in their marketing department has been listening to what's happening out there.
So, you've got a series of products aimed at creating video content, with a creative and skilled user base who tend to be more than a little devoted to the brand. What better than to cash in a little of your user devotion and get them to create ads for you!
The next step - the entries are being shown at moviemaker.com so people can vote for a favourite, but it will be interesting to see if the clips are able to be spread "into the wild". Similarly, it will be interesting to see how they handle the possibility of negative, disparaging or farcical interpretations, or whether they just won't qualify.
BTW, in the interests of transparency, the link above is to a sponsor of the event, BeatSuite.com. These guys sell Royalty Free music and effects and I'm in the process of deciding if I'm interested in doing a little quid pro quo with them. I'm still undecided about the business model of copyright in the world of digital reproduction, but the site is legit with a professional broadcast quality product. They even have some freebies which, based on my reading of the terms and conditions, fall under their "Standard License" (any non-broadcast use up to a maximum of 1000 copies) which is a hell of a lot better than the freebies offered at the laughingly named "Freeplay Music".
Anyway, just thought you should know.
So, you've got a series of products aimed at creating video content, with a creative and skilled user base who tend to be more than a little devoted to the brand. What better than to cash in a little of your user devotion and get them to create ads for you!
The next step - the entries are being shown at moviemaker.com so people can vote for a favourite, but it will be interesting to see if the clips are able to be spread "into the wild". Similarly, it will be interesting to see how they handle the possibility of negative, disparaging or farcical interpretations, or whether they just won't qualify.
BTW, in the interests of transparency, the link above is to a sponsor of the event, BeatSuite.com. These guys sell Royalty Free music and effects and I'm in the process of deciding if I'm interested in doing a little quid pro quo with them. I'm still undecided about the business model of copyright in the world of digital reproduction, but the site is legit with a professional broadcast quality product. They even have some freebies which, based on my reading of the terms and conditions, fall under their "Standard License" (any non-broadcast use up to a maximum of 1000 copies) which is a hell of a lot better than the freebies offered at the laughingly named "Freeplay Music".
Anyway, just thought you should know.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Blinkx Video Wall
So here's what's so cool. Blinkx is a video search engine. They've come up with this very nifty means of displaying search results, a "video wall" of relevant videos built into a Flash interface. Best of all, the wall can be embedded in a separate site (such as I've done here - give it time to load), and the results are constantly updated using RSS so what's here now isn't what's going to be here tomorrow.
Downside - The search was for "Adobe Premiere Tutorials". What I tended to get was "Adobe Photoshop Tutorials". Close, but not quite. Besides, it's so cool who cares if the search is a little out?
Downside - The search was for "Adobe Premiere Tutorials". What I tended to get was "Adobe Photoshop Tutorials". Close, but not quite. Besides, it's so cool who cares if the search is a little out?
Sell-out claim on AFL TV deal | The Australian
You cannot begin to believe how hard I'm fighting simultaneous urges to scream, retch, laugh and point my finger in an accusing manner.
"AUSTRALIAN football rights holders Channel 7 and Channel10 are looking to community television stations in Sydney and Brisbane to meet their obligation to broadcast eight live AFL games a week and avoid a financial black hole on Friday and Sunday nights.
It is understood the AFL consortium of Seven and Ten has drawn up contingency plans to purchase air time on TVS and the Brisbane community station Briz31 if no agreement can be reached with pay-TV provider Foxtel."
As someone who was part of the launch of Briz 31 back in 94 and who heard the snide derision that flowed down the mountain to that West End studio I can't begin to explain what I think of this. Not without risking getting this blog banned.
"AUSTRALIAN football rights holders Channel 7 and Channel10 are looking to community television stations in Sydney and Brisbane to meet their obligation to broadcast eight live AFL games a week and avoid a financial black hole on Friday and Sunday nights.
It is understood the AFL consortium of Seven and Ten has drawn up contingency plans to purchase air time on TVS and the Brisbane community station Briz31 if no agreement can be reached with pay-TV provider Foxtel."
As someone who was part of the launch of Briz 31 back in 94 and who heard the snide derision that flowed down the mountain to that West End studio I can't begin to explain what I think of this. Not without risking getting this blog banned.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Attention Australian Video and Filmmakers!!!
The ABC's Australia Wide program is looking for new filmmakers for its weekly "Video Lives" segment. This is a great chance for people, young or old, with a story to tell to get their content out to a pretty big audience.
General FAQ
Who can submit a video?
Anyone resident in Australia. Please note that although you can get friends and colleagues to help you make the video, you must submit your video as an individual and not as a group or company. The exceptions to this are schools, school groups or classes. Australians living outside of Australia are welcome to contribute but the video must be set in Australia.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
No time to talk!
Things to learn, stuff to do. Exam tomorrow. Finally got Blog-This extension to work with 2.0 thanks to a workaround shared on the extension's site's comment section. The power of community.
More later.
More later.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Fox uses Treo's live video to cover plane crash | CNET News.com
Mentioned this one around the news room. No doubt it's going to pop up in projects down the track.
"It'll be used more when the picture itself is of higher quality," (Fox News' vice president of newsgathering, John) Stack said. "It's OK now but it could get better. It depends on the nature of the story. If it's an important enough story, we are more forgiving of picture quality and hopefully the audience is more forgiving."
When a single-engine plane crashed into an Upper East Side apartment building on Wednesday, Fox News Channel delivered early live video to its viewers from the crash site using a handheld mobile phone souped up with streaming video.
Scott Wilder, a cameraman for the network, had been about 20 blocks away on another assignment when the crash occurred. Wilder ran uptown and reported live from the scene using a Palm Treo smart phone that uses the existing mobile network to transmit video to the Fox News control room. From there, Fox News sent it out live on TV to supplement other video being shot by local traffic helicopters...
CometVision runs on a Palm Treo 700-series PDA via the Windows Mobile operating system. The technology is able to transmit video over non-3G networks, using much less bandwidth than would normally be needed, Comet CEO Howard Becker said."We have it set up so you can push one button" and then it starts to work, Becker said. That includes automatically connecting to a computer at the Fox News studio, and sending an e-mail to a producer or anyone else at the network who has a link to the live stream."
The telling quote..."It'll be used more when the picture itself is of higher quality," (Fox News' vice president of newsgathering, John) Stack said. "It's OK now but it could get better. It depends on the nature of the story. If it's an important enough story, we are more forgiving of picture quality and hopefully the audience is more forgiving."
The Comment Challenge - Extended
I'm out of town until Sunday so I've extended the Comment Challenge until then because the one week timeframe would have run out while I was away.
Ignore at will. I know you will.
Ignore at will. I know you will.
YouTube: Sharing Loneliness Together | Reel Pop
Since it launched in August, I've been really enjoying Steve Bryant's ReelPop blog. In particular, I enjoyed this line from a recent post responding to a New York Times article about YouTube.
"T.S. Eliot once said that television was a device by which millions of people could share a joke alone.
I guess that makes YouTube a device by which millions of people can share their loneliness together."
"T.S. Eliot once said that television was a device by which millions of people could share a joke alone.
I guess that makes YouTube a device by which millions of people can share their loneliness together."
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Long Zoom - New York Times
This article by author Steven Johnson is, ostensibly, about the game Spore that I mentioned late last month, but is particularly interesting thanks to the lead-in paragraphs.
"Most eras have distinct “ways of seeing” that end up defining the period in retrospect: the fixed perspective of Renaissance art, the scattered collages of Cubism, the rapid-fire cuts introduced by MTV and the channel-surfing of the 80’s. Our own defining view is what you might call the long zoom: the satellites tracking in on license-plate numbers in the spy movies; theGoogle maps in which a few clicks take you from a view of an entire region to the roof of your house; the opening shot in “Fight Club” that pulls out from Edward Norton ’s synapses all the way to his quivering face as he stares into the muzzle of a revolver; the fractal geometry of chaos theory in which each new scale reveals endless complexity. And this is not just a way of seeing but also a way of thinking: moving conceptually from the scale of DNA to the scale of personality all the way up to social movements and politics — and back again."
Come for the game review, stay for the concepts.
"Most eras have distinct “ways of seeing” that end up defining the period in retrospect: the fixed perspective of Renaissance art, the scattered collages of Cubism, the rapid-fire cuts introduced by MTV and the channel-surfing of the 80’s. Our own defining view is what you might call the long zoom: the satellites tracking in on license-plate numbers in the spy movies; the
Come for the game review, stay for the concepts.
The Comment Challenge only lasts 3 days!
Thanks to The Fiend, my Comment Challenge I set on Sunday has been defeated already only three days in.
I tend to think of this as an abnormality, not having had a previous comment in at least six months (in fact Simon mentions that the reason he'd dropped by was to see if I had anything to say about Google and YouTube - not an everyday occurrence), so I pose the same challenge now. Figuring I'm the only one who actually visits and reads this blog I posit that I will have no comments within the next week, other than perhaps Simon who may pop back in to see if I've replied to his comment.
Let's see how this one goes.
I tend to think of this as an abnormality, not having had a previous comment in at least six months (in fact Simon mentions that the reason he'd dropped by was to see if I had anything to say about Google and YouTube - not an everyday occurrence), so I pose the same challenge now. Figuring I'm the only one who actually visits and reads this blog I posit that I will have no comments within the next week, other than perhaps Simon who may pop back in to see if I've replied to his comment.
Let's see how this one goes.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Gary Trudeau - The Man knows
The first actual item I wrote for this blog, after a "Hi, I'm here", was about American cartoonist Gary Trudeau and his use of blogs, internet articles, even flash mobs in his syndicated Doonesbury cartoon. Mr Trudeau has done it again, extending his push into blogging as a means of extending free speech.
[Introduced in cartoon by regular character Ray Hightower]
"Hey folks! You may have heard how dangerous it's become for the Press to cover operations OIF and OEF. Result: The public feels increasingly disconnected from the troops in the field. Solution: Let the troops report on themselves!
Presenting the Sandbox - our command-wide milblog! Starting today, GWOT-LIT has a new home, and it's exclusively at Doonesbury.com."
And so we have a simple blog interface, based on Typepad, for service personnel, and their significant others, to tell their story.
"It all comes back to me, in dribs and drabs. In the morning, I open my eyes and think of the thoughts that have bounced around the inside of my brain-housing group. And then KM6 (my wife) chimes in. She's nervous of what the future might bring, and, her being a little more liberal than I, is worried what the world might drop on us. Her eyes meet mine, and she adds one last thought to my pondering:
"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
And then she tells me that she's proud of me..."
5 days remain in the Comment challenge...
[Introduced in cartoon by regular character Ray Hightower]
"Hey folks! You may have heard how dangerous it's become for the Press to cover operations OIF and OEF. Result: The public feels increasingly disconnected from the troops in the field. Solution: Let the troops report on themselves!
Presenting the Sandbox - our command-wide milblog! Starting today, GWOT-LIT has a new home, and it's exclusively at Doonesbury.com."
And so we have a simple blog interface, based on Typepad, for service personnel, and their significant others, to tell their story.
"It all comes back to me, in dribs and drabs. In the morning, I open my eyes and think of the thoughts that have bounced around the inside of my brain-housing group. And then KM6 (my wife) chimes in. She's nervous of what the future might bring, and, her being a little more liberal than I, is worried what the world might drop on us. Her eyes meet mine, and she adds one last thought to my pondering:
"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
And then she tells me that she's proud of me..."
5 days remain in the Comment challenge...
Lucasfilm to create the small Blockbuster?
"Spending $100 million on production costs and another $100 million on P&A makes no sense, (Lucas) said. "For that same $200 million, I can make 50-60 two-hour movies. That's 120 hours as opposed to two hours. In the future market, that's where it's going to land, because it's going to be all pay-per-view and downloadable."
Debate as to his directorial abilities remains alive to this day, but no one can deny that the guy knows what's what. I'm looking forward to seeing the next Star Wars episodes available on GoogleTube.
Debate as to his directorial abilities remains alive to this day, but no one can deny that the guy knows what's what. I'm looking forward to seeing the next Star Wars episodes available on GoogleTube.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
And what's this big deal with HD cameras?
While I'm in the groove and posting content that extends beyond being a simple link to something cool, can I ask why I'm hearing so many people getting excited about people doing "internet HD"?
Jeff Jarvis seems to be the most recent culprit,
"Then they set up in the den with lights, a decent mic, an HD camera set to focus on Amanda and me on the couch in front of the books that make me look smart, and with two of them roaming with two more video cameras and a third shooting stills. It was a three-camera shoot! Cable networks and sitcoms don’t use three-camera shoots anymore. On top of that, it was in HDTV."
Yeah! Great. HD. So what?
This may be my ignorance here, and I'm not entirely down with the state of HD in the States, but I can't see HD being any big factor in Internet video (vlogs, vodcasts) at this point. When was the last time you saw someone, anyone, break beyond a 512x288, square pixel resolution? Even the interview mentioned by Mr Jarvis was only 480x272. The last I checked, this is well inside standard definition resolutions.
At this point I can think of only four reasons to even use a HD camera, and only one of them (2) is compelling to me.
1) Extra resolution to play with- This allows for further cropping of the image to create more cinematic aspect ratios, such as 1.85:1 or even 2.40:1. Speeds just aren't up to scratch to use the HD resolution to its full.
2) Better electronics - Just about all modern video cameras come as HD as standard with the ability to downconvert to DV SD, which is likely to be what's really happening (HDV being such a bitch to edit properly without an intermediary codec). Modern camera, better electronics, may as well make the most of it. But that ain't HD.
3) The ability to do Cross-Platform to HDTV - Always a nice option to be able to step it up should negotiations with that cable station pick up halfway through shooting, but if there's no plan for it in the Pre-Prod phase, it's really a bit of a waste.
4) The Buzz - It obviously helps to be able to say "Now shot in Hi-Definition", like old TV shows had the "Now in Colour" super over people's black & white TV sets. The difference is, there is no real HD alternative. At least with colour you could go out and buy a new colour TV set.
As always, I'm ready and willing to hear alternate views. Still 7 days in my comment challenge, so have at it!
Jeff Jarvis seems to be the most recent culprit,
"Then they set up in the den with lights, a decent mic, an HD camera set to focus on Amanda and me on the couch in front of the books that make me look smart, and with two of them roaming with two more video cameras and a third shooting stills. It was a three-camera shoot! Cable networks and sitcoms don’t use three-camera shoots anymore. On top of that, it was in HDTV."
Yeah! Great. HD. So what?
This may be my ignorance here, and I'm not entirely down with the state of HD in the States, but I can't see HD being any big factor in Internet video (vlogs, vodcasts) at this point. When was the last time you saw someone, anyone, break beyond a 512x288, square pixel resolution? Even the interview mentioned by Mr Jarvis was only 480x272. The last I checked, this is well inside standard definition resolutions.
At this point I can think of only four reasons to even use a HD camera, and only one of them (2) is compelling to me.
1) Extra resolution to play with- This allows for further cropping of the image to create more cinematic aspect ratios, such as 1.85:1 or even 2.40:1. Speeds just aren't up to scratch to use the HD resolution to its full.
2) Better electronics - Just about all modern video cameras come as HD as standard with the ability to downconvert to DV SD, which is likely to be what's really happening (HDV being such a bitch to edit properly without an intermediary codec). Modern camera, better electronics, may as well make the most of it. But that ain't HD.
3) The ability to do Cross-Platform to HDTV - Always a nice option to be able to step it up should negotiations with that cable station pick up halfway through shooting, but if there's no plan for it in the Pre-Prod phase, it's really a bit of a waste.
4) The Buzz - It obviously helps to be able to say "Now shot in Hi-Definition", like old TV shows had the "Now in Colour" super over people's black & white TV sets. The difference is, there is no real HD alternative. At least with colour you could go out and buy a new colour TV set.
As always, I'm ready and willing to hear alternate views. Still 7 days in my comment challenge, so have at it!
Friday, October 06, 2006
Some thoughts from Melbourne
Right, back at work for today. The conference is over and I get to be thrown back into the hurly burly of everyday life. While I sit here, an hour after my proposed knock-off time, waiting for a promo DVD and some troublesome transcoding, I figured I'd get some of my ideas out.
First up, what's with Melbourne?!? Chilly Wednesday morning, dry and hot Wednesday afternoon and evening, cold, windy and overcast Thursday. Crazy town. I preferred it the last time it was there and the temperature ranged from a blustery 6 degrees, to a balmy 6 degrees. At least I had time to adjust.
Would have loved to have got to see the Picasso exhibit, but alas it wasn't to be. Apologies to Melbouorne friends, but there just wasn't time to catch up.
Irony quotient for the two days - keep in mind the title of the conference is New Realities: Beyond Broadcasting.
(In a Southbank men's room)
Me: "If I'd known you were going to play that clip I'd have worn my ZeFrank T-shirt."
Him: "Aw yeah, isn't he great? I reckon it's only a matter of time before he gets his own T.V. show."
Something doesn't strike me as being quite right here...
[EDIT] I had a thought about this and want to make a few things clear, in case someone with a connection to all this should pass by.
I'm not implying that the other participant in this conversation was some sort of hypocrite. I mean, the irony of the statement didn't strike me until late the next day so I'm hardly immune to criticism. This is just the mentality that some of us have as a result of the current mediascape; Cinema at the top, then TV, newspapers/radio battling it out for third, then the internet as the newcomer. It's hardcoded into our brains at the moment, but something we can be aware of and try to think around.
Jennifer Wilson from HWW made a comment that while talking to one of her competitors they made the distinction between television and video on demand as (and I'm going on memory here, so if the quote's not entire accurate I apologise) "if it's scheduled and you can't interact with it, it's television. If it's not scheduled and you can do what you want with it it's Video-on-Demand." The feeling here was that this was somehow wrong, that the term television is one that should be more open to interpretation. It's a feeling expressed recently by Jeff Jarvis of Blogmachine when interviewed by Amanda Congdon ("I argued, in turn, that the definition of TV is up for grabs and that (Amanda) should grab it: Don’t let the big, old guys define and own TV."). I just can't agree with either point. To me the term television is not just "video/pictures over a long distance" as the etymology of the word would indicate, but has picked up all sorts of baggage over the last 50 years. The big, old guys DO own T.V. as evidenced by that self-congratulatory exercise they went through a few weeks back to celebrate 50 years of Australian T.V. They own the infrastructure, they own the broadcast spectrum, they own the process. Even if you create video at home and it gets played at a scheduled time from a broadcast centre, it's television. I say let's avoid calling it television (for the record, I hate "vlog" and "vodcast" even more). Let's not allow names and terms to create a definition, but rather let innovation and creativity define the scope of what's possible.
In a world of broadcasting where schedule is everything, I think I've figured out why so many men are at the top of the totem pole in the live news arena. The whole thing follows the neoFreudian concept of narrative as being akin to the male sexual impulse. The day starts with a single goal in mind, slowly building momentum until the frenzied and focused moment of broadcast. Climax is short and sweet by comparison to the buildup, with the occasional disaster, and it's all nicely wrapped up at the end with a quick "how was that for you?" before getting out of Dodge as quickly as possible. The next day everything before is forgotten in the mad rush to hit the next scheduled broadcast time.
And on it goes.
If I haven't done anything about it in a year's time I want to come back here and be able to have this poke me in the eye to remind me how slack I am with using my ideas to their full potential:
Use the company's public trust to help guide some of the less adventurous into the new technology, because if they won't trust us, who will they trust? You know what that means.
The GreyPlayer. Figure it out, future-me. Don't make come up there and slap you round.
If we want to disrupt the schedule, then let's really disrupt! Create a program accesible only through an ARG, Beast style. Make the audience work, create a feeling of exclusivity. Create and foster community to assist those who can't get the clues, but want to follow the ride. Be adventurous. Make it "pirate". Will the punters hack it to pieces as hoax like they did with LG15? Guess it depends on how you front it. If they know up front that it's a game, if they know it's corp, but aimed at them, it enables the narrative to be built. Programs can go live at any time, completely unscheduled. The product isn't just repurposed, it's net only for one part, radio only for another, elements and clues dropped into TV. Disavow public knowledge of its existence, with a wink and a smile to the audience. Scare the bejeezus out of the marketing people!!!!!
The future's there if we have the proverbials to grab it.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENT] Blogs as conversation.
Ha! There's no conversation here. Sure it happens with some blogs, but for most of us it's just ranting to ourselves, posting links to stuff we find interesting for archive purposes, and knowing we can dig through in a year, two year's time and take a look at stuff we find interesting.
Don't believe me? Then comment!! I would wager that this post doesn't get a single comment within one week from today (Sunday 8th), even with me posting the challenge. There's no conversation here, just me and a bunch people using Google Images to look for that damn LotR-WoW mashup.
First up, what's with Melbourne?!? Chilly Wednesday morning, dry and hot Wednesday afternoon and evening, cold, windy and overcast Thursday. Crazy town. I preferred it the last time it was there and the temperature ranged from a blustery 6 degrees, to a balmy 6 degrees. At least I had time to adjust.
Would have loved to have got to see the Picasso exhibit, but alas it wasn't to be. Apologies to Melbouorne friends, but there just wasn't time to catch up.
Irony quotient for the two days - keep in mind the title of the conference is New Realities: Beyond Broadcasting.
(In a Southbank men's room)
Me: "If I'd known you were going to play that clip I'd have worn my ZeFrank T-shirt."
Him: "Aw yeah, isn't he great? I reckon it's only a matter of time before he gets his own T.V. show."
Something doesn't strike me as being quite right here...
[EDIT] I had a thought about this and want to make a few things clear, in case someone with a connection to all this should pass by.
I'm not implying that the other participant in this conversation was some sort of hypocrite. I mean, the irony of the statement didn't strike me until late the next day so I'm hardly immune to criticism. This is just the mentality that some of us have as a result of the current mediascape; Cinema at the top, then TV, newspapers/radio battling it out for third, then the internet as the newcomer. It's hardcoded into our brains at the moment, but something we can be aware of and try to think around.
Jennifer Wilson from HWW made a comment that while talking to one of her competitors they made the distinction between television and video on demand as (and I'm going on memory here, so if the quote's not entire accurate I apologise) "if it's scheduled and you can't interact with it, it's television. If it's not scheduled and you can do what you want with it it's Video-on-Demand." The feeling here was that this was somehow wrong, that the term television is one that should be more open to interpretation. It's a feeling expressed recently by Jeff Jarvis of Blogmachine when interviewed by Amanda Congdon ("I argued, in turn, that the definition of TV is up for grabs and that (Amanda) should grab it: Don’t let the big, old guys define and own TV."). I just can't agree with either point. To me the term television is not just "video/pictures over a long distance" as the etymology of the word would indicate, but has picked up all sorts of baggage over the last 50 years. The big, old guys DO own T.V. as evidenced by that self-congratulatory exercise they went through a few weeks back to celebrate 50 years of Australian T.V. They own the infrastructure, they own the broadcast spectrum, they own the process. Even if you create video at home and it gets played at a scheduled time from a broadcast centre, it's television. I say let's avoid calling it television (for the record, I hate "vlog" and "vodcast" even more). Let's not allow names and terms to create a definition, but rather let innovation and creativity define the scope of what's possible.
In a world of broadcasting where schedule is everything, I think I've figured out why so many men are at the top of the totem pole in the live news arena. The whole thing follows the neoFreudian concept of narrative as being akin to the male sexual impulse. The day starts with a single goal in mind, slowly building momentum until the frenzied and focused moment of broadcast. Climax is short and sweet by comparison to the buildup, with the occasional disaster, and it's all nicely wrapped up at the end with a quick "how was that for you?" before getting out of Dodge as quickly as possible. The next day everything before is forgotten in the mad rush to hit the next scheduled broadcast time.
And on it goes.
If I haven't done anything about it in a year's time I want to come back here and be able to have this poke me in the eye to remind me how slack I am with using my ideas to their full potential:
Use the company's public trust to help guide some of the less adventurous into the new technology, because if they won't trust us, who will they trust? You know what that means.
The GreyPlayer. Figure it out, future-me. Don't make come up there and slap you round.
If we want to disrupt the schedule, then let's really disrupt! Create a program accesible only through an ARG, Beast style. Make the audience work, create a feeling of exclusivity. Create and foster community to assist those who can't get the clues, but want to follow the ride. Be adventurous. Make it "pirate". Will the punters hack it to pieces as hoax like they did with LG15? Guess it depends on how you front it. If they know up front that it's a game, if they know it's corp, but aimed at them, it enables the narrative to be built. Programs can go live at any time, completely unscheduled. The product isn't just repurposed, it's net only for one part, radio only for another, elements and clues dropped into TV. Disavow public knowledge of its existence, with a wink and a smile to the audience. Scare the bejeezus out of the marketing people!!!!!
The future's there if we have the proverbials to grab it.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENT] Blogs as conversation.
Ha! There's no conversation here. Sure it happens with some blogs, but for most of us it's just ranting to ourselves, posting links to stuff we find interesting for archive purposes, and knowing we can dig through in a year, two year's time and take a look at stuff we find interesting.
Don't believe me? Then comment!! I would wager that this post doesn't get a single comment within one week from today (Sunday 8th), even with me posting the challenge. There's no conversation here, just me and a bunch people using Google Images to look for that damn LotR-WoW mashup.
News At Seven | Northwestern Infolab
I'm out of town for two days, this pops up.
The new generation of Max Headroom.
"News At Seven is a system that automatically generates a virtual news show. Totally autonomous, it collects, parses, edits and organizes news stories and then passes the formatted content to an artificial anchor for presentation. Using the resources present on the web, the system goes beyond the straight text of the news stories to also retrieve relevant images and blogs with commentary on the topics to be presented.
Once it has assembled and edited its material, News At Seven presents it to the audience using a graphical game engine and text-to-speech (TTS) technology in a manner similar to the nightly news watched regularly by millions of Americans."
Too much fun, especially around the 1:50 mark (why does she keep looking off screen?)
The new generation of Max Headroom.
"News At Seven is a system that automatically generates a virtual news show. Totally autonomous, it collects, parses, edits and organizes news stories and then passes the formatted content to an artificial anchor for presentation. Using the resources present on the web, the system goes beyond the straight text of the news stories to also retrieve relevant images and blogs with commentary on the topics to be presented.
Once it has assembled and edited its material, News At Seven presents it to the audience using a graphical game engine and text-to-speech (TTS) technology in a manner similar to the nightly news watched regularly by millions of Americans."
Too much fun, especially around the 1:50 mark (why does she keep looking off screen?)
FutureLab's Eight Truths of Innovators | Urlocker On Disruption
Michael Urlocker takes a look at Belgian marketing and consultancy firm Future Lab's "Eight Truths of Real Innovators".
"This is a thought-provoking list. Numbers 5 (launch quickly, perfect later) and 6 (watch what customers do, not what they say) ring a strong bell with me. Perhaps the most important element is Number 1, which identifies that real innovation is not a technology issue.
Go take a look. More comment on the ABC Digital Futures convention in a bit.
"This is a thought-provoking list. Numbers 5 (launch quickly, perfect later) and 6 (watch what customers do, not what they say) ring a strong bell with me. Perhaps the most important element is Number 1, which identifies that real innovation is not a technology issue.
Companies can be helped along the self-disruption route if the following questions are raised:
- Which aspects of the current product or service are already good enough? <--stop innovating here
- Which business processes and products are tied to these 'good-enough' attributes and no longer necessary? <--eliminate the excess processes
- If we were to create a new business to deliver a new product 1-2 years from now, what would be the right focus for the product and right organizational structure?
- If we don't disrupt ourselves, will someone else? <-- the KILLER QUESTION"
Go take a look. More comment on the ABC Digital Futures convention in a bit.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Live from Melbourne!
Not much time. I'm coming live and direct from an Internet Kiosk at the Travelodge Hotel at Southbank, Melbourne. It's $2/15 min and just getting to this page has cost me about 4 mins.
Anyway, I'm down here as part of the ABC Digital Futures conference being run by ABC Radio. A great event so far. You can see what's been happening at the ABC Digital Futures blog. I'd love to get the accurate address, but this damn kiosk won't let me open a second window to go check, so I'll probably have to confirm it when I get back home on Thursday night. It's something like http://www.abcdigitalfutures.net
[Edited for accuracy. Go take a look.]
Anyway, I wanted to send off a post tonight, not because I believe that anyone actually cares about whether or not I post tonight, but rather because I can and I find the concept kinda cool. What I did want to get down was a concept that I had watching the group dynamics of the conference participants milling around during breaks. Here's what I scribbled down before the third session. Hopefully I can use this stuff down the track.
Noise <=> Fragmentation
The greater the noise in a community the greater the fragmentation to facilitate communication.
The higher the signal (to noise), even if that's just clarity of voice, facilitates larger fragments within the community.
Where does signal-noise fit in?
Even taking into the ZeFrank principle (link pending, or check my previous post on the ZeFrank favourites index) of "the dirty window".
Ex, the "The Show" controversy - took the clarity of Ze Frank's voice to break through the noise to gain attention. That required necessary clarity of voice to gain ZF's attention (yelling, hurling abuse about his subject, community notification, search).
There's more to this, I know it!!!
Is it even relevant?
Lo noise, hi signal allows large communication, but surely this requires a signal people want to hear.
One other thing that has nothing to do with this.
"Community as "steering wheel" to navigate the net".
Anyway, into the last minute. More later.
Anyway, I'm down here as part of the ABC Digital Futures conference being run by ABC Radio. A great event so far. You can see what's been happening at the ABC Digital Futures blog. I'd love to get the accurate address, but this damn kiosk won't let me open a second window to go check, so I'll probably have to confirm it when I get back home on Thursday night. It's something like http://www.abcdigitalfutures.net
[Edited for accuracy. Go take a look.]
Anyway, I wanted to send off a post tonight, not because I believe that anyone actually cares about whether or not I post tonight, but rather because I can and I find the concept kinda cool. What I did want to get down was a concept that I had watching the group dynamics of the conference participants milling around during breaks. Here's what I scribbled down before the third session. Hopefully I can use this stuff down the track.
Noise <=> Fragmentation
The greater the noise in a community the greater the fragmentation to facilitate communication.
The higher the signal (to noise), even if that's just clarity of voice, facilitates larger fragments within the community.
Where does signal-noise fit in?
Even taking into the ZeFrank principle (link pending, or check my previous post on the ZeFrank favourites index) of "the dirty window".
Ex, the "The Show" controversy - took the clarity of Ze Frank's voice to break through the noise to gain attention. That required necessary clarity of voice to gain ZF's attention (yelling, hurling abuse about his subject, community notification, search).
There's more to this, I know it!!!
Is it even relevant?
Lo noise, hi signal allows large communication, but surely this requires a signal people want to hear.
One other thing that has nothing to do with this.
"Community as "steering wheel" to navigate the net".
Anyway, into the last minute. More later.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
TV Free Burning Man | DV.com
"In the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada, approximately 39,000 cheering people watch as a 40-foot-tall figure of a man perched atop an art deco pavilion explodes, burns, and lights up the night sky. And for the first time in the 20-year history of the Burning Man celebration, many thousands of people not on the desert playa at Black Rock also watch The Man burn, live, on television.
This as-it-happens video coverage of Burning Man 2006--shot largely by Burning Man participants themselves--was made possible by TV Free Burning Man, a pirate TV station that lasted only as long as the event itself."
So what is it about this story that I love so much? Well, I'm a big fan of the fire event. Any fire event. In particular, I've got a soft spot for the Woodford Folk Festival, a similar event to the Burning Man celebration, where I covered the fire event in 1999 and live on January 1 2000 for a worldwide Millenium broadcast. I always said, perhaps with a little too much hyperbole, that the control room in the ABC O.B. truck was my Zen Temple. From there I felt connected to all the sources coming in and it was up to me to get in time with what was happening and craft the output the way the pictures wanted to naturally be. Never was that more evident to me than those two times I was able to switch the Woodford Festival fire event. (Why stop switching? Because there's not many opportunities for events like that, and eventually Directors get to a point where they feel like they should be telling you what to do so they can justify their over-inflated paycheck. Switching commercial sports just isn't fun anymore. Too much pressure.)
The other thing I love about this story is the transience of the broadcast. Any time you put "Pirate" and "Television" together in a sentence you've got me won.
Read on and learned how the Burning Man Project and Current TV got the job done.
This as-it-happens video coverage of Burning Man 2006--shot largely by Burning Man participants themselves--was made possible by TV Free Burning Man, a pirate TV station that lasted only as long as the event itself."
So what is it about this story that I love so much? Well, I'm a big fan of the fire event. Any fire event. In particular, I've got a soft spot for the Woodford Folk Festival, a similar event to the Burning Man celebration, where I covered the fire event in 1999 and live on January 1 2000 for a worldwide Millenium broadcast. I always said, perhaps with a little too much hyperbole, that the control room in the ABC O.B. truck was my Zen Temple. From there I felt connected to all the sources coming in and it was up to me to get in time with what was happening and craft the output the way the pictures wanted to naturally be. Never was that more evident to me than those two times I was able to switch the Woodford Festival fire event. (Why stop switching? Because there's not many opportunities for events like that, and eventually Directors get to a point where they feel like they should be telling you what to do so they can justify their over-inflated paycheck. Switching commercial sports just isn't fun anymore. Too much pressure.)
The other thing I love about this story is the transience of the broadcast. Any time you put "Pirate" and "Television" together in a sentence you've got me won.
Read on and learned how the Burning Man Project and Current TV got the job done.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Network | We deal in illusions man, none of it is real...
"...the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break Presidents, Popes, Prime-Ministers. This tube is the most awesome, god damn force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people."
Such wonderful words, delivered by a true master of the art. It's the sort of thing that makes me think long and hard about my career.
However, because that's depressing, suppose we transpose this speech by saying that, rather than "this Tube", he's referring to "this YouTube." How does it hold up then, with the future upon us?
Friday, September 29, 2006
Ze Frank is manipulating our lizard brains | This Old Network
Nice to know I wasn't the only one who was noticing this. Also nice to have some theory to back it up.
Internet 2020
Sure, there'll be scientific research posts on the bottom of the ocean in 2020, but what of our beloved intuhweb?
Pew Internet did a quick survey (of course, when I say "quick survey" I mean "extended analytical research") of industry heavyweights to see what the concensus was on where we were headed over the next decade and a half, and this is what they came up with.
Pew Internet did a quick survey (of course, when I say "quick survey" I mean "extended analytical research") of industry heavyweights to see what the concensus was on where we were headed over the next decade and a half, and this is what they came up with.
The Future of the Internet II - PDF version
or the web site version...
or the web site version...
Pew Internet: Future of the Internet
or the video version (courtesy of PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer)...
Survey Finds Benefits, Hurdles in the Internet
“Fear of enslavement by our creations is an old fear, and a literary tritism. But I fear something worse and much more likely – that sometime after 2020 our machines will become intelligent, evolve rapidly, and end up treating us as pets. We can at least take comfort that there is one worse fate – becoming food – that mercifully is highly unlikely.”
Paul Saffo, forecaster and director of The Institute for the Future
“Fear of enslavement by our creations is an old fear, and a literary tritism. But I fear something worse and much more likely – that sometime after 2020 our machines will become intelligent, evolve rapidly, and end up treating us as pets. We can at least take comfort that there is one worse fate – becoming food – that mercifully is highly unlikely.”
Paul Saffo, forecaster and director of The Institute for the Future
Thursday, September 28, 2006
"Internet provides no news diversity": ACCC. | ABC News Online
Oh well, if Graeme Samuel says so it must be true.
Talking here and now about media reforms that will probably be dogging us for the next 50 years. Lack of understanding of what's happening out there. Short-sightedness relating to where this technology will lead.
Talking here and now about media reforms that will probably be dogging us for the next 50 years. Lack of understanding of what's happening out there. Short-sightedness relating to where this technology will lead.
Yep, sounds like a government department.
"The ACCC would have a role in ruling on takeovers and Mr Samuel has told the inquiry he does not consider the Internet to be an extra source of news, just another way of delivering existing material.
"We think the Internet is simply a distribution channel," he said."
Sounds like someone who has yet to step beyond the bookmarks that came default with IE.TV vs DVD's. What does this figure mean?
Just a glitch, or something worth looking further into?
"The movie Finding Nemo is the biggest selling DVD of all time in Australia. Nevertheless, when Channel Seven showed it at 6.30 last night, 1.3 million people tuned in."
We understand that TV's not dead, and likely will never drop completely off the perch (despite the naysayers), but it makes for an interesting thought. Logic dictates that, even if you want to treat Sunday evening as the family get-together time, you'd put on the DVD to avoid the commercials. But perhaps we're overlooking something here. Perhaps people, for certain events, enjoy the scheduled nature of television because it's a reminder that they're taking part in a mass event, that they're not alone, sitting insulated in their living room, but rather belong to a community, even if that's a community of television watchers.
More thinking required.
"The movie Finding Nemo is the biggest selling DVD of all time in Australia. Nevertheless, when Channel Seven showed it at 6.30 last night, 1.3 million people tuned in."
We understand that TV's not dead, and likely will never drop completely off the perch (despite the naysayers), but it makes for an interesting thought. Logic dictates that, even if you want to treat Sunday evening as the family get-together time, you'd put on the DVD to avoid the commercials. But perhaps we're overlooking something here. Perhaps people, for certain events, enjoy the scheduled nature of television because it's a reminder that they're taking part in a mass event, that they're not alone, sitting insulated in their living room, but rather belong to a community, even if that's a community of television watchers.
More thinking required.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
ZeFrank - the Highlights so far...
With the "The Show with Zefrank" experiment now officially halfway through it's time to revisit the episodes from the start and catalogue my favourites so far.
17/03/06 - Episode 1 Right from number 1 we get the "Sports Racers" theme song.
20/03/06 - Episode 2 The first use of "...thinking so you don't have to."
27/03/06 The episodes start to take their current shape, and the gauntlet is thrown down to Rocketboom.
30/03/06 The day before Ze's birthday. Mmmm, depressing.
03/04/06 "You can't throw, I can't catch so let's just roll the ball..."
06/04/06 The introduction of Ze's Power Move!!!
07/04/06 Dirty Space News! The introduction of Ze's infantile humour. In my opinion he starts to loosen up a lot after this episode.
18/04/06 "We remain engaged in a global war!" Rocketboom shot 2, Sex Ed.
20/04/06 Ze's tired, the League of Awesomeness, thoughts on MoveOn.org, AT&T.
27/04/06 "Those Brooklyn Stairs" (Are the new viewers gone yet?), Rocketboom shot 3, seamless integration of advertising.
28/04/06 Ze's cranky, the Rocketboom "Poop Poop" joust.
05/05/06 Anti-Intellectualism, MySpace.
08/05/06 A trip to Austria, the paper internet, "Hi I'm Ze, what's something I like that's gay?"
09/05/06 Simple German Phrases, a walk in Austria.
10/05/06 Barcelona, Airport signs.
11/05/06 "How do you work this thing?", "How do you spank a giant baby?"
15/05/06 "Hindsight is 20/20".
16/05/06 Talking to the League of Awesomeness, the Earth Sandwich.
22/05/06 Ze sings the explanation on how to work the "King of the Comments", earth sandwich part 2.
24/05/06 "Why does everything have to change?"
31/05/06 Brainstorming!
06/06/06 I think I'm an adult, political parties, MySpace, wanker 2.0.
16/06/06 The show that got pulled off the site. Man, he's so wasted. Or tired. Yeah, that's it he's just tired.
21/06/06 Institutional recourse, dealing with Delta airlines, re-enactment for speculative illustration only.
23/06/06 Fabuloso Friday, Fabuloso Chess, a brief history of the comments.
26/06/06 Monday Gloomies
30/06/06 The "I Knows Me Some Ugly Myspace Competition".
05/07/06 Explaining metaphors, July 4th explained for foreigners, the history of the Hot Dog.
11/07/06 Brain Crack, "Where the fuck do ideas come from?"
I came in just before this episode, and this was the first one that really made me take notice that something special was going on here, that this wasn't your average "idiot with a camera".
12/07/06 Mushrooms, hallucinogens, challenging default symbolic architectures.
14/07/06 "I Knows Me Some Ugly", reinventing the concept of "good taste and bad taste".
This one really changed my idea of where I was coming from with media creation and what was happening in the mediascape around me.
19/07/06 Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Bush says shit!
Without doubt my favourite episode.
24/07/06 Just a fun episode. Cell phones, NASA, Hooker robots.
27/07/06 YouTube gets sued, how it all relates to copyright. Take note, because...
28/07/06 The copyright debate gets "a little more complicated than that," experts, and how to learn.
04/08/06 "In Case You Missed It" day, SugarTits cereal, the ORG, taking a shot at Tax Reform.
08/08/06 100th episode, white facial hair, Ze reminisces...
As someone with more white hairs than I care to acknowledge, and a horrendously geeky background, I relate so much.
10/08/06 Ze explains terrorism, in the wake of the failed British airline attack.
14/08/06 Baseball as allegory - Hilarious.
15/08/06 Check in on your New Years Resolutions, Army Theme Park, the Chess resignation.
17/08/06 The 10 Stages of the Illness Communication Exaggeration Curve.
24/08/06 The call for Sports Racer intros, Ze explains L.A.
28/08/06 Compression of information, the understanding of noise to signal, surrounded by dirty glass.
Another thought changer that made me reconsider my own position on "signal to noise" in consumer-created content.
29/08/06 Jon-Benet, John Carr, Branding (not hot metal burned into flesh).
31/08/06 Senator Ted Stevens and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.
07/09/06 Ze breaks early and talks about where he was on 9/11 2001.
08/09/06 Ride The Fire Eagle Danger Day, sophistication of al-Qaeda recordings, foreign detention centres.
11/09/06 ..||..
14/09/06 "I guess I'd call it Intellectual Comedy."
18/09/06 The birth of "Happy Week", and "Dress Up Your Vacuum".
19/09/06 The birth of the "Ray Remixes", being selfish by making others happy.
And that puts us at halfway.
Anyway, I realise that I'm the only person that comes by here, unless it's to look for my link to the WoW-LotR mashup via Google Images, but in the end I really put these up so I can find them again quickly and easily down the track.
However, should Ze happen to notice this post via Technorati, Icerocket, or whatever, I just want to say thanks. Really. Just thanks. You can figure out what for. Now fire up and see what you can come up with for the home stretch!
17/03/06 - Episode 1 Right from number 1 we get the "Sports Racers" theme song.
20/03/06 - Episode 2 The first use of "...thinking so you don't have to."
27/03/06 The episodes start to take their current shape, and the gauntlet is thrown down to Rocketboom.
30/03/06 The day before Ze's birthday. Mmmm, depressing.
03/04/06 "You can't throw, I can't catch so let's just roll the ball..."
06/04/06 The introduction of Ze's Power Move!!!
07/04/06 Dirty Space News! The introduction of Ze's infantile humour. In my opinion he starts to loosen up a lot after this episode.
18/04/06 "We remain engaged in a global war!" Rocketboom shot 2, Sex Ed.
20/04/06 Ze's tired, the League of Awesomeness, thoughts on MoveOn.org, AT&T.
27/04/06 "Those Brooklyn Stairs" (Are the new viewers gone yet?), Rocketboom shot 3, seamless integration of advertising.
28/04/06 Ze's cranky, the Rocketboom "Poop Poop" joust.
05/05/06 Anti-Intellectualism, MySpace.
08/05/06 A trip to Austria, the paper internet, "Hi I'm Ze, what's something I like that's gay?"
09/05/06 Simple German Phrases, a walk in Austria.
10/05/06 Barcelona, Airport signs.
11/05/06 "How do you work this thing?", "How do you spank a giant baby?"
15/05/06 "Hindsight is 20/20".
16/05/06 Talking to the League of Awesomeness, the Earth Sandwich.
22/05/06 Ze sings the explanation on how to work the "King of the Comments", earth sandwich part 2.
24/05/06 "Why does everything have to change?"
31/05/06 Brainstorming!
06/06/06 I think I'm an adult, political parties, MySpace, wanker 2.0.
16/06/06 The show that got pulled off the site. Man, he's so wasted. Or tired. Yeah, that's it he's just tired.
21/06/06 Institutional recourse, dealing with Delta airlines, re-enactment for speculative illustration only.
23/06/06 Fabuloso Friday, Fabuloso Chess, a brief history of the comments.
26/06/06 Monday Gloomies
30/06/06 The "I Knows Me Some Ugly Myspace Competition".
05/07/06 Explaining metaphors, July 4th explained for foreigners, the history of the Hot Dog.
11/07/06 Brain Crack, "Where the fuck do ideas come from?"
I came in just before this episode, and this was the first one that really made me take notice that something special was going on here, that this wasn't your average "idiot with a camera".
12/07/06 Mushrooms, hallucinogens, challenging default symbolic architectures.
14/07/06 "I Knows Me Some Ugly", reinventing the concept of "good taste and bad taste".
This one really changed my idea of where I was coming from with media creation and what was happening in the mediascape around me.
19/07/06 Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Bush says shit!
Without doubt my favourite episode.
24/07/06 Just a fun episode. Cell phones, NASA, Hooker robots.
27/07/06 YouTube gets sued, how it all relates to copyright. Take note, because...
28/07/06 The copyright debate gets "a little more complicated than that," experts, and how to learn.
04/08/06 "In Case You Missed It" day, SugarTits cereal, the ORG, taking a shot at Tax Reform.
08/08/06 100th episode, white facial hair, Ze reminisces...
As someone with more white hairs than I care to acknowledge, and a horrendously geeky background, I relate so much.
10/08/06 Ze explains terrorism, in the wake of the failed British airline attack.
14/08/06 Baseball as allegory - Hilarious.
15/08/06 Check in on your New Years Resolutions, Army Theme Park, the Chess resignation.
17/08/06 The 10 Stages of the Illness Communication Exaggeration Curve.
24/08/06 The call for Sports Racer intros, Ze explains L.A.
28/08/06 Compression of information, the understanding of noise to signal, surrounded by dirty glass.
Another thought changer that made me reconsider my own position on "signal to noise" in consumer-created content.
29/08/06 Jon-Benet, John Carr, Branding (not hot metal burned into flesh).
31/08/06 Senator Ted Stevens and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.
07/09/06 Ze breaks early and talks about where he was on 9/11 2001.
08/09/06 Ride The Fire Eagle Danger Day, sophistication of al-Qaeda recordings, foreign detention centres.
11/09/06 ..||..
14/09/06 "I guess I'd call it Intellectual Comedy."
18/09/06 The birth of "Happy Week", and "Dress Up Your Vacuum".
19/09/06 The birth of the "Ray Remixes", being selfish by making others happy.
And that puts us at halfway.
Anyway, I realise that I'm the only person that comes by here, unless it's to look for my link to the WoW-LotR mashup via Google Images, but in the end I really put these up so I can find them again quickly and easily down the track.
However, should Ze happen to notice this post via Technorati, Icerocket, or whatever, I just want to say thanks. Really. Just thanks. You can figure out what for. Now fire up and see what you can come up with for the home stretch!
Monday, September 25, 2006
Opals take out world championship | ABC Sport
What a great thing to wake up Sunday morning and hear this news.
A pity we didn't get the chance to play the U.S., but a World Championship's a World Championship. Congratulations ladies, you make your nation proud.
A pity we didn't get the chance to play the U.S., but a World Championship's a World Championship. Congratulations ladies, you make your nation proud.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Spore - Google Video
A great display of a new direction in games... or at least a bunch ol old directions all bundled together to create something new.
In particular I find it interesting to hear Will Wright say that "I didn't want to make players feel like Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins. I wanted them to be like George Lucas or J.R.R. Tolkien..."
More recently I've been thinking of story as really a side effect or a property of interesting experiences, not a prerequisite... I think we use story as a filtering process on our experience. They emphasise the causality of a situation... and we (game designers) don't necessarily have that level of control from our side, but the player does. The player's there having the experience happening to them. Also stories are very useful for portability, you know, communication. It's a way for us to take an experience that we've had, some other place, some other point in time, convey it to somebody else, and it's also in some sense a compression and abstraction where we can get general lessons that we might apply to other situations. Even though the stories don't exactly match, we can abstract up the story to schema learning.
In particular I find it interesting to hear Will Wright say that "I didn't want to make players feel like Luke Skywalker or Frodo Baggins. I wanted them to be like George Lucas or J.R.R. Tolkien..."
More recently I've been thinking of story as really a side effect or a property of interesting experiences, not a prerequisite... I think we use story as a filtering process on our experience. They emphasise the causality of a situation... and we (game designers) don't necessarily have that level of control from our side, but the player does. The player's there having the experience happening to them. Also stories are very useful for portability, you know, communication. It's a way for us to take an experience that we've had, some other place, some other point in time, convey it to somebody else, and it's also in some sense a compression and abstraction where we can get general lessons that we might apply to other situations. Even though the stories don't exactly match, we can abstract up the story to schema learning.
Making sense of the YouTube debate.
The debate rages on...
Once you've read the linked articles, and the thoughts of Terry, check out the comments for even more opinion.
[Edit] And because it's amazing how these things pop up when you least expect to see them, an interesting piece on how YouTube is beating what were once industry leaders such as MTV.
Once you've read the linked articles, and the thoughts of Terry, check out the comments for even more opinion.
[Edit] And because it's amazing how these things pop up when you least expect to see them, an interesting piece on how YouTube is beating what were once industry leaders such as MTV.
Playpen » Blog Archive » MTV vs YouTube
I hadn't seen the OK Go clip from the MTV Music Awards, and it's great! However, the point is well made; MTV used to be the ones that launched this sort of act. Now performers are getting their name known on YouTube and MTV are following. Read the article, you'll see what they mean.
I hadn't seen the OK Go clip from the MTV Music Awards, and it's great! However, the point is well made; MTV used to be the ones that launched this sort of act. Now performers are getting their name known on YouTube and MTV are following. Read the article, you'll see what they mean.
Opals blitz Brazil, advance to final!
While we're standing around, talking hoops, let's hear it for our Women's National team, the Opals, making it to the Grand Final of the World Championships against... well, let's face it, realistically it's going to be against the Yanks unless they collapse against Russia in the Semi's.
Australia playing better than it ever has, U.S.A. in a rebuilding phase trying to maintain their perfect record. Now THAT will be a cracker of a game. Bring on Sunday morning!
Congratulations ladies! You've already done yourselves and your country proud. Everything from here is gravy.
[Update] Shows what I know...
Now this will be interesting.
Australia playing better than it ever has, U.S.A. in a rebuilding phase trying to maintain their perfect record. Now THAT will be a cracker of a game. Bring on Sunday morning!
Congratulations ladies! You've already done yourselves and your country proud. Everything from here is gravy.
[Update] Shows what I know...
Now this will be interesting.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Greater than the sum of its parts | Tom Coates
How social networking sites work.
and, quite handily, Marnie Webb's notes on the presentation.
and, quite handily, Marnie Webb's notes on the presentation.
Congrats to the Singapore Slingers, NBL
Congratulations are in order to the newest expansion team to the National League on winning their inaugural match. While I'm at it, congrats to the league for getting this international movement up and running. Let's hope it's the start of something very successful for all concerned.
NBL | Slingers start with win
Now we just have to hope the Bullets can get it together in a way they never quite managed last year. Here's hoping.
Now we just have to hope the Bullets can get it together in a way they never quite managed last year. Here's hoping.
Country Ball for 2006 - Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me? | Street Swags
The Street Swags Country Ball is on again this year. Head along and support a very worthy cause, or feel free to donate whatever you can. Jean and Tim Madden do a great job running this incredibly worthwhile cause to help the local homeless, and from reports of last year this promises to be an absolute hootinanny!
(Hope you don't mind me leeching your image guys.)
Last year they had Bullshit Bingo! No word yet on whether the cow will return for this year.
(Hope you don't mind me leeching your image guys.)
Last year they had Bullshit Bingo! No word yet on whether the cow will return for this year.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
It all changed: a breakdown by industry and how to win | Lost Remote TV Blog
A nice rundown from Steve Safran of Lost Remote as he looks to the future by outlining the "logical scenario based upon the current and developing technologies, along with some common sense."
American in specifics, but some of the overarching themes that shine through are entirely relevant for Australian media producers, in particular the call to embrace hyper-localisation, building a conversation with your audience and beginning to leverage the lower cost of production to create your own, locally-relevant content.
American in specifics, but some of the overarching themes that shine through are entirely relevant for Australian media producers, in particular the call to embrace hyper-localisation, building a conversation with your audience and beginning to leverage the lower cost of production to create your own, locally-relevant content.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
You know what I said in my previous post...
...about me being happy with the media reforms? Well, I have to admit I'm not too keen on all of them and I get the feeling I'll be even less happy as the government refuses to expend "political capital" getting them through in their initial form.
"In a perfect world, nobody would be excluded from anything. But that's not the way of the media world. Everyone is excluded from offering commercial free-to-air TV except the three incumbents. This is the last big pocket of protectionism in our economy and the Howard Government is not of a mind to remove it, at least until the move to digital is completed between 2012 and 2014, give or take a few years."
Of course, I've stated before that I don't believe that the future of media is TV, only smaller. If you don't package on-demand with mobility then it's just not enough to warrant the inevitable subscription cost.
"That will mean the status quo on ownership is maintained until after digital conversion. And by then we'll have full-time digital streaming of any kind of programming on demand via the internet, a technology that promises to render content regulation and the protection of licence holders irrelevant."
...and that doesn't take into account the lengthening of the Long Tail, the next generation of YouTubes, the inexorable approach of internet video on your teev, the "almost-dead-before-it-began" video podcast, and the "it's-only-a-matter-of-time-before-someone-finally-does-it" mobile media player with wi-fi connectivity, all likely well within the next 6 years.
Viva la Revolution!
"In a perfect world, nobody would be excluded from anything. But that's not the way of the media world. Everyone is excluded from offering commercial free-to-air TV except the three incumbents. This is the last big pocket of protectionism in our economy and the Howard Government is not of a mind to remove it, at least until the move to digital is completed between 2012 and 2014, give or take a few years."
Of course, I've stated before that I don't believe that the future of media is TV, only smaller. If you don't package on-demand with mobility then it's just not enough to warrant the inevitable subscription cost.
"That will mean the status quo on ownership is maintained until after digital conversion. And by then we'll have full-time digital streaming of any kind of programming on demand via the internet, a technology that promises to render content regulation and the protection of licence holders irrelevant."
...and that doesn't take into account the lengthening of the Long Tail, the next generation of YouTubes, the inexorable approach of internet video on your teev, the "almost-dead-before-it-began" video podcast, and the "it's-only-a-matter-of-time-before-someone-finally-does-it" mobile media player with wi-fi connectivity, all likely well within the next 6 years.
Viva la Revolution!
Some thoughts on the 50th birthday of Television in Australia
Interesting, but by no means surprising, that we have a situation where the television industry feels it should get together and let us know how long they've been around in this country. I understand the important and relevant role that TV has played in the cultural, economic and social development of Australia over this time, but I find it all a little self-congratulatory that the industry feels compelled to not only get together and slap each other on the back, but to then tell us all how lucky we are to have had them there to guide us.
Or am I just being bitter because I wasn't invited?
It's interesting that the industry feels it needs to do this, but then it's always been based on a limited number of participants that have lived and died by their ability to market themselves and their product. It's what it does, it doesn't know any better. I guess this is one of the main differences between the old media and the new media. TV, radio, newspapers are all based on a limited number of people creating personalities for us to respond to and embrace so they can sell us stuff. Where is new media's Bruce Gyngell, wandering through the wires to proclaim the medium open? Could you imagine that? Tim Berners-Lee posting a YouTube article welcoming us to "teh interweb". Most of the Internet's "celebrities" are not presenters, but rather the fathers and mothers of its creation and I'm not seeing anyone celebrating the birthday of Logie Baird. The Web's an international phenomenon, predominantly American, so I guess we need ZeFrank to mark the official opening (and apologising, Great Prophet Zarquon style, for being a little late) so we can celebrate it 50 years from now.
What a great idea. I deserve a raise.
:-)
Interesting to see how the reforms play out through Parliament today. I can't see Barnaby's gripe. As I've already mentioned I like the reforms, but then I live in a city.
Or am I just being bitter because I wasn't invited?
It's interesting that the industry feels it needs to do this, but then it's always been based on a limited number of participants that have lived and died by their ability to market themselves and their product. It's what it does, it doesn't know any better. I guess this is one of the main differences between the old media and the new media. TV, radio, newspapers are all based on a limited number of people creating personalities for us to respond to and embrace so they can sell us stuff. Where is new media's Bruce Gyngell, wandering through the wires to proclaim the medium open? Could you imagine that? Tim Berners-Lee posting a YouTube article welcoming us to "teh interweb". Most of the Internet's "celebrities" are not presenters, but rather the fathers and mothers of its creation and I'm not seeing anyone celebrating the birthday of Logie Baird. The Web's an international phenomenon, predominantly American, so I guess we need ZeFrank to mark the official opening (and apologising, Great Prophet Zarquon style, for being a little late) so we can celebrate it 50 years from now.
What a great idea. I deserve a raise.
:-)
Interesting to see how the reforms play out through Parliament today. I can't see Barnaby's gripe. As I've already mentioned I like the reforms, but then I live in a city.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
New RSS link in the Sidebar
Because I think this stuff is interesting, I've added an updated RSS link to Gary Hayes' media blog "Personalize Media" in the left sidebar. Gary's one of the most experienced and savvy people in this industry at the moment and we're just lucky that he's decided to make his home in Australia so we can milk his knowledge for all its worth.
:-)
Anyway, I realise that 9 out of 10 people visiting this site never actually make it to the front page, but rather get here via Google Images trying to track down the Lord of the Rings WoW mashup, but sometimes it's nice to pretend I run a real blog.
:-)
Anyway, I realise that 9 out of 10 people visiting this site never actually make it to the front page, but rather get here via Google Images trying to track down the Lord of the Rings WoW mashup, but sometimes it's nice to pretend I run a real blog.
Monday, September 11, 2006
How bad TV made us better | The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs
David Dale from the SMH shares his thoughts on the highs and lows of television as we approach the 50th birthday of TV in Australia.
The worst that TV showed us
Arrogance. Billions in profits have encouraged the networks to take their audience for granted. They think they can be deceptive, unreliable, arbitrary and insulting, because the viewers have nowhere else to go...
The best that TV showed us
Homicide. It wouldn't work today as crime drama or as token Australian content. But in 1966, when it won its timeslot for the first time against a US drama (The Fugitive), the critic Harry Robinson noted a cultural tipping point: "Australians may at last be willing to consider their own people with their own ways worth watching. Till now, as any showman will tell you, Australians have preferred to watch anybody but their own kind, no matter what the quality. Perhaps we have grown up enough to give ourselves a fair go..."
I think he's hit the nail on the head with every one of his "worst" category. He wouldn't be far off with his "best" list either.
If anything I'd put a caveat on the Simpsons (which should have been put to rest many seasons ago), and perhaps add "Australian Story" to "Four Corners".
The worst that TV showed us
Arrogance. Billions in profits have encouraged the networks to take their audience for granted. They think they can be deceptive, unreliable, arbitrary and insulting, because the viewers have nowhere else to go...
The best that TV showed us
Homicide. It wouldn't work today as crime drama or as token Australian content. But in 1966, when it won its timeslot for the first time against a US drama (The Fugitive), the critic Harry Robinson noted a cultural tipping point: "Australians may at last be willing to consider their own people with their own ways worth watching. Till now, as any showman will tell you, Australians have preferred to watch anybody but their own kind, no matter what the quality. Perhaps we have grown up enough to give ourselves a fair go..."
I think he's hit the nail on the head with every one of his "worst" category. He wouldn't be far off with his "best" list either.
If anything I'd put a caveat on the Simpsons (which should have been put to rest many seasons ago), and perhaps add "Australian Story" to "Four Corners".
Online Spin » Can a TV Show Teach Us About Marketing?
I'm not a fan of the whole PR/Marketing thing, but this is a good article on how the TV show "Lost" is creating its own brand and generating its own community beyond the scope of the television set through the use of a cross media game.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
lonelygirl15 vs traditional media
Man, that's almost too good a title to just leave sitting there like that, but that's exactly what I'm going to do. No explanation, opinion or comment, I'm just linking to this short piece by Jeff Jarvis so I can find it again later.
[Edit] Some more links to Lonelygirl15 stuff at PBS' Media Shift.
[Edit] Some more links to Lonelygirl15 stuff at PBS' Media Shift.
[Edit part deux] Dagnabbit. I should have known this whole thing would come to a head while I was away for the weekend. The whole thing is revealed, through Internet investigation, to be a production created by a small company whose purpose is to create an era of interactive storytelling where the line between “fan” and “star” has been removed, and dedicated fans like yourselves are paid for their efforts.
Initial response tends to indicate the punters are not happy.
Pheh, viewers. You just can't please them.
Initial response tends to indicate the punters are not happy.
Pheh, viewers. You just can't please them.
More drama at the ABC | The Australian
Amanda Meade's media diary for this week mentions a few issues, but the one that's grabbed my attention sits tucked at the bottom of the page. I'd almost given up reading about appointments at The Bulletin and who's going to write for Vogue when this popped up.
I just want to put this here because I fear it's going to be even bigger down the track.
Aunty's news crunch
THE ABC's state news directors have been told that their department overspent last year by $1 million. As a result some states face staff cuts, and travel budgets and phone calls will have to be trimmed. Managers were told the recent federal budget gave the ABC more money but tied it to other projects and departments, namely drama. Staff were also told the ABC can no longer afford annual pay rises and some states will lose some positions. A job in TV news recently advertised in Media was axed 10 days after the applications closed.
I just want to put this here because I fear it's going to be even bigger down the track.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
ZeFrank Speaks at TED
I love the Ze, I think that much is fair to say. One day I'm going to get around to posting links to my favourite episodes of "the Show" (if only because the site has no appreciable search system) but for now I link to this so I can find it later.
On discovering the secret to website popularity:
"Dance like an idiot and don't sell anything."
Never before have truer words been spoken.
On discovering the secret to website popularity:
"Dance like an idiot and don't sell anything."
Never before have truer words been spoken.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
10 web news business questions that need a ‘yes’ | Lost Remote TV Blog
Not entirely applicable in a Public Broadcaster environment such as mine, but still thought provoking.
10 questions to which any news manager must answer ‘yes’
Visit Lost Remote for the full list and play along at home. Even if you're not involved with any sort of News Media, taka a look and see if you think these are the sort of changes that are important to you. I'd be interested to hear, but as always I doubt anyone will even read this let alone comment.
10 questions to which any news manager must answer ‘yes’
1. Is your website and newscast fully integrated? A “go to our site for more information” promo does not count.
2. Does everyone in your newsroom understand the web?
3. Are you investing capital in your website?...
Visit Lost Remote for the full list and play along at home. Even if you're not involved with any sort of News Media, taka a look and see if you think these are the sort of changes that are important to you. I'd be interested to hear, but as always I doubt anyone will even read this let alone comment.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Two good articles - Buzzmachine and PoMo blogs
Interesting thoughts from the blog tag-team of Jeff Jarvis and Terry Heaton.
(I'm sure they'd both take umbrance at that overgeneralisation)
"The problem with books, I’ve been saying, is that we give them too much respect. Because we treat them as holy objects, we are less likely to change and update the form — and that, sorry to say, leaves books behind as the rest of media must progress."
An old friend of mine who runs a TV station said the other day, "I just don't get the attraction (of social media)." This is a tough one for established people to understand, and it is especially difficult for those in media. To my friend -- and many people like him -- social media sites (e.g. MySpace) are a colossal waste of time.
Some interesting thoughts on the value of conversation and the developing media structures that make it happen.
(I'm sure they'd both take umbrance at that overgeneralisation)
"The problem with books, I’ve been saying, is that we give them too much respect. Because we treat them as holy objects, we are less likely to change and update the form — and that, sorry to say, leaves books behind as the rest of media must progress."
An old friend of mine who runs a TV station said the other day, "I just don't get the attraction (of social media)." This is a tough one for established people to understand, and it is especially difficult for those in media. To my friend -- and many people like him -- social media sites (e.g. MySpace) are a colossal waste of time.
Some interesting thoughts on the value of conversation and the developing media structures that make it happen.
The relaunch of the Lateline site
With the launch of Lateline Business my colleagues and I have found ourselves rethinking the Lateline Business site. And so, here we have it! Based on the "Australian Story" template created by Martin Southgate and Tim Madden (which I helped a bit with), the idea is to be able to maintain production of additional video resources with a minimum of fuss.
Also note the launch of Lateline video podcasts. You can't begin to believe the fun we've gone through trying to get this stuff working. Suffice it to say that now this is up and running we hope it to be the first of many.
Also note the launch of Lateline video podcasts. You can't begin to believe the fun we've gone through trying to get this stuff working. Suffice it to say that now this is up and running we hope it to be the first of many.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Imagining the Tenth Dimension
A great Flash tutorial on how to conceive of the 10 dimensions posited by String Theory. Definitely worth a few views to get the concept straight, but a great example of how this sort of media can be used for educational purposes.
Monday, July 31, 2006
YouTube - Day of the Longtail
Via Chris Anderson's The Long Tail blog.
And here's the video
"Well, uh, can't we just start blogging back at them?"
"Well yeah, but where's the money in that?"
Heh heh. Teh funny.
And here's the video
"Well, uh, can't we just start blogging back at them?"
"Well yeah, but where's the money in that?"
Heh heh. Teh funny.
Friday, July 28, 2006
The definition of irony in the Video Newsletter world
Here's what you do. First up, you publish an article by one of the most highly respected industry professionals on why the idea of "Author Once, Deliver Many" is fundamentally flawed in the current mediascape.
Then you follow it up a month later with a step-by-step article on how to do it.
Oh, how I chortled.
To be fair, they're both great articles and well worth the read. As always, DV requires registration.
Then you follow it up a month later with a step-by-step article on how to do it.
Oh, how I chortled.
To be fair, they're both great articles and well worth the read. As always, DV requires registration.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
His Space: Rupert Murdoch talks about MySpace | Wired
Bookmark time!
An interesting article on the growth of MySpace, why NewsCorp bought it, why it continues to grow and what it means for business and competitors.
[Update]
Interesting response from Matt Locke from Test.org.uk
An interesting article on the growth of MySpace, why NewsCorp bought it, why it continues to grow and what it means for business and competitors.
[Update]
Interesting response from Matt Locke from Test.org.uk
Friday, July 14, 2006
Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality | YouTube
Oh I laughed and I laughed.
YouTube - Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality
Why? Because teh internets is a series of tubes...
Media Reforms! The day after the media release before...
There's been too much coverage of this to go into detail. Suffice it to say, go read it for yourself. Start here.
Now I'm off to spend the weekend reading the Press Release and checking out the blogs of vested interest.
In a nutshell, FTA TV gets protected (no great surprise there), Pay TV gets a little more access to live sport, National Party members are placated, and industry journalists and players are once again shown that they're not really across what's actually happening out there.
Open it all up! Give a fourth TV channel, promote access to multi-channels by third parties, doesn't really matter. TV and Radio are only a generation away from losing their stranglehold completely and slipping into being just another media distributor.
This and even more hyperbole as the weeks continue.
Oh yes, the next step in the "Chisolm for Chairman" campaign took place yesterday. Between that, the legislation, a whistlestop visit from the new M.D. (nice guy. Look forward to seeing what he's got in mind for the future) and juicier powers for ACMA it's been a heady 24 hours in the industry.
Now I'm off to spend the weekend reading the Press Release and checking out the blogs of vested interest.
In a nutshell, FTA TV gets protected (no great surprise there), Pay TV gets a little more access to live sport, National Party members are placated, and industry journalists and players are once again shown that they're not really across what's actually happening out there.
Open it all up! Give a fourth TV channel, promote access to multi-channels by third parties, doesn't really matter. TV and Radio are only a generation away from losing their stranglehold completely and slipping into being just another media distributor.
This and even more hyperbole as the weeks continue.
Oh yes, the next step in the "Chisolm for Chairman" campaign took place yesterday. Between that, the legislation, a whistlestop visit from the new M.D. (nice guy. Look forward to seeing what he's got in mind for the future) and juicier powers for ACMA it's been a heady 24 hours in the industry.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
German expressionism movies | we make money not art
Links!
So I can come back later and gobble them all up.
Includes Faust, Nosferatu, The Golem, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, M and Destiny, hosted on the Internet Archive and Google Video.
So I can come back later and gobble them all up.
Includes Faust, Nosferatu, The Golem, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, M and Destiny, hosted on the Internet Archive and Google Video.
Counting Down to the status quo!
FEDERAL Cabinet today made a decision on media reform, ahead of a formal announcement later this week...
End of the week! Only two more sleeps until we're told that nothing has changed!! FTA TV will continue to be protected while it ignores everything but its ever shrinking bottom line. In response it will argue that the answer is even greater protection and to just keep what they're already doing, only smaller. Callooh, Callay! Let the pigeons loose!!
See you Friday, media groovers.
[Update]
I should'a read the most recent article.
FOREIGN and domestic companies will be able to freely invest in television and newspapers under a dramatic overhaul of media laws likely to trigger a wave of takeover activity.
Yeah, well we'll see how it all pans out, but other than PBL continuing to do its best to do away with the first two letters of its acronymistic name it's all turning out to be a wasted opportunity.
I still hold to what I said up above. FTA TV, as an industry, will likely remain a protected species.
End of the week! Only two more sleeps until we're told that nothing has changed!! FTA TV will continue to be protected while it ignores everything but its ever shrinking bottom line. In response it will argue that the answer is even greater protection and to just keep what they're already doing, only smaller. Callooh, Callay! Let the pigeons loose!!
See you Friday, media groovers.
[Update]
I should'a read the most recent article.
FOREIGN and domestic companies will be able to freely invest in television and newspapers under a dramatic overhaul of media laws likely to trigger a wave of takeover activity.
Yeah, well we'll see how it all pans out, but other than PBL continuing to do its best to do away with the first two letters of its acronymistic name it's all turning out to be a wasted opportunity.
I still hold to what I said up above. FTA TV, as an industry, will likely remain a protected species.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
6 Trends that are Changing the World | Wired.com
For my own archive links, here's the six elements from this month's edition of Wired magazine's "6 Trends that are Changing the World".
And because I'm feeling so disposed, another article by Chris Anderson titled "The Rise & Fall of the Hit" about the new methods of content delivery and how they're affecting the music/video distribution industries.
People Power by Chris Anderson
Video Unlimited by Eryn Brown
Made to Order by Kevin Kelleher
Carbon Killers by Eryn Brown
M&A as R&D by Josh McHugh
The Open Everything Economy by Kevin Kelleher
Video Unlimited by Eryn Brown
Made to Order by Kevin Kelleher
Carbon Killers by Eryn Brown
M&A as R&D by Josh McHugh
The Open Everything Economy by Kevin Kelleher
And because I'm feeling so disposed, another article by Chris Anderson titled "The Rise & Fall of the Hit" about the new methods of content delivery and how they're affecting the music/video distribution industries.
the show with zefrank
Once again proving that the internet is an organic being, fuelled by the power of viral transmission.
It's... something you have to see for yourself. Suffice it to say I'm now officially hooked.
This is, officially, the video content TV would never produce.
It's... something you have to see for yourself. Suffice it to say I'm now officially hooked.
This is, officially, the video content TV would never produce.
Grunt Media - Video and Podcasts, defined
I was positive I'd mentioned Video Grunt before, but obviously I haven't.
I picked up Video Grunt a while back from a Creative Cow newsletter. It's a highly informative podcast running through the basics of video, starting with aspect ratios and building from there. Unfortunately the production schedule leaves a little to be desired (taking a while to get each episode out the door) but a great example of what can be done with a bit of time and know-how.
So what happens when you start producing a podcast about video? People start asking "Hey, what's a podcast?" and so the program's creator, Craig Syverson, has decided to launch a series of podcasts explaining, strangely enough, what a podcast is.
Easy to understand for even the most technologically novice user. I intent to point my wife in this direction should she ever ask those three little words, "What is Podcasting?"
I picked up Video Grunt a while back from a Creative Cow newsletter. It's a highly informative podcast running through the basics of video, starting with aspect ratios and building from there. Unfortunately the production schedule leaves a little to be desired (taking a while to get each episode out the door) but a great example of what can be done with a bit of time and know-how.
So what happens when you start producing a podcast about video? People start asking "Hey, what's a podcast?" and so the program's creator, Craig Syverson, has decided to launch a series of podcasts explaining, strangely enough, what a podcast is.
Easy to understand for even the most technologically novice user. I intent to point my wife in this direction should she ever ask those three little words, "What is Podcasting?"
Friday, July 07, 2006
Craft of Lighting | DV - Columns
So long as I'm on a bit of a role, here's the link to the Rev. John Jackman's articles on lighting. This guy's the author of the book "Lighting for Digital Video and Television" so he knows his stuff. I'm pretty sure I've linked to one or two of these in the past, but this way you get the lot!
DV - Columns - Craft of Lighting
One that's in the archives, but is definitely worth having a hotline to, is his 2002 article "Lighting The Darkness". A great look at how to light night time shots. Between this and watching all seven series of Buffy (not to mention Angel and Firefly) I think I've got a shot!
DV - Lighting the Darkness | John Jackman
In case you missed it below, all these articles require registration.
DV - Columns - Craft of Lighting
One that's in the archives, but is definitely worth having a hotline to, is his 2002 article "Lighting The Darkness". A great look at how to light night time shots. Between this and watching all seven series of Buffy (not to mention Angel and Firefly) I think I've got a shot!
DV - Lighting the Darkness | John Jackman
In case you missed it below, all these articles require registration.
The Great Divergence - Chris Meyer | DV.com
The second paragraph pretty much sums up where this article is headed;
"One of the hoped-for efficiencies of convergence was the practice of "author once, deliver many." This means trying to create one set of content that would be suitable for a large number of delivery formats-such as a design that would work both for broadcast or DVD as well as a compressed movie for the Web."
It then goes on to point out some of the factors that have failed to keep technical reality in step with developer and consumer desire, in particular the stupidity of the currently released video iPod, the "not quite ready for prime time" Flash player (although it's gotten a Hell of a lot better) and the still lagging uptake of high speed internet (and that's in the U.S.! Australia's pathetic excuse for broadband makes them look like South Korea by comparison).
A little shaky in parts, particularly where it moves from the video downside to the delivery downside, but it's a valid point. We live in a volatile media environment where everyone is trying to do their bit to be the "Universal medium" of the internet. While we live in this environment split between forward thinking digirati, luddite analogists and the vested interests in both camps, it has to be considered almost impossible to create video items that work flawlessly across all platforms. At this point in its development we live in a world of compromise.
But then, these challenges are sent to make us consider alternatives to the norm. Time to put the thinking cap back on. If anyone actually read this stuff I'd implore them to leave comments and ideas. At this point let's just chalk this up to "ideas and concepts that Leonard should revisit every six months or so."
"One of the hoped-for efficiencies of convergence was the practice of "author once, deliver many." This means trying to create one set of content that would be suitable for a large number of delivery formats-such as a design that would work both for broadcast or DVD as well as a compressed movie for the Web."
It then goes on to point out some of the factors that have failed to keep technical reality in step with developer and consumer desire, in particular the stupidity of the currently released video iPod, the "not quite ready for prime time" Flash player (although it's gotten a Hell of a lot better) and the still lagging uptake of high speed internet (and that's in the U.S.! Australia's pathetic excuse for broadband makes them look like South Korea by comparison).
A little shaky in parts, particularly where it moves from the video downside to the delivery downside, but it's a valid point. We live in a volatile media environment where everyone is trying to do their bit to be the "Universal medium" of the internet. While we live in this environment split between forward thinking digirati, luddite analogists and the vested interests in both camps, it has to be considered almost impossible to create video items that work flawlessly across all platforms. At this point in its development we live in a world of compromise.
But then, these challenges are sent to make us consider alternatives to the norm. Time to put the thinking cap back on. If anyone actually read this stuff I'd implore them to leave comments and ideas. At this point let's just chalk this up to "ideas and concepts that Leonard should revisit every six months or so."
Thursday, July 06, 2006
There is no joy in Boomville, mighty Amanda has cleared out
Things continue to unfold and unravel while my attention is turned elsewhere.
Amanda Congdon, the face of seminal vlog "Rocketboom" (isn't it interesting that I now feel that the term "seminal" can be used in conjunction vith a video blog without the need for sniggering or "quotes") has parted ways with the show. Moreover, she made the announcement on her own personal vlog.
"So here I am on "Unboomed" as I have apparently been unboomed. Apparantly my partner Andrew Baron is no longer interested in being my partner and since he owns 51% of Rocketboom and I own 49% of Rocketboom that's just something I'm gonna have to kind of live with."
(Side note:- Love the "World turned upside down." Cute metaphor in so many ways.)
According to the Rocketboom front page (and it's sure to change in a week's time when things move on),
"Amanda Congdon has decided to move to L.A. to pursue opportunities that have arisen for her in Hollywood.
We wanted to meet her demands to move production out to L.A., however, we are a small company and have not been able to figure out a way to make it work, financially and in many other ways at this time. While we continue to remain with open arms, Amanda has in fact quit and left Rocketboom. So sadly, we bid Amanda adieu and wish her all the best.
Rocketboom goes on.
Andrew Baron, the founder and creator of Rocketboom, will stay with the company in New York and will continue to produce and direct the show. We are in the daunting process of recruiting a replacement for Amanda.
While Amanda will be sorely missed, we have big plans for Rocketboom and are determined to make the show better than ever.
After Field Week and a week on hiatus, we know that you are hungry for the news! Rocketboom will be back with a news episode and an interim host this MONDAY, JULY 10."
There's also been this post where Mr Baron outlines his side of the story.
“We wanted her to get to L.A. to pursue her personal opportunities as soon as possible, but her demand to move this week without waiting any longer, without a justification, and without an adequate proposal for a plan for how the show itself would work, we were unable to uproot Rocketboom from NYC at this time.”
Man, disappointing, but interesting to see how this unfolds. For instance,
(That's Jason Calcanis, CEO of Netscape's Blog network Weblogs, Inc.)
"You're on the top of the talent pool on the Web and you should get compensated for what you've done. You don't have a huge window of opportunity--you need to act now and you should get paid *now*. This is what I told Peter when I recruited him from Gizmodo, Elizabeth when I tried to (and failed) recruit her from Gawker, and this is the same advice I told Scoble months ago before he left Microsoft (he says my discussion with him helped him make the jump).
When you're the talent you build brand equity, you cash in on that brand and then you take it to the next level. You are at that very moment right now.. you need to make the jump to the next level.
So, my offer to you is do your daily report for Netscape and we'll pay you whatever you need to get paid AND you can own all of the rights to your video forever (just give us like a six month exclusive window on Netscape). We will set you up with our kick-ass studios, get you an office, and I've got a full-time video editor at your disposal (i.e. they can go with you anywhere). Also, we'll set up a travel budget so you can go cover whatever stories you want.
You're a star baby... it's time to be treated like one."
Best of luck to all involved. Any way you look at it, it's the end of something new and the start of something old. Both Ms Congdon and Mr Baron are intelligent, innovative people with bright futures so there will definitely be a tomorrow for them both. Let's see how this one develops over the next few weeks.
[UPDATE] I love reading analysis from Lost Remote's Steve Safran and he's decided to weigh in on the news.
"Raise your hands if you’re surprised that the "Rocketboom" implosion happened just as money entered into the equation. The 51-49 split of the show was fine, as long as 51 percent of nothing was still nothing. Then the site started on the road to revenue. Of course money is at the heart of this. Nothing breaks up a relationship like money. "
I do hope that's supposed to be "Shark". Then it would make sense. Then again, I guess "Snark" has a certain meaning to it as well.
And to continue the "He Said, She Said", a reply of sorts from Ms Congdon to the comments by Mr Baron mentioned above.
"I am disheartened by Andrew Baron's decision to spread misinformation. He knows I cannot move to LA without a job...but insists on spinning things this way to shore up his assertion that I am "walking away" from Rocketboom. I did not walk away. I did not accept Andrew's idea of "partnership"."
Amanda Congdon, the face of seminal vlog "Rocketboom" (isn't it interesting that I now feel that the term "seminal" can be used in conjunction vith a video blog without the need for sniggering or "quotes") has parted ways with the show. Moreover, she made the announcement on her own personal vlog.
"So here I am on "Unboomed" as I have apparently been unboomed. Apparantly my partner Andrew Baron is no longer interested in being my partner and since he owns 51% of Rocketboom and I own 49% of Rocketboom that's just something I'm gonna have to kind of live with."
(Side note:- Love the "World turned upside down." Cute metaphor in so many ways.)
According to the Rocketboom front page (and it's sure to change in a week's time when things move on),
"Amanda Congdon has decided to move to L.A. to pursue opportunities that have arisen for her in Hollywood.
We wanted to meet her demands to move production out to L.A., however, we are a small company and have not been able to figure out a way to make it work, financially and in many other ways at this time. While we continue to remain with open arms, Amanda has in fact quit and left Rocketboom. So sadly, we bid Amanda adieu and wish her all the best.
Rocketboom goes on.
Andrew Baron, the founder and creator of Rocketboom, will stay with the company in New York and will continue to produce and direct the show. We are in the daunting process of recruiting a replacement for Amanda.
While Amanda will be sorely missed, we have big plans for Rocketboom and are determined to make the show better than ever.
After Field Week and a week on hiatus, we know that you are hungry for the news! Rocketboom will be back with a news episode and an interim host this MONDAY, JULY 10."
There's also been this post where Mr Baron outlines his side of the story.
“We wanted her to get to L.A. to pursue her personal opportunities as soon as possible, but her demand to move this week without waiting any longer, without a justification, and without an adequate proposal for a plan for how the show itself would work, we were unable to uproot Rocketboom from NYC at this time.”
Man, disappointing, but interesting to see how this unfolds. For instance,
(That's Jason Calcanis, CEO of Netscape's Blog network Weblogs, Inc.)
"You're on the top of the talent pool on the Web and you should get compensated for what you've done. You don't have a huge window of opportunity--you need to act now and you should get paid *now*. This is what I told Peter when I recruited him from Gizmodo, Elizabeth when I tried to (and failed) recruit her from Gawker, and this is the same advice I told Scoble months ago before he left Microsoft (he says my discussion with him helped him make the jump).
When you're the talent you build brand equity, you cash in on that brand and then you take it to the next level. You are at that very moment right now.. you need to make the jump to the next level.
So, my offer to you is do your daily report for Netscape and we'll pay you whatever you need to get paid AND you can own all of the rights to your video forever (just give us like a six month exclusive window on Netscape). We will set you up with our kick-ass studios, get you an office, and I've got a full-time video editor at your disposal (i.e. they can go with you anywhere). Also, we'll set up a travel budget so you can go cover whatever stories you want.
You're a star baby... it's time to be treated like one."
Best of luck to all involved. Any way you look at it, it's the end of something new and the start of something old. Both Ms Congdon and Mr Baron are intelligent, innovative people with bright futures so there will definitely be a tomorrow for them both. Let's see how this one develops over the next few weeks.
[UPDATE] I love reading analysis from Lost Remote's Steve Safran and he's decided to weigh in on the news.
"Raise your hands if you’re surprised that the "Rocketboom" implosion happened just as money entered into the equation. The 51-49 split of the show was fine, as long as 51 percent of nothing was still nothing. Then the site started on the road to revenue. Of course money is at the heart of this. Nothing breaks up a relationship like money. "
I do hope that's supposed to be "Shark". Then it would make sense. Then again, I guess "Snark" has a certain meaning to it as well.
And to continue the "He Said, She Said", a reply of sorts from Ms Congdon to the comments by Mr Baron mentioned above.
"I am disheartened by Andrew Baron's decision to spread misinformation. He knows I cannot move to LA without a job...but insists on spinning things this way to shore up his assertion that I am "walking away" from Rocketboom. I did not walk away. I did not accept Andrew's idea of "partnership"."
Amanda UnBoomed: For the Record
If nothing else, it does go to prove that soap doesn't necessarily halt viral transmission.
If nothing else, it does go to prove that soap doesn't necessarily halt viral transmission.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Ten tips digital growth | The Australian
Two weeks without a post and this is the best headline I can find.
"Ten Tips Digital Growth"
Well duuhhh!!!
Anyway, it seems like Ten, after having sat in the background and just bubbled along doing their thing without a lot of "NineMSN" or "Yahoo7" Hoo Haa are taking the next step. The TV company that made itself viable by tapping into the youth demographic have hired Damian Smith, formerly of search engine LookSmart and Sydney software firm Nuix (depending on who you're reading at the time).
"He will begin at Ten next Monday, July 10, and will report to Ten's chief executive officer Grant Blackley.
Mr Smith will aggregate and expand the network's existing digital media capabilities, Mr Blackley said."
Digital Media capabilities, of which people keep looping in Big Brother and the phenomenal success they've had in this field. Now, let's be fair for a second. The Big Brother site (and no, I'm not linking to it - find it yourself) isn't really part of Channel 10. It's a separate program site that Ten has a vested interest in.
That said, Ten's been quietly doing their own thing, providing download content from their site including full programs of shows like "Thank God You're Here" (now removed from the site because it's finished its season). Now with someone specifically heading this sort of area and driving it forward it will be interesting to see whether Ten makes the leap from "television station with a website" to "21st Century Media organisation" in the way that the other commercial stations have yet to achieve.
Final note before I disappear again.
"The network said it would also look to offer more downloadable and streamed versions of its programs, after the popularity of the Thank God You're Here season finale which was made available as a free download for two weeks last month."
I'd love to see some figures on just how popular that download was. I checked it out at the time and even at H.264 iPod specs it was around 300Mb. I'm fascinated to know whether people are really keen to sit and watch a postage stamp on their computer screens at their convenience. In other words, does the convenience of "On Demand" beat out the noise of decreased viewer experience? We know people are happy to sit and watch short form content on their screens, but just taking a TV show and moving it from the medium where it works best is another thing entirely. Then again, over 1,000,000 iTunes downloaders can't be wrong. Time to have a rethink, which is a real pity. I'd hate to think that the future of this content is just to take existing formats and try and shoehorn them into a different viewer experience. It stunts the ability for video content in this environment to develop its own format and for content producers to step outside the square.
Enough from me. I had all last week to say something and now I'm back at work I won't shut up.
"Ten Tips Digital Growth"
Well duuhhh!!!
Anyway, it seems like Ten, after having sat in the background and just bubbled along doing their thing without a lot of "NineMSN" or "Yahoo7" Hoo Haa are taking the next step. The TV company that made itself viable by tapping into the youth demographic have hired Damian Smith, formerly of search engine LookSmart and Sydney software firm Nuix (depending on who you're reading at the time).
"He will begin at Ten next Monday, July 10, and will report to Ten's chief executive officer Grant Blackley.
Mr Smith will aggregate and expand the network's existing digital media capabilities, Mr Blackley said."
Digital Media capabilities, of which people keep looping in Big Brother and the phenomenal success they've had in this field. Now, let's be fair for a second. The Big Brother site (and no, I'm not linking to it - find it yourself) isn't really part of Channel 10. It's a separate program site that Ten has a vested interest in.
That said, Ten's been quietly doing their own thing, providing download content from their site including full programs of shows like "Thank God You're Here" (now removed from the site because it's finished its season). Now with someone specifically heading this sort of area and driving it forward it will be interesting to see whether Ten makes the leap from "television station with a website" to "21st Century Media organisation" in the way that the other commercial stations have yet to achieve.
Final note before I disappear again.
"The network said it would also look to offer more downloadable and streamed versions of its programs, after the popularity of the Thank God You're Here season finale which was made available as a free download for two weeks last month."
I'd love to see some figures on just how popular that download was. I checked it out at the time and even at H.264 iPod specs it was around 300Mb. I'm fascinated to know whether people are really keen to sit and watch a postage stamp on their computer screens at their convenience. In other words, does the convenience of "On Demand" beat out the noise of decreased viewer experience? We know people are happy to sit and watch short form content on their screens, but just taking a TV show and moving it from the medium where it works best is another thing entirely. Then again, over 1,000,000 iTunes downloaders can't be wrong. Time to have a rethink, which is a real pity. I'd hate to think that the future of this content is just to take existing formats and try and shoehorn them into a different viewer experience. It stunts the ability for video content in this environment to develop its own format and for content producers to step outside the square.
Enough from me. I had all last week to say something and now I'm back at work I won't shut up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
