Category Archives: Vlog Anarchy

Obama Landslide

Yeah I said it. We’ll see for sure in 31 days.

Vlog Anarchy Take 2
W-WTF?

What is a videoblog?

Excerpted from Richard BF’s post:
As you can see, the lines between various definitions are blurred, and in many cases are either contradictory or redundant. They span from big media’s interpretation that everything is a videoblog, through to Adrian Miles, who says vogging is a very specific form of hyperlinked media content, and everyone in between who has their own definition.

For every definition, there’s the tendency to virally include other examples. Is this a videoblog, is that a videoblog, “but that means this videoblog must also be a videoblog”… and in the same way that the lines between genres are blurred so are those of my definition of videoblog.

There are some videoblogs which fall outside of my definition, which probably are videoblogs, and some which fall inside my definition which probably aren’t. Where we cannot objectively draw the line, I’m suggesting that we subjectively draw instead upon the spirit of videoblogging:

Individuals creating personal media of a new genre and form, not being controlled by big media, and not simply reproducing that which is traditional in big media, such as television and movies.

So, for the sake of a definition, this is roughly what I think a videoblog is:

Short, personal, not for profit, mostly non-fictional, video on the web. Snapshots of life.

The last part is important. Last year I tried to popularise the term instant videoblogging. The idea being that videoblogs are created on a whim, not preplanned, just snapshots of life. I still believe this to be an important aspect of videoblogging.

Comments Closed – Read and comment on the original post.

Get Out Of The Box

Get Out Of The Box
by: vPIP
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Now that we can put video in a blog, what are we going to do with it? Adrian Miles said that video in a blog must be more than video in a blog. He makes some really good points but I still don’t think that “more” is primarily about granularity. I think it has more to do with intention and purpose (or context). As I’ve been experimenting with that, I keep bumping up against what I think is the ever more pervasive TVishness, not of the physical format of people’s videos, but of the content – the intention and purpose of it. And what I’m left with is, “why?” Why try to recreate TV on the web? If we recreate the old system of TV networks on the Internet will they be any better? Will anything have changed? Will there still be a space for alternative voices and ideas?

BTW, yes, that was my rendition of the last scene of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Also, if you have some 3D glasses you can check out my cheap bit of 3D at the end.

Although I started working on this a week ago, it’s also a response (though more general) to this email.

Experiment 2

Experiment 2
by: vPIP
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Videoblogging Week Day 5. I shot some stuff to post yesterday but didn’t do it. It just felt like I needed to respond to the great discussion going on in the comments of the last post and I needed some time to think about it all. And what I’m thinking so far is that maybe why so many people are having a hard time with what I’ve thrown out there is that they are looking at it from inside the TV or commercial media paradigm. The problem with that is that this is not TV. Now as human beings we are driven to make sense of things and one main way we do that is by relating new information to old information. We see video and think, “Gosh, I’ve seen video on TV. Oh, I get it. This is like TV but on the Internet.” This kind of thinking fails us because it prevents us from seeing this new thing (videoblogging) for what it really is.

Now what it really is, is really just what we agree it is. And I’ve seen a shift in what we collectively agree videoblogging is. It’s not like we got together and voted on it but as more and more voices have joined the conversation, the number of people looking at it like TV on the internet has increased and changed the dynamics of the conversation.

These experiments are an attempt at pushing back. At trying to make sense of where this all came from and where it’s all going.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you should also watch and read Jay’s “The Talking Head Argument.”

Experiment

Experiment
by: vPIP
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Videoblogging Week 2006 – Day 3 (I’m late again – unless you live in a time zone west of here). Anyway, this is something I’ve been thinking about more and more lately. For more than a year now people have been playing my Vlog Anarchy post where I say it’s too early to define videoblogging. Now I see things like iTunes TV show downloads and videoblogs that are created to make money rather than communicate starting to alter the course of the public conversation. I say those kinds of things are not videoblogging. So now I think it’s time to take a stand and start staking out some videoblogging territory. This is just the first part.
BTW, this video reminds me of two others by my co-conspiritors. If you haven’t seen these you should. They make similar but distinct points about this issue.
Momentshowing: A Videoblog Circa 2006
Ryanne’s Video Blog: Digital Bonnie And Clyde

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NAMAC Remix


Click here to view the video.

This is probably the 3rd or 4th short introduction to videoblogging mashup that I’ve made. It seems like every time these get harder and harder to do. Especially when you try to make them this short. I always feel like I’ve left way too much out and cut away all context for the things that I left in. In this case, since the NAMAC panel (Digital Creativity) where I’ll present this video is only 8 hours away and I need to get some sleep, I’m going to stop messing with it. I’ve got a couple of my all-time favorites, some art, some anarchy, and a music theme. What do you think? Also, if you want leave a link to one of you’re favorite videoblogs (remember to link to the permanant link of the post – not to the video directly).

Here are the links for the videos I used:
Excited by Ryanne Hodson
HD Vidblog #053 – Lac St Clair by Chris Weagel
Silver City by Charlene Rule
Hail To The Thief by me
Record Player by Dylan Verdi
Videoblog Week #3: Welcome To The Future by Chuck Olsen
Vlog Anarchy by me (again)

Update
Here is my presentation from the Digital Creativity panel this morning. The video is 16:45 long and almost 60MB.
This is the videoblog that I’ve set up to post the video that we create as I teach people here about videoblogging.