Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Good choice to use of video!

WELL SAID!

Please view my response at http://kimhynes.smartcampaigns.com/images/johocomment01.avi

(I may try to put it into a better format later)

Agreed. In fact this sounds a lot like my reaction to some other idiot earlier this month:

http://www.seanbonner.com/blog/archives/000664.php#000664

that was awesome.

i would disagree with you though. i think bloggers will be continued to get credentialed over the next few conventions. it's free publicity and it doesnt really cost anything. plus most "amatuers" will come across more as fans than critics.

and since conventions are mostly hype, who better to invite than people who will buy into the magic.

That was fun Dave. You really should put a Creative Commons CC on it so people will share the video without asking permission. On the other hand, since I KNOW you won't mind, I'm sharing it without asking permission anyway. I made a BitTorrent torrent of the Quicktime version and uploaded it here.

Oops. Sorry David, I forgot you're a David, not a Dave. Right?

D'oh. Should have CC'ed it. But I have decided not to bring legal action against you anyway, Joi.

Please consider it to be in the public domain.

cool videoblog......thank you very much david weinberger........dk

do more videoblog.

Dave,

The one thing that you left out of your DNC Blogger video report was the value of the RSS Aggregators.

The convenion bloggers aggregator provided an up-to-the-minute stream of multimedia content on Boston weather, main stream articles and blog posts. As a consumer/blogger of news and information, I liked the variety of choice the aggregator page offered. The DNC blogger personal-point-of-view was very valid in the orgainic convention news tapestry.

BTW: How did your body hold up to the standing and walking?

1) Technically, I don't think the experiment worked well - none of the three files played OK on my Linux machine (xine or mplayer). The RealPlayer one was just barely comprehensible.

2) There's a deep issue that's been sidestepped:

a) Many evangelists of blogging want social credentials for the activity as important or significant, and hence appeal to journalism or reporting
b) When it's pointed out that very little journalism or reporting is done, the reply is "It's not journalism or reporting, it's *blogging*, so none of that applies"
c) Given this contradiction, then we go to, if you don't like it, don't read it - which is not an answer to the problem.

Furhter, deponent sayeth not, because I'm way out of my power-law league.

Perhaps the invite was made in an effort to make the convention seem less, um… conventional. Trot out the bloggers; here’s something new! Big media offered bloggers forbidden fruit, and they took a bite. So what. The garden of Eden will still grow.

Having bloggers attend and cover the convention was a bit like having a bank auditor simultaneously act as a member of the bank’s board of directors. There may have been a fundamental conflict of interest at play. It’s an inescapable fact -- blogging is now a ubiquitous and vibrating tone that resonates under Big Media’s foundation. Its continuous hum is shaking loose the sand and garbage-laden landfill while unceasingly testing key bedrock.

“But as they took their place alongside other credentialed media, bloggers finally had to put up or shut up.”

Nice try Charlie, but the audit will still go down. You may not think the auditor’s horn rimmed glasses and tweed suit are very sexy, but that’s besides the point.
As an editor at CNET, you are “hip” to blogging. You’re not afraid of the medium, but do you really understand it?

Hey David = I see you've cleaned up your office -- the best thing about videoposts!

I like what you say here, the thing is, as I wrote in my post "Stepford Bloggers" on Friday, some of the bloggers really DO fancy themselves journalists -- this is where it gets a little dicey. I know you aren't currently afflicted, but some bloggers are definitely suffering from that dreaded disease, wannabe-journo-itis, all the while claiming to be bloggers. I think you have to have it one way or the other.

I also have to ask, what does "writing for friends" mean when a blog will be read by a worldwide audience of many strangers ... and what does "writing for the masses" mean in that context?

Thanks for your great coverage of the DNC.

Interesting video blog. I tried the Real Player one first, but you were like Max Headroom on that (amusing, but I couldn't understand what you were saying!). But the Windows MediaPlayer one was fine.

I've been trying audio blogging, but it's been pointed out to me that reading a long techy text is probably not the optimal way to benefit from audio blogging. But it's fun to experiment with these things.

cheers,

Why, at one point, was I reminded of Charles Barkley saying, "I'm not a role model." A nice experiment. Fun to watch. Next time, close the window blinds/shades (backlighting makes you look like you're in the witness protection program) ... well, I've always wanted to direct, so ... turn on some lights ... I enjoyed your response.

The video blog was quite a success. I'm sure others have done it before, but I've never seen it. If the response you received is any indication, perhaps we'll see more?

Just as an aside, what you had to say about the convention was just as interesting insightful important etc. as anything I've seen on TV said by the so-called professional journalists. Also, I think bloggs and the internet redefine what journalism is. Maybe you're not a journalist, but you're not that far off either.

Seth, The contradiction you show between a and c only holds for those who maintain both. I don't know offhand anyone who holds both a and c. I myself don't hold to a: I think blogging is important but not because it's journalism.

As for your first point: If your linux system can't play the QT produced by QT itself, why are you blaming the file instead of your system? (The Real file is clearly screwed up, as my blog noted.)

Halley, you ask a central question. It _does_ feel different to me to be writing for blog readers than for newspaper readers. I'm having trouble articulating the difference, but when writing for a newspaper or magazine, I have to adapt to the expectations of a mass audience filtered by the magazine itself (e.g., the readers of NY Review of Books compose a self-selected group with a different set of generalized properties than the readers of Hustler), whereas with my blog, _I_ (my web self) am the filter. That is, not only don't I have to adapt to someone else's filter, my blog is a filter the way I am in terms of my friends. Ack. I'll try blogging this and putting it better...

Robert, the blinds were closed! And the lighting looks fine in the playback from the camera. But transferring the bits to the computer seems to have altered it. In the future, I will tack a blanket up over my window just to complete the sealing off of my office from the rest of the world, turning it into an aboveground bunker where I can plot the overthrow of the government, download copyrighted MP3s and throw sleepovers for Dick Cheney. Yes!

Interesting take. I've been wondering recently how much the distinction between journalist and blogger is simply semantic. I'm not sure I'm any closer to knowing the answer but thanks for the food for thought.

Cheers,

Michael,
blueherenow.com

Seth Finkelstein (above)

ALL the files can be viewed on a linux box.

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design6/dload.html

David, there are indeed people who maintain both a) and b) - you see the problem, so you in particular don't do it. But you end up *reacting* to the claims of a), by pleading b). And someone else can then react to your b) by claiming a). And around it goes, where it stops ... well, it never stops.

In fact, one interesting wrinkle is the way some people (not you) try to argue out of the contradiction by the viewpoint that, paraphrased, writing one's diary is a kind of journalism, and so many people writing their diaries and personal experiences will somehow be the equivalent of many journalists (if not replace them, somehow be on an equal footing).

My point about the files is that the experiment has some problems - video is much less widely readable than text.

May I ask why Quicktime file was nearly 3 times larger than WMP?

Well may you ask, Matt. I ask the same question. That's the file QT produces when I export the AVI using (I believe) the slow-DSL setting.

Bravo. Both for your insight and your humor. Now David, go clean up your room.

Good choice to use of video!

hi,
I am a new comer... an independent film maker. I have some intresting films to show... is there any one who can tell me how to put videos in the blog

Just saw this site, like the stuff. I made a bookmark and will come back, for sure. Look at Versicherungsvergleich. Thanks.

Look at that, you will sure love it :
Hylarious cat :
http://www.maxivid.com/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8

The cigars :
http://www.maxivid.com/articles.php?lng=en&pg=69

You can also a free program for PCs and MACs called ineen. It allows you to record your local video or your ineen videoconferences, pretty cool!

The video blog would have been so much more inviting if you 1) directed a desk lamp onto your face or 2) moved the window out of shot.

Good luck
Greg

Tel:+27-73-299-0304

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if you want to see some funny videos check out http://infocollective.com