As one who's worked for several elected officials, I can tell you many don't understand how to use the Internet to advance a campaign, and rely on the old standard, print media.
Indeed, in the Oakland, Ca, the three newspapers that cover political events -- The SF Chronicle, Oakland Tribune, and East Bay Express -- all failed to sway Oakland voter opinion in the California Primary election -- especially notable was their poor perfomance in the Mayor's Race, the District Two Council Race, and the Assembly District 16 Race. In the case of the Oakland Mayor's Race, I wrote that the SF Chronicle was smoking crack. I was right.
Here's evidence that the World has changed. Ava Lowery, A 15-Year Old Alabama student, was the hit of the recent Daily Kos Convention with her poltical vlog.
Here's the vlog:
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Vloggercon: Introducing Neo-Fight.tv
If you remember "Cat's Clicks," a show hosted by Catherine Schwartz on TechTV -- which became G4 Tech TV -- then you'll catch on to "Neo-Fight.tv" an online show that compares tech products. Ben Freedman is the co-host of the show and plays opposite Tiffany Young in a debate over tech products.
In the presentation Ben explains that Neo-Fight is more than a vlog; it's an online show in the form of Rocketboom. Indeed, the program's webpage -- like Rocketboom's -- gives the video viewer a menu of viewing options from Quicktime to Bit Torrent. Moreover the show itself has one set that does not change from episode to episode. So really it's more a TV show than a video diary, with co-hosts, a standard script format that changes only with respect to the kinds of products reviewed, episode names and numbers, and even its own theme music.
I think this is the next wave of vlogs, and I don't hesitate to use the term "vlog" here because one can offer commentary on the video, and the image is presented on a website. I can see a future where the most popular sites are like Blip.tv in that they promote vlog shows in a network. I'm not prepared to write "Move over CBS, NBC,and ABC, because they've got enough content firepower to make a significant dent in the vlog industry. My only question is do they have the courage to take this leap?
A good entrepreneur should not wait for these large bureaucratic firms to figure it out; that could take forever.
In the presentation Ben explains that Neo-Fight is more than a vlog; it's an online show in the form of Rocketboom. Indeed, the program's webpage -- like Rocketboom's -- gives the video viewer a menu of viewing options from Quicktime to Bit Torrent. Moreover the show itself has one set that does not change from episode to episode. So really it's more a TV show than a video diary, with co-hosts, a standard script format that changes only with respect to the kinds of products reviewed, episode names and numbers, and even its own theme music.
I think this is the next wave of vlogs, and I don't hesitate to use the term "vlog" here because one can offer commentary on the video, and the image is presented on a website. I can see a future where the most popular sites are like Blip.tv in that they promote vlog shows in a network. I'm not prepared to write "Move over CBS, NBC,and ABC, because they've got enough content firepower to make a significant dent in the vlog industry. My only question is do they have the courage to take this leap?
A good entrepreneur should not wait for these large bureaucratic firms to figure it out; that could take forever.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Vloggercon: Introducing Click.tv
On Vloggercon's first day, I was given a cool introduction to Click.tv by Lawrence Taymor who, gave me an invitation to their party later that Saturday evening. Click.tv is a website which contains a device that allows you to meld video with comments on it. It really meshes the blog's comment area with the video, in effect creating a new way of interacting with video.
It's neat in that it's an interesting content "toy" to play with and seems to imply some interesting possibilities. The only thing I find vexing is that I signed up for an account and have yet to get my confirmation email and it's now about 20 minutes later. Ouch. I'd like to embed it into my blog -- if I can get that #$$ email!
(As a side note, the party, held at what was once the home of Click.tv CEO Mike Lanza and his wife Perla. I learned that Mike's a Stanford guy, which is too bad for this Old Blue. I wonder if MIke's going to fess up to the fact that Cal did win the '82 Big Game.)
It's neat in that it's an interesting content "toy" to play with and seems to imply some interesting possibilities. The only thing I find vexing is that I signed up for an account and have yet to get my confirmation email and it's now about 20 minutes later. Ouch. I'd like to embed it into my blog -- if I can get that #$$ email!
(As a side note, the party, held at what was once the home of Click.tv CEO Mike Lanza and his wife Perla. I learned that Mike's a Stanford guy, which is too bad for this Old Blue. I wonder if MIke's going to fess up to the fact that Cal did win the '82 Big Game.)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Vloggercon: Dina Kaplan Talks About Blip.tv and Her TV Career - With Some Proding By Me
I always say that some people bring out different sides of others for whatever reason. This is certainly true with Dina Kaplan and myself. Dina's the head of Business Development for Blip.tv, the digital video distribution and sharing system I now swear by. Dina brings out the "Woody Allen" in me in much the same way as a friend of mine in Chicago..Hmm....
But that written, behind her almost constant smile is the active brain of a good business person. Always thinking and directing traffic -- in this case, the other Blip.tv staffers. Trying to determine who's best to talk to about this or that, and so on. She's perfect in her role at Blip.tv and as I said in the video, the best business people are confident women. I discovered that while growing SBS and have seen little to discourage my opinion.
As Dina explains, Blip.tv is one year old and the result of a collaboration of five friends in New York City. It's like YouTube, but has features that are vastly different than that or any other similar system. For example, my Blip.tv video posts have been automatically installed in this blog. Plus, the final video in Blip.tv is much closer to the quality of the original than is true for YouTube.
Now back to Dina.
All Dina has to do is get over seeing herself on any computer or TV screen. In the video, she looks at a computer video of her and -- like Frankenstein seeing his own reflection (I'm gonna get killed for that comparison! LOL) -- points to herself and says "that's scary." I totally disagree.
But that written, behind her almost constant smile is the active brain of a good business person. Always thinking and directing traffic -- in this case, the other Blip.tv staffers. Trying to determine who's best to talk to about this or that, and so on. She's perfect in her role at Blip.tv and as I said in the video, the best business people are confident women. I discovered that while growing SBS and have seen little to discourage my opinion.
As Dina explains, Blip.tv is one year old and the result of a collaboration of five friends in New York City. It's like YouTube, but has features that are vastly different than that or any other similar system. For example, my Blip.tv video posts have been automatically installed in this blog. Plus, the final video in Blip.tv is much closer to the quality of the original than is true for YouTube.
Now back to Dina.
All Dina has to do is get over seeing herself on any computer or TV screen. In the video, she looks at a computer video of her and -- like Frankenstein seeing his own reflection (I'm gonna get killed for that comparison! LOL) -- points to herself and says "that's scary." I totally disagree.
Vloggercon: Irina Slutsky and Schlomo Rabinowitz Give Review
Vloggercon 2006 was held in San Francisco June 10th and 11th. Two of the organizers, Irina Slutsky of Geek Entertainment TV and Schlomo Rabinowitz, vlogger and educator, give their take on how the event was progressing to that point in time Saturday evening, June 10th
Zennie's Video Format Change Note
You may have noticed that some of the Vloggercon videos play in the window on the blog page and others refresh to a new page with a larger video. Well, it's the latter that I wanted. I'm using IMovie to record the video content and make clips, Quicktime to review the new clip and now Blip.tv to upload the clip to the web and SBS' blogs.
Blip.tv's vastly superior to YouTube in producing quality uploaded video. And after much experimentation, I've found a codec -- H.263 at a large format size and 30 fps frame rate updated every 24 frames per second but restricted at 6400/ kbits a second and set at 640 x 480 size. In Blip.tv this causes the new window and large video, which is what I want to have for our next set of plans in the growth of the SBS system.
I wll continue to use YouTube, but more as a distribution device for our videos and of course as a great source for video content. But Blip.tv and Dabble are great to use as standards for any vloggers web tool set.
Blip.tv's vastly superior to YouTube in producing quality uploaded video. And after much experimentation, I've found a codec -- H.263 at a large format size and 30 fps frame rate updated every 24 frames per second but restricted at 6400/ kbits a second and set at 640 x 480 size. In Blip.tv this causes the new window and large video, which is what I want to have for our next set of plans in the growth of the SBS system.
I wll continue to use YouTube, but more as a distribution device for our videos and of course as a great source for video content. But Blip.tv and Dabble are great to use as standards for any vloggers web tool set.
Rocketboom At Vloggercon: Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon Talk About Their Happy Accident
The undisputed stars of Vloggercon were Andrew Baron and Amanda Congdon, the producers of the wildly popular daily vlog called "Rocketboom." If you've not seen Rocketboom, it's worth a look. The show's a quirky view of the news and cultural topics of the day, or at times that interest them. On Vloggercon's first day, Andrew and Amanda talked about how Rocketboom came to be, what Rockeboom is from a technical standpoint, their interview style, and how Rocketboom has grown.
What I -- and some others I talked to -- took from their presentation was how it seems Andrew and Amanda plan "incrementally." For example, there's no business plan as of this writing. And their presentation itself seemed to move along in a collaborative "What do we show them next?" fashion. The result is what I call a happy accident that commands $85,000 in sponsorship revenue per week due to Rocketboom's huge audience of eyeballs.
This video only captures the first 15 minutes of their presentation. I deliberately edited it to stop where Andrew and Amanda are working to determine where they should go with the presentation. It's a great view of how they work together and why Rocketboom is successful: it's the result of a true collaboration between two people.
What I -- and some others I talked to -- took from their presentation was how it seems Andrew and Amanda plan "incrementally." For example, there's no business plan as of this writing. And their presentation itself seemed to move along in a collaborative "What do we show them next?" fashion. The result is what I call a happy accident that commands $85,000 in sponsorship revenue per week due to Rocketboom's huge audience of eyeballs.
This video only captures the first 15 minutes of their presentation. I deliberately edited it to stop where Andrew and Amanda are working to determine where they should go with the presentation. It's a great view of how they work together and why Rocketboom is successful: it's the result of a true collaboration between two people.
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