[videoblogging] PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 - Aug 18-19
PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 is coming! On Aug 18-19, Pittsburgh will be hosting our 2nd annual PodCamp, and you're ALL invited to attend! Never been to a PodCamp? Here's the lowdown: - FREE to attend - FREE food + drink - Podcasters, bloggers, photographers, animators, designers, programmers, journalists, businesspeople, politicians -- ALL discussing social media! - 2 full days of informal,un-conference-style conversations - Open-source scheduling via wiki -- participants program the sessions Last year, we had 180+ attendees at PCPGH -- and one wild after-party, hosted by the gang from Tiki Bar TV! This year, we expect 200-300 attendees. We'll also be webcasting every session live via Justin.TV -- AND the sessions will be archived (and searchable) for future reference. For more information, please visit: http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com You can also follow us at http://twitter.com/PCPGH And, if you'd like to sponsor the event, email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks and best wishes -- and I hope to see you in Pittsburgh! Justin Kownacki Creator / Producer, Something to Be Desired http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] A Side Note of Positivity
Hey folks; Lots of grist for arguments on the board lately. A lot of it is founded, and some of it is simply axe-grinding. While I don't think we should drop the subjects in question (PodTech, Irina, The Vloggies, Lan), I'd like to play reverse-devil's advocate. In the spirit of Schlomo's group hug, let's look at a few positives: 1) John Furrier and Robert Scoble continue to participate in the conversation. (Earlier, they were eviscerated for NOT speaking up; at least now they're willing to bear the slings and arrows of conversing.) 2) Irina is free-er to experiment. (Granted, this is like saying, Well, that fired news anchor can always go back to writing obituaries, but seen from the glass-half-full POV, Irina is now free to pursue new opportunities -- and, most likely, will bring a sharpened business acumen to any future negotiations she becomes involved with.) 3) Creative Commons is now on everyone's mind. (Maybe we can do something about furthering that awareness across the board.) 4) The Vloggies are not the only game in town. (Or, at least, they don't have to be. There's room for more than one awards show in town -- if we even need one [yet]. Again, a topic that needs to be discussed, rather than all of us being beholden to one judge of quality.) 5) We've all been reminded that, first and foremost, we're a community that supports itself (emotionally, if not yet financially). When there's a disruption in the community, we take action to address it. Perhaps the community divides, or perhaps the community solves the issue; either way, we strengthen our bonds AND are forced to stand up for what we believe in -- which, very often, is each other. Onward and upward. Justin Kownacki Creator / Producer, Something to Be Desired http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] Re: +Re: The Cult of the Amateur
(Sorry in advance if my email mis-formats my response, as is occasionally the case, but here goes:) In regards to the battle between mediocrity and its right to exist: when Michael Verdi says: What's crappy or mediocre to one person is pure gold to another. There's room for it all on the internet. And that is the whole fucking point! You don't have to be good to be on the Internet and nobody can make you watch the stuff you don't want to watch. ... I'm pretty sure that qualifies as rallying to the defense of mediocrity -- not BECAUSE Michael (I'm not singling him out -- he simply made the last, most applicable comment) is a fan of mediocrity, but because he believes in the power of the individual voice, regardless of that voice's relative quality. As I said earlier, the individual voice is, by and large, not very interesting to the great majority. For every interesting POV in the world, there are hundreds or thousands that are merely regurgitating overheard information. Not that that matters to a lot of us, who believe web media is important primarily because it lets us all be heard equally -- even if only by the 10 people who find us interesting. However, when Michael then says: Some of my favorite videos are the ones I've made of my family or ones that my friends have made. I doesn't matter if they are considered good or worthwhile. What matters is that they're there. THAT is the revolution. ... that essentially makes the case that this revolution is merely a gigantic holding tank for crap that appeals to 10 people each. Call me a cynic, but that doesn't sound like much of a revolution; it sounds like the preamble to one. Meanwhile, profit doesn't matter more than people, as Ron Watson accuses Keen (possibly correctly) of believing. People always matter more than profit -- and, without people, there can't BE profit. But until those of us creating social media are creating media that people actually WANT to see -- and by people, I mean more than 10 -- there's not much of a revolution to speak of; there's just a bunch of people making mediocre videos and putting them online, believing that their ability to do so somehow constitutes an paradigm shift in and of itself. We can also each build a spacecraft, if we try, but that possibility alone doesn't constitute an aerospace revolution. Please don't confuse the ability to create media with the revolutionary act of creating media that MATTERS. Just because any of us can pick up a camera (or a microphone, or a keyboard) and send our voice out into the internet, that doesn't mean that WHAT we're saying / doing / creating IS revolutionary. Yet. However, when the power of individual POVs (which, yes, DO matter) combines with a worldwide upswing in relative quality -- i.e., when people who have the ability to use this media actually use it to tell compelling stories that transcend expected boundaries and appeal beyond their initial target audience of 10 -- THEN we'll be well on our way to a revolution. And then Andrew Keen will have a much bigger monster to contend with than simply the possibility of one. Onward and upward. Justin Kownacki
[videoblogging] +Re: The Cult of the Amateur
Andrew Keen may be a shrewd opportunist, catering to the fearmongers who live in terror of socialized media destroying their ivory towers, but Schlomo's right when he points out that we on this list still aspire to some kind of meritocracy -- even if we view that meritocracy in completely different terms than Keen. As I mentioned on a panel at Blogference in Tel Aviv last week, it's become evident from the democratization of social media that Hollywood wasn't exactly barring millions of geniuses at the gates. For every Tiki Bar TV, Ask a Ninja or Rocketboom, who work for a specific audience, there are hundreds of thousands of videos that are 100% mediocrity in motion. This isn't surprising, since the average human being is better equipped to regurgitate what he or she has previously experienced than to innovate drastically -- the sum of history should be proof enough -- but what IS surprising is when some of us, who are expecting a revolution from the social media sphere, rally to the defense of this mediocrity. Like Keen, I'm appalled by the tidal wave of trash that passes for web media. Like Schlomo, I'm sure most of YOU are appalled by it to. Where we diverge from Keen is in believing that the diamonds in this new rough, and the likelihood that the rough will improve over time, justifies its existence in the first place. If Keen had his way, the gates would be locked permanently. If we have our way, the quality of what comes THROUGH those gates will continue to steadily improve and render this entire argument meaningless. Onward and upward. Justin Kownacki Web Video Producer and Social Media Consultant Something to Be Desired: http://www.somethingtobedesired.com PodCampPGH2: http://www.podcamppittsburgh.com Blog: http://justinkownacki.blogspot.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/justinkownacki
[videoblogging] Re: planting a pink seed...
Pittsburgh's not exactly on your itinerary, but if you head East, you can presumably get a hug from every member of our cast. (At 25+, that's a lot of hugs...) Cheers. Justin Kownacki Producer, Something to Be Desired http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] Re: AFTRA Jurisdiction Over Web Media?
Actually, the one issue that my cast member who's becoming an AFTRA member had was: if AFTRA sees he's working on a web series and ISN'T under a deferred payment contract, perhaps AFTRA might fine him. Which, again, is ludicrous because they'd essentially be fining him for working on something that isn't generating income in the first place... I'll definitely keep the group posted as information becomes available. Cheers. Justin Kownacki Producer, Something to Be Desired http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] Re: AFTRA Jurisdiction Over Web Media?
Thanks for the responses. From the wording I'd received, I was under the impression that I was one of the stragglers who hadn't worked out a deal with AFTRA yet. If no one else has much experience here, then it does sound more like a matter of us being seen as a test case in that regard. I'm not a traditional employer of actors -- I'd have to be making money from Something to Be Desired to do that -- but I do have a cast of dozens. I can see where we're very much a target for AFTRA. I'm certainly not opposed to paying the cast -- I'm well aware that I don't create the show alone -- but I do wish folks from traditional media backgrounds were working a bit harder to ensure that there was actually an audience and a market in the web video medium BEFORE ensuring that the participants are protected from if / then eventualities. Nothing drives away potential explorers like red tape... Cheers. Justin Kownacki Producer, Something to Be Desired http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] AFTRA Jurisdiction Over Web Media?
Hey folks; One of our cast members joined AFTRA today (for an unrelated production), and it turns out the gent he was talking to at AFTRA knows of our show. He also explained that AFTRA has full jurisdiction over internet productions, and they'd like to sit down with us to work out a deferred payment contract for our entire cast. Has anyone else been involved in discussions of this sort? I'm completely unaware of AFTRA's jurisdiction over the web, though I presume I must be late to the table on this. Anyone have any negotiating tips? Cheers. Justin Kownacki Producer, Something to Be Desired http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] Re: I don't know what I'm doing.
Amani: Great to meet you at Video on the Net last month, and good to see you diving into content creation now! If you have questions, ask away -- the hundreds of folks on this board will be happy to respond. Also, if you'd like more bare basics insights, we just held the first BootCamp Pittsburgh last weekend -- a one-day, entry level guide to blogging, podcasting and social media. We recorded a dozen of the sessions, and we'll be posting those videos to the event's website over the next week: http://www.bootcamppgh.org Best wishes, Justin Kownacki http://www.somethingtobedesired.com
[videoblogging] Re: A question about viewership habits....
Frank @ Mefeedia mentions an interesting tactic, and one I've been a proponent of for awhile: a Meet the Videoblogger-esque behind-the-scenes culture that promotes the culture of videobloggers. I'd actually like to see the idea taken a bit further toward a star support culture -- Veoh's Viral is a good comparison here. In a perfect world, think The Tonight Show (or the late night show of your choice), in which content creators are invited on as guests, with a central host and a few roving reporters. Kind of like a real version of The Clip Show, with the real Jim Kirks as the host... or me... ;) Is that something Mefeedia can make happen? Oh, and yes, creating great content is always the key to retaining a healthy audience.
[videoblogging] Re: A question about viewership habits....
Agreed with Kent: any feature is a long tail value-add for eventual exposure, but by and large, your audience will tend to flatline at its current base until another BIG feature comes along -- and even then, it's only a minimal bump. The more inroads people have to finding your videos, the better, but each of those roads is only trod by a few people each day. Don't plan for sudden stardom; be in it for the long haul. Justin Kownacki, STBD Guru http://www.somethingtobedesired.com PS If our experience is any indication, exposure in traditional media means nothing for your web metrics, but a random blog post can result in a 'splosion.
