Vlogging
Video blogging.
This implies regularity of production, unlike regular video-sharing practices.
Blip TV is a major platform for quality video blogging.
Introduction
- Video, "What is Vlogging" via http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTj1c-ZDPO0
- Commentary at http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/what-is-vlogging/
More Information
- On Vlogging: http://www.seriousmagic.com/products/vlogit/ ; http://www.vlog.com/ ; An article at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7226225/ #For an example see the live video blogs at vobbo.com
- Wired has published a 3-part reportage on vlogging, at http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,68171,00.html?
- Doing live video on a shoestring, a how-to based on personal experience at http://vloblive.info/
Tools
FireAnt, at http://www.antisnottv.net/ , “is said to be the easiest way to find, download and watch video on the web".
Online Video Blogging
Nik Butler:
"I thought it might be interesting to look at the video blogging tools that are currently available.
There are some commonalities between the various sites in that they all utilise Adobe Flash to handle the integration of video and audio content. This is not restricted to simple USB Webcams and some productions use more expensive cameras and audio equipment. They all include the facility for the watching audience to comment and discuss the show or its recordings. By now the standard Web 2.0 accoutrements are in place RSS, Comments, User Accounts and the variety of user generated content.
- Ustream.tv: This video cast site has been making a name for itself online and its utilisation in everything from Presidential debates to live casts from various shows and exhibitions. Its production tools for broadcast are simple and provide the basic environment for livecasting and recording your content. The shows allow for one camera conversations though without the option to integrate other users or cameras. For simple livecasting Ustream.tv is the most straightforward site to use. Ustream is focussed on the professional presentation and delivery of content, a very new media feel.
Popular bloggers who use Ustream.tv include Jeremiah Oywang.
- BlogTV: BlogTV provides much the same environment as Ustream.tv with the difference that you can integrate a second user into the conversation. You can pick the moments you wish to record, though it does not record the co-host stream. There is no useful indicator to the co-hosts of the possibility to chat online or to share the camera, leaving long gaps as people work out how to join.
Popular bloggers on BlogTV include Jeff Pulver whose PulverTV channel covers the various topics of technologies, social media and the internet.
- StickCam: Stickcam feels very much like a the coffee shop conversation where viewers can integrate their own camera content, though like BlogTV, it is not recorded. Stickcam takes the video production concept a little further by enabling you to switch over to audio and graphic content, though this is not recorded as part of the show. The production interface is not entirely intuitive, though.
Leo Laporte has made great use of Stickcam for his Net@Nite and Tech Show channels.
- Kyte.tv: Kyte.tv is less focussed on live studio productions and instead enables fast scrapbook productivity for short shows. The interface focuses less on mixing and more on content layering and integration. As a result, Kyte.tv feels very much like a Video Twitter with the ability to produce content on your own or others channels. Chat and conversation and comments about the shows exist behind the video window and the channels feel like a on-going video diary and commentary from the social media community.
Blogger Robert Scoble makes use of this site to create quick drop in conversations with the community. Kyte.tv may also host the very first Videoblogged Mornington Crescent game.
- Mogulus: Mogulus provides a "newsroom" production suite with integrated video content direct from YouTube. Each show is storyboarded and content can be cued ready for production: it streams and records live and, like kyte, sits as the current production until a new show is created. Whilst Mogulus is still in beta and is invite only, it feels a very slick operation. For corporations needing a professional content and authoring environment, this one looks promising.
- Operator11: Operator11 feels the most sociable of the sites. Like Stickcam, its production studio incorporates other viewers and media content while offering the added benefit of being able to record those streams as part of the show. The Operator11 interface is intuitive, with the ability to drag readily created adverts, promotional and video content into your show. The single show and its mixed content are streamed with a maximum length of 30 minutes."
(http://www.oreillygmt.eu/2007/08/comparison-of-o.html)
Blogs
Selection by Valentin Spirik:
Video Blog / Podcast Map http://community.vlogmap.org/ is about "The World of Video Blogs"
Have Money Will Vlog http://havemoneywillvlog.com/ promotes "projects we believe in to potential donors"
realpeoplenetwork http://www.realpeoplenetwork.com/ is "A Hollywood-free vlog"
Directories
Compiled by Valentin Spirik:
• Democracy Channel Guide | Democracy Internet TV Channel Guide (channelguide.participatoryculture.org) - Democracy Player is now know as Miro http://www.getmiro.com/
• FireAnt.tv - Videoblogs, Vlogs, Video Podcast, Video Podcast Directory, Internet TV (getfireant.com)
• The videoblog and podcast directory. (www.mefeedia.com)
• VLOGDIR The Videoblog Directory listing thousands of vlogs and vodcasts (Note: "See VLOGDIR" only links to a photo of the directory - "Choose Category" and hit "Go" instead) (www.vlogdir.com)
• The blip.tv "Shows" directory (Click "Shows" and "Browse by..." to find content by genre.) (www.blip.tv)
One starting point for finding independently produced content on YouTube is
• "YouTube's Featured Videos by Category".
But the best way to find interesting content on YouTube might be to look at "Playlists" from users with similar interests or at "Related" when watching a video.
This page http://www.youtube.com/rssls explains how the YouTube RSS feeds work. Example: if you wanted to subscribe to the videos by YouTube user geriatric1927 http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=geriatric1927 you would add
feed://www.youtube.com/rss/user/geriatric1927/videos.rss
in e.g. Miro http://www.getmiro.com/ under "Channels" > "Add Channel...": all of this user's videos will then be downloaded automatically - including videos that he might add only later to his channel!