Momentshowing

How to raise money for videoblog projects

We have been using a cool Wordpress plug-in to raise money on HaveMoneyWillVlog.
It's called Pledge Drive built by Devlon Duthie.
The plug-in is open source...here's the code.

We use to raise money for ambitious videoblogging projects that need startup funds to get going. We got to fund the video we want to see. It's pretty easy to raise a couple thousand dollars each month using the web if the project is any good.

Why did we build it?

• We wanted a way to directly connect a creator and a donor without an extra fees that other services take.
• We wanted to be able to set a Goal...and have a progress meter show how much money we were raising.
• We wanted donors to be able to leave comments and get a linkback in addition to just donating.
• We wanted to have a list of donors show up so people could see each other.
• We wanted it open source so anyone could update and customize it for their own Wordpress blog.

Anyway, I'm really excited about pushing the next evolution of the plug-in: Automatic subscriptions.
Pledge Drive would work the same way, but a creator could set a goal that she wants to raise each month. For example, she needs $1000 a month to do a weekly videoblog. So Pledge Drive would let people sign up to have x-dollars taken out of their Paypal each month. Those people would then be the sponsors for this "show". That's just 100 people giving $10 each month.

So this next version of Pledge Drive will help set the monthly goal, set up the reoccurring payments from each donor, and make a list of everyone who signs up. We're looking for people to help us code it up....so email me if you want to help out.

Help me find Duncan

Duncan is a good friend and amazing videoblogger.
His work can be found at 29FragileDays.
For the past couple years, he's posted little gems on his site that always wow me.
Here's a cool one:

(WATCH)

Duncan just told me that he has a new videoblog out there, BUT he won't tell anyone where it is.
He says once I see it, I'll know it by his style.
So check out his old videos...and let me know if you find Duncan!

UPDATE: The mystery of finding his new videoblog is solved.
Now you got to simply freak out over his work.

How will we watch all these videos in the year 2005?

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          "Feedster.tv :: Rich media feeds for your aggregator"

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Right now, the only way to watch videoblogs is to go to each individual blog and watch each individual video.
As of November 2004, there is no way to see videos all in one place.
It's as if when I want to hear a story, I got to run around town to each person's apartment to hear the story.
I want a stage where we can all come together and tell stories to each other.

FeedsterTV is a site that lets you subscribe to RSS feeds with enclosures.
For instance, you can get a feed with just music files or just video files.
Blogdigger has been doing this since the summer of 2004.

For audio, this is great because you can use a free application like iPodder to automatically download the music files to your iPod or MP3 player.
The feeds need to have Enclosures, so it works great.
(although Andreas will tell you that bits all very sloppy and asking for trouble. Ask him why.)

But for video....there is no device that lets you play video files other than your computer.
So who cares that there's a RSS feed with video enclosures?
You'll notice that the Feedster site doesn't really talk about video much..no one knows how to handle it. How will we watch all these videos in 2005?

Im sick of having to click to each individual blog to see each video.
I want a viewing experience for videoblogs.
A viewing platform.
It will only be like TV in the sense that it's video on a screen...from there we can do anything we want with it.

I believe that we need to create a tool to bring all these videos together.
Like an RSS reader for video...and I think it's got to be for video only.
Ill subscribe to video feeds that certain people that I trust create...they'll be great video collectors with taste.
Kenyatta made a prototype tool. The beautiful VOG BROWSER.
Who's going to finish it off? (it needs an interface that allows you to add RSS feeds.)

The other thing we need an iPodder-like application that sucks in videos while you sleep.
We already have FeedsterTv which sends our an RSS feed with video enclosures.
Then you can wake up and watch them in a nice viewing window.
We're working on this right now. (Mac only for now)
And this tool be necessary once there's some portable devices to watch these videos.

I spent the afternoon with Peter today.
Hadn't seen him since he videoblogged in India this summer.
It's all making sense. The biggest success are people videoblogging now.
i see it coming; the tools we need are clearer and doable.

Vogbrowser: a big deal

The folks at Flickr got it going on.
Check out this collaborative project: squared circle slideshow.

Flickr is a site that lets you upload photos to your own perosnal space.
But then tools get made that let people work togther.
So here, everyone is posting photos of round things in a a square frame.
Turn on a song and let the slideshow go.

I was blown away when i first saw this photo tool.
I wanted it for video.
We have all kinds of original video being created and posted now.
But its all over the web.
Each video is on a separate blog.
There is no way to watch all my favorite videos in one place.

So Kenyatta Cheese made a mock-up for the VOGBROWSER.
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL.

Once he gets it to work...you can add RSS feeds fo your favorite videoblogs. Then, you can watch all the videos back to back...ALONG WITH THEIR TEXT. Boom. We can then work together making videos. Charlene, Mica, and Shannon already do this separately on their blogs.

If you know PERL, Kenyatta is looking for a little help.

A Fantasy: the video iPod

About a month ago, I posted about the need for a handheld video recorder/editor..so i could videoblog from anywhere.
(I want to also look like a tomato so people arent so self-conscious when im recording.
So of course then Steve Garfield sends me this dream:
Link: video iPod.

In my mind, Apple has released 3 models of the device. The entry model is for playback of video only. The middle model is a Video iPod for playback and digital camcorder (as well as digital camera) device. The upper level one is a Video iPod, digital camcorder/digital camera and with iMovie 4 built-in for portable video editing. The highest level one has a 9-inch LCD screen to accommodate the greater resolution needed for video editing. Video editing can be accomplished on this device using any USB mouse.

What a dream...I want one.

Where is all the video on the internet....

I meant to post this earlier.
Lately, I've been getting flack for saying that only 50 people on the planet are regularly posting original video.
First, when I say regularly..i mean at least once a week.
Do some google searches...count the original video posts.

Eli Chapman said this is crazy..
People are posting video every second...we just can't see it.
it's done between people in private spaces on the net.
Okay, but until there is an entry for everyone to join in the conversation...it's difficult for me to get excited about video on the net.

It'd be having all these text blogs, but only close friends could see the posts.
The reason why blogging has blown up is that they connect us.
I dont believe this has happened yet with videoblogging.
Just wait till you see all these faces and hear all these voices come through your computer(and TV!).

I realize that we need two engines here:
the developers must create the structure and easy process to post and view video on the internet.
the users must form small communities and start talking to each other with video. funny. serious. weird.
Both must work hand in hand.

About one of Steve's videoblogs, I said.....
> "he's doing exactly what activists have always dreamed. and
> strangely few other people are doing this...
> other than IndyMedia when they gather for big
> events."

Alan, from the very cool Demand Media, gave this important documentation of activist video on the web:

(though I must ask..who turns to these sources for info?
I'd really like a sense of their reach.)

A new Videoblogger!!

This does not happen often enough, but a new videoblogger has joined our ranks.
Check it.
His name is Jon Hoem who lives in Norway.
First he was just part of the videobogging discussion group, but now he's jumped in.
ideas to action.

And he's got ideas (sounds like he's "Showing Moments"...)

> Every post consists of a single shot, normally a short one.
> This is done in order to make it possible to select
> the shots individually, and then sequence them in
> different orders.
> Next step will be to find/make a script which makes it
> possible to take the data from the form on the right
> and generate a playlist with the selected clips.
> I know it isn´t that difficult,
> but when it comes to serverside scripting I´m really a novice.
> Any ideas of how to do this will be much appreciated.

He also has a "wish", (and I'm all for wishing):

> Big wish:
> A serverside application which converts
> uploaded video to the format I choose
> and generate the poster-frames automatically.
> And the of course, there is the SMIL-editor
> which I´ve spoken of before, hopefully facilitating
> “collaborative editing”.

Back May 2004, Jon actually posted about a Video Wiki so you can make collaborative videos...
This was probably the birth of the process that brought us to "video comments".

Videoblogging from India

Peter is the guy who helped me start the videoblog group.
He just arrived and will spend the next 6 weeks in India...and doing a first.
He's videoblogging his trip.
Here's his first videos.

It's going to be a good education.
Can a country outside the Western World support the technology needed to videoblog?
Peter says this:
"Internet speeds here are at 125,000, about three times as fast as a regular dialup. They connect through a cellphone-like connection. I can’t upload pictures because they come straight out of the digital camera at large sizes - too large for this connection speed. Maybe I could optimize them locally?"

But it's happening.
He's showing us life in a place I never see.
Just a glimpse.
It's a start.

Video Comments: the remix

Okay, video comments need some work.
We started with this by the ever-down Andreas out of Denmark.
See, he made a video and then made a tool that lets anyone upload a video comment.
Press "play" and all the videos play together.
This is collaborative video making.

I can imagine video comments used in so many different ways.
Scientists discussing and showing different facts and perspectives on some organism.
Obviously people could make a weird movie together.
Imagine the political conversations you could have.
Two people could play a game of video tag.
Teenagers with phone cameras will blow our minds with the stuff they put together..together.
"Video Comments" could literally create a TV show made by a bunch of people.

But we're just beginning.
The tool needs work.
This is how I see the tool working:
--anyone could enable video comments on a videoblog entry. (not every video needs comments).
--each comment is hosted on the commenter's server so bandwidth and storage is not an issue.
--a "play all" button plays all the comments in linearly.
--The "play all" has a permanent link that i can email a friend to watch the whole thing. or even an "email this" button.
--However, each comment is posted separately so i can still choose and watch each comment by itself.
--the interface needs to be cleaner.

The answer to all our worries????

What's one of the biggest problems with videoblogging?
First is the lack of simple tools?
The next is the lack of storage and bandwidth.
But these days may soon be over.

My blog only gives me a certain amount of storage space. (100mb)
Videos are usally 2-4MB, so you can see that the limits are easy to break.
Then what?
I buy more space on the server ad infinitum.

My blog also gives me a certain amount of traffic each month. (3GB of data transferred back and forth)
This means I got to pay extra $$ if too many people watch my videos...or I just shut off my blog till the new month starts.
This sucks.

So there is a new project called OPEN-MEDIA that is being developed.
The project is the brainchild of JD Lasica and Marc Canter.
They got the folks at Internet Archive to give them free space and bandwidth to create a place where video, audio and photos can be stored and shared.
That's right...it's amazing.
We will soon may have a permanent place to store our videos for free...as long as we share them with other people.
We'll be creating a new kind of history.
I'm part of a group that's using a Wiki to discuss the format and usage rules.
here's some of the Q&A that I think can be public.

Q. Why is Internet Archive giving you the free storage and bandwidth to create Open Media? What are we going to do that is different from what they do already?

A. The Internet Archive works with a number of content partners so that material can be shared more widely. To date, many of their multimedia offerings derive from the public domain, with little contemporary video, for example. They're more than eager to obtain access to a wide range of contemporary video and audio. They're pursuing that goal through a number of avenues, not just Open Media. We believe Open Media presents an unparalleled opportunity for the Internet Archive if we achieve our goal of desktop push-button access to multimedia content, rather than forcing people to access multimedia by visiting the Internet Archive site. (That's completely different from what they do now.) Their goal, after all, is not to drive traffic to their own site but to make these materials as widely available as possible.
OK - I'll say it here - publicly. The Internet Archives' UI sucks. It's nearly impossible to find anything. If nothing else happens - we'll improve that and create jukes and albums that can automatically acess all that stuff - in a friendly, easy to use UI.

Q. So does this mean that, if I want to videoblog (put regular video on my blog), my bandwdith/storage cost worries are over and you'll just selfleshly foot the bill, no matter how large when millions of videobloggers start using their new videophones?

A. I suspect the Internet Archive people will be surprised and pleased if hundreds of people do this, much less millions. But it's hard to predict where all this is heading. I'll bring this up in my meeting with the Internet Archive folks in the coming days.
As long as what they post if open and available to others - yes! -