I finally got to read this again... I find it extremely  
interesting... I'd love it if you guys Enric and ANdreas sited  
sources... You're dealing in some interesting and heady terminologies  
and ideas... I realize you don't pull them from blogs or the web...  
in fact I assume you've been reading some books I haven't but.. if  
you can site things... like where is this "cube model" you talk about  
enric... and can you further expand on this list of terms... I  
follow... but I'm not quite seeing how they all fit together.

More notes mixed in below.

> On Dec 25, 2005, at 7:07 PM, Enric wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "Andreas Haugstrup"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 25 Dec 2005 17:17:13 +0100, Mike Meiser
>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>>> On 12/24/05, Enric <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I don't think Tivo is Television.  Classical television cannot  
>>>> not be
>>>> automaticaly stored, retrieved, scanned and viewed out of order  
>>>> (this
>>>> can be manually performmed with programming recorders -- but just
>>>> about anything can be put into a manual process.)  So I think  
>>>> this is
>>>> an intermediate medium to Blogging.  I'd call it a Tivo medium with
>>>> the iPod containing similar capacity.  It lacks the full two way
>>>> interaction of Blogs, but contains the automatic storage,
> scanning and
>>>> retrieval capability.

I'd have to agree... i'd say the Tivo is a very well structured, very  
limited scope system... that just happens to have some similar  
feature of video blogging. It basically piggy backs on a tremendous  
media system and does some very similar basic functions to what we're  
doing with video blogging... such as allowing your to subscribe to  
certain types of content... queue individual pieces of content... and  
then rearrange and watch these pieces of media as you see fit. Video  
blogging does this on an infinitely more complex and flexible level.  
The systems it rest upon is primarily RSS but because it has few  
boundaries it very much interacts with the net at large... seamlessly  
weaving in content from outside of the vlogosphere and also in turn  
it's media is flowing out of video blogging onto other regular blogs  
and the web at large. Of course as you say Tivo also lacks the full  
two way interaction.

>>
>> In this case you can look at three kinds of interactivity.
>>
>>   - Transmission. Viewer selects from preprogrammed flow of content.
> The
>> way tv works. Not really much interactivity, but hey.
>>   - Consultation. Viewer selects from a pool of content. Video
> on-demand,
>> Tivo, iPod. Web reading works by consultation also, but it's  
>> different
>>  from video on-demand (see below).
>>   - Conversation. Viewer can add content to the pool of content
> (affecting
>> the viewing situation for others). Integrated on blogs. Not  
>> present in
>> video on-demand.

This is where you lost me... I understand the the ideas and terms  
your proposing... but I get the sense that I'm missing so much of a  
larger model that I can't quite figure out how these all fit together  
to form a larger system...

>> That's a simplified view on interactivity. In reality I subscribe  
>> to a
>> variation where there is a fourth type (registration) and they're
> ordered
>> in a cube with a total of 12 different types. But this is enough for
> my
>> point here. No, I didn't think up the cube model, but I wish I did.

Please do tell more.

>> Blogs and video on-demand are both forms of consultative
> interactivity.
>> There is a pool of content and the reader picks which ones to watch
> and in
>> which order to read them. But they are different nevertheless. In
> video
>> on-demand situations the individual pieces are not seen as being
> part of a
>> whole. They are individual blocks - you pick something to watch, you
> watch
>> it and then you pick something else to watch (or you create a  
>> playlist
>> ahead of time). The typical situation is an iPod or a DVD (menu:
> movie &
>> extra material).

It's a simple issue of granularity... text is infinitely more  
granular than video.

>> On the blog the pieces are a part of a network. The pieces don't
> live on
>> their own, but largely in their connections with other pieces. You  
>> can
>> read a piece and go further into the network by following
> connections from
>> that piece to the next creating your own little 'path' through the
>> blogosphere. This is less apparent in videoblogs than in blogs partly
>> because links in video are harder to do, partly because videobloggers
>> don't link as much (they are linking a whole lot more than they used
> to!).
>> It is a very different reading situation, and the meaning created if
> very
>> different from that of the video on-demand system.

Once again granularity... the bigger the piece of content the more  
they stand on their own... the less they can be broken down the less  
contextualized they get... With text you can literally see the  
network of quotes, references, and links... the network is so  
granular you can actually see it... with video sometimes you just  
find yourself watching the video and you may forget completely about  
the context.... say the textual post... say that it's a part of a  
blog or is a video that references another vlog... but those bonds  
are STILL there and they're EXTREMELY STRONG... stronger in fact than  
links...  Examples of such are...

1) you're watching the 30th episode of the Steve Garfield show... you  
may not realize it but the context of those 30 prior shows you've  
seen create tremendous bonds between ideas and content in the current  
show or the last... it could be ideas... visual queues... say you see  
a chair you've seen before... a room... a peace of clothing worn  
before... a house down the street... of course their is steve... his  
distinctive voice... all sorts of audible clues too... these all  
build extremely strong links in your mind... though most are not at  
all computer readable or searchable. I would even say that these  
purely mental links can be MUCH, MUCH stronger than the actual hyper  
textual links or mental links we make from reading blogs... they can  
much more compelling too and can even compel us to action easier than  
a blog post.

2) Just to pick on Steve today... let's say you're watching vlog  
soup... Steve gives you seven vlogs... spells out the urls... shows  
them on screen... shows some clips, gives the whole rigamarole.   
These links don't have to be clickable to be effective... now ideally  
they're right there below the video as you watch it in the page...  
but they can also create a much more compelling call to action than a  
link... hence my case of watching videos on TV with a laptop in  
hand... i find it actually less cumbersome than watching the video on  
my computer... because it's not in the way... therefore I can in a  
split second type in a url for a vlog he's talking about and follow  
along... there's a sort of separation and breaking of the actual  
direct hypertext links... but that does not mean that the feedback  
systems or reciprocation is broken... I think we'll find as these  
systems we're building become more ubiquitous we'll find many more  
"leaps" of this sort... back and forth between devices... from the  
mind to paper... to the computer to the mind... you must not discount  
out these links though they're not hypertext... I think we may find  
them more and more relevant as media becomes more ubiquitous.

There's a certain beautiful interaction between the speed of  
interactivity between these different form of media... I'm VERY fond  
of watching TV while working on my computer... especially things like  
movies... even if I've seen them before... What I'm experimenting  
with in watching vlogs on TV is to create a "space" a physical space  
for a different form of interaction with them... as you say the  
'potential' for all the interaction is still there... BUT I'm also  
free to ignore them... or to give them a much less significant part  
of my attention and by having them more passive I can work more  
productively on other things when they don't require my  
interaction... and then immediately delve into them with increase  
vigor when something does interest me...  SO... watching vlogs  
becomes more passive aggressive... So... watching vlogs is not a ALL  
MY ATTENTION THING... so the attention I'm leveraging into watching  
vlogs is not ALL my attention...  so instead of watching vlogs for  
one hour and feeling either fulfilled or perhaps not so fulfilled  
after watching vlogs for an hour... I can now watch vlogs for two  
hours or more while I'm working... sometimes stopping... sometimes re- 
watching what I really like... but ultimately getting more enjoyment  
out of the vlogs and more time to work on other things during that  
same three hour period. Hell... I'm watching vlogs right now as I'm  
writing this to you.


>> Add the fact that conversational interactivity is integrated into the
>> blogs and the whole thing blows up in your face. Now you are a
> participant
>> on equal terms with anyone else. You can recontexualise any other
> piece by
>> creating your own piece and making a connection between the two.

I hear that... it's an amazing thing that the vlog watcher has as  
much power as the vlog creator... it's a scary scary thing indeed for  
those not born or this medium. It's also one of the most amazing  
things about this medium... I think perhaps the core catalyst to  
spurning conversation. I know in commenting or revlogging I wield the  
same power as the original creator... and hence... I'm very tempted  
to do it... and hence... I'm very thankful and have much empathy for  
them. It's the beautiful thing that also exists in blogging... but is  
much more powerful in video blogging... which is why I think comments  
and rev-logs have a tendency to be much more positive or affirming of  
the original vlogger.  Not that we're all a bunch of back patters and  
there is some good true disagreement now and again.. but the empathy  
does offset the power.

Side note: Ironically you should see some of the seething hate mail I  
write to the occasional website I come across with streaming media  
which instead of empowering me actually often robs my times and craps  
all over me... and is usually accompanies with no or completely  
ineffective feedback mechanism... the hate is redoubled. :)  The last  
time I think I bothered to try and watch a streaming video was on  
CBS's website when the whole Mena Trott argument was traveling around  
the vlogosphere about 3-4 weeks ago. They'd fudged the interface so  
bad to try and control it and "hold onto their power" that after 20  
minutes of screwing around with it in Safari and Firefox and diving  
into the source I still couldn't get it to play.. never did watch  
it... but I sent them a nice piece of clue mail. :) LOL.


>> And then Michael describes his own setup:
>>
>>> Actually...  I've found that playing back video blogs on the TV
> can be
>>> quite
>>> the two way experience. Now, I'm using my iPod, BUT I suppose a Tivo
>>> might
>>> work just as well. What makes it work is having a parrellel  
>>> queue... a
>>> landing page where by you can follow along as you wish. Also a
> remote for
>>> your ipod or tivo comes in handy, of course for skipping, pausing,
>>> restarting or rewinding. Here's an example workflow we set up with
>>> mefeedia... First mefeedia automatically creates for you a web based
>>> browseable queue as it has from the start... but now it also
> provides for
>>> you a single personal RSS feed that directly parrallels that
> queue. The
>>> RSS
>>> feed hence goes to your Fireant, iTunes/ipod  or perhaps in the
> future
>>> tivo
>>> or Akimbo as they start to better support vlogs... Basically you can
>>> instantly pull up your watch page on your laptop and jump to any
> post
>>> your
>>> watching on TV.
>> [SNIP a bunch - you know how it is, Michael :o)]
>>
>> What you're describing here is not a video podcasting system (not
> how I
>> describe video podcasting above). It behaves more like a blog-system
> than
>> a video on-demand system. Like setting up a second monitor on your
>> computer.
>> You are one-step removed from the blog in much the same way that you
> are
>> one-step removed from a blog entry when you read blogs through a feed
>> reader. The big difference being that you loose anything *not* in the
>> video file itself such as additional text with links and  
>> explanations.
>> That's a big drawback in my book, but if that's how you watch,
> that's how
>> you watch. It's sort of a mix between the blog and the video on- 
>> demand
>> system where you get the disconnect from the on-demand system while
>> retaining the potential of the blog's activity (the potential, it's
> not
>> actually there while you watch).
>>
>> What I don't get is why you just don't watch the video in a seperate
>> window on the computer?
>>
>
> The factor of compelling is larger and different on a large monitor or
> screen at a distance.  This allows an immersion and presence for the
> media piece not presently available on computer screens.  What is
> missing is a synchronization between such devices.

Compelling? I don't follow Enric. Let me take a stab at it though.  
How compelling the video I'm watching is on the TV screen is in some  
way proportional to how compelling it is when I watch it on the  
screen. The exact relationship is unknown... While I have more of an  
ability to ignore or give half my attention to a video on the TV  
screen... and in fact the physical space between and around us  
creates this "space" for interaction with other than the video...  
when the ideas or content on that screen become compelling they have  
just the same ability to move me to action as when I'm watching it on  
my computer... maybe even more. Put another way that video on the TV  
has more context on my TV than it does on my computer screen, because  
of just being in the context of a bunch of text and computer  
interface I see it within the context of the wider world in which I  
live the physical world... this gives me the new and more dynamic  
space in which to engage that video... and when it does connect...  
within this new context it can connect if not more fully... thank in  
different ways.  These issues... this ability to compel me to action  
offsets the ease of access to a hyperlink. In fact while I may find  
many things less compelling while watching them on TV I may connect  
with fewer thing in more valuable ways.

This synchronization you speak of... it's not 100% necessary... I can  
type in a url pretty quick and easy... I can also pause and control  
the video... but being able to quickly pull up a window that already  
has my mefeedia personal queue loaded... and to jump right to the  
post... even go immediately to the blog provides that  
synchronization.  Ideally... in a freaky futuristic world... I'd be  
able to say "stop... more info please" (or hit an info button on a  
remote) and the video would stop and show or speak that info to me...  
I'd then be able to read or hear that info and make a choice as to  
wether to follow that action along some other predefined link or  
memory link (i.e. requesting a search for a related thought that  
popped into my head) or continue with the video.  This completely  
independent of the physical constraints of the device where the video  
was playing. The problem is our communications systems are still a  
bit fragmented... there is still a difference between a computer with  
web access... a TV... and a phone... but those lines are obviously  
beginning to blur now... these devices will become part of a seamless  
communications space in the future... I needn't mention VOIP... but I  
will also point out that now computer flat-screens are coming with  
composite video... and TV flat-screens are coming with standard  
computer monitor inputs... the main difference is resolution now... a  
27" TV might sell for $900 and have go 1300 pixels wide... a flat- 
screen monitor from dell might have an 1800 pixel resolution and top  
out at 24"... and they sell for about $1100. The lines are blurring  
quickly between are communications systems... another radical change  
is of course the video ipod... taking personal video with you into  
the world as simply as we take personal audio... how will personal  
video players work out in the real world... I have no idea... but I  
know that when the first sony walkman arrive no one had any clue how  
cool that would be... nor did they have much to put on it.

All in all this is about the very interesting impact the ubiquity of  
media will have on communications. What's important is that I'm not  
saying this method is better... I'm saying this method is new and  
interesting and fun... and provides if nothing else... the  
opportunity for new insights into how we interact with vlogs... and  
possibly some insight into how we'll interact with media in the  
future though it is possible to be really really off. We are after  
all just peaking through keyholes.

P.S.  Let's not forget about the whole other side of this... the  
cemeras and the input systems... I often do because I admitedly do  
not make and post enough (ahem, any) of my own home made videos...  
really silly of me actually. :)

Peace,

-Mike

Michael Meiser
http://mmeiser.com/blog - fun stuff
http://mmeiser.com/backchannel - del.icio.us link blog
http://evilvlog.com - Serious lunacy has a new domain.
http://mefeedia.com



>   -- Enric
>   -======-
>   http://www.cirne.com
>   Determine Media
>
>> - Andreas
>> -- 
>> <URL: http://www.solitude.dk/ >
>> Commentary on media, communication, culture and technology.
>>






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