Yes I think you are right, you have something there. I guess there are some other factors too, like cheapness and availability of webcams.
And I guess when people are talking about emotional issues, sort of having a 'heart to heart' with the camera, the act of recording it can be quite a solitary thing. A private space shared. The reflective mood has the space to form in the silence of the self alone in a room, a location where much soul searching has been done, only this time the webcam is on and the hard drive ticks. I couldnt help but notice that a lot of the people in that mix were younger, poorer, and somtimes lacking in the confidence and connections that time & experience afford to many of Also quite a number of them seemed to be English or British, and I wonder if they could of been influenced by the fact that we've had quite a few TV shows over the years that have featured 'ordinary people' who are given a videocamera and make a video diary. Obviously television imposes more constraints, but the end results often had a simialr sort of intensely personal, intimate, connection between viewer and the person pouring out their soul to the lens. I do not know how much any UK TV versions of such things could of influenced people really, and I dont know whether there have been many widel-watched TV equivalents in the USA over the years, so I dunno how wrong I am, just rambling really. Certainly I remember the emotional impact of the first handful of vloggers that I sxaw doing such things, I guess for me about 2 years ago no. Some of those people were/are in this yahoo group. I lose track of how many have kept that style. I know that video is so great for show and tell, I cann see why people can get caught up in showing new things and people. But really I do like to also see a part of people minds, stuff and places and conversations with multiple people are all very well, but the solitary human spirit pouring out onto camera will always have a special place, though I tremble as it makes people vunerable at the same time. As for community crapness, I dunno, community for me is an ever-changing thing and I dont expect a yahoo group or gatherings of a subsection of people, awards or anything else, to be the same as the potentially infinite community that can arise from huge random collections of videos online. The very essense of vlogging is in the whole, the vlogs themselves, as you find them and as others create them, a subsection of these people that decide to talk about vlogging can never be a mini-mirror of the wider phenomenon. I havent read Zen & the art of motorocycle maintenance for a long time but something in my sponge-brain tells me theres a concept or 2 in there that applies. I wonder if that made any sense. Putting it another way, no conference, forum, mailing list or gathering in time/space, f finite size, is going to come close to the greater voyage. I dont know if I really know what community is, I am always both amazed and dissapointed by the sea of people flow from place to place that I am stumbling upon at that moment. Steve Elbows --- In videoblogging@yahoogroups.com, "Josh Leo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > this video reminds me of all the first videos i watched when i started > videoblogging... > > it is about making connections with people and sharing your life... however > I feel like the one difference between most youtubers is that the > diary/confessional/personal videos are made on an actual webcam and not a DV > cam that people take with them... > > though it could all be a matter of influence.. did i start showing my house > and neighborhood because i saw jay, ryanne, and verdi do it before me... or > was it something else... are these people only sitting at their computer > filming because they haven't been influenced by other styles of personal > video? > > On 11/17/06, Eric Rice <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > This weekend at PodCamp West, I'm part of a discussion about Community > > Imperialism in DIY > > Media, because frankly, I believe the state of 'communities' is crap. > > > > It's been a rough week, seeing everyday people invoking the DMCA, > > requesting DRM to > > protect content; open source getting attacked; watching the word > > 'community' get thrown > > around when it means 'our silo'. > > > > And then I saw this. A 10 minute video that damn near had me in tears. > > > > Do you consider them videobloggers? I do. > > And since they aren't aware of THIS community, I will completely step > > outside any jurisdiction > > and award them all a Vloggie Award. They deserve it, too. > > > > http://www.ericrice.com/blog/?p=208 > > > > ER > > > > > > > > > > -- > Josh Leo > > www.JoshLeo.com > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
