1) Yeah, it's great that John Furrier's really engaging today in a way that most larger companies' CEOs wouldn't. And saying all the right things at last. Even if he called Kent "Ken". Oops :) But it restores the faith a little. What got everybody crazy here was that nothing happened for so many weeks and months, and that on the rare occasions anybody spoke up from Podtech, what they said irritated the situation more in either tone or content.
2) Very few people are as well-connected as Irina. And she's super- talented and has more energy than ten of me, it seems, so I'm sure she'll be fine. It just seems so strange that Podtech didn't want to hang onto such an asset and find other ways to use her to enhance their company's profile - and to use her considerable networking skills for them. Perhaps they thought she was doubling up with Robert Scoble in this capacity - but whatever - that's their business. Literally. 3) I guess there aren't many examples of CC being upheld like this. Perhaps we'll come to see it as a good thing that there was a bit of a drawn out process and fuss kicked up, since its messy example might scare other larger, non-new-media companies into respecting rights and paying up. 4) Awards. Needs to be written about by someone who cares. Like Kent. Man, he really cares! 5) The community proved itself to be less angry about this than it has on other contentious issues in the past - good sense and behavior has prevailed for the most part. We organize well! 6 I think that a videoblog is a video, on a blog. What do you think? On 24 Jul 2007, at 19:17, Justin Kownacki wrote: 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 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
