Hey all, I remember well when I first got into videoblogging, and I joined this mailing-list, and I got to know so many people who were doing interesting things with videoblogging. This was in late 2004, and the movement was still relatively small then.
Today, if we can even talk about a "movement" anymore, it has grown much bigger. There are thousands of people on this mailing-list, and sites like youtube, blip.tv and others have given the regular people opportunities for mediation that we could only dream about years ago. Almost from the very beginning, one of my main interests related to videoblogging has been "political videoblogging". As in: How does videoblogging change politics? Does it change it? If so, how? Who is the agent behind this change? How could political _organizations_ use videoblogging as a sort of knowledge management? A way to remember political processes and make politics seem less of something just for people in some ivory tower. A way to connect with the people in ways that you simply cannot do through the main-stream media. In mid 2005, while I was doing some videoblogging experiments within my political party in Norway, I was quoted as saying this in a bbc online article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4229698.stm): "Today in Norway, many youth are feeling disillusioned with politics," says Kristiansen. "They feel that politics is all the same. And if I can interview people, put them online, it lowers the barrier." I have since in different ways probed this question. How can politicians, or NGOs, or others, communicate with - for instance - the youths in a way that becomes authentic? Is more authentic than the broadcast model of putting on that suit, the mask, and talking for 30 seconds in an elevator-pitch about X important topic. On my personal vlog/blog, www.dltq.org, I put out a lot of videos, most of them long and boring, some of them short, some of them innovative in some way, but too many of them just being fluff. Now, fluff is good and all, but sometimes we want to go deeper. So, last week I decided to end DLTQ, to end this site and to move on. My messages to this mailing list the last months has mostly been about political videoblogging. What is happening around the world today? What are the best case studies? What can we learn from whatever people are doing in the UK, Italy, USA or India? I received some tips, and I have also been exploring the current status quo of political videoblogging (including the various projects involving youtube), but overall I feel that I lack "the overview". There are a few great sites out there, like for instance www.personaldemocracy.com - but I often feel that such sites lack a true international scope. So I am currently in the process of preparing for my next site, which will not be personal as such, but a team effort. The domain is not ready yet, but I will give it to you once it is. So far we are two people living in Denmark who have committed ourselves to it, but I am looking for other partners, preferably in other countries and continents. So: Are you interested in the meeting-point of politics and new media? Are you interested in how mediated politics can change how civil society works and develops? Do you want to be part of a small group of bloggers that will deal with these and similar questions? Personally, I think it would be great if we could be 5-6 people from different regions. 5-6 people that could together edit a site that could add to the plethora of sites dealing with these issues. Part of the goal of the site would be to point at best practice from around the world. It would also be to publish our own video once a week with updates from whatever is happening, as well as interviewing some "regular people" about issues that matter to them. Something like "Ten Questions": http://www.10questions.com/ but with an international profile, and being a site that also goes "meta" a lot. Even though videoblogging is going "main-stream", we must remember that this is still about "the people". The individuals who for all kinds of reasons make movies and put them on the internet. Have a great day/evening!, Best regards, Raymond M. Kristiansen 2004-07: www.dltq.org [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
