Ever since I cleaned this blog, putting all those old posts in the archive and giving the page a new look, I have felt the urge to blog again. To write more, and to post more videos too. But I have been quite busy with work lately, and I wonder how much of that I should be blogging about, and then there are all the other issues that I covered in over 800 posts earlier. Political videoblogging, blogging technology, OPML (I haven't written about OPML in ages, even though there has happened quite some interesting things in the field), or screencasting. Which reminds me: Thank you to Betsy Weber from Techsmith for your comment - I had no idea you were following my site :) I am a somewhat eclectic person, and if you ever believe in astrology, I guess I behave like the archetypical arian person (with mercury in aries as well). I tend to dive head-first into a field, be Very passionate about it, and then my passion seems to deflate like a punctured balloon. Only, my interest for all those things are still there. I still think OPML is a Great tool (and if I ever figure out how to Use xoxo I guess I would love that too), and I still think screencasting as in creating usability demos as well as just - well - showing people how you do something can be very useful too. Videoblogging is clearly at the top of the list, though, even though I have been a horrible vlogger lately. One of the pieces I am proud of is the one from the Vigeland park - but this one doesn't deal with political vlogging; it doesn't deal with blogging or vlogging per se.
There was a discussion on the videoblogging yahoogroups lately about how much the list should stay on topic. Some people wanted the discussion group to be more topic, more about technical solutions, and discussion about those solutions. There were other voices who pointed out that part of the charm of the community is that it is a community - people who interact with each other on a rather broad spectre of topics. The centre of the community is vlogging - videoblogging - and how we can use this new technology and the new ways to mediate ourselves. But it often gets off topic, and likewise this site also gets quite off-topic sometimes. So, during the last weeks, I wondered what to do with it all, all those embarassing videos I put out there, or the lamentations, or the very unserious and loosely structured stuff like my skype chat with Michael Meiser and Schlomo Rabinowitz.
It all boils down to signal vs. noise. Ratio.
For almost a year, I kept a Norwegian-languaged blog at raymond.blogg.no - it was aimed at my fellow Norwegians, these 4.5 million people living in the North of Europe. Or, well, not all of them, but rather people who 1) knew me or 2) were somewhat interested in blogging, vlogging etc. After a year of blogging on the site, I just deleted all the entries. I felt the noise level got too high.
But this is what it is all about. People. Creatures of the Day and the Night who interact with each other. Sometimes things get ugly, but why shove the dirt under the carpet?
I want more blogging, not less, and yet I realize we are all fragile beings, we all react somehow to criticism, be it fair or not. It is so much easier to live with being criticized for NOT publishing something than being criticized for the content of what you do publish. This is why good bloggers keep fascinating me - bloggers who get it. Robert Scoble gets it in my opinion. He makes mistakes, he becomes angry sometimes, and lashes out, or appears hurt - but that's HIM. Flesh and bone. With audio, Madge Weinstein does some amazing work. When her beloved died of cancer earlier this year, she dared to share. In video, who are the best sharers? The best people in showing both their strength and weaknesses - fragile. I don't know this medium. I mean, to be honest on video takes so much more work. You know that people could remix you, be it in a positive way or a negative way, and make you look like even the bigger fool than you are. Hmm, of the posts lately that I really admired this one by missbhavens is a great example. She just came to New Orleans and saw the house there in a terrible state. She describes her emotions, and shows us around the house, all the mess.
Blogging, podcasting, videoblogging is all about the people. At least, to me it is. The technology is important, sure. The money involved in providing this technology is important too, of course. But the buck stops with the individual with something to say. Whether that be some homeless person in Canada, a not too-bad-off business/technology person in Silicon Valley, or a teenager in the UK simply exploring the world and expressing themselves through humor or real reality.
With our Norwegian and Swedish blogging portals, we (BlogSoft, the company I work at) have thousands of bloggers. Thousands of individuals wanting to express themselves to their friends or to the general public. Here is a woman writing anonymously about her sexual adventures, including (earlier) how she cheated on her husband and later how she and her husband enjoys sex with another couple. Quite provocative material to some, while for others it is simply a question of freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech.
How come politicians feel they need to come with the usual phrases when they are on television? Boil it all down to 5 sentences while in a heated debate with a political opponent. A battle of Titans, of Gladiators. To me, politics shouldn't be a bloody gladiator match, and yet somehow we all make it turn into it. We want to see blood (someone saying something stupid), we want action (someone accusing another of X or Y, high emotions), we want to be - above all - entertained.
Blogging, podcasting, videoblogging - all forms of communication that are on the one hand accessible to a large part of society - at least here in the industrialized countries. On the other hand, together with tools like OPML and techniques like tagging and metadata, we can create a rich ecosystem of communication between people from a large variety within society. At the end of the day, it is this ecosystem that is important. That there are all kinds of creatures in the mix and not just for instance tech-minded geeks or political activists a la indymedia or spisderike.net (a Norwegian group - the site is literally called "Eat the Rich"). As videoblogging becomes easier for the average person, we will have a stronger vlogosphere and ultimately a stronger civil society.
And that is worth fighting for. And blogging for.
There was a discussion on the videoblogging yahoogroups lately about how much the list should stay on topic. Some people wanted the discussion group to be more topic, more about technical solutions, and discussion about those solutions. There were other voices who pointed out that part of the charm of the community is that it is a community - people who interact with each other on a rather broad spectre of topics. The centre of the community is vlogging - videoblogging - and how we can use this new technology and the new ways to mediate ourselves. But it often gets off topic, and likewise this site also gets quite off-topic sometimes. So, during the last weeks, I wondered what to do with it all, all those embarassing videos I put out there, or the lamentations, or the very unserious and loosely structured stuff like my skype chat with Michael Meiser and Schlomo Rabinowitz.
It all boils down to signal vs. noise. Ratio.
For almost a year, I kept a Norwegian-languaged blog at raymond.blogg.no - it was aimed at my fellow Norwegians, these 4.5 million people living in the North of Europe. Or, well, not all of them, but rather people who 1) knew me or 2) were somewhat interested in blogging, vlogging etc. After a year of blogging on the site, I just deleted all the entries. I felt the noise level got too high.
But this is what it is all about. People. Creatures of the Day and the Night who interact with each other. Sometimes things get ugly, but why shove the dirt under the carpet?
I want more blogging, not less, and yet I realize we are all fragile beings, we all react somehow to criticism, be it fair or not. It is so much easier to live with being criticized for NOT publishing something than being criticized for the content of what you do publish. This is why good bloggers keep fascinating me - bloggers who get it. Robert Scoble gets it in my opinion. He makes mistakes, he becomes angry sometimes, and lashes out, or appears hurt - but that's HIM. Flesh and bone. With audio, Madge Weinstein does some amazing work. When her beloved died of cancer earlier this year, she dared to share. In video, who are the best sharers? The best people in showing both their strength and weaknesses - fragile. I don't know this medium. I mean, to be honest on video takes so much more work. You know that people could remix you, be it in a positive way or a negative way, and make you look like even the bigger fool than you are. Hmm, of the posts lately that I really admired this one by missbhavens is a great example. She just came to New Orleans and saw the house there in a terrible state. She describes her emotions, and shows us around the house, all the mess.
Blogging, podcasting, videoblogging is all about the people. At least, to me it is. The technology is important, sure. The money involved in providing this technology is important too, of course. But the buck stops with the individual with something to say. Whether that be some homeless person in Canada, a not too-bad-off business/technology person in Silicon Valley, or a teenager in the UK simply exploring the world and expressing themselves through humor or real reality.
With our Norwegian and Swedish blogging portals, we (BlogSoft, the company I work at) have thousands of bloggers. Thousands of individuals wanting to express themselves to their friends or to the general public. Here is a woman writing anonymously about her sexual adventures, including (earlier) how she cheated on her husband and later how she and her husband enjoys sex with another couple. Quite provocative material to some, while for others it is simply a question of freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech.
How come politicians feel they need to come with the usual phrases when they are on television? Boil it all down to 5 sentences while in a heated debate with a political opponent. A battle of Titans, of Gladiators. To me, politics shouldn't be a bloody gladiator match, and yet somehow we all make it turn into it. We want to see blood (someone saying something stupid), we want action (someone accusing another of X or Y, high emotions), we want to be - above all - entertained.
Blogging, podcasting, videoblogging - all forms of communication that are on the one hand accessible to a large part of society - at least here in the industrialized countries. On the other hand, together with tools like OPML and techniques like tagging and metadata, we can create a rich ecosystem of communication between people from a large variety within society. At the end of the day, it is this ecosystem that is important. That there are all kinds of creatures in the mix and not just for instance tech-minded geeks or political activists a la indymedia or spisderike.net (a Norwegian group - the site is literally called "Eat the Rich"). As videoblogging becomes easier for the average person, we will have a stronger vlogosphere and ultimately a stronger civil society.
And that is worth fighting for. And blogging for.
Kommentarer
Postet av: Heikki|Dato: 25.mai.2006 / 14:36:07
Dear cousin. Finally i'm blogging too. I promise I'll use more than five phrases.
Postet av: Karl|Dato: 09.jun.2006 / 02:26:34
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Of course I read your blog! :-) I always learn so much from you...on a variety of topics.
I should say, 'thank you'! Keep blogging, vlogging or however you feel like communicating.