There is an update in the AnimX blog. Bandwidth is definitely enough for YouTube at least at home or somewhere like LifeBytes. And now there is a short video from Exeter TV .com on the Games Day during Animated Exeter. Wifi bandwidth may not be enough for a lot of video but in principle there can now be connections. The actual use of web access during festivals seeme to be more about linking to somewhere else or some other time rather than intensifying a specific occasion. So the AnimX blog may have more links to other animation festivals.

There is a sign outside the Royal Oak, Heavitree for the Gadge Band. Thursday is tomorrow. This may be the same Gadge Band that has a video on YouTube from the Globe, Newtown.



So if anybody finds this blog over the next 24 hours this could be an indication of what would be possible with wifi.

The screen is still showing entirely adverts at LifeBytes. Could there be some sort of content? Apparently at some stage there could be a sound option if you bring your own headphones and some wifi kit. In theory there could be samples and promotion for a network of events.

Plasma screens have started to appear in Exeter. I have seena couple, at Life Bytes and the Phoenix. They currently show nothing but advertising, most of it local. Based on information from LifeBytes, it seems there may be more content later. But not much. Adverts will probably always be at least three quarters of what is happening. The screens are connected to web access so can be updated frequently. There may be some wifi access but this has not been tested. (No upload at LifeBytes, they have an obvious concern) Possibly sound could be provided if a suitable device was available with headphones.

By the way, I notice that the tables closest to the screen at the Tesco restaurant have the fewest people on them. at least, that is my impression. The sound of advertising is not an attraction. In my opinion some non-advertising content would be an advantage.

Meanwhile, here is an inspiring link to a website for Philadelphis. Notice the Youtube link is for a band that is appearing soon. This is a way to sell tickets. So far in Exeter there has been very little by way of performance video for YouTube and in each case long after the event.

The latest development is the arrival of free wifi in Heavitree, so far from the centre of Exeter that it was once thought of as a place to escape for a change of air.

It is now at the centre of the 'Heavitree corridor', a traffic jam connected to the motorway. There is still a collection of shops and buses manage to get there, however slowly. Above Fulfords, opposite the Post Office, there is a new company called Switch Systems. They can work with Open Source such as MySQL but also offer Cisco support. They have 8meg bandwidth so have allocated half a meg to local wifi.

My impression is that although there is wifi at the Phoenix and Central Library, Heavitree now has the most depth in technical support for any wifi access in Exeter.

This post is about "text web" and "video web".

I have put it in other blogs about druoa2008 and learning ( see profile for links) but also put it here as "video web" is also about mobile devices. For some reason a mobile DVD player is arriving faster than an e-book reader. Mobile phones just don't support static graphics. "wifi Exeter" is as suitable a place as any to imagine this. the "text web" will continue for some time.


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I have found a couple of links following an article in yesterday's Guardian. Michael Rosenblum has a copy of most of an article by Ian Reeves, who has some video on his own site.

Rosenblum is quoted as distinguishing web 1 as based on text and web 2 as based on video. Personally I find the use of webs 1- n confusing but the idea of a text web and a video web is interesting. The video on Ian Reeves site shows several examplesof newspappers moving to the web. Jeff Jarvis believes that video is suitable for conversation but I don't really expect US candidates to respond in detail to every post on YouTube. Text still has some scope, even if email exchange started in web zero.

Today Adobe announced a new Creative Suite ans I am struck by the low priority for print. My guess is that most people still relate to hard copy. But 'design' seems to be one of three words, the others being web and video. Within 'design' print is hanging on with mobile devices. The most recent figures show sales of Flash to device OEM as about 2% of Adobe revenue. Postscript sales are included with 'other', totalling about 10%. So somebody expects the mobile video aspect to grow fairly rapidly.

"text web" relates back to hard copy. "video web" may not. Except that if flying type is included in the animation I hope knowledge about typography survives somewhere.

I am posting this in learn9, about learning and quality, and in drupa2008, about whatever pre-press is supposed to be doing, and in a Guardian Education Talk comment about QR. I still don't understand the UK academic approach to quality but when a new set of students arrive one day expecting to borrow cameras from the library there must be some way to manage the transition.

Searching on Vibraphonic reveals that there are more videos on Youtube, mostly from the same event at the Lemongrove. The magic of Youtube can take you to alternative recordings on the same songs but I think this format is ok. Should there have been better lighting and a choice of cameras for an edit? Of course. But while we wait for the official quality level to be established at least here is one performance that is web available.

I did make a very short video during the lunchtime lecture by Ann Shenton at the Phoenix yesterday. It is just to test out the "vibe07" tag on Youtube and see if much turns up.



The cover passed round looks like this



It was a proper lecture, not just a workshop but I don't know enough about it to write it up properly. A Google doc may develop later. More on the White Label website. It was advertised as about "analogue" but was mostly about electronic music, starting with the Radiophonic workshop at the BBC.

Meanwhile a couple of photos and a link to a video of performance by a Large Number.





Large Number Live at Bad Timing

Recent research suggests that there are now enough web links to get an idea of most events. Exeter Television may get more active soon but meanwhile it is possible with a bit of time travel to get an idea of Vibraphonic online.

The mystery seems to be the James Morton Jazz Quartet. Usually Bristol has most things together but there is no sign of a web base I can find. Anyone reading this who knows more, please leave a comment.

Animation has not come to an end. This is from Jason Webley, at the Northbridge Inn last night. The Duckworths have a few tracks to download on Myspace. At the Northbridge on Monday. I'm not sure the Minor Planet link in the printed guide is the same group. Arnie Cottrell might be more at home at a folk festival as far as I can tell from the website. "Boots of Spanish Leather" has not got that relentless beat found on the radio.

At Havana, the act missing from print is confirmed as Two Spot Gobi. They turn up on YouTube. There are people who believe that lighting is important and that quick video should wait till more resources are available. Not knocking this video but I think it is evidence that if the sound is ok then any lighting is adequate.



Mark Abis on the Tuesday one week later has some excellent lighting.

And the Radio has started on a Belle and Sebastian version of Whisky in the Jar so I am getting into a more relaxed mood.

Meanwhile at the Globe, which is closest to where I live by the way, the house band Monkey's Uncle has a page of photos. Jon Sterckx has a video on YouTube that is a form of animation. Maybe people on the demoscene should have a look.



It is also on his website.

Panacea have music on Myspace and their website but no video as yet. They often perform in Exeter so maybe someone will get permission to video something soon.

I can't find anything on Dominic Ashford or Craig Milverton. Maybe they are in a jazz tradition of avoiding promotion, like James Morton. Only probing here, this is just a blog after all. Please add comments. Generally this is a very encouraging trawl, limited to just the smaller venues not places like the Phoenix.

Dominic Ashford and Craig Milverton will feature in a tribute to Oscar Peterson on 8 Mar at the Globe. Fortunately Oscar Peterson is represented on YouTube.

My interest in wifi started when people at Psand showed how it could be used as part of an occasion. Since then I have slowed down a bit and there seems not to be much wifi used during an event.

Maybe this is just in Exeter. Another mystery is why there is not more video turning up for Exeter Television. To find out more, search YouTube on "directorjo" or take some recording round to LifeBytes on Sidwell Street. There is one number from Melonious Funk from last year so that is some connection with Vibraphonic.

Maybe it is better just to accept that online is out of space and time. I have found some actual vibraphone music. And it connects with Scarlatti so may get some attention from the archivists. If they don't video in Exeter over the next week or so there will be more links with the YouTube vaults.

Now found the Channel 4 report on Norwich. It claims you can watch the video but Windows Merdia Player fell over. Maybe it will work for you.

During animated Exeter could be a good time to check out wifi in other places.

Channel 4 News had a report about wifi in Norwich the other night. Searching on Google turns up a BBC visit from last year.

It could be that Exeter has lost some edge since the Intel survey showed a lead in wifi. Both Norwich as a city and Norfolk County Council are putting in energy and gaining an advantage. Norwich is not that different to Exeter so some benchmarking might be possible.

There are photos from the Phoenix on the animX blog, clearly demonstrating that wifi is working ok. Animated Exeter happens throughout Feb. Not clear yet what the usefulness is of web connectivity in an arts centre. To be continued.

This is on topic for wifiExeter as it is part of the time travel way of extending an event. (wifi connects space at the same time)



Azymuth are part of Vibraphonic in March.

Support from Melonious Funk. Search Youtube on "directorjo" to find their video and others from Exeter TV. There is now a quality control policy at Exeter TV so lighting is required till the summer when things can move outdoors. Not sure if the musicians want any performance to be on video. But it is not too soon for some planning just in case.

I have now enabled comment moderation. This means that any comments will be checked before appearing.

This may cause a delay but the blog seems to have been found by random posters that have very little to do with the topic concerned.

If you have an interest in the blog you can become a member and then your posts will appear anyway.

The Globe has got an IT box so in theory it could connect to wi-fi. Maybe this would help connections, if there was a decent camera for example. At least the video on the previous post was loaded at Google the day after the event. One problem is that few people use the wifi available. Apparently over about eighteen months there have been four people actually trying to use the wifi, of which three got it working. The signal reaches the car park so sensitive documents might stay secure.

There is a pub in Bristol, the Chelsea, where Bristol Wireless support a Linux box with web access and also wifi for any other computers available. They broadcast sometimes on Radio Vague and the music seems in the same range as the Globe. Maybe wifi could assist more contact but maybe real time is not an issue. I had thought of listening to Radio Vague this evening but will probably be back at the Globe. So here is one track from the Chelsea earlier this year, as MP3 and as Ogg. Check here if you need some guidance on Ogg Vorbis.

Visited the Globe last night. Unfortunately the King Lud reading event was cancelled. The bookshop has closed on Fore Street and the staff have moved to Oxfordshire as the word has it. The Globe has something scheduled for most days during the Exeter Autumn Festival. I did a short video of musicians downstairs as there was nothing happening upstairs. The video is very low quality because of the lack of lighting and the unsuitable camera. There is a suggestion that a really good camera could be borrowed from the Phoenix before the festival closes. There will be a link later to any video that turns up.

So before the video, a photo that has been worked on a bit to make it lighter.



Now the video

Embedding not working at the moment so please follow this link.

Apologies about the reference to the DTI in the last post.

The Digital Challenge is actually from the Communities office.

I think there was an e-envoy at some point but I'm not sure what the DTI is doing recently.

Meanwhile KPMG are sponsoring some awards for e-government. I still think the awards and shortlist style of approach will not do much for the digital divide or forms of exclusion.

What is any government doing to support internet cafés? Obviously libraries get some funding but I think that in Exeter for example somewhere like Life Bytes is making a contribution. My intention is to continue a conversation there and connect with other projects when possible.

Checking the Bristol Wireless site it turns out they are part of a bid to become a demo site of some sort.

It seems the DTI idea is to challenge digital exclusion by concentrating resources on a few dramatic sites. Manchester needs a boost obviously. Milton Keynes has only got the Open University to help it understand e-learning etc. Parts of London probably qualify.

Apart from Bristol,

"The other ‘top-ten’ finalists are; Stratford on Avon District Council, Birmingham City Council & Shropshire County Council, Norfolk County Council, Sunderland City Council, Ealing Council, Nottingham City & Nottinghamshire County Council, Kingston Upon Hull City Council, Milton Keynes Council and Manchester City Council, in partnership with Tameside MBC."

Here in 'wi-fi Exeter' I don't think there was any move to join this bid. So the South West effect will be for more energy in Bristol. Nothing wrong with that of course. Suggest we pay careful attention.

Norfolk County Council may be supported by Norwich where there is some energy for free wifi.

Exeter Television now have a video edit on YouTube from Sidmouth Folk Week.



This is a welcome development and confirms my impression that the web is outside of normal time. This is from the summer just as the fog arrives. The saxaphone gets a lot of the time available on this edit. No bad thing in my opinion. However there is nothing from the main performance by Melonious Funk. Maybe this can be released in time for Vibraphonic. This is what I mean about being outside time. Melonious Funk have four tracks on MySpace.

Anyway this summer definitely worked out ok. Last year was frustrating when the wifi failed to work at the Tate during the Thames Festival. See photos. There should have been a sax solo over the web and then nothing happened.

In an attempt to move things closer in time I have loaded a very short video on Google from the Exeter Autumn Festival continental food market on Sunday. There may be more from Exeter Television later. Not sure if television should be in real time now it is on the web. So the original idea of wi-fi as in real time and space during a festival seems to be getting more distant.

These photos show the space between the bar and the Media Centre at the Phoenix. Also the door to the Media Centre. Go through the door if you have a technical problem or some constructive suggestion to make about connecting media and technology such as asking why they don't invest a lot more in wifi kit.