WiFi Exeter ok for broadcast

On my Posterous blog I have linked to YouTube where there are two clips together showing a result from iPhone in Phoenix bar over free wifi. Chris Norton tried this out after the Wild Show this week

http://will789gb.posterous.com/wifi-exeter-now-ok-for-video-and-sound-to-rea



This is not entirely new on the planet, but it is news for me. This is evidence thaqt wifi Exeter is more or less up to speed.

Kouatchou videos not a technology test, to be continued for Heavitree and Spin 2

I will keep video updates in this blog, even when there is not much tech involved.

August Bank Holiday Monday now a while ago but editing takes time and my idea is to get more loaded in time for next year. YouTube is very slow to reach an audience but it gradually helps the events that repeat.

Kouatchou was part of the Open Mic but met Spin 2 during the sound check. Two of them joined him for one song and then he joined them later with the song again. There was no rehearsal as such. I found a previous performance on YouTube



so this shows the song with voice and guitar.

Open Mic version



version when all of Spin 2 have arrived



I hope more comes out of this. Future Open Mic Bank Holiday Mondays could result in more mixing and it may continue through the winter.

Video Edits and Lighting show new possibilities with wifi communication

This is possibly a suitable blog for this post. I don't want to start too many of them. Wifi is still not ready for video or at least phones are not likely to cope with the size of files. The cameras in phones are getting better but I am still using my very reliable Kodak Zi8 with a little card I take home to a desktop. Suppose a file is 150 to 300 megs. Is that in the limits of a phone contract? Coming up soon in Exeter is #likeminds, a good time for experiment. Some people visiting will have the kit. Last year the hardware on display was mostly phone cameras. Not that #likeminds is a hardware show of course.

But sometime in the next couple of years it will be possible to upload web video from a phone and have a reasonable result.

In the last few days I have noticed some changes in web editing online. I found a link to WeVideo and then looked again at YouTube. WeVideo started in Norway with education and is now launching from California for a wider public. It is a cloud editing service but also a social network. I have not tried out sharing clips yet but can see how it would work. Actually I find it a bit difficult still. It is not obvious that you have to request an email validation and then activate YouTube etc before you can either export to YouTube or get a notification. I tried to exsport to the WeVideo YouTube channel and the site itself but these may be in a queue somewhere. Anyway tst1 has turned up on YouTube



This is just two clips put together. (I followed Kev to the Amber Rooms after the St Sidwells Community Centre Open Day. Sound systems very important for video when you rely on the camera mike.)

Another example, adjusted for lighting with Kodak Media Impression



(possibility to edit reggae clips with other forms of music)

It has taken me a while to realise that lighting can be adjusted in an edit. But WeVideo and similar sites can make this more obvious.

So then I looked at YouTube, also claiming to offer online editing but I had not tried it recently.

Again they offer a "Fill Light" option. Summertime set to 4 just a moment ago. Yesterday I tried it on The Girl from Ipanema



Previously very hard to see



The idea of cloud video editing has been around for a while. But it is getting closer to somewhere nearby.

Blackwells updates web site, is Exeter ahead of the curve?

The Bookseller reports that Blackwells have put more features on the website.

M.d. of Blackwell bookshops, David Prescott, said: "This is the first of a number of exciting developments we have planned for our online bookshop for the coming months. We have listened to customer feedback and made improvements to the website to reflect Blackwell's reputation as the UK's leading academic, professional and specialist bookseller. By harnessing the expertise of our team of booksellers in Oxford and across the company on the website, we can now offer the same level of service and knowledge you would expect from a Blackwell's bookshop in store and online."

Jessica Armishaw, head of online, added: "It is about improving the customer experience in a number of ways and at the same time we wanted to move into a place online where we differed from our competitors and went back to our core values in the academic and specialist book niche."

So Exeter University may survive without a bookshop. There is much to discuss in the new term.

Video around Heavitree Holiday Celebration August Bank Holiday Monday

I have done an advert for this event



and there are more conenctions turning up. Samba Marcianas were in Coburg recently and there are two clips on YouTube.



also Spin 2 have their own clips, better editing from the Globe.



Stripey will not be in Heavitree this year. He is in Poland on tour. But here is a track from his CD. Details on YouTube.



The Open Mic is still open but bookings are filling up fast. I went to the Oddfellows yesterday and they may turn up in the park. Also some people may continue at the Oddfellows in the evening. The lighting there is terrible so the open air is better for video I think.

Heavitree as prototype for Exeter events

The relevance of Heavitree Bank Holiday Monday for "wifi Exeter" could be the wider use of online video to promote and extend events. In essence the message is fairly easy to get over. August Bank Holiday Monday again, same place as last time. So in theory more complex messages are possible with less than a year to load the video ahead of the next occasion.

#likeminds last year showed a Nokia phone and Kodak camera. I still think there is an issue with file sizes, video can be 300 megs or so. But maybe wifi can cope. More on this when #likeminds is in Exeter. Somebody will know of an example somewhere.

For now, loading video ahead of an annual cycle is making most sense.

Spin 2 and advert for Heavitree Holiday Celebration on YouTube

Spin 2 will be in Heavitree Pleasure Ground again this Bank Holiday Monday. I have posted another clip to YouTube. The quality is not HighDef but it is nine minutes long and still loads ok.

Also an advert for the event on Bank Holiday Monday. There may be several cameras this year so we may swap enough for a better edit. Sound ok and this should continue.

I am shocked at the idea of a university without a bookshop. This may seem a bit strange after years of raving on about ebooks and wifi. But there is such a thing as balance. There could be more wifi and still something of a bookshop on the Exeter university campus.

But on a recent visit I found that Exepose, the student newspaper that can also be found through exepose,com , continues a campaign to object to the proposals for an online resource rather than a bookshop when the central retail part of the campus is open again in 2012. I was not sure that there might be some speculation in their reporting, even some alarm to get interest from readers. But they have sent me a press release from the Communication Manager - Corporate Services and it seems to be genuine.

The new Forum Shop ‘The Market Place’ will provide computer access for students to order books online and will provide a delivery and collection point for the service.

This will replace the current bookshop facility on campus and is expected to be introduced in January 2012.

There is even confidence that this is an improvement

Jilly Court, Deputy Director of Campus Services said, “Although the teams involved recognise the anxiety based around the changes in the mode of delivery of this service; it is certain that the new service will continue to serve the needs of research and education without detriment to the student experience.”

She added “We are very excited by the new retail zone in the Forum; The Market Place, which will deliver a whole new range of goods for the students and staff, one of which will be a focussed book service to meet the needs of the academic community in the future".

Apparently tenders are invited to provide the new service, which will also include a physical supply of set texts at the beginning of academic terms.

Well now, speculating, the tender list may include Waterstones and Blackwells. Blackwells had a campus bookshop before the improvements started. Waterstones have two shops in the city centre. Where did this decision come from? Have Blackwells or somebody else on this possible tender list already indicated whether or not a campus bookshop is a suitable investment at this time? There has been comment about HMV and the current Exeter stock of recorded music is not as comprehensive as it was. Will there be two Waterstones in the future?

After the London Book Fair before last Blackwells tried out an instant book machine on Charing Cross Road. Actually 24 hours usually to produce a paperback from any PDF or other digital source. There is now no chance of this happening in an Exeter Blackwells but something like it could be considered. there will always be some demand for hard copy. Maybe WH Smith could arrange something with local digital print companies? The discussion has to include local interests of all kinds.

A couple of other thoughts. What is this improvement about? I had thought that a bookshop was a central feature of a university. The campus space is now dramatic but has less in it. Who will this attract? And if there is no need for a bookshop why do they need a library? Going digital could solve all the problems of short supply. sudden return requests during the holidays etc that are also described in Exepose. Is there a plan about all this or is it just a surprise once the campus returns to normal after being a building site?

Don't get me wrong. Wifi is the future but is not just to be stumbled upon. Blended learning now has research backing so the book as in paper has to be part of the mix.

There is now enough wifi in Exeter to make a case for a map. I have started a Google doc with just the basics. Apple in Princesshay, Central Library and Phoenix. This is most of the original RGB loop. The cathedral area is less so I think. I have shown where the BT box was on South Street. I think it was an SPCK shop on the corner near the Well House that had wifi for a while. But not too much history, need to show the other spots as of now. Mostly free, but BT may be needed as a lot of people subscribe.

If you would like to add something please let me know and I will send an invite.

YouTube on mobile devices seems to be getting more probable. The Barcelona news is about another couple of billion prospects. Personally I still have an ancient Nokia device that just makes phone calss and text. But video is better distributed so the cameras will follow. Apparently wifi helps with large files.

So at some point Exeter City Council may support Flash or some other form of video. Maybe there are more urgent priorities for limited funds but I think some sort of video policy is relevant, even if it is just to link to somewhere else. This is the first animated Exeter with a Facebook page that I have found. There are links to video but you don't have to click on them. Maybe Exeter City Council should do more of this sort of thing.

I find that online virtual worlds such as second Life and Twinity are beyond my resources at home. I don't have the right graphics card. So LifeBytes was really useful once upon a time and now St Sidwells will allow Twinity on occasions. They also support Youtube though volume is an issue, normally turned down for other people in the area. Exeter City Council staff or councillors curious about YouTube? Head for St Sidwells.

Back to Twinity. I have put some photos on Flickr. Captions later. These can explain what is possible. Video from Twinity also possible but needs lots of memory and some camera skill. Getting ready for bandwidth later.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/animx/sets/72157625872071295/

Animated Exeter is a showcase for Exeter content. But it would be even better with web content that was not static.

Jaime Leigh wins wild card spot with public support. The Open Mic term covers a lot of events, including a national projectwith a final at the O2.

http://www.openmicuk.co.uk/live_shows

Jaime Leigh has won the wild card vote for the area finals in Portsmouth on the 27th November.

Here again are two videos from th Acoustica festival at the Phoenix.


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Meanwhile Open Mic continues in Exeter at Oddfellows on a Monday and the NBA on a Wednesday and other places. The lighting is terrible so video is bit hit and miss. So other daylight venues may be included. See recent @hum at Fuel for example.

Next summer the budget for Heavitree Park on August Bank Holiday Monday may be just enough for an open mic stage and some electronics. There should be enough blogs etc. to reach performers and an audience. Modest aims.

But someone will get to the O2 so this will be tracked also.

The Asian Film festival continues next week at Devonshire House. It was raining on Saturday evening but my guess is that people in Exeter still do not know about it. There have been some leaflets but no posters that I have seen.

So in the week of #likeminds can social media contribute something? There has been confusion over the exact dates and titles but I am now fairly certain that on Monday at 7pm the second Korean film will be Portrait of a Beauty. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is on Tuesday. There will be a closing ceremony on Wednesday so come early. the film is Warriors of Heaven and Earth.

YouTube can contribute to promotion, something to discuss at #likeminds and continue in #Exeter.

The copy for the other two boxes. more next week on precise locations.

Next week is #likeminds in Exeter. I am trying out some cardboard boxes as a demo of how broadband might work. There is a BT building near the Castle but not as much use of the web as there might be. The route will be to a table near the Old Timers.

Blog post on Google TV, Apple TV and #EX1to4 as a search based channel.

Link here. http://post.ly/12mGL

As a project this comes back to WiFi Exeter. The blog has been dormant for a while but there is still some interest. Downside is that Blogger now supplies some stats and it turns out only 10% of the views are from the UK. So probably not many from Exeter. The topics are relevant somewhere however. Exeter has got an Apple shop so the ideas around TV may get over. Google TV is for the UK sometime next year.

So I will try stuff around #EX1to4 and see if the stats show more of a UK trend.

This is a video already on Youtube



The Spacex website shows details of events in Exmouth and Exeter that may be reported as video. Rougemont Global Broadcasting has included events at the castle but probably there are now enough sources for linking to make more sense. I have started two channels - Rougemont Garden Broadcasting that is just about exeter and fairly close ; Rougemont Global broadcasting that includes some tech etc from other places if there is a possible Exeter link.

More on updates later. In theory the links could be to mainstream media. "Social media" is getting vague enough to include video of various kinds.

Meanwhile the Pyrates are at the Firehouse on Saturday. Search Youtube on "pyrates" or "pyratesuk". this social media approach assumes the audience make the moves.

The social media thing is really getting ahead. Haymarket continue to publish Printweek in hard copy (yes this is another blog but some topics are coherent)

But the online aspect of Haymarket is growing. http://www.wallblog.co.uk/

Wallblog links to http://fourwhere.com/ based on gowalla and other positioning sites. You can find Exeter on the Google map and there is comment but only a couple as of today. Still you don't need a phone or to check in. You just get the buzz from a desktop.

Maybe I have lost track. Should I get out more?

Solomon Burke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Wdp7tjyrE

Mama Stones in July.

There may be more video later from the Respect Festival. The idea of using YouTube to promote Exeter events just needs lots of examples. Sometimes easier to use content from other places.

Search YouTube on "Exeter Respect" already finds a few.

I will try out social media in Exeter this week. #likeminds is in Helsinki. In Exeter I miss LifeBytes as a real place. Was on Sidwell Street. Twitter is ok but not the same.

IPEX blog updated. How to relate this to Exeter?

Short posts on Posterous in future. May work ok as a sort of email.

My main topic this week is the Kodak Zi8 camera. Presumably many more cameras like this will appear soon. So clips to YouTube will be a larger scene. Local TV could edit some together but it may not be essential that this happens. The quality is ok.

But some sort of budget is needed. The Respect Festival sort of sold CDs for variable sums of payment. could this work for DVD? needs something for production and editing.

Samba Marcianas-Exeter School of Samba- Exeter Respect 2010