The NME has found the video but a bit late to help publicity much.

This year is just a test for next year really, it is never too soon to try to work out where it went wrong.

The House of commons debate on Digital Britain had some interest in the idea of a pilot for local news. There seemed to be a lot of support for Granadaland as a suitable location. Maybe we should benchmark on this. If Ben Bradshaw suggested Exeter was the ideal spot it might lead to comment. So some research in Granadaland could fit in somewhere. The Pyrates have a booking at a festival in Kendal and I am planning a trip to Lancaster. So something will turn up in this blog later.

Shakespeare's Monkey is photographing his coffee cup. Image covered by Creative Commons so could be printed out.

Thinking about a beer festival as a section of unusual time. One of the papers I do not yet understand is by Michel Foucault about Heterotopias or alternative spaces. He also mentions "heterochronies" slices of time they may be linked to. somehow this connects with learning theory and web design, unless I am just adding in my own take on an academic scene.

The actual event could be more like a fairground. The museum aspect may take over with the video edit.

Tuesday night was interesting. More reasons why news online can be slow. The mix of editing and/or getting permission for images takes a while. And events are not that clear when and if they happen. At The Shed in Princesshay there was the official launch of the art exhibit but it has been announced and postponed a couple of times previously so almost nobody was there till the end. I did take some photos but not sure yet whether to use them. The idea is for a talk about art with images in the shot. The stills could be used with people or avatars from somewhere else but maybe something else will happen tomorrow. Meanwhile here is a photo of a beer glass. Lager fans who find the lager has run out at Beer At The Castle may venture towards Princesshay. I think the galleries at the castle will be closed.



Later I went to an open mic at the Tiggas Bar. Hum has left Exeter at the moment so I will have to ask him later about image rights. I think it will be ok to use his work from MySpace. Sound seems ok on the video but not sure if people want this public. I will check next week or when they turn up next. Photo of David Gedrych meanwhile, video could be later.

I have loaded some updated notes to Scribd

Notes for Chatshow during beer At The Castle

Thing is I am not sure how much of this will actually be discussed by Saturday. Not enough preparation or notice. So I am now thinking about it as a test and some of the discussion will continue. The music video could suffer from poor sound for example. But the performers will turn up somewhere else later so there could be a link. Sidmouth Folk Week is another sort of timeframe. Interviews could be in Exeter during the morning. Buses to Sidmouth early afternoon are in time for much of the music. So another question is the times for buses to return. Will there be any late night buses as arranged a couple of years ago? Anyway this is off topic for the moment.

Scribd is more urgent as a topic. The reputation in UK media is as a pirate refuge. Too easy to load stuff up, too well connected for comments and links. But USA publishers have strated to use it for freebies and promotions. Also there is now an option to charge for stuff. Only in the USA however. Swizz or what?

Scribd intends to support EPUB and PDF. Pre-media and publishing could be projects for Exeter. The council may be right to ignore Flash given the 2meg target for the UK as announced by Carter. This is more on topic for this week.

Thinking more about text and books, it may be more difficult to cover. In Exeter there are two branches of Waterstones in the High Street, both with stock of Sony Reader. Also a Blackwell branch at the university campus but there are no plans for an ondemand book printing device as the site will close soon for redevelopment. Earliest date a couple of years as part of a relaunch. Also I have a cardboard replica of a Kindle. Not available in the UK so why all the fuss?

There has been a slight change with the Apple shop. It seems video is ok if no staff are included. Public statements are best coming from head office. But Princesshay is now to be treated more or less as public space. So you can photograph in the street equivalent.

Maybe we could find some video from somewhere else.

Opinion on what is a text and what should it cost could come from anyone.

Another search later it turns out that BBC content has been reworked for YouTube, with video and subtitles. What is wrong with this? Slicing up the BBC budget to keep keep existing models going is only one option. "Sharing" could mean more of a network that went a bit wider.

Other topics are more or less covered so the scope ccould include more on text, journalism and publishing. Books include images also but it seems to be words that are the basis. The talk around "Digital Britain2 so far has been mostly about how to preserve exisiting structures. Bigger fines for piracy, that sort of thing, today Peter Preston in the Observer suggests that BBC funds should be paid to newspapers for local news and other good work. No mention for bloggers, citizen reporters, funding some slightly better lighting for the average web video or indeed anything at all on the positive aspects of what web technology makes possible. Preston seems rather pleased that the MySpace business model might be losing market share and jobs. Why not look at the business model for OhmyNews? I have been sensing in text stories for a while now but how a similar approach could work with video is still an open question. I am not suggesting that all the stuff on YouTube is great. But a discussion would be useful that included the potential for all citizens to contribute. Most of the coverage and policy seems a bit limited. The idea that closing down BBC free news online would result in a rush of subscriptions for UK newspaper sites only makes sense for people who do not experience the news online from other sources. The UK is quite a small place, not as grand as seen by London media.

Also, whatever happened to the BBC archive? Some time ago there was an idea to make old clips available for a mashup etc. This seems much more sensible than anything recent.

A couple of searches later, it turns out the BBC Creative Archive stopped in 2006 but the Open University still has something.

There is now a post on animX about Breakpoint and John Whitney, both with Youtube clips to explain a bit. So this is a good start for a conversation.

Also I have borrowed a graphic from Ban The Wheel on MySpace. Should be ok as i have tried this before and Hum starts off from music as I understand it. His attitude to copyright is very clear. Hope to meet him during the week.

Trying out embed code from Acrobat.com



If you have some black ink in stock, should print ok. During Beer At The Castle the studios will be closed for health and safety reasons so there will not be as much artwork as there could have been. Maybe more graphics will turn up that could be printed out. Originals could be a problem if beer got to spill on them.

This post is about content but I am going to concentrate on animation in animX. this is about video, could be animation but mostly not really. "Compositing" : what is meant by this? Should this blog get confusing best to ask me to clarify during the Beer Festival next Friday and Saturday. Earlier the more sensible, conversation easier to hear before Isambarde go electric.

Breakfast today was free at Spacex, coffee and cakes. No news yet on the size of a new carving. But there are leaflets for EASTvideo, to reach Exeter in August. Video is a bit closer to music on the copyright scale. Closer than still images that is. Permission to photograph an oil painting is not very likely. Better stored away somewhere. But some video is online or a sample could be. Topics to cover include why this is so and is it changing?

Some links so far.

Two Quicktime web pages

Elizabeth McAlpine LIGHT READING Cinematic Explosions

Grace Schwindt The Chair

Some Youtube links, best fit

Patricia Esquivias, Folklore No. 1, 2006

Green Elephants

v kunst review 1

Appendix 2: Chce wyjsc ! Chce wrocic do domu + Warsaw View By Day

Teletaxi

Por Convencion Ferrer - A Film by David Jacques (Chapter 1)

Also

Kate Corder

Ursula Mayer Interiors

Laure Prouvost

Other link suggestions welcome.

It seems obvious to me that all this video will be better on a big screen than on however you find YouTube. So the consequence of some of it being public online will be to promote the event at Spacex. That is theory A. Discussion to be continued, possibly on camera but possibly not and not either soon or near.

I have done a very quick video on the new iPhone, available in Exeter. It is an inspiring idea about getting stuff on YouTube quite quickly. things have changed a bit too. It is not forbidden to photograph near Princesshay as was widely believed when it opened. So this has not got any staff opinions in it and should be ok. Links follow as the official explanation of video arrives on YouTube. I have seen a brief demo and it works well. You can select the part of the image to focus on. Editing is just clipping the beginning and end. No titles. But send to YouTube looks fast enough.

How many will be in Exeter for next weekend? Cameras already exist and a few days to edit and load makes not a lot of difference. That is my impression at the moment but things may change.



Also an interview with Jo Gedrych about Exeter TV and several about the Beer Festival.

I think this is the same {dweeb] appearing at the Cathedral as have a Youtube channel. The NightChurch project certainly is putting on music. The Jazz last week was excellent. Mostly standards so there was nothing too experimental. I did some extracts on YouTube, search on Cathdral Jaxzz or start here, The Way You Look Tonight.

A poster for the NightChurch event on 26th June is available for download.

Many things can happen over the same weekend. Maybe enough will be recorded to catch what you missed later on.

An actual meeting did happen at the Well House, part of a planning meeting for the Beer Festival. Some progress as I managed to get agreement for something to be quoted. "Exeter is the biggest village I have ever lived in" said Captain Gallows while handing out sample CDs of the Pyrates who still have a few unbooked dates over the summer. Exeter may be a regional capital but it is also a county town and actually the central part is not that big. It is possible to walk across most of it in a fairly short time. The loop between castle and cathedral is quite short and is a suitable set for photos or video. Taking in the Phoenix and the Apple shop suggests some tech for doing this. The Beer Festival 26/27 Junewill be just from the Castle though the Well House has a cider festival at the same time.

Discussion also covered the technology available in Bristol and a "non-conference" coming up in July called OpenMIC - a mobile innovation camp on 2nd July. This blog is about Wifi Exeter but we tend not to get too technical. Maybe we will just concentrate on content for a while and return to wifi around the time of openMIC. Proabaly there will be several blog updates on the same day, even a Twitter experiment. But things move more slowly once you get west of Bristol. Maybe some people visiting will have mobile phones with cameras etc but the plan is to work out a text guide over a month and then end up with a few three minute video clips.

The Pyrates will be part of Kendal Calling at the end of July. They would like to find some bookings near Lancaster on the way there and back, say Sat 1st August and/or 31 July. Kendal Calling have their own Youtube channel. Not updated so far for this year but it could be useful benchmark to compare hoe Exeter events are promoted. The Pyrates will be asked later for a full report on actual Kendal.

Rougemont Global Broadcasting -
draft notes for chat show during Beer @TheCastle 26/27 June

(this blog is mostly about bandwidth but content is in there somewhere)

RGB is a longterm project to develop video from Exeter. So far there is some text and some clips on YouTube. Mostly the standards are not of broadcast quality. Exeter TV is also on YouTube but with some sort of standard and resources for DVD production. The summer light is a chance to record some interviews and Exeter Castle is a suitable setting. so far the organisers of the Beer Festival have no objections to photography though some of the musicians prefer not to be recorded. We have previously done video from Sidmouth Folk Week where most people accept photography.

Topics will be developed during June and even late May.

Why is music an area where artists are fairly relaxed about copyright? Or put another way, why is print publishing so worried at the moment? Exeter has two Waterstones with the Sony Reader. Also Blackwell at the University where there may bean Espresso instant book machine. Will book culture have to change? The Analogue to Digital Music Expo showed that many people in music have already adjusted.

The RGB loop is between Castle, Phoenix Arts, Cathedral, Apple Store and back again. Photography near the Apple Store not welcome but Second Life is an alternative. The dynamic is to explore technology and content. At the Cathedral there has been recent video of Simon Pope on show at Spacex and also jazz concert. Apologies for the low production standards in both cases. The wind wrecks the sound for most of the talk about Carved From Memory and the lighting collapses soon after the concert started at 8pm. However there could be studio interviews with people who were on the walk and Cathedral Jazz will perform again some day. The approach around YouTube is to load what is available. An edit can come later.

Editing is a major topic. OhmyNews is a citizen journalism site in Korea. They concentrate on editing resource for stories sent in by readers. I have done a report about the Exeter Korean Film Week. How will the approach to text change as more news comes through video? On YouTube the audience can choose a sequence. Is there much use of worldtv?

See http://worldtv.com/rgb-loop/

There is much discussion on how local newspapers can survive current difficulties. Working with bloggers and other websites could be an option if there was a shared idea of network news. some finance needed for video. the costs are dropping but editing still takes time.

Visual Images are probably still more closely protected than text. Galleries rarely allow video of interviews near to artwork. However, sound is part of the art mix and also video can be seen as an exhibit. What sort of thing turns up on YouTube? Conversation can be around both the value of what is on YouTube and whether recognised work of value should remain in a gallery.

Other topics may crop up. Or all issues may have been resolved already through text. If the musicians welcome it the concentration may be on recording performances. But some of these questions are worth repeating.

Simon Egan has claimed on camera that he will be loading the soundtrack of "Fraud" to the Internet Archive. Can't be found at the moment but perhaps this statement was a deliberate deception. Expect a follow up question if he can be found during June.

contact Will Pollard will.pollard at gmail.com

links

http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/eedcamra/fest/summer/index.htm

advance tickets

* The Old Firehouse, Exeter
* Great Western, Exeter
* The Bridge Inn, Topsham


Isambarde The Kesh & Old England on YouTube

The Archbishop of Canterbury will visit Exeter during the same weekend

test from New Horizons

on Longbrook street so could be updated on where i am near the centre of Exeter. Twitter only works one in three so far.

This may seem a strange choice for this topic but I think the solution could be better access to photos from CCTV through some sort of network. The starting point is the possibility that trees are in danger in the Cathedral Yard not just because of Health and Safety issues but because of the need for clear lines of sight from CCTV cameras. I thought this was a wierd idea at first but then I did some Google searching and found the minutes of a recent meeting for Devon County Council.

Appendix II

To ECC/09/28/HQ

Key Issues identified at presentation on 12 December

--------------------------------------------(i) - (iii) missing here

(iv) Proposed tree planting: the positioning of trees was questioned because of concerns that CCTV views would be obstructed: the proposed trees around the relocated Memorial would also obstruct the view of the west front.

So it is least a possibility that CCTV concerns may have contributed to earlier discussions. As reported on the "This Is Plymouth" website, the reasons given for axing the trees were to do with the danger of branches falling off.

Cathedral authorities said consultants called in to examine the seven trees found they were all suffering from a “common structural fault” and had to be felled.

The cathedral took the advice after an incident the previous year when a branch snapped and took a lower branch with it.

Just in case CCTV may become an issue for the surviving trees, why not surround them with cameras? The scaffolding could be done with taste and the video stream made available to the public. Sound should be possible as well. Nowadays people share all sorts of information through Twitter. We have nothing to worry about if not breaking any laws so why not have more cameras as long as the results can be shared?

Raving on about the Guardian I realised I should explain more about local news and video. Sometime soon there could be a local resource with some sort of business model. not sure how this would work. But there is a discussion about local news that so far seems just to be about finding subsidies for a model that is under so much pressure it may not survive anyway. The Web can work with networks so new models could be relevant. YouTube is one example. To be continued.

This blog is mostly about bandwidth but this post is about content except the last bit so please keep reading. I think it will more or less hang together.

OhmyNews have published my story about the Analogue to Digital Music Expo. Usually there are about 4,000 readers for each story but I am not sure where they are. I am promoting this story as a connection of something local and something global. OhmyNews has a Korean base but a very wide audience,

I linked the Exeter event to Adventures in Technology in Bristol and the Sundown demoparty in Budleigh Salterton. The editors have picked out my comment about the Mac emphasis. What about the rest of us? Very nice but could it all be done a bit cheaper? etc etc these questions will turn up again. Also they choose a picture from Bristol for the front page. Google News finds Kat Marsh as the first picture in the story. It was pointed out that her performance shows the move from analogue to digital very clearly.





The Express and Echo is the other relevant result on Google News. I claim that citizen journalism has added something. But then again it takes me several weeks to do one story. Still if every citizen did an online story a month it would add to the rich mix of local media.

In Korea the OhmyNews site often gets several stories about the same event. Then some corrections and comments from readers. The English language site so far has rarely reached this level. But similar forms of communication do develop. Events like Sundown and Adventures in Technology are reported through online networks. My stories for OhmyNews are intended to show some connections. There is enough happening round the year for a news event to be claimed every few months.

The mentions for "South West England" in the sub headline and chip design towards the end may get some official attention. Why worry about the future when the retro interest is so strong. The main current concern is the difficulty of getting reliable equipment for the chip tune.

Another recent story in OhmyNews by Jean K. Min suggests that in Seoul people expect about 100meg broadband at home and will soon get 50 while mobile. When I started to write for OhmyNews about four years ago i thought they were about four years ahead with Web resources and working out what to do about it. They still are. Jean's blog is called "Planet Sized Brain".

Brother Pollard has returned to Exeter. He visited Southwark Cathedral last summer and then stayed on the south bank. Apparently Vibraphonic could be the explanation.

Not sure if this should be in wifiExeter, mostly about bandwidth, or in animX, mostly about content. soon there will have to be a way to match the blogs together.

While in London he visited the parks around the rivers and canals near the site for the Olympics. There are not yet enough wooden exercise resources in Exeter but there is still plenty of time.