It has not been possible to arrange permissions for video at the exhibition by Exeter College currently on Sidwell Streeet opposite the Odeon. This is unfortunate as Life Bytes is so close they might have been persuaded to do some video for Exeter TV. However there may be something ready for next year and there have been some conversations about topics to be included.

Some of the work seems to me to fit with ideas about mass distribution and the potential of digital technology. Tereza Buchlova shows some photos that I think were printed inkjet and also some linocut illustrations for "The Truth", a book by Terry Pratchett. It turns out that two of these have been scaled down to fit the dummy books. The linocuts were scanned, resized and then printed inkjet. It is not easy to see much of a difference except for the colour of the background paper where the inkjet has white edges.

There seems not to be any intention for a limited edition of linocuts. The interest is in the effect as a source for litho printing.

So why not put the digital source of the photos online? The next question is how could this be sustained? This is a discussion to be continued.

Show closes at the end of this week. So you don't have to accept my opinion that the linocut looks much like the inkjet.

Also on Sidwell Street, signs of an art exhibit starting Monday. Looks like work completed during study at Exeter College. I may persuade someone from Exeter TV to visit. Based almost next door at Life Bytes. I could not persuade anyone to visit Spacex during the North. But there is still a possible connection.

Continental food in Sidwell Street is becoming a standard feature of Exeter festivals. this blog is written late Saturday and the market will still be there tomorrow. But if you happen to find this later you may be in time for the Autumn festival which may be much the same, though probably not as wet.

The rain has hardly stopped but I did get out as far as Sidwell Street for some food.
Via Belmont Park, where it was still raining but the museum tent was full. Not sure how this connects with their exhibits but more later.

It seems to me that broadband in Exeter is ok.

There is enough of a base for possibilities to be imagined.

I have put more about this on my MySpace blog

My Space is getting more interesting. Vibraphonic are on there and do send messages about performances, even during the main festival.

The Royal Albert Memorial Museum is also on MySpace, with photos from the Beyond the Frame exhibit. I think they could go further. Put some high res scans on the Web, that sort of thing. But maybe something will develop from discussion on MySpace.

I am not really Bobby Womack by the way. My own name was not available and I thought I was just searching to see who else was there when it turned out that was who I was. I can understand it.

Back to the Beyond the Frame show. It is much better than I gathered yesterday.

Round the corner from the wonderful frame are some actual photos. Not clearly signed. In the gap on the way out. There are a few sent in by phone or email. But none in the frame as advertised.

If you just invent something in photoshop, email to you@exeter.gov.uk

Should turn up at Myspace/beyondtheframe

Personally, I am still mostly interested in the landscapes. Spacex showed photos from camera phones as if they were watercolours. Now we are allowed to send user generated content to the Royal Albert. But why is the art archive not on show over the web? And what is the value of gthe photos that do not turn up in a gallery frame?

Couple of finds through a bit of Googling.

Worcester City Museums have a painting, Summer Sea, Newquay by Julius Olsson.

Compares with one in the show.

And the Artfund have a version of a Devonshire valley.

The Artfund is a charity raising money to buy art for the public. So making a reasonably sized scan available online makes a lot of sense.

Not sure what the "Outside the Frame" show is about.

More later. But I still think the museums should put their own stuff on the web as well as expecting new work from the public.

I was not allowed to photograph anything at the Royal Albert during Animated Exeter although the landscape theme would have fitted in to the Tim Brennan events at Spacex. I was allowed to photograph the Blind Ditch occasion at the Phoenix.

So I'm not sure how much can be photographed before August although there is plenty of time.

It seems there could be something on YouTube ahead of most events.

This for Varttina. The Corn Exchange is previously St George's Hall.




There is a search result for Wistman's Wood but this has not much to do with the support act.

They will be at the Globe on 4th July. Maybe video will appear. Not sure many people read this blog anyway but there is a model here for promoting live performance.

Wistman's wood do have sound on Myspace.

Wizz Jones sang Song for Woody at the Globe last night. There may be video later for the people scared away by the rain. Meanwhile here is a version on YouTube. There was some spare space so further publicity needed ahead of Wistman's Wood on 4th July. More on this later.

Moebius Surfing now has some stills from the Second Life version of the Venn Festival in Bristol. According to the Xstream page there will be more on Second Life in November. Archive of Venn will turn up soon.

Meanwhile in Exeter live acoustic guitar is still very popular. Wizz Jones is at the Globe on Friday with Spin2, see YouTube for recent performance.

Another video from the Globe, Spin 2



Coming soon, two or three cameras and a lighting techie.

What a difference a "Z" makes.

I have spent a good twenty minutes searching to no avail based on the spelling from the Globe website- Wiz Jones. I am now pretty sure there are two "Z"s, based on the official site

WizzJones.com

Note the date 15th June. Promoted by the Exeter Newtown Performance Appreciation Society (ENPAS). It is not enough just to drink beer. You have to buy a ticket. £5 on the door.

Through the miracle of YouTube it is possible to sample Wizz Jones before the event.



Meanwhile in Bristol, there is use of wifi in real time. Bristol Wireless and Psand are involved in the Xtream project to stream performances from the Venn Festival. This is on tonight and tomorrow. In Exeter things move a little bit slower.

Full disclosure, I am on the ENPAS committee and often suggest there should be some more video. The existing YouTube selection for Wizz Jones is pretty good though so not easy to improve on.

Not off topic for a blog about wi-fi. One aim is to link up media and performance and audiences. Using stuff that someone else has already done is one way to start.

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.