Video contest: What is Remix Culture?

Owen Gallagher, Creative Director of TotalRecut.com, passes along word of a remix contest that I'll be a judge in:

TotalRecut.com is hosting a Video Remix Challenge over the next two months and we want you to create a short video using the theme: 'What is Remix Culture?' You can you use any footage you can find, including Public Domain and Creative Commons work, but the finished video cannot be longer than 3 minutes or shorter than 30 seconds long.

The prizes include a laptop computer loaded with video editing and conversion software, a digital camcorder, a digital media player, as well as Special Edition Total Recut T-Shirts, books, DVDs and CDs. We have an amazing lineup of judges for the contest including Lawrence Lessig, Henry Jenkins, Kembrew McLeod, Pat Aufderheide, JD Lasica and Mark Hosler. You can find out more information at: http://www.totalrecut.com/contest1.php.

Entries will be accepted from May 1 until June 2 when public voting will begin. The best 10 videos at the end of the 2-week voting period will be put forward into the final, where they will be voted on by the judging panel. The winners will be announced around the 1st of July. So get busy making those videos!

Here's a link to the YouTube promotional video for the contest.

April 27, 2008 at 09:50 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

On Flickr you can now share video clips

Flickr, the best photo sharing site on the planet, has just added the capability to upload short video clips: Up to 90 seconds long and 150mb in size.

Nice, though 90 seconds almost guarantees that these will be quickly forgotten little novelties. Why not 5 minutes long and 40mb in size?

April 9, 2008 at 12:24 AM in Video | Permalink | Comments (1) | | (0)

Are video site users ready for tradtional commercials?

Sunday NY Times: Online Commercials: Now That’s a Hard Sell. Excerpt:

Hulu describes itself as the online destination for “premium” video, but in its current form it has serious limitations. Though it has the backing of NBC and Fox (owned by the News Corporation) and has more than 50 recognizable names in the television and movie industries as its content partners, its offerings are surprisingly meager. It provides only a handful of popular television series, like “The Simpsons” and “The Office,” and even in these cases it offers little more than samplers — a paltry five “Simpsons” episodes and nine of “The Office.”

Hulu  has only short clips for other programs, rather than full episodes. That’s understandable for “Saturday Night Live” but not for “Law & Order.” It also has 110 movies, mostly titles that failed to impress critics, like “Dude, Where’s My Car?,” and fills out its catalog with long-forgotten television shows like “Adam-12.” ...

The viewing experience, however, will not necessarily please everyone. The two minutes of single-sponsor commercials in a Hulu program can feel as engaging as a dentist’s drill: there’s no arguing that they get your attention.

On the first “Simpsons” episode I watched, the program stopped for a Sudafed commercial in which unrelieved congestion inflated the suffering victim’s head. A few minutes later, the program halted to show the same commercial, with the same imminent danger of cranial explosion. More minutes passed, and the identical commercial made its third appearance. Of course, no fast-forwarding is permitted.

Hulu must somehow persuade viewers who have become accustomed to snacking on video tidbits at YouTube, free of commercials, to return to the Hulu version of the old broadcast model, in which programs are halted for enforced advertising breaks.

It's a hard sell because users don't want to be force-fed traditional television commercials on the Web. We're still in a transitional stage before the advent of relevant, useful, targeted advertising.

April 6, 2008 at 09:38 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

YouTube offers more data on video viewing

Associated Press: YouTube's new Insight feature offers more metrics on who's viewing your videos.

March 27, 2008 at 11:01 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

100 social networking sites for video

Here's a Big Crazy List of social networking sites for video. In other words, the top 100 video social networks.

Yep, Ourmedia is on it. We'll be relaunching the site in the not-too-distant future.

March 24, 2008 at 06:29 PM in Social networks, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Internet video ads: Attention vs. annoyance

ABCNews.com: Net Video Ads: Attention Vs. Annoyance. Online Video Ads Expected to Grow; Sites Grapple With Getting Viewer Notice Without Annoyance.

Why are we talking about annoyance instead of relevance and usefulness?

March 20, 2008 at 11:45 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (1) | | (0)

How social media has changed Chris's life

Chris Pirillo, a master of the craft, offers his perspective about social media's effect on his life. I agree with his observations, though I don't think the payoff in additional viewers is necessarily worth the trouble of doing a daily videocast on YouTube — at least it's not for me. But if you're after a wider audience, it's certainly a smart move.

I'm sure if I didn't know Chris, the video interaction and live chat would be a nice way to reach out to him. But because I do know Chris, I wish there were fewer videocasts and more text entries on his blog, because video remains an essentially unscannable media form. Text, well ... you know what you get, fast, and then you can wing off to the next entry. Like now. 

March 20, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Social-media, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Are video channels social networks?

Interesting back and forth between a TechCrunch writer and Magnify.net CEO Steve Rosenbaum about how people want to interact with one another in video communities.

More here: Magnify.net Announces Online Social TV Network 3.0.

March 19, 2008 at 11:32 PM in Social networks, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

StrangerFestival to spotlight talented youths

I probably won't be able to attend, but one of the most extraordinary European festivals of the year looks to be the first StrangerFestival, coming to Amsterdam on July 3-5. The event will feature video workshops, expert meetings and awards. Says project leader Tommi Laitio:

StrangerFestival gives thousands of young people an opportunity to show who they are and what they are into. If you know young people with talent and something to say, this is their chance.

After Amsterdam, the festival will move to various museums, galleries and cultural centers across Europe. Sounds fascinating. Here's a two-page promotional PDF about the event. Spread the word.

March 19, 2008 at 10:21 PM in International, Video, Web/Tech, Youth culture | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

On my doorstep: Samsung hi-def camcorder

 

I've written a lot of consumer electronics reviews over the years — indeed, I wrote a weekly column for Engadget with interviews of tech CEOs not long ago  — so somehow I fell onto the radar screen of Samsung, which just sent me the Samsung SC HMX10 HD video recorder to check out. I'm a gadget hound, so I took them up on the offer. Here are the rules:

The camera is yours to enjoy and put through its paces as you see fit. We've attached no strings to receiving the camera. We know you're going to give your honest opinion to us and to your readers about how it works, what you like and don't like and other impressions. The only thing we ask is that if you do decide to talk about the camera, which you're not obligated to do, that you disclose you received it as part of a program being run by Samsung. That way your readers can give your opinions and impressions their full weight.

The hi-def camcorder sells for $480 to $900, and it's just a tiny little thing. This is the first camcorder I've used with a memory chip rather than a mini-DV tape, so it'll be interesting to run it through its paces and compare with my new Canon HV20 hi-def camcorder.

March 18, 2008 at 09:54 PM in Consumer, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Dave Toole on Bid4Vid's video production service

On Brian Alves's DV Show podcast, Dave Toole, CEO of Bid4vid.com, gets into the details of his new service that brings together buyers and video producers in a one-of-a-kind marketplace to get videos made at an affordable price.

March 18, 2008 at 12:32 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Digital convergence comes at a price

Right on, Larry Magid! (whom I've met a couple of times at the usual tech conferences).

In the San Jose Mercury News: Inconvenient flaws of digital convergence. Excerpt:

The good news about the Apple-Lionsgate announcement is that it will finally be possible to buy a commercial DVD and watch it on something other than a TV set or a PC. But, typical of Apple, the only non-personal computer hardware it will support is, of course, from Apple. I have nothing against iPods, iPhones and Apple TV devices but would like to be able to choose whatever hardware I want, thank you very much.

No, thank you, Larry. The libertarian corporations-can-go-no-wrong types who write tech reviews just don't get this. It's patently anti-consumer. More Magid:

The problem here isn't so much Apple, but the studios' insistence that any copies made of DVDs be embedded with digital rights management (DRM) encryption to limit what users can do with their content. I know the argument - if you remove DRM, you open the floodgates to pirates. But guess what? The floodgates are already open.

While DRM makes it inconvenient, if not impossible, for most honest PC and Mac users to back up their DVDs or make copies to watch on other devices, it does nothing to stop professional thieves. Just take a trip to China or many other countries to see how easy it is to buy bootleg copies of commercial DVDs on the street. And when it comes to Internet distribution, there are tools out there that make it possible for pirates to remove encryption, which is why people who have the skills and the desire to download bootleg copies of videos have no trouble doing so.

Personally, I've never ripped a commercial DVD but I've spoken with people who do it routinely and then share those copies via the Internet or college networks. But just because I haven't ripped a DVD doesn't mean I don't want to. I'm writing this column from a hotel room in Washington, D.C., where - if I ever get some time - I plan to watch a DVD on my laptop. I would have preferred copying that DVD to my laptop's hard drive or my portable media player to watch at my leisure but the industry makes that too difficult. In fact, the only way to do it is to obtain software that, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is illegal to produce and distribute (though it does exist).

Hulu, Fancast and services that bring movies and TV programs to PCs are certainly laudable, but even they have some serious limitations. To begin with, it's not convenient to watch that streamed content on a TV set. Also, services like these strike me as revenge against TiVo and other personal video recorders. Those of us who have such devices have become accustomed to skipping commercials but, as far as I know, you can't do that with these streaming Internet services.

What bothers me most about these services is that you have to have a live Internet connection to watch the programs. You can stream but you can't download. That's fine when I'm at home but it didn't do me any good last week when I spent five hours bored out of my mind on a cross-country flight.

This is exactly what I predicted in Darknet: A streaming media paradigm is one where we're once again consigned to the role of passive consumers — exactly what Hollywood wants.

March 17, 2008 at 11:46 PM in Computing, Gadgets, Mobile, Television, Video, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1) | | (0)

Qik: Stream your life from your phone

Been watching some of Scoble's spur-of-the-moment videos on Qik. Says the site: "Go live with your life by streaming anytime, anywhere — right from your phone. Be an eyewitness, capture those first steps, or whip up your own streaming video blog."

Certainly this should be of interest to citizen journalists and others covering live events.

March 15, 2008 at 06:37 PM in Citizen media, Video, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (1) | | (0)

Hulu launches ad-supported video portal

Washington Post via San Jose Merc:  Online TV, movies are free for those who view the ads.

Watching video online has typically entailed viewing short snippets of celebrity news, music videos and homemade clips. But as streaming video becomes more popular, Hollywood is trying to figure out how to make its old business translate better online.

Hulu, a joint venture of NBC Universal and Fox, made its Web debut Wednesday with a large library of advertising-supported television shows, movies and other video. It had gained a following among about 5 million users during its test phase.

Hulu requires viewers to sit through two minutes of advertisements for a typical half-hour episode, or roughly 75 percent less commercial time than the typical prime-time TV show. Users of digital video recorders can skip commercials, but there's no fast-forwarding through Hulu. ...

March 13, 2008 at 03:51 PM in Television, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Build your own YouTube

San Jose Mercury News: Building your own YouTube. New APIs make it easier for users to share videos.

In a move likely to broaden its reach globally, YouTube on Wednesday unveiled an easier way for people to share with the world the videos they create.

The video-sharing subsidiary of Mountain View-based Google said it is providing free access to so-called Application Programmer Interfaces - or APIs as techies call them - that will let people greatly expand their use of YouTube on Web sites, cell phones and even video games. ...

March 13, 2008 at 03:46 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (2) | | (0)

YouTube coming to TV via TiVo

NY Times: YouTube Coming to TV, With TiVo the Gateway

Pick up the remote, turn on the television and watch YouTube.

The blurring of the television and the computer, envisioned by technology enthusiasts for years, advanced another step on Wednesday when TiVo, the popular maker of digital video recorders, announced an agreement with YouTube that will deliver millions of Web videos directly to users’ TV screens. ...

“Leaning forward at my computer screen, I’ve got this giant amount of content,” said Dmitry Shapiro, the founder of Veoh, one such company. “But as soon as I want to relax in my living room with friends, I’m stuck with what’s on my TV.” ...

March 12, 2008 at 09:04 PM in Television, Video | Permalink | Comments (1) | | (0)

Are you a video producer? Take our quick survey

A few days ago we officially launched our new site, Bid4Vid, for those of you interested in earning money by producing videos.

Today we put up a survey to get a better idea of your needs as a video producer. It would help us out if you could spend 2-3 minutes taking our survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iWFfF_2fIQ0pC73aNZFiLnAQ_3d_3d

Thanks!

March 4, 2008 at 04:42 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

VideoMap comes to Facebook

Profy: VideoMap comes to Facebook.

Last Fall we talked about YourTrumanShow's new application: VideoMap, which launched at DEMOFall07 and then went into private alpha mode for development and testing. YourTrumanShow is known for giving you a place to video blog your life story. Today marks the release of VideoMap on FaceBook.

We wondered if the application's official release would live up to the promise of its debut, and the answer is mostly yes. During DEMO the creators of YourTrumanShow promised the VideoMap would offer a widget that would work with YouTube, FaceBook, MySpace and more. They said the widget would offer a graphic representation of your video connections and collections across social networks.

I installed the FaceBook application as soon as it came out this morning to give it a whirl. ...

Once the application was installed it took me to a screen to import any videos I had on YouTube. I don't have many, not being a video blogger, so the process was fairly quick for me. ...

Actually, I have a few hundred videos online, and like half the population they're not on YouTube, so I hope VideoMap and similar applications take that into account in their development roadmap.

March 3, 2008 at 11:49 PM in Social networks, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Sorting through Miro's 3,700 channels

From Nick Reville at Miro this weekend:

We have just rolled out a major new feature for Miro:  channel recommendations! When you open Miro, the first screen you see is the Miro Guide, a listing of 3,700 free internet video channels. Starting today, when you rate channels that you like, we'll give you recommendations of channels that we think you'll also like. It's really nice. To start, just open Miro and click on 'Channels You'll Love' in the top bar.

March 3, 2008 at 12:32 AM in Citizen media, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Bid4Vid, the video jobs marketplace, launches

The teams at Ourmedia and Outhink Media are happy to announce the launch today of a new sister site: Bid4Vid.com.

For any skilled producer who has wanted to earn money by shooting and editing video, we think you'll like the idea: Already about 30 buyers (businesses or individuals in the market for a video) have posted contract jobs looking for experienced producers who can deliver a polished production.

You can see a list of jobs here and producers here. More than 800 producers — many from Ourmedia — have already registered. The map at the top of this page shows you where the US-based producers are based.

We hope you'll check it out and send me any suggestions, ideas or criticism. Please blog it or spread the word to anyone you think would be interested in participating. Don't be shy about joining — registration is free, there's no obligation to bid on a job, and accepting a job costs only $30 total.

February 28, 2008 at 03:29 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

How Hollywood can out-Apple Apple

From Parks Associates, a free whitepaper: How Hollywood Can Out-Apple Apple (PDF).

February 27, 2008 at 08:12 PM in Entertainment, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Reaching students through social media

A mashup from OCLC via Educause Connect: Reaching students through Facebook, YouTube, digital storytelling and Second Life. 

February 21, 2008 at 11:31 PM in Social-media, Video, Youth culture | Permalink | Comments (3) | | (0)

AdSense for Video

Shelly Palmer: Google will announce AdSense for Video (New York Times: Google Plans Push to Sell Ads to Appear Inside Videos). It will allow web site publishers to insert video ads into video content or to overlay text ads on top of videos. Ads will be contextually matched to both video and web site content. 20 partners have initially signed up for the program including Revver, Blip.tv, Brightcove and YuMe.

Inside AdSense: Introducing video ads.

February 21, 2008 at 11:11 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

'7 ways to promote your Web videos'

Via Charles Iliya Krempeaux comes this post at Web Video Doctor: 7 Ways to Promote Your Web Videos. Excerpt:

Are you tired of making killer videos only to see them get a couple hundred views and then fizzle out and die? After you upload your video to YouTube or your preferred video sharing site, you need to promote it to give it the best odds of going viral. Unless your video sucks. But, if you think your video has a chance, spend some time promoting it. ...

1 - Submit your video to these social bookmarking sites: Digg - StumbleUpon - Netscape - Del.icio.us - Reddit - Furl - Yahoo MyWeb - Blinklist .  There are many other social bookmarking sites, but these are the most important to submit to.

2 - Submit to these entertainment sites: Fark - I-Am-Bored - The 9 on Yahoo! - YouTubeClips

3 - Promote within YouTube: Find a popular video that is related to your video and submit as a video response. Also be sure to submit your video to all of the related YouTube Groups.

4 - Submit to forums on the Internet: Go to Big Boards and look for forums that related to the subject of your video, find a section within the forum that might find your video interesting.

5 - Submit to the major network television shows: Get your video on one of these huge shows for a chance of big time publicity: Tonight Show with Jay Leno - Late Night with Conan O’Brien - David Letterman - Last Call with Carson Daily

6 - Post to your blog ...

7 - Forward to family and friends.

February 20, 2008 at 12:06 AM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

YouTube as a cultural phenomenon

I couldn't make the DIY Video Summit at USC, but David Sasaki is there and reports on the IdeaLab blog about Kansas State University Professor Michael Wesch's explorations of the impacts of new media on human interaction. Here's the familiar video he made last year, which has been viewed 4.5 million times on YouTube alone.

And here's the video his students created about YouTube as a platform and cultural phenomenon. 

Writes David:

As their class project became more well-known and more public, they began questioning just who they were talking to. The webcam? An invisible audience? A certain person they knew (or assumed) would eventually watch the video? One of the students, speaking quietly into his webcam said, "because I'm not looking at anyone in the eye, maybe that's what I'm able to say certain things I otherwise wouldn't."

February 10, 2008 at 01:56 AM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Revver is up for sale

Looks like Revver, one of hte good guys in the video hosting space (they give producers a fair share of revenues), is for sale -- for a song. If you have any videos up there, make sure you back them up somewhere else.

February 7, 2008 at 01:03 AM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Explore new videos at Rising Voices

IdeaLab blog: Come Explore New Videos at Rising Voices, which trains participants in underrepresented communities on how to use the tools of citizens' media.

February 3, 2008 at 12:33 AM in Citizen media, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Miro's big steps forward

I'm a great admirer of Miro on both my Mac and PC. It turns your computer into an Internet TV, as their catch phrase says. Here's the latest from Nicholas Reville:

I'm just blown away by the things that are coming together around open video.  There are now more that 3,440 free channels in the Miro Guide and just in the past 3 months the breadth and quality of what you can find has grown really quickly.  The HD channels are gorgeous.

The movement for open video online is gaining incredible momentum.  Here's just some of what's been happening:

* Today three custom versions of Miro launched!  The TED Conference, Deutsche Welle (German Public Broadcaster), and the amazing Revision3 online network are all launching co-branded versions of Miro that come with a custom start page and are pre-subscribed to their content.  For each of these organization, custom Miro gives their viewers a high-resolution, immersive desktop experience with their content.  And we're thrilled that they are promoting open-source.
http://www.getmiro.com/blog/?p=363

* From browser to Miro.  We've built a new feature for Firefox that's now in the Firefox 3 pre-releases.  The feature distinguishes between text feeds, audio feeds, and video feeds which will make it easier than ever to take a feed from your browser into Miro or your audio podcasting program.  It's a great example of open-source projects working together.  Firefox 3 is due in the next couple months and look for a new Miro Firefox extension coming soon that will make integration even better.

* Norway's Public Broadcaster recently started putting premium content online for free (and DRM-free) with BitTorrent.  And guess what?  They are promoting Miro as the best way to watch.  We hope the era of the BBC-style DRM desktop player is over.  ... 

* Miro 1.1 (which we announced a couple weeks ago) has gotten great reviews.  Miro 1.1 has incredibly fast BitTorrent performance-- as good as nearly anything on Windows or Linux and-- we are pretty sure-- the fastest ever torrent performance on Mac.  As always, get it here: http://www.getmiro.com

* Hundreds of people have already installed our I-Heart-Miro Firefox extension.  Do you know anyone who shops at Amazon?  If they install our Firefox extension, every time they buy something it will help support Miro.  Give them this link: http://www.iheartmiro.org.

January 31, 2008 at 10:48 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

NetSquared Mashup Challenge

NetSquared announces a Mashup Challenge.

Says Britt Bravo: "We're looking for innovative, creative ideas for mashups that can be tools for social change, and we have cash prizes to offer for the best projects."

Applications will be accepted Feb. 1-March 14.

January 29, 2008 at 10:45 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (3) | | (0)

YouTube expands mobile video service

Associated Press: YouTube expands mobile video service.

SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube is expanding its mobile service to include virtually all of the videos available on its Web site, hoping to widen its sway on pop culture.

Beginning Thursday, most people equipped with the latest generation of mobile phones will be able to peruse tens of millions of YouTube videos. YouTube first began showing videos on phones in 2006, but only a few thousand clips had been available until now.

Besides opening up its vast video library available on so-called "smart" phones, YouTube also is providing mobile access to many of the same features that have become staples of its Web site. The additional mobile features include the ability to rate videos and share clips with friends.

More than 100 million devices worldwide should be able to access the expanded mobile service, YouTube estimated. The handsets must have streaming capability and have a 3G operator. ...

January 25, 2008 at 11:54 PM in Mobile, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

Will online video improve the world?

From David Sasaki at the IdeaLab blog the other day: Will Online Video Make the World a Better Place? Excerpt:

Can film really unite us? Can it evoke empathy for people we've never met and likely never will? And even if powerful film does inspire empathy, will that lead to real change?

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee and Hannah Merriman, co-founders of the Global Oneness Project believe that it can. According to their website, the Global Oneness Project "was created to discover and document the diverse ways in which the emerging consciousness of oneness is impacting people's lives. We are traveling worldwide with a small camera crew, asking people from a variety of disciplines whose work is grounded in a perspective of oneness for their stories and insights." ...

January 20, 2008 at 10:36 PM in Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

The many faces of Hulu

Read/Write Web: We were, initially underwhelmed by Hulu. But by offering a high quality player, an easy to navigate web site, a large library of recent TV content, and the ability to embed videos, Hulu is beginning to win us over. ...

January 8, 2008 at 10:20 PM in Television, Video | Permalink | Comments (1) | | (0)

TiVo adds Internet TV capabilities

Among the first bits of news out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week (I'm not attending this year) comes this word, via the Associated Press:

TiVo Inc. said Monday its subscribers will soon be able to select video from the Web for playback on televisions through its digital video recording service, building on its strategy to extend its DVR beyond regular TV.

The new feature, announced at the International Consumer Electronics Show, will let users apply ''Season Pass'' recording to video content available on Real Simple Syndication, or RSS, feeds. Such Web-based videos could range from network nightly newscasts to more niche videos culled from blogs or independent Internet sites, such as DiggNation or Ask A Ninja.

Users would need to use TiVo's software on PCs for the feature, though TiVo said it will provide a guide within its TV-based menu system to record select Web video sources as well.

The Web video recording capability will be available in March with a new version of the TiVo desktop software, which will cost $24.95 for new users. It will be a free upgrade for users who have already bought the program.

TiVo had previously allowed Web video creators to submit their feeds to the service, which could be accessed in a roundabout way. And presumably, this announcement, too, applies only to the TiVo Series II. 

I fretted in Darknet, 2 1/2 years ago, about cable companies and satellite operators having a chokehold over the Internet TV programs coming into our living rooms, though I agreed with ex-Warner Bros. CEO Warren Lieberfarb that the elimination of those corporate controls was inevitable. (A handful of companies, like Akimbo, had deployed services and boxes to allow people to watch Internet TV on their TVs, but  the process was too costly or cumbersome for it to catch on in a big way.)

Widespread deployment of digital video recorders like TiVo will be one important way to route around those traditional choke points.

January 7, 2008 at 12:20 PM in Television, Video | Permalink | Comments (0) | | (0)

When you post media online, does it still belong to you?

I'm quoted in this piece in the Baltimore Sun about Fox Sports plucking a photo of a dog in a Christmas suit off the Web and posing it next to Bill O'Reilly. Titled "Is everything on the Internet up for grabs?" the article begins:

If you put your private life on a blog for the world to see, how much of it still belongs to you? ...

J.D. Lasica, a social media expert in San Francisco and author of Darknet: Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation, said the issue has reared up a few times recently, including the case of a Texas family who sued after discovering their teenager's picture on a Virgin Mobile billboard from a photo they'd put on a shared media Web site called Creative Commons. But in this new age of new media, only the tip of the iceberg has been exposed, he said.

"Just because something is on the Internet doesn't mean it's up for grabs. Fox needs to send this woman a check," Lasica said, after seeing the ad that paired the pug with a Fox TV crew member who many observers thought resembled the Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly. "It's almost as if your pet is being injected into a political scenario. And I don't know what the dog's politics are."

The writer misconstrued Creative Commons' copyright licensing service as a media hosting site, and the article didn't go into much depth. One resource to be aware of: the Comparing Terms of Service at video sites article created by Ourmedia with input from TechSoup.

January 7, 2008 at 12:55 AM in Citizen media, Digital rights & copyright, Video | Permalink |