Mike's guide to re-vlogging ettiquette
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introductory blog post
I made a little post last week to the yahoo video blogging group regarding using del.icio.us to make a video feed (reposted here (http://www.videoblogging.info/archives/using-delicious-to-make-a-video-feed/)). I guess it touched off a little debate not only on the video blogging group, but also may have sparked some interest over at del.icio.us. Now, I'm not saying this was as a result of my mundane blathering, just to say that good ideas seem to click. Good ideas break out nearly simultaneously as so often happens neither despite nor because of any one individual's actions. I'm just overjoyed there is the slimmest possibility that my words and ideas have had any value at all as more often than not I assume I am but another blathering fool.
So then, as it turns out delicious is now allowing you to not only browse bookmarks by file and media type but you can also subscribe to RSS 2.0 feeds (with enclosures!) using your favorite media aggregator (http://www.antisnottv.net/). It looks like Joshua Schachter of delicious announced this functionality a couple days ago (the 12th) on the delicious mailing list (http://lists.del.icio.us/pipermail/discuss/2005-June/003354.html). Niall Kennedy then made a nice little post (http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2005/06/delicious_tags.html) linking it all together which I've included at bottom for archive's sake. (Thanks Niall!)
That my "grasp of the obvious", as I like to think of it, may have had in even the remotest of possibilities anything at all to do with this is flattering and unexpected. So now then, congratulations a side, let's get into the heart of the matter as to why this is cool and uncool. If we can.
Why Del.icio.us new rich media link-blogging feature is cool
- It's yet another great way for great media to "bubble up" and be found and appreciated.
- As such it is another incentive for creators of rich media.
- What I love personally is it allows for the generation of useful metadata such as tags, and public opinion in the form of comments.
- I also love that it helps us to become the media, not just to "make media", but to "be media" in the truest sense of the word. It is one thing to create a video, but if we all just created and didn't review and talk about each others work how would we find out about each others stuff.
One of the most important things about new media, aka. this bloggy media is it's "inter-linked-ness". (Yes I made that up.) This is why we call it word-of-mouth media, participatory media or peer based media. Through the process of interlinking, of reblogging, of commenting, of enabling the redistribution of we become not only the media as an item (a video, a podcast, etc), but the media as a conduit. We become part of a living media entity that ensures that the right information gets to the right hands. We become filters for our friends, our family and our peers. We weed out the subjective "bad stuff" by ignoring it, and more importantly we promote the subjective "good stuff" by re-blogging it.
In conclusion - re-vlogging and link-vlogging are VERY important, and VERY powerful, but there are downsides.
Dangers of Del.icio.us new media rich link blogging
My number one concern with delicious link blogging is that people tend to focus on the media and forget about the meta information and the conversation they're participating in. There is one very important piece of meta information delicious does NOT contain. It does not contain a field or way to track the "referring page". Without a link to the referring page containing the media the media instantly becomes orphaned. If new media is a conversation and a word-of-mouth industry there can be nothing more damaging than inserting a "clear all" statement in the conversation. Or, to be less geeky, in terms of conversation this would be like a long awkward pause.
We must retain as much information / meta info as possible, as well as the "thread" of the conversation. Without a link to the referring page containing the media delicious breaks this all important thread in the conversation. I want to emphasize how important this is. IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT. IMPORTANT.
There, that should do it. If you take nothing else away from my words here, take away that point. Now then I'll spend the next 7,000 words getting into just why this is the issue of the day. And.. if you are still awake at the end you WILL enjoy it and find it fascinating dammit!
The fiery hot-linking debate on the video blogging group
This Delicious link re-vlogging thing seems to have touched off a firestorm of debate on the yahoo video blogging group. The central issue is hot-linking to media. Some people think it's just plain wrong and should be illegal or something, and some people think those people are naive and need to "grow up" because the truth is it's not illegal, will happen and in fact there is no way to stop it. "Just get used to it and get over it" this second group says to the outrage of the first group.
What do I think?
Well I'm glad you asked. ;)
I think they're both right and they're both wrong. They are in fact brilliant fools (as are we all) who are missing the whole point. Hot-linking can in SOME instances be the devil incarnate, and it's naive to think we can do anything about it so on some level we just have to cope with it. Hot linking is both a great and an evil thing. Strife! I say. (Gonads (http://65.75.166.60/albino_flash05/Weeee(www.albinoblacksheep.com).swf) and strife! (http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/weeee.php)) In this duality, in this strife as in all strife exist GREAT opportunities, and that's what these brilliant fools are missing. I love you, I hate you, I love you.
How can I say such ridiculous and monstrous things. Because it's true, it IS REALITY and in reality fundamentally exists duality. This is not the exception, it is life's expectation. Life is FULL of duality. Our new fangled technology is full of it. Email for example is simultaneously the single greatest communications technology and the devils playground for viruses and spammers. Email is simultaneously the greatest productivity tool for american business and the single biggest work distraction. And it's the same for the internet in general.... a source of infinite knowledge about mankind and the universe... and simultaneously porn, even worse... more useless advertising than ever.
I think it was my favorite tech writer Clay Shirky who pointed out that (to paraphrase quite badly) in every good social system a little rain must fall... a little spam, a little trolling, a little corruption, a little inefficiency. It's a necessity for CULTURE because culture is messy. Just as crime is a fact of life, just as the rainy days accentuate the good this does not mean we should accept these inherent evils at all. The beauty in life is the struggle and the strife. Poverty and world hunger and spam and evil may always exist, but we will never stop struggling against them. Though we cannot weigh and measure them, though we cannot codify them, though we cannot master them it will not stop us from trying. So goes the human condition.
We could virtually eliminate crime by fingerprinting every single US citizen, putting their DNA and photos on record and implanting everyone with RFID, but come on people, WTF kind of world would that be? (Cough. Minority Report. Cough. Patriot Act. Cough. DRM.. Broadcast flag...)
So then, let's get over ourselves and agree to the fact that hot-linking exists and ain't going nowhere, sorry vlogosphere, and get over the fact that genius and evil go hand in hand, such is the duality of life, and get down to the REAL issues. Which are:
- WHY does hot-linking on occasion suck-ss?
- What CAN we do about it?
A call for re-vlogging etiquette
Since clearly there will be no ruling on the subject from the Supreme Court, nor draconian legislation from Congress because they are far to busy with other draconian legislation like the DMCA, the Patriot Act, the FCC's Broadcast Flag, and dealing with the evil scary people that make up the trillion dollar content market such as Hollywood, broadcast media, the RIAA, the MPAA ...and the equally scary people like me who aim to decentralize the very media on which US power structure depends. Wait, what was I'm saying? Yes sir, what this means is we're going to have to figure out this hot linking shit on our own, and goddamit that's the way it should be! So let's stop bitching and get down to it. HOT DAMN!
I propose a standard of hot-linking and re-vlogging etiquette... and then wether it's against the law or not I propose we apply our significant new found social power and responsibility (please tell me we learned something positive from 59 Bloggers) to adequately and responsibly break the backs of any bastards that break our self imposed consensus approved re-vlogging etiquette. And I do NOT mean in vigilante way, but in a boycott way, a social contract way... using every means at our disposal of "social grace".
Hot-linking abuse is to media creators and promoters much like spam abuse is to email. What we need are "best practices", "implied rules of engagement", and "unwritten rules of etiquette" (which are of course written anyway), and why do I refer to these things as such? Why do I give up on law and finite conclusions based on known fact? Why? Because dammit, blogging and vlogging and re-vlogging and podcasting and all this new media is a FUSKing CONVERSATION damit.
It's not about the technology, it's not about law, and it's not about right or wrong. Since new media is a conversation what we're talking about is SOCIAL GRACES. Yes, new media may be exacting, words may appear concrete, permalinks are "permanent", mostly, and just when it would appear that the art of conversation is no longer an art and that science has irradiated god... that folks is when you find out you don't know shite and that conversation, and art, and god are alive and healthier than ever! Long live Art, and though I may not be particularly denominational, long live FAITH. Thank you very much. So then let's fudge with great goodness. Let's ad hock this this like wikipedians, like only the un-rulling class of an adhocracy can. Let's build consensus through fudging it and risking flames from fickle few. That's the spirit. Ok then here it is without any further adieu.
Mike's guide to re-vlogging etiquette
Tips for new media haxor's on how to promote a happier and healthier mediascape through crazy good re-blogging / re-vlogging / re-podcasting, inter-linking and re-mixing without destroying the flow of the conversation and indeed encouraging the original creators of said podcast, video, or other form of media. Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about!
Hot-linking and re-blogging media is EVIL when
- it does not refer to the original vlogger's post or give any "link cred" to the original vlogger
- especially when the hot-linkee embeds the video/audio/image in the page with no thanks to the original creator or owner
- when NO credit is given to the artist
- when no credit is given hot-linking disincentives the very creators and promoters of the work it is benefitting from
- hot-linking therefore creates an UNSUSTAINABLE information ecosystem because it disincentives creativity and creation that it needs in order to thrive upon
- especially, especially when it seeks to make monetary profit from the original artists creation without ANY attribution (right you bastards at i638.com or what ever you fudgers domain is?)
- when it "slashdots" the ever living life out of the creators server and causes outrageous bandwidth costs and even downtime
- and so much more...
Hot-linking and re-blogging media are healthy when
- when they promote the artist sufficiently
- when it helps peers share and find great "stuff"
- when it helps art works bubble up and be found on search engines and stuff
- when artist have a way to profit from the attention such as a tip jar, merchandise to sell, a concert to sell tickets for, and so on...
Tips for would be re-vloggers
On how to be better citizens of the evolving mediascape
You like the image/ video/ audio work you're featuring right? Well then give them great gadzooks link love, credit, and all manner of love so they'll create more great stuff. Duh!
- link to the authors page that contains the original work
- mention the artists name if possible
- mention the band / producer / other said major people involved in creating this work
- promote the artists rights by reposting their copyright (ONLY if it's well stated)
- refer to the work by it's proper name, do not make up names or attempt to get witty
- include file size
- if host and artist are not the same then thank the host who's bandwidth you are using
- if you are re-blogging something you found through a third party thank the third party also with a "from" or "via" link and their name if possible
- only "enclose" the item in a RSS 2.0 feed for redistribution if you really really love the original artist's work so much that you have done EVERYTHING in your power to promote them and re-blog responsibly
Additional tips for advanced re-vloggering
Do remember advanced re-vlogging is a lot of responsibility, it requires you have a brain, experience with this sort of thing, and understanding of copyrights (maybe a lawyer on retainer) and an excellent sense of propriety and etiquette. As such the meta-nazi elite will not kill you if you screw up because we all make mistakes, but you should not take this task lightly. If you should succeed at advanced re-vlogging techniques then in addition to helping yourself not getting your arse kick this will help your post be found. It will benefit everyone including would be readers/ viewers / fans / lovers of art, the original artists, hosters, marketers, media conglomerates and in general the entire world population. If you succeed then congratulations you have done your duty and threaded the eye of the needle to become an upstanding citizen of the new mediacracy. You are the media haxor elite. Congratulations. ...butt this is premature... read on.
- Include other metadata responsibly. REMEMBER bad metadata is often worse than no metadata. Do not make up metadata. Do not guess about meta data. Do not include frivolous meta data. DO include title, author, creation dates, size or other pertinent information so well as you may discern.
- Re-hosting -- Do not repost the work to your server unless given no author can be found and no other source can be discerned. If no author or source can be discerned you should possibly question the legality of the media. Therefore you re-host AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
- Re-formating/Re-encoding -- Do NOT re-encode or re-format unless you absolutely MUST. Nothing can be gained from re-encoding or reformatting. Fundamentally information and quality can only be LOST. That said if you MUST.... say said work has evil out of date codec, or evil format that will not play on your system or potentially others than you do so AT YOUR OWN PERIL. Or perhaps said content is in fact DRM'd say a DVD or evil DRM'd music file or a TV news clip, and you are taking a screen snap, parodying, or otherwise are planning to use said media as so is your protected, but very poorly defined right under the fair use law of the united states... then by all means, remix, re-blog or whatever.
- Do your homework, do not re-host media on a whim -- Know that in so hosting said work you accept full responsibility for future traffic, future re-bloggers, redistribution, well documentating the metadata, and if you have not done your research possible legal ramifications. In short you become the "keeper" of anything you host. It's a lot of responsibility. To much for 99.9% of the population. Do NOT take these responsibilities lightly or I and my other friends and media haxor posse will personally come and kick your ass, by making a post about what a dick-wad you are and then attempt to "use you" through hot-linking the same way you have used the original authors. (that's right iFilm viral media I'm talking to YOU. (http://mmeiser.com/blog/2005/05/worst-halftime-show-ever-or-simply.html))
- Never rename the work if you do rehost it, but if you have too... NEVER rename the files! ....but if you have to re-encode.... NEVER rename the files! ...ok, maybe you should change the extension but NOTHING else because the filename is THE primary identifier for the artwork.
Tips for vloggers and media creators
to minimize the destructiveness of hot-linking and increase the upside potential
- include "visible" credit in your video/image -- I recommend using a domain name and/or full name at a minimum
- include as complete a possible meta data in your video/audio
- include a copyright or copy-left -- note: a good copyright encourages others to share your work in the manner you see fit, it's a declaration of your intentions
- use a blog/vlog to promote your work - If you don't have a vlog create one, it's free (http://freevlog.org). If you can't create one ask for help on the yahoo video blogging group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/), we're happy to help. If you don't have time or don't want to then at least create a web page dedicated to your video and provide as much meta information as needed or possible so re-vloggers can link directly to that page for the latest information about said creative work
- if you're using a blog make sure you use Feedburner (http://feedburner.com) (those guys ROCK) as they will allow you to automatically generate a machine readable RSS feed that contains ALL of the above (including, permalinks, copyright info, personal identifying information, file url, file info, general comments and much more) which then can be read not only by newsreaders and viewed in awesome media aggregators (http://www.antisnottv.net), but can also be fed to search engines like technoratti, Yahoo video search, google and many, many others. Not to mention you can track who's linking to you and watching your media.
- if you're using a blog/vlog, enable comments and trackbacks - yet another opportunity to find out who's talking about your work and what they're saying.
- become a member of a community, join a peer group, there is strength and value in numbers, start a blog, joining a mailing list, join a bulletin board, seek out people who do what you do.
- don't give it all away -- keep something of value in reserve, a higher quality version, a longer version, a higher resolution version
Additional tips for advanced vloggers and media creators
to minimize the destructiveness of hot-linking and increase the upside potential
Note: most of these advanced tips deal with creating better mechanism through which potential fans can show you their patronage.
- sell an added value version of your media - If you can put together a CD or DVD and sell it in an online store directly off of your website then great. If you can sell a higher quality version online than great, if you can sell an anotated version, a subscription... the options for monetization are infinite and always evolving.
- put up a tip jar - Use Paypal or other service to accept donations
- create a wish list -- While their popularity is declining some people find an Amazon wish-list to be of value
- open a store and sell something, anything -- Use CafePress or someone else to sell T-shirts, coffee mugs or any such things which your fans may purchase to remind themselves about how much your creative media rocked.
- State your intentions -- Let's say you want NONE of the above, you may very well want a 9-5 job. Great, the most common failure of media creators is they don't declare their intentions. Put up a resume with an objective. Let people know what you want. Are you posting media because you want peace on earth, a job, a new car... I don't know anything about wether your dreams will come true, but I can say this, nothing will happen if you don't declare your intentions.
