Are we not citizens?

Jeff Jarvis, who must be a Devo fan, writes Are we not citizens?:

At the Online News Association, the editor of a newspaper’s online site stood up and said passionately, almost tearfully, that she was tired of hearing others refer to themselves as “citizen journalists.” She declared, “I am a citizen, too.” I’ve heard that a few times and I have two replies: First, if you want the citizens to see you as citizens, then you need to be willing to see the citizens as journalists. Second, I ask: What does it mean to be a citizen? What is your role as a neighbor? What are your responsibilities as a member of the community?

The old rule, which I didn’t necessarily buy but just assumed was right, was that journalists should not get involved in their stories. Yet today, that sounds more like the prime directive for crew members of the Starship Enterprise than the ethic of journalists who are supposed to serve their communities. And it sounds like one more way that journalism has tried to separate itself from the public it serves and to set journalists apart from their neighbors.

Must be a Star Trek fan too ;-)

Big Citizens Media News from Dan Gillmor

Coming Soon: Center for Citizen Media | Bayosphere:

"Starting in 2006, I'll be putting together a nonprofit Center for Citizen Media. The goals are to study, encourage and help enable the emergent grassroots media sphere, with a major focus on citizen journalism.

I'm thrilled and honored that the center will be affiliated with two superb universities in a bi-coastal partnership.

* Here on the Pacific Rim, where I live, the center will collaborate with the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. As an I.F. Stone Teaching Fellow, I'll do a class next fall, and my principal physical office will be at Berkeley as well.

* Our Atlantic-facing partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University Law School, where I'll be a Research Fellow. I'll visit there regularly -- at least once a month -- to work with other fellows, faculty and students."

via [ JD ]

Loudblog

Loudblog is a sleek and easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS) for publishing media content on the web. It automatically generates a skinnable website and an RSS-Feed for Podcasting. Just upload your audio/video files, add some notes and links, and you’re done!

Apple Podcasting Server

The Apple Podcast Server in Mac OS X Server v10.4 is based on the popular Blojsom open-source weblog server project.

Check out the Podcast Creation Guide [ pdf ] located at the bottom right of the page which, among other things, explains how to record a podcast with QuickTime Pro, GarageBand or SoundTrack Pro.

TiVo Mpeg2 specs for Rocketboom

TiVo Mpeg2 specs for Rocketboom, Dec 15, 2005

http://www.rocketboom.com/tivo/tivo_specs.zip

Enclosed in zip file:
1. TiVo file specs PDF
2. ffmpegX 0.0.9u TiVo preset for Rocketboom
3. Readme file

Also, here is an overview:

VIDEO:
mpeg2
640x480
5000 kbps
29.9fps
no crop

AUDIO:
mp2
48000khz
256 kbps

Add 2 seconds of black before start of file.
Lower audio volume to about 60% of web based volume (variable).

Most files for RB have been in at around 140-180megs.

Flash video is not a SWF

Josh Kinberg explains:

FireAnt does play SWF files. But Flash video is not a SWF. It is an FLV loaded into a SWF.. often loaded externally via relative link within the Flash file. This type of scenario often breaks syndication because it cannot be viewed offline or from a local hard drive. Syndicating the raw FLV file is preferrable as it doesn't require any dependencies on networked resources, but it is a little more difficult to play as FLV doesn't play natively within Flash player -- it must be loaded inside a SWF controller.

Helping Bloggers Succeed

Performancing.com.
They've got a new blogging firefox extension and some nice tips on working with WordPress.

Vlog Soup 10

This is what the timeline looks like for the new episode of Vlog Soup #10 my free video tour around the vlogosphere.

Coming in at 10 minutes, I show you video clips of my favorite videos from the past week.

This week I show you thirteen videos.

Media is relationships and conversation

Jeff Jarvis writes The first of a new breed:

"Media in the future is not just content and not distribution but relationships.

You’ve heard me say until you’re blue in the face that media is conversation. It always should have been, only now it can be."

Video: Christmas Tree

Video: The Carol and Steve Show - Episode 52 - Christmas Tree:

"City dwellers Carol and Steve choose not to get a fresh tree for Christmas this year, and instead, decorate a tabletop metal tree."

Bush’s Snoopgate

Jonathan Alter explains Bush’s Snoopgate in Newsweek National News on MSNBC.com:

"The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times’ eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper’s editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn’t just out of concern about national security."

DriveTime: Episode Ten

Watch the most recent episode of Ravi Jain's DriveTime: Episode Ten.

Stay with it until the end.

An SNL Digital Short

Watch Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell in The Chronic of Narnia Rap.
At the time of this post, over 46,000 views.
via [ boingboing ]

Rich Internet Applications

Backbase - Rich Internet Applications.
"Backbase develops and sells software that helps you to create great AJAX applications."

Check out their AJAX RSS Reader demo.

James Madison didn't use a teleprompter

President's Address to the Nation:

Next week, Americans will gather to celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah. Many families will be praying for loved ones spending this season far from home -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other dangerous places. Our nation joins in those prayers. We pray for the safety and strength of our troops. We trust, with them, in a love that conquers all fear, in a light that reaches the darkest corners of the Earth. And we remember the words of the Christmas carol, written during the Civil War: "God is not dead, nor [does] He sleep; the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, with peace on Earth, goodwill to men."

- George Bush in a televised speech to the nation, December 18, 2005

James Madison Quotes On Church And State:

"We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts. do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Govt"

- James Madison in a letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822.

Michael Sullivan via email:

Just once it would be nice to have a President not read words but SAY them.

- Michael Sullivan in an email to Steve Garfield, December 19, 2005

Universal audio/video transcoder

MediaCoder - The universal audio/video transcoder:

"MediaCoder is an open source audio/video batch transcoder, putting together many excellent audio/video softwares from the open source community into one friendly GUI."

via [ Michael Meiser ]

Happy Xmas (Hopefully)

Zavi Diaz filmed this last night:

Video: Happy Xmas (Hopefully)

Zadi has an amazing talent for taking the moment that she is in and adding to it, to present a powerful story.

Silence means consent!

Robert's Rules Of Order | Quick Reference.

Quotidian and Seinfeld-esque

LA Times: Tethered in technoculture. 12/18/05:

Check out, for instance, "The Carol and Steve Show," at stevegarfield.blogs.com, which tracks a married couple's quotidian life, complete with laconic electric bass lines between scenes, à la "Seinfeld."

Boston Phoenix: I like to watch. 12/15/05:

The Carol and Steve Show is a charming episodic chronicle of his quotidian adventures with his wife — biking around Nantucket, vacationing in California wine country, eating Thanksgiving leftovers — complete with Seinfeld-esque theme music.

The underground video artists network

VideoArt.net, an international hub of video artists, filmmakers and audiences.