Flickr gets into video
Derek Miller, an Internet friend and musician in Vancouver, wrote about a new Flickr service — Flickr does video. I haven’t been able to test it out yet, but since Derek said everything I would say anyway, I bring you his entire post, with permission:
The new video sharing features of the formerly photo-only site Flickr are different: the designers obviously thought a lot about how to implement video without just cloning how YouTube and everyone else does it.
The key thing is that videos uploaded to Flickr must be less than a minute and a half long, and no bigger than 150 MB. That’s a limitation, but also a gift. It forces you to think about what to upload, and if you have a longer video, to edit it down to its essence.
My first video upload there is a good example. I had to take a video of my band that was already only a few minutes long and make it even shorter. I had to cut out non-licensed music and any other extraneous bits. In the end it’s only one minute, but it still gets the point of our act across, even without any singing at all.
I think the time limit will generate some creativity in the Flickr community, as well as avoiding those interminable videos that take forever to get to the point. Even if a video is bad, you’ll only have to waste 90 seconds on it. We’ll see what happens within the well-imagined constraints.
[Via Penmachine words music comment: Flickr does video.]
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April 10, 2008 No Comments
Web 2.0 Word Builder
The Internet is abuzz with a whole new vocabulary: memes and tags, posts and mashups, LOLcats, tweets and RSS. Friends, characters, flag, subscribe and interesting have a whole new meaning. This article helps you find your way in the new Web 2.0 world.
- characters
- letters, numbers, symbols, or spaces. When you send a txt message with a cellphone or a tweet through Twitter, you’ll be cut off after about 140 characters.
- flag
- Seen a photo on Flickr or a YouTube video that you find offensive? Flag it for the staff to review.
- Flickr
- An online service for storing and sharing photos. Add comments and tags. Subscribe to an RSS feed to automatically catch all photos from friends. Search or explore by many criteria.
- friends
- On social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn a friend is anyone you set up a connection with, whether you know them personally or not.
- interesting
- Flickr calculate an ‘interestingness’ score for each photo, based on tags, clicks, comments and so on. Explore the most interesting photos.
- LOLcats
- pictures of cats, with humorous captions, written to a certain style. LOL is short for
‘Lots of Laughs’‘Laugh out Loud’ (thanks Che for the reminder). Example: www.lolcats.com/view/55. - mashups
- putting information together from more than one source. For example, combining crime statistics and Google maps CSI-style.
- memes
- An idea, saying or activity that takes hold and becomes popular. For example, LOLcats.
- posts
- Articles and other contributions to blogs, forums, etc.
- RSS
- Automatically delivers information from websites and other sources. For example, subscribe to the RSS feed for a particular person’s Flickr photos and any new photos appear automatically in your reader. Example National Library (NZ) photo feed.
- subscribe
- Usually free of charge. When you subscribe to something you add it to a list of items you will check regularly or receive automatically. For example, you might subscribe to the BBC Worldwide YouTube channel.
- tags
- Words that help describe something. A photo might be titled ‘Solace in the wind’, but have tags such as: wellington, waterfront, sculpture, statue, and so on.
- tweets
- Messages sent through the Twitter service.
- A service for broadcasting short text messages. People use it as a way to keep in touch and up-to-date with friends and colleagues, or news. Example: twitter.com/StuffNZ_World.
- User generated
- this means that you do the work. If you visit a website you may leave comments, upload images or movies, add information
- that is all ‘user’ or ‘consumer’ generated.
- Web 2.0
- Websites and services that make it easy for people to connect with one another by rating items, marking favourites, sharing, commenting and so on.
- YouTube
- An online service for storing and sharing short videos. Add comments and tags. Subscribe to an RSS feed to automatically catch all new videos from a given topic. Search or explore by many criteria. Example, WildlifeDirect.
Written for and reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, March 2008.
March 23, 2008 7 Comments
Kiwis like Internet relationships
In February 2008 Nielsen Online revealed that most New Zealand Internet users are generating web content. (Source: 02/26/2008 Consumer Generated Media: Evolution or Revolution?. )
We like photos, videos, music, blogs
In plain English: we share photos, links and videos, through websites such as Flickr, YouTube, MySpace. We read and write blogs and wikis. We download and stream audio and video content. We like photos, movies, music, and probably podcasts. We edit and comment; we upload.
The report also found that once people are comfortable online, they then often become more involved — they actively edit and comment on content from others and upload video and music to the web.
It’s a revolution in relationships
“We are seeing a revolution in the way in which consumers here in the Pacific and around the world are interacting, communicating, creating and nurturing personal and professional relationships, expressing and publishing their opinions and thoughts, creating and distributing content for and to one another, and entertaining themselves,” says Melanie Ingrey, Market Research Director, Asia Pacific, Nielsen Online.
Nielsen Online found that people tend to take up these activities if their friends and peers are doing them. They join services (such as Bebo) if their friends recommend them.
Problems facing us here in New Zealand are lack of time, slow Internet connections and concerns about security.
Kiwis want to reconnect
A further report tells us that 62% of online New Zealanders have browsed other people’s online profiles within the past 12 months, and 49% have actively updated their own online profile. (Source: 02/12/2008 New Zealand Surfers Ride Social Networking Boom.)
Old Friends, Bebo and MySpace
Their profiles are on Old Friends, Bebo and MySpace. Kiwis want to reconnect with people from the past such as former colleagues and old schoolmates.
” … different social networking platforms cater to varying online identity desires,” notes Melanie Ingrey, Market Research Director, Asia Pacific, Nielsen Online. “Sites such as MySpace essentially promote a fantasised identity where relationships are based on common network interests while Facebook is grounded in real identity and online connections are simply an extension of real friendships. Then you have sites such as LinkedIn which promote social networking for business and career advancement purposes.”
What are you doing?
So, that’s what Kiwis are doing this year. What’s your organisation doing in response?
Do you have a blog where visitors can comment on what you’re doing? Bloggers can also track your activities and write about you on their own blogs.
Do you share photos and videos from your events, using services such as Flickr and YouTube? If you do, then visitors will spread the word about your organisation when they tell others about your content.
Do you recruit volunteers by means of a MySpace or Bebo profile?
Kiwis want to participate. Do you know how to Engage your Community?
Written for and reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, March 2008.
March 23, 2008 No Comments
Theatre Flickrs backstage
Mike Riversdale pointed out that Wellington’s Downstage theatre is engaging its audience more with Flickr:
Ever wondered what a theatre show looks like behind the scenes? Or you want to have a look at some images from a show before you buy your tickets? Or simply drift away in memories when watching shots from a production you’ve recently seen? Have a look at our newly established photo gallery at Flickr.
[Via : Downstage using Flickr for backstage photos | the wellingtonista.]
Downstage joins the National Library and other New Zealand institutions on Flickr.
Have you explored Flickr for your organisation? Share your link in the Comments.
March 14, 2008 No Comments
National Library Flickr photos
The National Library has a good collection of photos on Flickr. The image at left is a screenshot from their Edmund Hillary collection.
Flickr automatically provides RSS feeds too, so it’s easy to subscribe to the National Library’s photo feed and keep up with what’s being added. Below is a screenshot from my feedreader, NetNewsWire, showing one image, along with its description. Following photos in a newsreader like this, is very similar to reading email.
They have almost 400 photos online at the moment, and seem to be adding more regularly.
Flickr offers so much more than just displaying photos. Users can add comments and notes, tag photos, click through to other photos added on the same date, see events placed on a map, add favourites and so on.
They even provide a graph showing how many visitors they’ve had. Good job, National Library!
The Library say:
The purpose of the National Library is to enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchange with other nations.
We are posting a small selection of our collection images onto Flickr as a pilot. We hope to see that this helps people discover new material.
Has your community organisation experimented with Flickr yet? It offers many possibilities for increasing interaction with your members and the general public. How about giving it a try. We’d love to see your feedback here.
February 19, 2008 2 Comments
