From agryfp at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 14:39:04 2009 From: agryfp at gmail.com (andrew paterson) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 15:39:04 +0300 Subject: Introduction / Clip Kino Message-ID: <55F24D9B-C07B-448A-AB4E-567ED93402F8@gmail.com> dear VV list members, Geert suggested that I introduce myself here, as a first step towards getting more involved in VideoVortex community and events. I have been subscribed since january 2008 but have been a lurker during all this time, so it is nice to step out a bit into the light. I am a Scottish artist-organiser, cultural producer and doctoral research candidate at University of Art and Design Helsinki (TaiK). Since 2004 I have been contributing also the Pixelache Helsinki Festival, and last year joined the organisational board. You can see more of the process I am/have been involved in below link (agryfp.info). To the subject here, From the beginning time of VV, I have been involved in related activities and have been watching with interest the emerging discursive and symposia coming from your community. On several occasions I have wished to be able to attend the events, or share what I had been doing in (mostly) Helsinki, Finland. I hope to be able to do that in the future. The emerging nature of my own process--which I introduce to you here as Clip Kino--didnt give me much chance to reflect, especially when it wasn't going as well as I imagined. After about 20 months of promoting and facilitating public screening events based on internet video clips, I wish to share my experiences at a wider scale, to develop my references and understanding of the issues involved. Below is a text I wrote adhoc for this email, but I am working on a longer text at present, so any feedback or references are welcome. I can share this text at a later date, and it would be nice also to have an opportunity to present it in a future VV gathering. My best regards, andrew . Clip Kino: Helsinki and beyond 'Clip Kino' as a name for self-organised screening events based on internet-sourced clips emerged in my application to Eyebeam centre for Art and Technology residency in March 2007. As part of planning a youth project there--facilitating a space for young people to show and celebrate what they are interested in watching online--this proposal was accepted and became the 'Seeders N Leechers R Us' project there in Jan-Feb 2008: http://seedersnleechers.info). This interest reflected upon my previous activity in 2003-2005 organising workshops encouraging people to share media to a shared database, before mass uploading became common ('Aware' platform, now offline, presented first in E-culture Fair 2003). However, it wasn't until teaching a 'Self-organising and Networking' course at a small art school in Helsinki that the concept became action, due to the student's assignment during Valon Voimat (Forces of Light) festival in November 2007, to make a zero-budget public cinema. The Clip Karavaani website is mostly in Finnish (http:// clipkaravaani.info/). If you are interested to learn more about this, I can post a section of the text I am writing in reflection. Following lead from the Clip Karavaani facilitation, I decided to set regular screening events at a public library--Kirjasto 10-- in centre of Helsinki, one which focused on music and media, had AV presentation facilities and was experimenting with new library user event formats. From February-June and October-December 2008, I facilitated and promoted screening events in the library under the name of 'Clip Kino Helsinki' (http://clipkino.info). I invited contacts and colleagues, who I knew, to arrange a 40-60 minutes worth of video clips, curated under a theme they wished themselves. They arranged and presented the screening as volunteers, just as I (as a library user). I also made a few events also when I didn't have someone to make the event, keeping up with the negotiated calendar of events with the library. Inbetween clips, guest-hosts were expected to contextualise or explain a bit more their reason for selecting the clip. There was no budget for this activity. The events were promoted within a trusted network of contacts via email, and the library promoted them on their webpages. Attendance was low (max 22 persons). Different themes were presented have been socio-cultural specific (Australia-NZ & New York, Eastern Europe); technical- specific (music representations, subtitled clips), genre-specific (youth, avant-guard art videos, animations, anarchist) clips. In many cases, a different audience would have been attached to each theme. In the longer term, I had hoped that the library would one day support this activity, and it would be possible to invite library users who I didn't know to be guest-host curators. See archive: http://apaterso.info/projects/clipkino/archive.html The library manager allowed the events to happen under the pretext that they were legal, and gave a contact to the library's legal advisor for advice. I didn't take this advice, and went on regardless, convinced that there was no legal basis for the events, and it was better not to ask. I certainly wished to challenge the terms and conditions of screening content in public from proprietary platforms (such as YouTube) with emphasis on private use. I have looked on at the growth of other similar online/offline cinema platforms such as Upload Cinema in Amsterdam (http:// www.uploadcinema.nl) with curiosity, and how they manage legally (as a members-only club perhaps). My motivation in facilitating was--and still is--to drag normally 'private' activity of viewing and sharing downloaded content on one's own computer, into public space for screening, appreciation, and potentially, for debate. I have consequently framed this activity as pedagogical--'media environment-awareness' or 'direct action media literacy'--and have used the format in my own teaching: http:// mlab.taik.fi/~apaterso//projects/clipkino/pedagogical-statement.html In the autumn period, still uncertain of legal basis, I invited persons to present activist films, in one case their own films, instead of general content from YouTube. However, later in the year, when I was invited to make an event with teenagers as part of a well- publicised documentary film festival in January 2009 (see: http:// apaterso.info/projects/clipkino/hosts/suomi-post-mortem.html). This event was a public seminar and discussion event about young people's appreciation of what is online (what they find interesting), media literacy, and also in relation to the negative publicity attached to youth video sharing/uploading, following school shootings which featured warning videos online. Inviting teenagers into the process, within the strict moving-image copyright context of Finland and a project exposed (and indirectly funded by) the pro-copyright movement, I decided to take the library's legal adviser's opinion. He was very supportive of my efforts and ambitions, and discovered a support within a technical loophole, currently not tested in court, based on watching content from the browser. That is not downloading a copy, but playing from the cache memory. Although not necessarily 'safe' to do what one wants, it does give an argument in defence of public screenings, outside the use of academic citation. A summary of what I found in the Finnish case can be read here in english: http://mlab.taik.fi/~apaterso//projects/clipkino/extra/clipkino- helsinki-legal-navigations_english_111208.pdf Although nothing has been raised so far on the legal issues, I am not actively raising my findings into public. This year also, I have decided not to arrange further events at the library (more to do with volunteer time energy I have than lack of will), and take up invitations to present the Clip Kino format in other contexts. The documentary film festival is already mentioned, but other events happened in an autonomous cultural centre, and soon this summer, an art museum, as a contribution to a group exhibition. The most recent Clip Kino event took place within an academic media symposium--Emerging Media Practices and Environments--in my University, making the case for the event format as a research tool. In this case two fellow doctoral students, Sanna Marttila and Petri Kola, curated a screening event with the theme 'Open Video', as part of their research process (http://apaterso.info/projects/clipkino/ hosts/emerging_arki-taik.html). They presented a thorough interpretation of the different facets of what might mean 'open video', using clips to illustrate their argument. In reflection they emphasised the value of co-curating a screening to investigate the field of inquiry, and the dialogue involved in selecting and ordering argument 'illustrations'. Both the pedagogical and research angles of Clip Kino so far have yielded potential and I am keen to find contexts to continue this work. However, the most interesting feature which motivates me (in comparison to the crowdsourcing or remote/online curation of video clips, for example into lists or themes) is the factor of presence. It has been the most challenging aspect for both curator and audience I believe, according to the lack of participants involved so far. Being present, infront of one's own choices, in public takes some guts. The challenge of standing up for one's choices can be as difficult sometimes as committing time to watching something selected by another one doesn't know. Also watching with other people, watching someone else's choices, when the selecting person is also present, is revealing. Who finds what funny? Will anyone speak out Face-to-face meetings of people, plus the screen, are an important feature of 'Clip Kino' events. In my opinion it is only a starting point for exploring grassroot and collective representational processes. Clip Kino webpages: http://clipkino.info (includes on front page: Archive link; some slides of Clip Karavaani & Clip Kino events; documentation of Seeders N Leechers screening event; Clip Source examples; Legal issues and other resources) . -------------------------------------- andrew gryf paterson http://agryfp.info/ mobile [FI]: +358 50402 3828 agryfp at gmail.com | skype: agryfp locale: Helsinki, FI -------------------------------------- From geert at xs4all.nl Wed Jul 1 21:04:18 2009 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 21:04:18 +0200 Subject: important questions raised at rhizome Message-ID: <00844CFF-CD4F-4DDB-B190-5DA98A63A9D2@xs4all.nl> The Question of Freedom at the Open Video Conference By Carolyn Kane on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 1:00 pm http://rhizome.org/editorial/2739#more Does free video uploading and downloading equal democracy? I asked myself this question during the recent Open Video Conference, organized by the Information Society Project at the Yale Law School and the Open Video Alliance, an umbrella coalition for the development of an ?open video ecosystem?: a ?movement to promote free expression and innovation in online video.? Conference sponsors include Mozilla, Redhat, Intelligent Television, and Livestream. The conference was held at New York University?s Vanderbilt Hall, home of the NYU Law School from June 19-21, 2009. I attended several of the panels at the conference, although it was primarily Yochai Benkler?s opening keynote that was of concern. The mission statement for the conference reads, ?Open Video is a movement to promote free expression and innovation in online video." The conference and its affiliates aimed to respond to outdated copyright law in an attempt to open the limits on the circulation and distribution of copyrighted material. Gabriella Coleman of New York University in her talk, ?The Politics and Poetics of DeCSS,? demonstrated the historical connection between code and free speech. Coleman traced the relationship back to John Stuart Mill, who first equated Romantic notions with utilitarian ones in order to justify free speech. In the 20th century, figures such as Richard Stallman, Peter Salins, and Daniel Bernstein, all further solidified the connection between legal rights and code. This history, Coleman points out, thus explains the popularity of today?s research into the triumvirate of copyright, law, and culture. Ideally, the open video culture sought after would be one that would allow for the distribution and use of copyrighted video content without the fear of lawsuits or legal action. Yochai Benkler, author of the celebrated book, The Wealth of Networks (2006) took the stage in the morning on Friday June 19. His conflation of the freedom to access content, as noted above, with freedom in general, was suspect. Benkler argued that Open Video was indicative of an ?open democracy for everyone, everywhere, all the time.? Open Video Culture, he said, would usher in the possibility for ?anyone to express oneself, be creative and innovative.? Benkler also claimed that because ?millions of people are now looking at [social and political] problems? we will thus find millions of, ?distributed solutions.? In this ?free? culture, he continued, ?human creativity would move to the core.? Aside from the seemingly na?ve conflation of terms, exactly which society, which ?everyone,? and which economic system did Benkler have in mind? Rhizome?s founder, Mark Tribe, also presented at the conference with Rhizome?s Executive Director, Lauren Cornell. After the talk, Tribe shed some light on the significance of Benkler?s broad statements. ?Benkler,? he said, "is partially correct. First, the majority of the audience members are lawmakers and corporate representatives and thus he catered his speech to them.? Secondly, ?social media has granted more freedom. For instance, look at what the Yes Men can get away with.? But at the same time, he added, this freedom, ?has no effect on social relations, economic inequity and on increasing freedoms for those whom it is denied.? Thirdly, this ?freedom does not equal audiences.? It is true. When Benkler states that in ?Transparent culture, anyone can innovate? and thus become ?better readers,? this is correct, in theory. For instance, random users may upload a video of a protest or demonstration to YouTube, or a mashup video of something they found online---they may make critical commentaries, subvert normative journalistic channels, and gain more insight into how television and mass media products are produced and assembled. But again, this does not guarantee more perceptive readers, critical content, or an audience for that material. As L?szl? Barab?si points out, the majority of internet traffic still flows through major hubs?hubs like Amazon and Yahoo, which means that online content generally continues to rely on traditional media channels for distribution. Even if an independent new media organization may gain an audience, such as Boing Boing, or Rhizome, they may not be guaranteed the financial support needed to sustain on a long-term basis (this was the focus of Xeni Jardin?s talk at the conference, a reporter from Boing Boing). The situation is nicely summed up by media scholar Geert Lovink, in his recent manifesto written with Ned Rossiter. ?Web 2.0? they explain, ?is not for free. ?Free as in free beer? is not like ?free as in freedom?. Open does not equal free. These days ?free? is just another word for service economies?. Where is the enemy? Not on Facebook, where you can only have ?friends?. What Web 2.0 lacks is the technique of antagonistic linkage. Instead, we are confronted with the Tyranny of Positive Energy...? The utopianism of ?open and free? video culture, it seems, is correct in that it allows people to do things they could not do before. But this does not automatically equal change or democracy in itself. Any proclamation of social utopia deserves a second look, yet we also need to understand why Benkler framed his arguments in the way he did that morning??speaking to an audience of lawyers, corporate investors, sponsors, and public relations representatives. From jay.dedman at gmail.com Wed Jul 1 22:30:52 2009 From: jay.dedman at gmail.com (Jay dedman) Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 16:30:52 -0400 Subject: Codecs for