Just picked this up from Chris Anderson's Long Tail blog:Long Tail blog

Great news on the Creative Commons front:

Yahoo!, whose metabolic rate of innovation has been goosed into overdrive by Google, last night release a Creative Commons search engine.  Larry Lessig, CC supremo (and Wired columnist), describes his meetings with them and why they turned out to be so productive:

They had, imho, precisely the right vision of a future net. Not a platform for delivering whatever, but instead a platform for communities to develop. With the acquisition of Flickr, the step into blogging and now this tool to locate the welcome mats spread across the net, that vision begins to turn real.

To which all I can add is: Thanks, Yahoo! Way to be very not evil.

Out of all the panels, companies, presentations, and demo's that I saw in Scottsdale this week - the thing that had me thinking the most was a group discussion about 'Tagging' moderated by David Weinberger of Harvard's Berkman Center and Esther Dyson.

It was billed as a group discussion - and despite a moment when it could have become a series of presentations by a panel - it remained a discussion.

David Sifry of Technorati, Caterina Fake of Flickr, and Ross Mayfield added their insights into Tagging - but neither grabbed the mike and took over the show. Which was appropriate given the open-architecture nature of tagging itself.

For those of you just learning about tagging - it's a bottom up categorization system that basically lets users 'tag' a particular image or article with a word or phrase of their choosing.

Flickr has been playing with this a lot, and searching by words like "Apple" and "Uncle Jerry" result in interesting if not entirely predictable results.

What is perhaps the most interesting is how unformed tagging is as a taxonomy. There were lots of issues raised - about spam, about how the whole system to would scale and more and more people used different words for the same item, and how the lack of a governing body or central plan might make the whole system 'messy.' But that's kind of the beauty of it. It's open-source information architecture.. and as David suggested, it may actually fix itself as members perceive problems. For example, if people who are trying to point others to images of a Macintosh computer find that the tag "MAC" works better than the tag "Apple" - people may go in and adjust their tags to make the more successful.

Old media folks may find this whole system wildly free form. But take a minute and read the Wikipedia before you think that a self-governing content system won't work. wikipedia.

The basic premise of tagging is User-Generated Metadata.

The idea that messy data can begin to be shaped into useful new ways to focus, filter, and manage is great - and unformed. One point is - what are the alternatives. If you create a formal system (pull down menus, with a hyracy - "is the object a Place, Person or Thing, the - Car, Truck, or Bike, then red, blue or green" is a daunting task that would make most potential categorizers bail out. Remember the Dewy Decimal System from the library... imagine if you had to use a number system ever time you posted a picture. No way.

So tagging is the opposite of that. Messy. Easy. And it invites participation.

More on tagging in a bit.

A few weeks back the folks at HGTV had some pretty strong things to say about the creep of product placement into knowledge oriented cable networks. The gist was "we value the trust relationship we have with our viewers more than any few dollars we'll get from product placement."

It was an great statement, but seemed to have more behind it than just standing on cerimony.

Well it turns out - they've got a pretty big jump on the narrowcast IPTV business as reported by hoovers - LINK

Take a look at th site: LINK

Scripps Takes Latest Channel Direct to Web
March 20, 2005 10:52pm
AP Online

KNOXVILLE, Tenn._Seizing on the success of its Home & Garden Television brand, E.W. Scripps Co. has gone directly to the Internet with its latest channel that combines tips for building professionals and the power of streaming video.

HGTV Pro.com, the company's first independent e-offering, began in January with dozens of three-minute videos on best practices in homebuilding, accompanying text and chat rooms. The ad-supported site will soon offer hundreds of new product demonstrations from a "virtual trade show" and Spanish translations.

Already, more than 110,000 contractors and nearly 1.2 million consumers have registered for its free electronic newsletter. With 380,000 "unique visits" in its first 19 days, HGTV Pro's popularity is nearly that of established residential construction Web sites, such as Hanley Wood LLC's.

"We like to say we are at that intersection where the contractors and the consumers meet," said Jim Zarchin, senior vice president of HGTV Pro at Knoxville-based Scripps Networks. More

As branded venues try to wrap their heads around user-content - two major contests are taking very different approaches to user submitted content and filtering.

On one hand, you have Amazon/Tribeca Short Film Festival. This is a major experiment that has a lot of untested variables. Amazon has put up a $50,000 prize (a wildly signficant number for most independent film makers) and opened the entire judging and filterprocess to it's members.

"Starting April 18 Amazon customers are being invited to rate the films, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, to determine the five finalists.

At the end of May, the five highest-rated films will each be featured on the Amazon.com welcome page over five weeks. Amazon.com customers will again be invited to rate the five finalists to determine the winner" says the website.

This is a pure open source filter - and begs the question of how low quality films are being screened. But the overall spirit is that all submitters will get a spot in the rotating cue.

On the other hand is indyTV who's recived many submission to thier pilot program. They're web site says: "We have chosen the 10 finalists out of all of the entries we received for the contest. Here's how we got there: We watched every submission – we being myself (Anastasia), and other key members of the INdTV programming team (including four young people we feel are representative of our audience). We then had our president of programming and other executives screen the short list and decide on the final 10."

This is really interesting because it basically says they looked at a lot of submittions, and narrowed down the list to 10 they liked. The judges are anonymus. The purchase price is set at $250 flat - so the value of the submission is fixed. But the published 'finalists' are going to be of highter quility.

Somewhere between Amazon and INdTV there's a model taking shape. Amazon offers greater reward, but requires that the audience does all the work (the first line of review) hence lowering their costs of review/validate and publication.

INdTV is creating a grassroots tv 'movement' - including a public event called "Take Over TV" that will happen in San Fransisco on April 4th at 6:30pm. But the hard line low-cost model to pay creators suggests that content creators are making video as a hobby or a mission - but not as a profession.

The good news is that in between these two experiments there is a movement taking hold. Embracing content creators will work. People will make media. And embracing the audience will work as well. People will reivew, comment,, and engage in video. Somewhere between Amazon's open source (everyone can vote) model and INdTV's anonymus judgest (we'll tell you what works for us) there is a revolution.

I'm at Esther Dyson's PC forum in Scottsdale. This is my 5th year - and I've watched the role of content move from the outer edge - briefly to the center - and now almost assumed.

Content is simply software. Phrases like user-content are now common, an inevitable driver of software, community, and identity. Jerry Yang just announced that Yahoo has acquired Flicker.

If you don't know Flicker - check it out. I met Caterina and Stewart at last years PC forum. They had an idea that sharing pictures was a cool way to create community. And in just 18 months they've built a vibrant, growing community that is truly unique. In an increasingly visual world - photo sharing plugs into the create/share/engage spirit of a new generation of content maker/consumers.

This is a cool acquisition for Yahoo - and support what Jerry said about Yahoo not going 'Hollywood', a concern that Esther said was being debated 'up north.'

User-content (which is my core interest, passion, and vision) is an evolution that has many significant components. For the content creation community - it's both incredibly empowering and very scary. For people who earn their living as a content manufacturer within the current system, there's lots of sense that young storytellers are willing to 'work cheap' and devalue the core skills of professional storytellers. I think that's a natural - but misguided - understanding of the changes taking place. Content creators are soon to be empowered, paid, and valued up by the long-tail content future.

For distributors - the power of a narrow and controlled pipe is ending. That doesn't mean their role is over - just changing. And for distributors who've built a brand that has meaning to consumers- the future is certainly bright.

Finally - for content consumers (I hate that word, it's so passive) for people seeking knowledge, there will be far more choices and a need to develop critical thinking and dimensional reading of ideas. The idea that consumers have to become active in the way they seek knowledge - is both obvious and hard to imagine. If you eat junk you get fat. If you only read comic books, your world view will be fairly narrow. If you only get information from one source -you'll be unable to critically consider complex issues.

So user-content pushes lots of buttons - and that's only good.

From the Economist - (via Unmediated) a terrific article about how companies are embracing open-source and encouraging customers to create not just content, but products for them. Often this is companies embracing user-content rather than raging against it. Back in 1998 - i consulted to Fox as they were wrestling with the whole concept of 'fan fiction', viewers who began to draft their own story lines for their favorite characters. I counseled then - as i would now - that fan fiction is the ultimate expression of brand love, and as such should be encouraged and supported in every way possible.

How and why smart companies are harnessing the creativity of their customers
===================================================

The Economist.

LAST November, engineers in the healthcare division of General Electric (GE) unveiled something called the “LightSpeed VCT”, a scanner that can create a startlingly good three-dimensional image of a beating heart. This spring Staples, an American office-supplies retailer, will stock its shelves with a gadget called a “wordlock”, a padlock that uses words instead of numbers. In Munich, meanwhile, engineers at BMW have begun prototyping telematics (combining computing and telecoms) and online services for a new generation of luxury cars. The connection? In each case, the firm's customers have played a big part (GE, BMW) or the leading role (Staples) in designing the product.

Link for more

from Om Malik

Update: The two companies just announced that TiVo will make a custom version of its product for Comcast. Financial terms of the multi-year, non-exclusive deal with the Philadelphia-based Comcast were not disclosed. Out with DirecTV and in with Comcast.

Okay the only couple with more up and down than Brad and Jen are Comcast and TiVo. The romance between DVR pioneer and cable giant is heating up again, according to The Wall Street Journal. A few months ago, New York Times had reported that TiVo had walked away from Comcast, a move that made many fret about PVR-maker’s future. But now, WSJ says that the deal could be close and the TiVo service could be offered to Comcast customers who have PVRs. Many have expressed dissatisfaction with Motorola PVRs being sold by Comcast.

Comcast would likely charge more for the TiVo service than the Motorola service — which goes for about $10 a month — because TiVo offers features not currently available on most of Comcast’s standard Motorola boxes, such as recommendations of programs.
Now if this deal happens, it could help turn TiVo’s fortunes around. Now if Brad and Jen could get back together… again

Google continues to do nifty little things that give you clues as to where they are heading in the future. Google News - now has a great 'customize' feature. In addition to allowing you to re-arrange the page, and the offerings - you can put your Google news alert data into the home page. The result is that the long promised 'build you own newspaper front page' has arrived.

The customization is simple, and the layout pretty straight forward. But it's not hard to imagine Google allowing you to mix in blogs, even video, as they add more elements to a robust 'customized' Google news homepage. pretty cool.

Akimbo is doing a number of interesting things worth mentioning... among them signing up new content partners that begin to blur the line between specialty video downloads and on demand cable.

But the latest thing in my in box is an email from Akimbo touting it's most recent program offerings. A click on any of the offerings in the email links you to your on-line Akimbo account, and you can schedule it for viewing. It's a nice addition- and if only i could remember my user-name and password, i could use it. (i just re-set it, as i so often do with the various accounts i have to set up, but don't get back to enough keep them top of mind).

The mix of offering - both on line and coming soon - certainly begins to make the product more appealing.

Among the new entries -

THE KWOON - The only series that chronicles the misadventures of five kung fu students struggling to survive in Silicon Valley. Fist-flailing fun!

HEADJAM - Award-winning, educational series for middle school students that brings science, math and critical thinking skills to life.

VEG TV - Vegetarian cooking instruction

SOUNDTRACK CHANNEL - The world's first TV channel dedicated to the music of movies and TV. The hottest movie music videos are right here!

VARSITY TELEVISION - High school oriented and student-produced shows, including music, documentaries, short films, teen-oriented series and news profiles

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - The ultimate "reality TV": Award-winning documentaries featuring the most spectacular images and heart-stopping adventures captured on film.

WHEELSTV. find everything from feature stories on the youth tuner scene to documentaries on automotive history, colorful hot rod and custom car events, adventure series and auto stunt shows.

Ok, it's an eclectic mix - but the transition from Mass Media television to niche services will take some experimentation. If my son likes 'headjam' - i'll be subscriber soon enough.

There's a long convoluted thread on slashdot about Akimbo LINK that's interesting.

Amazon's partnership with the Tribeca Film Festival breaks ground in a number of ways. First all films that are uploaded will be entered, and Amazon members can vote on as many films as they care to review. It's like turning Amazon members into voting members of the TV Academy. Ok, maybe it's the people's choice awards - but the concept is very cool. Secondly - there will be two elimination days during the voting, so low scoring films will be dropped out of rotation - improving the experience for Amazon visitors. And thirdly - there is a $50,000 prize for the grand prize winner - chosen by Amazon members.

To enter - go HERE

Then there's the macromedia connection. Each and every film uploaded must be encoded in flash video format. So it's anyone's guess how many people will experiment with Flash Video - but let's guess thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Oh, you don't have an encoder? No prob, Sorenson has a special demo edition that will expire the day after entries for the contest close.

So Amazon gets content. Amazon members get a special vote. Macromedia gets new sampling customers. Tribeca gets shorts, PR, and a filmmaker prize.

It will be really interesting to see how this audience moderated festival works, and if the quality is good enough to make the first pass review an interesting experience.

CNN's new President of CNN/US - Jon Klein is profiled in today's LA times. The entire piece worth READING but the paragraph that i'll repeate hear should turn some heads:

Regarding Bloggers, says Klein: "Y'know, it's something we ought to embrace and investigate and shine a light on and wrap our arms around and welcome," says Klein, of the blogosphere. He's re-caffeinating in the midmorning, glancing at his computer screen and caller-ID panel as he jots notes, still talking. 'Cuz it ain't going away. It's all part of this wave of democratization … that began really with CNN.'"

The head of CNN saying that Blogging should be embraced is surprising, unless you known Jon. He was an innovator during his career at CBS, including exploring new ways to tell stories including a series "Before Your Eyes" that was perhaps the best prime-time docu series on the air. The series turned real life drama into serialized documentary. He then went to to Shepard the birth of CBS's short lived "Eye on People" channel, a terrific blend of CBS storytelling and first-person documentary exploration.

So if Jon thinks CNN should embrace Blogging - they will. The only question is how.

The pipe debate is interesting - but it's not the driver.

3.2 Billion Dollars with of adds on Google is the real clue. Contextual, coherent, measurable advertising is going to drive a whole new economic system for content of all types. Blogs, Video, Text, etc.

So with content now empowered by a way to turn users into revenue - the face of motion media (video) content is going to change far faster than anyone could imagine. Proctor and Gamble just too 20% of their media spend out of the network TV upfront. This isn't a negotiating ploy to get lower cpm's - it's a demand to their media agencies to find new ways to bring their brands to their audiences.

So while VOD is a great long term model, the short term dollars are already in play.

And the whole question of non-linear, VOD, and consumer habits seems to always come back to how many new ways there are to slice and dice old content. CBS News, MTV, the Today show 'when you want it.'

The idea that video content in the post 'walled-garden' universe will look very much the same as in the current world is wishful thinking on the part of the incumbents.

What kind of content will people make? What kind of content will audiences
be drawn to? That's for the market to sort out - which it will - but a few things are pretty certain. Niches will for the first time have the potential to be economic. And a new generation of content creators won't be locked out by the prohibitive cost of tools and pipe.

We're a little close to all this.

But flash back to 1997 - and think about how you used the internet as part of your business and personal life? Ebay? Expedia? Banking? Google? We've become quickly used to having a staggering amount of information at our fingertips. And video is the only piece of the info-sphere that's lagged (simply because of bandwidth and the single largest limiting factor).

So let's have a bit of faith. And a bit of imagination. It could be that in 20 years we'll look at 2005 as the first chapter in a golden age of motion media content. Content produced by passionate individuals, inspired professionals, and legacy network systems. Content that rises or falls based on direct consumer feedback (either performance based advertising or VOD revenues). Content that - if meaningful - has a life in the long tail world of future revenues.

We're at the beginning. And that can only be good.

I spent two really interesting hours with Andrew Blau, the author of the GBN report "The Future of Independent Media." LINK

I've read ton's of research, and lots of futurist predictions about 'what will happen to media.' This great piece of work is refreshing because it's full of examples that will ring true to anyone making media today.

Andrew says the feedback has been very positive (lots of calls like mine saying "Wow, you nailed it") as well as a few saying "ok, so what is the future?"

The answer is - we all collectively have to work to figure that out and make it happen. It's worth remembering that the people that build technology don't often have a clear picture of what they're enabling. So as the marketplace thrashes about - with VOD, DVD, IPTV, WiMax, 3g, all elbowing their way into the content delivery universe... creators will have real impact in what technologies gain a foothold.

Anyway - download and read Andrew's work. It's fun to see that we're all in this together, and that the changes in distribution may open some doors you didn't consider possible.

Andrew Blau
September 2004

About This Issue of Deeper News

The technologies that enable us to make and consume motion media are becoming better, cheaper, and more widely available—and with blistering speed. As a consequence, patterns of media production and consumption are changing just as rapidly. The Internet continues to create new opportunities to connect with audiences. Video games are becoming a platform for critique and education. A new generation of media makers and viewers is emerging, which only increases the likelihood of profound change. Images, ideas, news, and points of view are traveling along countless new routes to an ever-growing number of places where they can be seen and absorbed. It is no understatement to say that the way we make and experience motion media will be transformed as thoroughly in the next decade as the world of print was reshaped in the last.

MORE .

Business Week takes a deep look at the impact of Podcasting and the breakdown of conventional distribution to the radio business. LINK. It's worth reading and then projecting against video content and the impact on broadcasting.

NEWS ANALYSIS
By Heather Green, Tom Lowry, and Catherine Yang

The New Radio Revolution
From satellite to podcasts, programming is exploding -- but the fight for profits will be ferocious

How fast is technology turning radio upside down? Ask Brian Ibbott. Last September, when the wannabe Denver deejay started playing music on the Internet, the term for what he was doing -- podcasting -- had been around for two weeks. These days the 35-year-old produces a half-hour show of popular songs called Coverville. Some 9,000 devotees download it three times a week to play on -- what else? -- their iPods. And if they tire of Coverville, they now have 3,500 other podcasts -- and counting -- to choose from. MORE

A new video sharing site, with the feel of Flicker -

Welcome to Vimeo!This is a site for organizing and sharing your video clips. Vimeo also makes it easy to watch your friends' video clips, or to view clips that have common subject matter.

Aside from watching single clips, Vimeo can assemble multiple clips into automatic movies. For example, you could watch an automatic movie about concerts, or an automatic movie about funny things.

We are presently in closed beta, so you can't add your own clips, but we will open the site up as soon as we've worked out some more of the kinks. Have fun!

Ok, here's a glimpse into the future...Teacher Gone Wild!! (wmv File) LINK A Student in Brick Township NJ filmed his teacher going apeshit in class with his camera phone. This really brings back memories of high school.

thanks to chapmanlogic.com and monkeyfilter for point this clip out.

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...

CBS has invited it's SURVIVOR viewers to submit thier home made videos for a game called RE-Play Survivor. CBS Survivor Game

Here's a bit from their web site:

RE-PLAY: SURVIVOR is your invitation to recreate your favorite moment from a past SURVIVOR on videotape. Send it to us and we may air it on SURVIVOR LIVE and post it on this website for the world to see.

Each week, we will feature four videos on this site, and fans will pick which one they think is the best. Each week, one video will receive a boxed set of SURVIVOR DVDs. At the end of the season, the winner of the Grand Prize will receive a package from Sony Electronics that includes a grand WegaTM 42" HDTV set, a DVD DreamTM System Surround sound system and a DVD HandicamTM Camcord.

This is one of those really important long term issues that we need to pay attention to NOW... before the opportunity to discuss copyright is gone. Just got this from Public Knowlege, and i'm passing it along.

---> Are you an artist, author, musician, or filmmaker? Maybe you're a scholar or librarian? If so, have you ever wanted to use a copyrighted work but been unable to locate the owner to clear the rights? It's a problem that happens all too often, and not only does it affect your work, but it also "orphans" the original owner's work. It's an unfortunate side effect of current copyright law that diminishes everyone's ability to create, innovate, and educate.

Fortunately, we have good news: The U.S. Copyright Office wants to make it easier to locate copyright holders, and it's asking for the public's help. Before the Copyright Office can *address* the problem, it needs to gather evidence that there *is* a problem. This is where you come in: tell your story to the Copyright Office.

Public Knowledge along with a number of other like-minded organizations have created Ophanworks.org: an easy way for you to submit your story to the Copyright Office. Now is your chance to tell the Office what personal difficulties you've had when trying to clear rights.

To get started, go to:
Orphanworks.org

Never tried to clear rights? Maybe you know someone who has. Forward them this message or visit: http://www.orphanworks.org to send them an email.

You can always learn more about the problem of "orphan works" and the U.S. Copyright Office's notice, by visiting Public Knowledge's website:
PublicKnowledge.org

The most comprehensive reporting yet on the case of Ilario Pantano - from this weeks time magazine:

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005
---------------------------
"No better friend, no worse enemy."  The words echoed through 2nd Lieut. Ilario Pantano's head on the afternoon of April 15, 2004. That was the motto of Lieut. General James Mattis, at the time the commander of the 1st Marine Division in Iraq. Like many junior officers, Pantano looked up to Mattis as the consummate warrior-general. The phrase had stuck with Pantano as he tried to keep his men alive in some of Iraq's meanest neighborhoods, where friends are hard to find.

Now, at the most fateful moment of his life, the words came back to haunt Pantano. It was late afternoon, and darkness was setting in. Pantano and his platoon were on a raid north of Mahmudiyah, not far from Baghdad, acting on a tip about a possible insurgent hideout. As the Marines neared their target, they spotted a car fleeing the area. Pantano's men set up a checkpoint and ordered the car to stop. Inside were two Iraqis. One looked to be in his 30s, the other in his late teens. According to accounts given to TIME by Pantano's civilian lawyer, Charles Gittins, the lieutenant had the men get out of the car and remove the seat panels to show there were no hidden explosives or weapons. Pantano watched, covering them with his M-16. At one point they began talking, and Pantano shouted at them to stop. Then, according to Pantano's defenders, the Iraqis turned rapidly and in unison toward him. LINK TO MORE