Category: Uncategorized

A DRAFT (copy and paest of a chat useing realmedia as an example)

this needs a edit for sense, but my back ach dusent alow this so out it goes

We need an Executive summery of why visionontv failed.

– we didn’t de-brand fast anufe

– we went nimble anufe to be relaverent.

its going to be a struggle to reboot grassroots media with out highlighting both of these

its fine for brands to be “periphery”

the is no excuse for lack of nimbleness.

We built generations of p2p tech against the flow of failbook and its activist NGO takeup.

Now – we can only aggregate YouTube videos

yes but that’s ok, in the interim, As our tools are broken

If we could spread the realmedia WP install up this would be easer to explain the p2p side of OMN

With out working tools – we can only build proxy sites to hold space.

Youtube play’s list are one

Q. The question is: what can people do NOW

Its a chicken and egg – we have to use the tools we have while making clear the tools we need.

Yes YT embeds are a tool we have – Q. but they should not be attached to the 1400 video account of a particular media project

A. Get embeds from the visionOntv noid of the OMN with an explanation why is far from perfect.

Q. it looks like we’re doing it to promote our work?

OK this is interesting

we’re not, but that’s what it looks like

need to avoid the whole branding thing for this

in terms of the interface, what’s the difference between an embedder (of an aggregator) and an aggregator – is it a completely different UI or a different use of the same UI

Q2: If I as an aggregator like RealMedia’s agregation, it would be natural to merge the two – or why don’t I just add to RealMedia’s? In other words, isn’t there a desirable and natural tendency towards centralisation?

Other way up – as an aggregator, I like RealMedia’s aggregation, minus their videos about endangered animals, so I take those tags out, and become a subset

Then I add a few tags which I think are missing, creating a new and I think better aggregator

but Real Media has a publicity budget, so no one knows about mine….

etc etc etc

Yep to last one, you can create a new aggregated but each stage in the line adds a delay. So Realmedia embeds will update before your one.

Its also based on trust – which you gain by doing.

Why trust a site that is slow and dues not add anything

The can be a badging syteam

I am adding stuff – taking away dross IMHO and adding content

Our site has 233 embeds, imports 124 feeds and exports 23 feeds etc

why don’t we have mother ship that any aggregator has access to?

The new site will have lots of low numbers.

But the same content, 10-20 min to a few hours later.

Q. so the first and biggest always wins?

Only if the put huge amounts of real value into tageing and moderating.

Which had s work. With out that a smaller sight will be faster and better.

why wouldn’t i want to better use my time by helping RealMedia’s or mother ship’s aggregation rather than creating my own?

You can – the is a tendency to specialise thus the will always be a better site than general news sites if you are pashernate (and peopulr who put the work into aggregation will be pashernste)

So Realmedia will likely stay a nich site for its subject – I can’t read it for example.

but why don’t people build their aggregation inside another aggregator?

The OMN has a “market” mechanism of checks and balances built in. Will be very hard to stop geeks “improving” these out…

They can

If the aggregate allows it users (embeds) to retage with no or fast moderation then you can build a aggreater inside an aggreater. Just like we can post our stuff to failbook and theurtube.

If your passionate build your own.

The is a server/bandwidth/moderation cost for every RSS feed you add.

Q. archive.org has a centre – how is OMN different from that plus some aggregation tols?

so it’s about shared cost

And trust and shared passion – the whole is bigger than the parts.

Its a leep for the verticals… Thus the resistance.

Like the open internet

“a leap for the verticals” – Im clearly trying to establish “a leap into what exactly?”

(btw i find realmedia’s content incredibly dull as well!) but i was hyposthetising

ok im going to assume for now that this can’t be explained

This n the 4 opens…

Which is the opens that the regional internet was built on

Original

Portals are pre web.

Education

…

Pre web is a failed strategy…

no one is thinking pre-web

Q. ok the data soup – stuff gets in there by api?

so it’s add your stuff, and get the ability to filter out other peoples’

ok the aggregator closest to source is best….

closest to the general soup

Have been thinking about this

People think the is a centre yo the OMN that will look after things. The is none.

You are Completely responsible for who you link to and the data. The is no centre to take care of you or this.

The is massive redundant linking and data storage.

The is roll-back if things go wrong

You can put a feed on moderation if you aren’t sure. But this will increase your workload and slow your updates so better to be sure.

Its a trust network.

Trust and risk are yours. The is no centre to meditate this trust

If you can’t build trust then you will have a uphill struggle making aggregation work for your media project.

TRUST

This is the hard jump for verticals.

Imperfection – is. Roll back in a complete failer or retag for a miss step.

Things happen you react to them. Rather than you reside first before things happen.

Its the original IMC of publish then moderate.

Of courses “verticals” can still use it, but they will be slow and plodding.

Just put everything on “moderation” and don’t trust.

Or if your sensible a mixture of the two.

A good site will link well and let the data flow. Tweaking here or their. Unlinking if trust is broken and not addressed.

I find it hard to understand the verticality view point thus dearly directly address it.

Hope the helps, interesting for me to glimps the vertical view

To recap verticals can and will play a roll in the OMN but the exciting sites will be the ones that let the data flow through good linking based on trust.

The latency of layers of aggregation will push sites to specialise in subject – the best sites will be a group of trusting focused sites that each specialise.

Feeding a trusted middle site.

Top sites are easy to build but very hard to add value.

Bottom subject sites are harder to build and add a lot of value.

Easy to add value.

The latency is important as its the driving force to link to the site closed to the bottom you can trust

You can have a easy to site that has perfect content but is late to update.

Or you can have a fast updating middle site on a subject.

I would look more at middle sites

My mum would look at a top site.

Etc.

So to recap the skill in running an aggreater is to link as close to the bottom as you can trust. For you core news feeds then maybe get tag based feeds off middle sites to widen your coverage into full news feed.

A valence of building trust/handling/moderation.

Balance

Archive.org is a top down categorisation of knowledge in a signal place. The is little flow.

It has no need for trust

Its an archive not a news site.

Do you rember the crap conversations we had about the hive website were they got rid if the network and whent vsck to a signal site. That’s archive.org were is the value of a network, its hard for verticals to see.

…

On the subject of the OMN YouTube account – somebody would be responsible.

Q. With your top, middle and bottom sites, you’re implying a topography, which can be drawn as a graphic, presumably

It’s a hierarchy, without value attached to different ranks – hmmm

Yep the value is nebulous, just like the original internet nobody thought it would work because it had NI identity, no security and was completely based on open trust

Much like early indymedia

Etc.

You could explain the projecting a way that verticals will understand. With moderation though out ect.

No centre/nobody responsible/built on trust

Its a good idea that’s needed and will likely work well

Its hard to understand that the OMN is just open standards… Everything eles is up to the users/producers. The OMN dose/is nothing.

…

The outcome is a framework for linking, taging and outreach.

The framework is just structure, no content.

Q. so where is the content soup?

Yes it shapes how people cooperate. It Push greed and selfishness to the edges as much as it can

Q. what does?

The framework bounded by the 4 opens.

Its stored across hundreds of sites around the work, its backed up in many university’s, archives and on your local hard rive if you wont it.

World (thousand, hundreds of thousands) and some one in this will keep a surviving backup. Thus nobody is responsible to do it. Though they can and will because that us what some people do

Its KISS

Couldn’t be simpler

Has complex outcomes though…

Just like the internet.

Torrents already do this to an extent. But as the content is mostly stolen nobody keeps it.

Thus is fades.

This is of courses the text content and meta data. The video/audio/images

Would be more complex, a bit more “centralised” but still completely diy.

Can boot strap by yseing wikicomns and aracive.org so can be put to back of mind for s year or two.

Because storing lots of text in a database is easy. Big media needs more work.

Not impossible but hard to boot up the project and deal with it in the same diy way.

So aggregation is text and meta data. Media is still stored on original servers. Can build sine simplistic caching in to keep it running and scaling at boot up as needed.

That become a issue if we are very successful, nice problem to have.

Media storage of video/audio/images are left “more centralised” in partner silos – wikicomes/archive. Just to start otherwise we gave bug technical issues of scaling at the front end.

Keep it KISS

Q.

For example archive can seed torrents so can be the bases if torrent streaming. But that’s later. Just use youtuve vimio embeds to kuckstat. Don’t make people jump to meany hoop to soon. And all thus stuff can run in parreral anyway.

KISS

OMN is much less centralised than torrents. But we keep media in cirpurate silies and friendly NGOs to help boot up.

In that the media will be more “centralised” than torrents

Can do torrents at the same time but s distraction for me.

This idea is based on computers and storage getting cheaper each year so people can host big databases. This is what’s happening.

Thinking. The most underplayed part of the OMN is the 4 opens…

The rest is just KISS RSS aggregation

Q. How do you stop porn appearing on your site. You link to a site you trustvnot to put porn on your site

…

Hard sell… But visionOntv has and real media have both proven it can be done etc.

A river that needs crossing political and tech blogs – On the political side, there is arrogance and ignorance, on the geek side there is naivety and over- complexity

My videos are on these two youtube channels visionontv 3,832,876 views and undercurrents 22,689,976 views

The alt-media gatherings have been suffering from the tyranny of the funders for more years than I care to remember. The is a big problem of the chattering classes in alt-media.

This is a DRAFT over view of the gathering from a working grassroots perspective.

Comments in italics are by me.

=== Festival ===

To help build a movement for#MediaDemocracy we’re holding a big Media Democracy Festival at Goldsmiths, University of London on October 17th 2015.

9am – 10am: Arrivals/ registration – Great Hall

== Speakers ==

10am – 11.30am: Great Hall

The day will start with some great speakers setting the scene and explaining why Media Democracy is so important. Confirmed speakers include:

Setting the scene with “big” speakers and panels is a disaster that creates the very thing you should be trying to avoid.

= Aral Balkan =
A designer & social entrepreneur creating independent technologies that protect our fundamental freedoms & democracy.

Flash and fashion is what I see on his website, am shore he is a nice guy but – Have been on his site now for half and hour and I still don’t know what he is building – think this is to do with his strap line – Independence ★ Democracy ★ Design – he is building him self so he can speak at gigs more expensive than this. FAIL

= Natalie Fenton =
Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, Co-Director of the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre and Centre for the Study of Global Media and Democracy, a founding member of the Media Reform Coalition and Board Director of Hacked Off.

Agen am sure a lovely person but not building alt-media, she is talking about alt-media in academia speech in articles that are not assessable to “grassroots people” – must admit I asleep trying to reading the PDF’s and am probably in one somewhere.

= Kam Sandhu =
A journalist and co-founder of Real Media, an independent news website and aggregator that campaigns for public interest journalism and against mass media distortion. Kam has written and produced several short documentaries, and also founded RealFare, where she spent over two years reporting on the effects of austerity on welfare and inequality before Real Media.

She works hard and is doing outreach grassroots media, but, she is directly responsible for building a portal strait out of the 20th century as her tool for outreach…. if she was talking about this experience it would ad-value – but she won’t be.

= Michelle Stanistreet =

Michelle is the elected general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (UK and Ireland). Michelle worked as a journalist for 10 years at the Sunday Express newspaper as feature writer and books editor.

Just to say I am a member of the NUJ and been to conferences, still occasionally go to branch meetings, more for the free beer and the chance that it might have changed than the union it self. The NUJ and altmedia history is interesting and would be good if she was talking about that directly.

11.30am – 12pm: Break, and the great chair re-arrange, Great Hall

== Open Space Unconference ==

12 – 6pm: Great Hall (with breakout sessions in various classrooms)

The bit that should add value! 🙂

The bulk of the day will be a self-organising open space unconference facilitated by Johnnie Moore. Everyone will be free to propose a session that answers our central question: How can we create media democracy?

Sessions already lined-up include:

* Drew Rose from Bristol Cable and Danielle Batist from Positive News doing a session on Media Co-ops.

Good background and positive news have done a interesting crowed funding relaunch – did it work?

* Andy Williams from Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies and Sam Kinch from Hastings Independent on Community Journalism.

Academics – what do they bring to building in a practical way?

* Jonathan Heawood from IMPRESS and Natalie Fenton from Hacked Off with an update on Leveson and why a recognised press regulator could be good for small publishers.

The more traditional media side of the event

* Mike Flood Page of Open Democracy’s OurBeeb will be asking does public service broadcasting have a future?

The more traditional media side of the event

* Matteo Bergamini from Shout Out UK’s and Susana Giner from Youth Media Agency on Changing Perceptions of the Youth in the Media.

NGO’s are rarely about media, more about social work, will this be talked about?

* Open Democracy’s Adam Ramsay on How Climate Change is Reported in the Media.

Traditional media agen

* Richard Hering from visionOntv on How to Build the Citizen TV Revolution.

A altmedia project that needs a re-boot to escape sliding into a NGO world, am involved in this one.

* Bectu Writers, Producers and Directors branch members Chester Yang and Marcus Relton on their plans for a progressive internet TV station in partnership with the trade unions.

The is a long abortive history to this subject – have they/will they address it?

* Gail Bradbrook from Compassionate Revolution on collective acts of civil disobedience and media reform, looking at the legal side of sabotaging the media, brainstorming cheerful subversive actions.

A local NGO’sh media project?

= Film =

Alongside the open space they’ll be screenings of related documentaries including:

The Fourth Estate with a Q&A with Director Lee Salter

El Diario de Agustin (Agustin’s Newspaper), with a Q&A hosted by Alborada.

Plus:

10 minute summary presentations running on a loop from Centre for Investigative Journalism:

The Centre for Investigative Journalism – An introduction to the organisation

Data Stories – Using data to find, write and explain news stories, from Excel to SQL

Interactive Storytelling – The cutting edge of innovation in digital narrative methods

Advanced Online Research – Tips and tricks for getting the most out of the internet

The FOIA: Problems and pitfalls – Getting the most out of your requests.

Information Security – Keeping your communication secure

Company Accounts – ‘Follow The Money’ investigations into illicit finance

= Workshops =

Half hour taster sessions run by the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

15:00-15:30

Data Stories – Using data to find, write and explain news stories, from Excel to SQL, led by Juliet Ferguson.

Might be interesting, but about producing media.

15:30-16:00

The FOIA: Problems and pitfalls – Getting the most out of your requests, led by Sid Ryan.

Useful basic stuff – but with out working alt-media what good is content?

16:00-16:30

Interactive Storytelling – The cutting edge of innovation in digital narrative methods, led by Marina Calland.

The problem is in the basics – not the cutting edge…

16:30-17:00

Information Security – Keeping your communication secure, led by Tom Sanderson.

This is a subject that needs a open descusern – were this will likely be a closed presentation?

== Party (and live crowdfunding) ==

6pm – late.

Live crowdfunding of media projects, spoken word, live music, and DJs. In the evening we’re partnering with Filanthropy to organise a party from 6pm – late in the Student Union. This will include the opportunity for 3 projects to pitch to the room and invite pledges of financial and other support from the crowd (who will be able to decide which projects get £5 of their ticket money, plus anything else they feel inspired to contribute).

If you’ve got a media project that could really do with £500-1000 to help get you started then APPLY NOW http://s.coop/mediaform for your chance to pitch to the room!

= LIVE BAND: United Vibrations =
We’re very pleased that incredible local band and festival favourites United Vibrations will be joining us for the party.

= SPOKEN WORD: Anthony Anaxagorou, Deanna Rodger and Potent Whisper =
These amazing wordsmiths will be kicking the party off with their inspirational lyrics and wordplay.

== Who’s coming to the Media Democracy Festival? ==

We’ve already got loads of great projects and groups signed up to participate, including:

Real Media – an aggregator of independent news

Good project but needs to move out of 20th century thinking, think they might manage this and could become a core of a rejuvenated alt-media.

Hacked Off – the campaign for a free and accountable press

Trying to save the mainstream media needs to be done but its a loseing battle – and a distraction if this is the main option.

Consented – “a multi-media platform for those who aren’t accurately represented by the mainstream”

its another wordpress blog I have not heard or seen – could be useful as a part of a wider network but vanishing pointless isolated.

Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom – for a more accountable, freer and diverse media.

Trying to save the mainstream media needs to be done but its a loseing battle – and a distraction if this is the main option.

Positive News – the world’s first publication dedicated to reporting positive developments, recently transformed into the first a global media co-op.

Interested to find out what they have been upto.

Bristol Cable – a media co-operative – created and owned by people in Bristol who run free events, a multimedia website and a free quarterly print newspaper.

A local media portal – could be useful as a part of a wider network but vanishing pointless isolated.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism – Investigative journalism, critical inquiry, and in-depth reporting and research.

Takes up a lot of NGO’ish funding to help prop up the falling moral standards of traditional media – some one has to do it. But with out an alternative….

The IMPRESS Project – for independent self-regulation of the press – and looking set to become the first recognised press regulator under the Royal Charter that came out of the Leveson inquiry

Some one has to do it but were is the alt?

People’s Assembly Against Austerity – bring together campaigns against cuts and privatisation with trade unionists in a movement for social justice.

A functionally closed silo group filled with bureaucratic infighting and power politics – more part of the problem than part of the solution

Permaculture Magazine – an independent reader supported magazine all about practical solutions for self-reliance.

Posh people doing things posh people do – nice if you can afford the lifestyle. Could be a “healthy part” of an alt – if the was one.  

visionOntv – who aim for the widest possible distribution of video for social change.

Has some interesting offshoots and what’s left of its video embeds are an actual functioning alt-media even if most of the tech is half broken. Am involve in this one http://openworlds.info/

Hastings Independent – the local non-profit community newspaper for Hastings & St Leonards on Sea

Could be part of a alt-media network if the was one.

Radical Film Network – a network for which those involved in radical film culture to work together and support its development, growth and sustainability.

Nice people doing nice things, but with the closeting of alts its rearguard and academic.

Shout Out UK – an independent news network that, via journalism, film and events, aims to show young people that politics has a direct impact on everything you do in life.

A 20 century portal I have not heard or seen, could become part of an alt.

Youth Media Agency – the National home for UK Youth Media: raising the profile of, and supporting, over 300 exciting media platforms.

Its NGO with not much going for it as far as my glance at their site sees.

Through the Cracks – a news website devoted to coverage of reporting, storytelling and news startups made possible with the use of crowdfunding.

Its a dotcom silo that will fad into irrelevance.

Alborada – a UK based magazine, events and documentary producer covering Latin America

Could be part of building an alt?

London Socialist Film Co-op – arranges screenings where people can see films and take part in a panel discussion.

I like their side bar link, but have never been to one of their screenings.

Inform My Opinion – a podcast series on various social, political, economic, environmental subjects and activism (mainly in London), featuring voices of people who are well-informed and those who want to speak.

Small, they have a RSS feed so could be part of an alt.

Let Me Look TV – broadcasting videos they like or have produced (mostly activism stuff), and helping others broadcast their material too.

Can only find social media…

Stop the War Coaltion – Stop the War was founded in September 2001 in the weeks following 9/11, when George W. Bush announced the “war on terror”. Stop the War has since been dedicated to preventing and ending the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.

Mouldy chestnuts come to mind, closed and bureaucratic.

Goldsmiths Deptartment of Media and Communications

Goldsmiths Student Union

== Media Democracy Meetups ==

In the run up to the Festival we’ve been hosting a monthly Media Democracy Meetup in London

If you think Media Moguls and Press Barons have too much power and influence in our society, want to protect and democratise the BBC, would love to see media co-ops in every community or just work as an independent journalist, photographer or film maker, then this Meetup is for you.

We want all the various threads/ groups working on some part of Media Democracy to talk to each other more and hopefully become a rich tapestry and the beginnings of a power movement for Media Democracy in the UK.

Come along to meet more Media Activists, help organise the Festival and feed into our forthcoming Media Activism Toolkit. See also our related Media Democracy Facebook group.

A river that needs crossing political and tech blogs – On the political side, there is arrogance and ignorance, on the geek side there is naivety and over- complexity

My videos are on these two youtube channels visionontv 3,832,876 views and undercurrents 22,689,976 views