dcinput

Thoughts on Gnomedex and all things virtual

Having learnt from Bloggercon last week that trying to do too many things at once can be bad, I decided to stick to the webcast and IRC for the first day of Gnomedex 6.0. Streaming video was a huge improvement on just having audio. It’s far far easier to get an understanding of what is actually going on in the room. Though it seems that maybe bandwidth problems got the better of them since after lunch only an audio stream was being cast.

The IRC really adds an interesting and useful extra dimension, especially for those like me who are not present. I suppose it’s kind of like having people sitting next to you to bounce ideas off of except that in real life you would find it hard to sit next to 120 people all at once. Due to this virtual proximity of so many people, the level of banter tends to be rather high but it helps to keep the conference interesting and, for the most part, is harmless fun. In addition interesting points do get raised and discussed in the backchannel, it serves as a bullshitometer where people get called out pretty quickly if they are talking rubbish and finally it does help to give some idea of the ‘mood of the crowd’. Though sometimes you wonder whether its just the troublemakers that are speaking up.

Being able to experience this virtual community for the first time in a real meaningfull way has been for me the most rewarding aspect of both Bloggercon and Gnomedex. This sort of thing is probably old hat for many people who attended but its new to me. No doubt I have violated backchannel etiquette on several occasions, but c’est la vie when you’re a newbie.

I’ve added the new category ‘virtual communities’ as I’m sure I’ll be talking about this topic some more.

You can track whats going on at Gnomedex here.

Dave Dederer of the Presidents of the USA led an interesting discussion about the music business in the digital age and covered important topics such as copyright, intelectual property and the ease of getting laid. He started by covering parts of a couple of Lou Reed tracks on an accoustic guitar which came accross real nice over the video.

Senator John Edwards lead one of the sessions though dispite his efforts it kind of turned into a question and answer session. Though I don’t give a monkeys about american politics, it was certainly interesting to see a guy like him trying to understand this new world we’re creating by starting a dialogue with the geeks and in a very open setting [ie. broadcast live to the world]. Just in case he does get to the top I thought I should take a few snaps: singing, dancing and for some bizare reason hitchiking.

The Cinema Expo 2006 kicked off yesterday in Amsterdam.

One of the nice things that came out of my brunch on Sunday was some great reader feedback. I’ve known Pete for around 5 years now and he’s been a reader of the blog from back when I didn’t even talk about digital cinema. At the time he told me that he liked my style of writing, that he found it quite engaging. What he’s noticed of late is that since I’ve taken to the digital cinema route, that not only is he finding it less interesting for him but that he doesn’t even understand a lot of the stuff I link to.

Why did I take to writing about things in my field of work?

One important aspect of having a blog is how it helps you to find out things about yourself. The simple act of writing on a regular basis about things that cross your path and catch your attention changes the way you look at the world. It makes you more curious, more engaged, more interested. It helps to structure your thoughts.

The idea behind giving dcinput a digital cinema direction was to help me explore my current field of work and discover where my interests lie within it. The world of cinema is in such an exciting period of change right now, the boundaries of what is possible are being pushed on a daily basis. Understanding and being interested in this ever-changing environment is of the up most importance.

Using the internet as a tool for finding information and the blog as a way of structuring that information in a way that is meaningful to me is certainly one aspect of the ‘why’. If this was the only reason for having a blog then why bother making it public? Why take the risk of saying the wrong thing and end up with an unhappy employer?

These changes are without a doubt happening on a global scale. The blog then is also a tool to get around the problem of large distances. You see with this blog I can join into the global community of people involved in digital cinema. I can for example find out what technologies are being talked about, what social changes are occurring, and I can take part in the conversation.

In many ways I am still trying to find this digital cinema community on the web. It may be that there simply are not many people from the industry using blogs in this way. I am hoping that this will change. Taking part in Bloggercon IV over the weekend have made me sure of the importance of this new medium.

Even if I have not found the community I am looking for just yet, blogging it seems has another trick up its sleeve. Seen in a bigger picture sense, blogging is perhaps the most useful and powerful as a tool for building bridges between communities. In this new digital age, fields that have traditionally progressed on their own are converging massively. A blog allows you to have a foot in many communities at once. It helps you to build bridges.

Shaping a Blog around reader feedback

Now that I’m on my way to understanding why I do this blogging thing in the first place, I’m going to try to take Pete’s comments on board. Over the last few months my busy work schedule has meant that simply linking to digital cinema related articles has been faster and easier than actually putting across my personal views on issues that matter. I find that most of the things I actually work on I can’t actually talk about for several months and are in any case of a pretty technical nature.

Over the next few months I am going to try to identify certain topics that are of concern to the digital cinema landscape as well as others that cross into other areas. I’ll then concentrate my exploration of the internet somewhat around these areas and write about them as I learn new things. Though you will certainly find me occasionally talking about some new geeky piece of hardware, I will also do my best to venture into themes like Net Neutrality, Intellectual Property and Copyright for instance. I welcome any suggestions!

Thanks again Pete, I really value your opinions.

Looks like the Frontier kernel is heading for a spot of performance tuning. I have certainly noticed peoples blogs on blogs.opml.org acting real slow lately. It’s one of the reasons I’ve decided to stay with Wordpress for the moment.

Rex Hammond has also been thinking about why he blogs: “remember that: The core product, the core brand is you and your cause and your product or service”.

The making money angle is interesting. Making money is definitely not something I am looking to do with this blog. I have no plans to put any advertising in the sidebar and I won’t be pushing any products. This blog belongs to me, only me, and I like it that way. It’s my tool to explore, to experiment, to learn and to communicate. I won’t compromise on this in any way. Ah-ha.