DLTQ.org

On Sunday I will have videoblogged for two years, and I will spend this week actively re-evaluating these two years.

How has these two years changed my life? How did they not change my life? What have I learned, and what questions have stuck with me? How do I view my own previous work? - I will tackle with some of those issues, and I invite you to go into the time machine with me.

I started videoblogging on December 24th, 2004 after a few days of obsessing over this new medium. I felt as if my head was about to explode every few hours, when I realized just how much this could change everything (as Michael Verdi would put it in a later vlog entry). I had no previous interest in film-making, but I was heavily into communication, having worked with communication in different contexts the previous 6 years or so. To me, videoblogging (or video on the net that is downloadable and preferrably with an rss feed) was the missing link. It was what would allow people from regions like sub-saharan Africa to communicate with the world (I have a good friend in Nigeria). Videoblogging, if done with a low-key approach to it, could really change how we communicate.

Actually, the very first vlog entry I saw was Dylan Verdi’s first video, which I found via metafilter. This was massively inspiring to me. Then, what Really got me to want to do this myself was a piece by Ryanne Hodson called Super 8 Opera. This video was what Really got me on fire. I almost shouted into the empty room: “Yes! This is it!!” Politics. Art. Expression. Connection. People!

So, on December 24th 2004, I made my first videoblog entry. Just showing what was around me. Later that afternoon I wrote another blog entry, this time text-only, where I talked about political videoblogging - connecting the dots. A quote:

“vlogging has a lot to do with activism. If we manage to actually stream movies SHOWING our politicians (perhaps from other angles and in other situations than whatever escapes through the narrowminded tabloid media) instead of just writing about them, we have gained a lot. If we can bring in more people to actually communicate with our party, they will soon realize that heey the Liberals are not thaat bad. In fact the Liberals have quite good policies on several areas. At least I am sure more than 4% of the listeners would think so! “

[source]

My next videos were just showing moments (I was clearly inspired by Jay at the time). Then, my first on-camera video. I felt SO strange doing this. Fast forward to December 26th, and I posted a rambling long e-mail I had sent to the videoblogging yahoogroups. Yes, I was all into the political videoblogging. I made videos showing my street, showing some books I have, … and I also did a video called Musings #1 - I later hated how I started that video. So self-important. Douchebag-like. Besides, I thought/think I look like a complete madman in it. Hah! :/

Construction - a draft. In this video I really took a different direction. Started playing with the media more. I never uploaded a new version of it, and months later I lost all the files in a HD crash. But yeah, I guess this was the first time I did text on video in that way.

My next videoblog entry was a response to Jay Dedman. I am re-watching the video again now, and I Really remember the enthusiasm I had back then. Deja vu. Watching the video again helps me remember a question that is important for me: Usability!

Later that month I did a video where I show two newspapers from that day. To me, this video is important. It helps me remember the mood I was in then. In yet another video, I used text to translate my audio to English. It didn’t work out too well, but I had tried it at least.

On Dec 31st, I wrote a post about the Internet Archive, and J.D. Lasica wrote a comment - which was my first contact with Lasica, with whom I would work quite a lot with during the spring of 05.

Then there is dltq0.vlog from Dec 31st, 2004. Hah! - I tried to use links in the bottom of the video - it didn’t work very well as you can see. Later that day I made another video that was a video comment to something Jay posted.

Then in early January 05 I wrote a post about some of the economy around tsunami videos. It was one of those posts that I really spent some time on, calling journalists and doing research. It was also the post that indirectly led to me being guest on Rocketboom during one episode, and I was also interviewed by The World, which is a U.S. radio channel. I don’t have the audio of the interview, but Ryanne made a video about it all, so you can sort of hear it through that. (This is part of why videoblogging rocks! Which is something I will return to later)

Then there is this self-serving video where I talk with a political colleague about political videoblogging in our party. Later I was quite ashamed of the attitude I showed throughout it. Lack of humility. Huh? You saying I got issues?!

One of the few “vloggersations” - videoblog conversations - at the time was the discussion about religion that Ryanne started. I made my own entry about it, but I didn’t involve further in it.

Around the same time I made a small list of videos that influenced me. Of course, I didn’t follow up the “documenting my travels in the vlogosphere” - which I regret that I did not. I wish I had that documentation now.

dltq4.vlog! Yes, this one was so fun making! Animation! (More on political videoblogging…)

Oh, and I was looking forward to VloggerCon

Then I turned back to animation - I was so inspired by the process. And I absolutely love this piece. One of my all-time favourites.

Then later in January I declared my affiliation with Ourmedia

VloggerCon 05: I posted no video from the conference itself, which I regret. I took some footage, but I never uploaded it, and then later the media was lost. In fact, I only uploaded one video from my weekend in New York. I really loved hanging out with Sean those hours that weekend. I have since lost contact with him — which reminds me: I need to try track him down!

Overall, VloggerCon 05 was great. I met old friends, I made new friends. It was definitely worth it, even though it was a bit weird to be one of the very few non-americans present, and I felt like I didn’t really “belong” there. I had barely started videoblogging! However, Chris Weagel interviewed me about Europe, and the resulting video was hilarious.

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So, in this first part of my wrap-up of the two years of videoblogging, I have only covered about a month.

However, this month of videoblogging from december 24th 2004 till the end of VloggerCon in january 2005 was really important for me. I spent most days being SO hyped up about all this. About the opportunities. The people in the scene, their true idealism, their wish to share. Help each other.

Now, almost two years later, when my enthusiasm for videoblogging has in some ways gone considerably down - - it is important for me to re-live these moments. To see those old videos of me talking about political videoblogging, for instance.

I am sorry about not having any video made for this occasion. I guess text is easier to work with, somehow.

What questions from this month have I lost? What questions have I actually Done something with? Political videoblogging - well, I will cover that more closely in the Part II of this recollection. But as I said again and again during my first year of videoblogging: I should make video as if I had an audience of just ten.

I guess, for some people, they can “perform”, if they imagine that they have an audience of thousands, tens of thousands. If they imagine the drooling masses just wanting to have a piece of them, their daily life, how they ate that pizza, how they took the subway… But for me, videoblogging has become ever more a dubious thing.

Watching those first videos is to watch a more enthusiastic me. Is to watch a Raymond that really believed. (Whereas today, far too often, my mood turns to cynicism and jadedness - “it’s all just about fucking ROI anyway!”)

As I wrote on a piece of paper while preparing for a presentation about videoblogging somewhere: “It’s all about showing your world to the world”.

Video. What video should I choose to represent my first month of videoblogging? I guess “dltq5.vlog: NoRules” is it. So here you are, a video representing the first month of videoblogging: dltq5.vlog

Watch video (.mov)

Part II will come later this week.