Cinema Minima is pointing to UbuWeb, an archive of high end avant-garde arts and culture sound and video recordings maintained by volunteers that has been going since 1996. Their index of artists is quite impressive.
Haven’t had time to watch much yet, but their approach to orphan works really caught my eye: “If it’s out [...]
This archive of civil rights-related television news is the most interesting and disturbing television news collection online that I’ve seen so far. William Thomas, who put the collection together, writes:
The footage is the only remaining footage from stations in Virginia from the 50s and 60s. Thankfully, we do have some great footage from the [...]
PRWatch has some interesting coverage of how the VNR story is unfolding within the PR community, including a transcript of a long call between PR practitioners. Best quote from that: “the challenge is, you know, what can PR do to protect our interests and defend itself?”
A parallel story about VNRs in California is also making [...]
It seems a growing number of media outlets are shocked, shocked about the $250 million spent on PR by the Bush administration, most of it for video news releases. NBC’s take on the matter (via Media Matters), is worth watching.
It’s interesting too, to see the fight within the government; the GAO says the tapes [...]
The L.A. Times has an amazing story, Extreme Cinema Verite, about combat videos made by soldiers in Iraq. The story’s implications are quite striking.
The contrast between what’s on the evening news, and what’s on these videos is enormous; the traditional media is again being re- or de-valued. These images are more powerful, in part, [...]
It’s frustrating and lame to always explain the new in terms of the old, but FlickR for video is the easiest way to describe Vimeo. They have a ways to go in implementing all of their ideas, but the site is suggestive of some of the possibilities of sharing large collections of video clips, and [...]
The NYT has a new article out, Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News, which opens:
It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
“Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.,” a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A [...]
Moving Past GormanGate is a nice little satire published last week by The Shifted Librarian.
While the piece itself is entertaining (I’d like to add “no one will ever watch MPEG-2 moving images, they lack quality”) to the list, there is a real issue: when are archival copies of sufficient quality for different apps? [...]
Truth in error messages, like the one in the title of this post that I just got, would be a fine thing. The real issue is that MSN Video does not support open standards. Shame on them.
Katie Dean has another good story out, this one about the effect of music licenses on DVD re-issues that leads “WKRP in Cincinnati was one of the most popular television shows of the late ’70s and early ’80s, but it is unlikely ever to be released on DVD because of high music-licensing costs.”
Other [...]
Seventeen computer scientists have filed a brief in the MGM v. Grokster case, arguing that P2P technology should not be legally restricted. “Because Petitioners seek a remedy that will hobble advances in technology, while they have other means to obtain relief for infringement, amici ask the Court to affirm the judgment below.”
The EFF and Public Knowledge have set up a web site, orphanworks.org, to encourage people to file comments about the handling and legal status of orphan works. Comments are due March 25. From the Orphan Works site:
When you can’t find copyright holders, copyright becomes a quagmire.
Let’s fix it.
For designers, academics, artists, musicians, [...]