Blogs

apart from podcasting, videoblogging / video podcasting was growing in 2004-2005 and will get even bigger in 2006, especially after the release of sony's psp & the video ipod. $1.99 itunes downloads for tv episodes will be more and more popular. even tivo is doing trials atm with (internet based) videoblogs to tivo. http://research.tivo.com/rocketboom/
archive.org (& perhaps google video if they decide to make it more videoblog friendly) providing free storage for videoblog movies & creative content has meant everyday users no longer have to worry about the costs involved in website hosting & data throughput /traffic.

http://braintrustdv.com/roundtables/ipod.html#Anchor-34275 has some interesting points of view from media analysts.

when holographic data storage becomes widely used in consumer devices (eg psp/ipod or future flavours) data storage worries are out the window. these are due for professional gear in 2006 (broadcasters have been testing with hdtv off holographic data storage this year)
http://www.hiptechblog.com/2005/11/25/maxell-introduces-groundbreaking-h...
http://www.inphase-technologies.com/

exciting times!

I've been looking at the Linkubator script from Andreas Haugstrup Pedersen which is used to create a SMIL script that can be saved as a quicktime movie, and can combine videos, text, audio images etc hosted on the net into a 'remuxed' video.

Blogging has become very popular over the last few years as I'm sure most people are aware. here's one possibly for the record books - an Indian blog entry received a comment 4,827 words long! almost like writing a paper..

Tasmania's Conservation Trust held a project to collect knitted jumpers for penguins caught in oil spills.

[quote]
The Penguin Jumpers Project has now finished. Over 15,000 jumpers were collected, which will be stored in Oil Spill Response Kits around Tasmania. In the case of a major oil spill, these jumpers will be used to help rehabilitate Little penguins (Eudyptula minor) that have been oil affected. Oil clogs the feathers of these tiny seagoing birds, and reduces their insulating and waterproofing qualities. Even worse, the penguins attempt to clean themselves by preening, and rapidly become poisoned.
[/quote]

these are so cute!

click on the read more link below for the pattern:

earlier this year I did a max/msp course at goldsmiths college. the class was taken by the very clever and talented sebastian lexer who puts on the interlace events in london and performs at various events and festivals. if you're looking for a max/msp course, I highly recommend this one - whether you've used max/msp before or not. the projects by the other class members were really cool also!

O'Reilly killer apps mentioned in the audio recording of e-Tech 2004 from archive.org

social software - harnessing the power of use contributions & user participation:

successful platforms using social software:

The TransAcoustic Festival was held in Auckland, New Zealand this weeked, starting on Thursday 8th and finishing up tonight, Sunday 11th December. I missed the Thursday/Friday performances due to a bad memory and thinking the festival was actually on next weekend. I went along to the seminars at the Art Gallery and the Saturday night performances at the Kenneth Myers Centre in central Auckland. Tonight is the closing night, with final video screenings being held at Odeon Lounge in Mt Eden. The festival delved into themes of sound, light and synaesthetic experiences using mediums such as experimental music & film. Artists from Australia (Brisbane & Melbourne) and New Zealand performed. Many of the performers are part of the experimental and new media mail list communities, aus_noise, empyre, audio foundation and ada.

here's an email thread from aus_noise mail list - I posted the photos then a reply to some questions with details about the gigs.

===========================================================================================

hey lloyd, yeah the photos are mostly setup and the tables after the performances. it was dark for the actual performances and my cameraphone isn't the best in full light let alone no light so not many crowd shots I'm afraid. I probably should have taken my proper camera or video but am never sure if people allow it or not.

I only made it to the Saturday shows - there were two sessions at the Art Gallery in the afternoon and three performances in the evening.

here's some of the notes I took (apologies if I heard things incorrectly & they're not coherent)
stella brennan spoke about her paper "Visual Musak - from Lava Lamp to Screensaver" - she spoke of some historical experimental cinema performances; some entries in the "Expanded Cinema" book by Gene Youngblood (intro by R.Buckminster Fuller); highlighted some examples of World Fair/Expo art including the "Labyrinth" large scale film projection in 1977 (projecting film vertically rather than horizontally) and the early beginnings of IMAX cinema and the people involved in it; "animated sound" project; telefunken project cd; of "connecting to ideas of all enveloping environments"; chemical brothers film clip "...landscape responding to your emotion"

or, if you have time, take a listen to it via this site:
http://www.archive.org/details-db.php?mediatype=audio&identifier=2005121...
(not the best audio quality either I'm afraid) I believe there'll be a video of the seminars available for better representation of them. (I just record things to listen to them again later, so don't worry about the quality too much I'm afraid)

Robin Fox was really interesting - he spoke about his work with oscilloscopes/cro's (you're probably already familiar with this?) - he feeds the inputs with harsh sounds often using nyquist foldover frequencies & using a library of sounds created in max/msp. I've used cro's before at work measuring tv signals but haven't got them to make beautiful animated images such as he was getting out of it. I heard everyone really enjoyed the performance the night before (I missed it unfortunately). one of the physicists in the class was really animated during the talk and had comments/questions afterwards. he also spoke of John Rose's perspective/observations on laptop performance in relation to virtuosity and limitations of human performers (hopefully I have this correct) - when an audience watches an instrumentalist perform they have certain preconceptions about what sounds should be heard and how good they think they could be, which are then sometimes surpassed, hence the performer becomes a virtuoso. but with a laptop/computer performer, because there are no limitations on the possibilities the computer brings to the equation it is harder for people to relate to the performance as much as watching a traditional imstrumentalist. he also showed the external controllers he uses with max/msp. and spoke of experimental cinema using oscilloscopes in the 1960s (Mary Ellen Bute). experiments of Ron Pellegrino who created still images from an oscilloscope, but who didn't like the sounds used to create them. then he spoke about "sound to shape" and synesthetic relationships of images and music and some of his mother's experiences with synesthesia. and 3d, immersive environments "looking into sounds". and finally he spoke a bit about the lasers he's been working with lately and some of the safety aspects involved.

http://msp.sfsu.edu/Instructors/rey/synesth.html is one site which has more info on some of these things.

in the evening there were performances by The Professionals, Adam Willets and Abject Leader.

The Professionals were up first - they make sounds from photo-sensitive devices. the photos of polystyrene boxes with the breadboards & circuitry are from their performance. they also fed back sound into the video on a couple of monitors, though I wasn't sure if this was part of their performance until towards the end when the constant blue light started getting affected by the sounds into the stripey video similar to Botborg performances I've seen in the past (at electrofringe this year). I couldn't see exactly what they were doing as I was sitting behind the other benches, but I could see a torch being shone onto the boxes and sounds corresponding to the flashing light and then chirpy noises sounding when a lighter was lit. it was good to see they'd gone through the whole creative process and made the devices which they then used to make the sounds.

Adam Willets was up next. he had solar powered (well, desk lamp powered this night) 'robots' housed in clear plastic christmas decoration balls, one of which was resting on a saucer which was in turn sitting on the strings of a guitar (actually, I think it was a guitar - I was too busy looking at the bots to notice the stringed instrument). the other was placed on tinfoil on the bench. there was a camera projected on the screen so we could have a better view of what was going on. the bots twitched and flipped themselves under the light. at first I thought it was due to the sound as well, but I asked him afterwards, and they move due to the light. but the motion of the bot on the saucer made scratchy sounds on the saucer, and vibrated the strings underneath to create the sounds which then went through the pedals etc.

Abject Leader were last up. I really liked the films and watching Sally change the film & filters and feed the film through the reels (sorry if I have her name wrong) was like watching a dance alongside the film as she reached from one to the other to add a filter here or adjust a lens or piece of film there. the music was really nice too - it matched the visuals really well. I wasn't sure if the music and film were interacting with each other, as I couldn't see how they'd done this from my seat if it was, & I always like to know how things work. so I asked but they were two separate parts of the performance, apart from hearing the film projector as a backdrop to the projections, which worked in well with the music.

I couldn't make the sunday night or thurs/friday night performances, so sorry I missed the Botborg/Robin Fox performances, but I met a couple of nice Aucklanders there who made me feel welcome and mentioned they'd enjoyed the previous performances and said that it was cool how many different perspectives had been brought to the festival based on it's theme.

http://www.transacoustic.org.nz/ has the artists bios and programme if u haven't seen it already.

- Hide quoted text -

[original email - email addresses & names removed]

On 12/12/05, lb wrote:

--- Kath wrote:

> hey guys, thanks to those on aus_noise for
> performing at the TransAcoustic
> Festival in Auckland over the weekend. I went along
> last night and really
> enjoyed the performances, as well as the seminars in
> the afternoon. I have
> some photos from the sat night performance uploaded
> - unfortunately I only
> had my cameraphone so the quality isn't that great
> but u get the idea.
>
>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aliak_com/tags/transacoustic/

Hey Kath,

thanks for the photos - though it looks like a
performance rather empty of perfomers - did you shoot
the setup or were there very few people? Can you
comment on the aussie contigents performances (Abject
Leader, Botborg, Robin Fox)?

chrs
][oyd

aus-------------------------------------
noise-----------------------------------
diary-----------------------------------

++++++++
BRISBANE
++++++++
Thursday 15 December 2005
Judith Wright Centre, Rehearsal Room (level 4)
420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
MUJI
Rare solo sets from Scott Sinclair and Joel Stern.
+++++
Saturday 17 December, 8pm
Rob Curvengen
G55
Dada-Meinhof
Hetleveiker
Exploded Cinema
Other Theory @ The Globe
Brunswick St. Fortitude Valley (outside train station)
$7/$5
+++++
Monday 19 December 2005
Judith Wright Centre, Performance Space
420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
MUJI2
Trio -
Scott Sinclair (modified guitar, electronics)
Joel Stern (feedback instruments)
Adam Park (prepared tape loops)
+++++
27.01.06 + 28.01.06
OPENFRAME - Room40
Peter Rehberg, Anasten, Michael Rodgers,
abjectleader's 'noh cinema' and much more.
Brisbane Powerhouse's Rooftop Terrace from 8pm.
28.01.06
+++++

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aus_noise/

================================================================================================
links mentioned in this blog entry:

http://www.transacoustic.org.nz/

http://www.vasulka.org/Kitchen/PDF_ExpandedCinema/ExpandedCinema.html

http://www.archive.org/download/20051210_auckland_transacoustic_festival...

not sure if you've seen this already, but I think it's important for 2 reasons..

1. because of the DRM issue and music protection some artists and music labels are introducing, and

2. because it came through via Boing Boing which is the Technorati "#1 ranked blog site". poular blogs are measured & given a technorati ranking based on "The biggest blogs in the blogosphere, as measured by unique links in the last six months." http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs/

so, this entry just went out to thousands of other sites where other people are linking it and commenting on it - great way to get OZ hip hop out there.. perhaps some of the people out there will check out the bands/artists mentioned in the article. (as I like looking at stats, it'd be interesting to see if their website hits or sales adjusted partly due to this)

original blog entry @ http://intermaweb.net/2005/12/09/open-letter-hilltop-hoods/

Boing Boing blog entry:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/08/fan_to_hilltop_hoods.html

[quote]
Thursday, December 8, 2005

Fan to Hilltop Hoods: treating me like a thief is bad business

Popular Aussie hiphop Hilltop Hoods band released its first DVD, The Calling Live. Partway through the disk, the band breaks off to call its fans thieves, and to promise that future musical releases will have DRM to protect the band from its listeners. Pete, a big fan of the band, has written an open letter in response:

Anecdotally, if I hadn't downloaded Left Foot, Right Foot in 2001(?), it is quite possible that I would have never purchased it, or The Calling, or The Calling DVD. It's also unlikely that I would have purchased tickets to several Hilltop Hoods shows. The same goes for my sister, and the several friends for whom I've burned copies over the years. If I had not discovered the joys of the Hoods, I may not have sought out (and purchased) music by the likes of Layla, Drapht, Downsyde, Clandestein, Hunter, Fdel, Pegz, the Herd, Bliss n Eso, After Hours, Funkoars, Art of War, Bias B, Lazy Grey, Mnemonic Ascent, Reason, Plutonic Lab etc etc etc....

So Suffa, I absolutely reject your accusations of theft, and am hurt that you reject me as a fan. I thought you were cool, and that you understood. Now, I'm not so sure...
[/quote]

Hilltop Hoods respond to the letter @ http://intermaweb.net/2005/12/10/suffas-reply-open-letter-hilltop-hoods/ and sound very reasonable.

Personally, I like the creative commons form of licensing & the ability to remix/remux existing works but I don't make my living from my art/music so come from a different perspective to an artist who does.

I think that having the songs available for download helps people try before they buy. and if someone downloads it and doesn't like it they probably weren't one of your customers anyway so you didn't lose any money from it, but perhaps one of their friends will hear it and like it and buy it then you'll gain a customer.

DRM is an issue which more & more artists will be having to deal with in the future though, a tough one for sure.

notes about studying methods:

http://e-courses.cqu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=...

SQRRR METHOD OF READING

There is a method of reading that all of our students will benefit from; it is called the SQ3R. Let me describe how to use the SQRRR method (Believe me it is wonderfully efficient).

I have an external 120Gb firewire hard drive which has travelled with me from Sydney to UK to Auckland. It's worked really well. Well, until last week when it fell over and now makes horrible clunking noises when it's spinning up. Unfortunately this drive holds my ipod music files - copies of my cds and records that I couldn't bring with me from home. Luckily I'd done a full transfer to my ipod a couple of weeks ago, so the music is intact, but I can't export it back onto a hard drive (planning on buying another 2.5" drive instead of the firewire drive). I just found an article on endgaget about transferring files from your ipod back to hard drive using ephPOD. cool :) now I just have to buy the new drive and try it out.

week 2 photoshop files for mmst11001 uni subject

different 3d balls, saved at different qualities
(unfortunately I cropped the drop shadow)

I should have spent more time on getting the image to look more 3d, but I wanted to try out the different formats vs filesizes and quality so I spent more time on this aspect.

reading notes from Balsem's chapter on Semiotics

page 7-9
(pdf page 3-4)
[quote]
... signs are socially active forces, and so is interpretation. Therefore, the study of signs and the semiotic perspective on social communication is a relevant activity. But it can only be so if the factors so far encountered are taken into account. Signs are not things, but the result of acts carried out by individuals belonging to social groups. They do not emerge in isolation, but in relation to other signs, previously produced. They are based on grounds and result in effects that deserve to be studied as part of a larger endeavour whose goals stretch beyond purely academic understanding.

I received and email from the guys at www.radioheritage.net who are setting up a non-profit project involved in 'Sharing the stories of Pacific Radio'. The site has a wealth of information, but they are looking for assistance in putting audio on their site, so people can listen to some of the radio programs. Unfortunately I don't have a great deal of spare time to assist them in depth, but I can provide some advice if that's of use so I replied as such. Perhaps this will be useful to others as well. We were always getting asked for advice on how to do internet radio (it's rather easy once you do it - people think it's harder than it actually is!), and these days with podcasting being so popular and becoming more prominent, anyone can create, broadcast and distribute their own radio programs, whether they be music related, talk show/story format or a combination. anyway, here's a few ideas, I'll try to post more as I get a chance. perhaps some tutorials or help notes on how to setup these things. posting video shows/videoblogs is what I've been trying out lately too, though most of my videos are still offline as I practice editing and capturing the story element.