trees are people too

After some feedback from Adrian I am revising my propositions for my manifesto.

I have already outlaid the basic plan for my ezedia project. It will include six frames, and the propositions will be outlined on each page, about 2 a page and a final ‘finale’ – i.e. main proposition.

Let’s ghoe.

A Manifesto for Emergent Lifemapping: Mapping Directions through Video (tbc)

(Everyone – frames 1 and 2)

1. Everyone, as many people as possible, will be involved in order to map as many stories as possible.

2. Any event, any recording, can be classified as a ‘story’. A story can encompass whatever you choose.

3. No prerequisites, all you need is a video recording device.

(Everywhere – screens 3 and 4)

4. We must map everywhere – where/what you record is only limited by you. We will map more and more life as video becomes more affordable and accessible.

5. These maps will also be made public and available everywhere – in digital format will allow easy transfer, transportation and replay.

6. These maps are for public viewing. We will collect and curate them in an online space, but they are also available to be projected into other spaces, everywhere – every surface is a potential screen, and their purpose is to be shared..

(Everyday – screens 5 and 6)

7. With everyone recording and viewing video, it will strengthen its vernacular qualities. It will become everyday language, universal.

8. By capturing the everyday we will capture the exceptional.

9. By collecting all videos online, we can use the qualities of that space to identify the exceptional, be it beautiful or vulgar.

10. Mapping the exceptional will allow us to develop and respond to this content. From this reflection we can learn.

oh. I am struggling with this. How on earth will I represent it?? I like the idea, but I am finding it too general, too broad. The idealist in me says collect as many videos as possible, ranging from the dull and inane to the exciting and profound, and somewhere in there you will locate stories that resonate. I don’t want many constraints because I don’t want any prejudice, but I see how this will cause problems.

I will push through with this idea, but will have to consider it a very broad and general manifesto, one about collecting and curating for public viewing. I hope Adrian can bare with me.

headache argh. self assessment does that to me. Meanwhile, here is a simple snapshot of my manifesto concept that will hopefully work. Very simplistic, but good practice. I have a big exam looming. Did I mention argh?

Oh lol. The button doesn’t work (pause, play via the button on the tv). I forgot to do the link correctly. But consider this the draft of a draft… it looks cooler than i thought it would. Inspired. Again.

In my discussion with Adrian in the tute regarding my manifesto he directed me towards this great post by keshanee which points us towards a demonstration of photosynth on TED.

It’s pretty outstanding, and a lot of the ideas behind it are parallel to the ideas behind my manifesto – the idea that by collecting and collaborating all of this visual media, the end result would be a whole far greater than the sum of its parts. The collection of a vast variety of photographs (or in my case, videos) of all different quality, texture, meaning and context would result in an situation of emergence – the emergence of ‘exceptional’ productions and the occurrence of some sort of natural order within the collection that could then be analysed and learnt from.

Photosynth is less about actually learning from the visual experience than it is the experience itself – microsoft describes it as ‘the newest and most exciting way to view videos on a computer’. This is where my manifesto falls down a bit, as I am more excited about the ability for everyone to be involved, rather than how we are actually going to curate these maps and experiences. The bit I want to draw from photosynth is their concept of the relationship between photos, allowing you to sort and navigate. They propose tagging and identifying photos to relate them to one another, while my idea was just to collect and store, and allow an emergent method of sorting to tack place.

But I realise now, while this might be possible, it would be incredibly slow and time consuming and potentially messy (the mess is kinda exciting, but hey). There needs to be some method of ‘tagging’ the videos, identifying them, searching through them. Perhaps this could be encompassed in a small display screen that shows poster images and titles, similar to what is done here. Then the user could identify what area they wanted to view, research or ‘learn’ from.

Adrian mentioned I needed more constraints, and I am beginning to understand what he meant. I was letting it run a little too wild. While I still don’t want to restrain the duration, quality or content (I am working on the basis that storage space on the web is limitless) it needs a method of sorting. This will have to be done through some kind of ‘title’, a title screen or a text title. I’m working on it.

As sent to Adrian today:

I have gone from feeling really inspired and excited about this to a bit concerned and deflated. I am not sure if I am missing the point? Our discussions would indicate I am not on the right track, or not communicating my idea clearly. Not specific enough? To me the concept of a manifesto seems quite open, as long as it states a belief and a proposal – is this correct?

The basic gist of my manifesto is that video gives us the power to replay and reflect on our lives (no matter how inane), and as such we must record (map) as much of it as possible to discover the exceptional and learn from it. This is what inspires me about vernacular video.

(Consider ‘maps’ as stories and ‘mapping’ as story telling, of sorts).

The Lifemap Manifesto: Mapping directions through video

or

A Manifesto for Emergent Lifemapping

(Everyone)
1. Everyone, as many as possible, will be involved – we endeavor to collect as many stories as possible. There is no discrimination, no bias.

2. There are no prerequisites for involvement – all you need is a digital video recording device.

3. As video becomes more affordable and accessible, more and more people will become involved, increasing quantity and quality.

(Everywhere)
4. We must map (record) everywhere – where/what you choose to record is only limited by you.

5. These maps (stories) are public. Their digital format allows them to be replayed, projected everywhere, in any context.

6. As such, these maps will be disseminated as far and wide as possible, via the internet. Every computer screen, phone, ipod etc is a potential screen. We aim to reach as many people as possible, everywhere, to infiltrate all life.

(Everyday)
7. Through this use by everyone, everywhere, video will strengthen its vernacular qualities. It will become an everyday language, universal.

8. By capturing the everyday we will capture the exceptional.

9. By collecting and curating them in an online public space we will be able to identify (using clickthroughs, views etc) what is considered exceptional/important.

(Finally…)
10. Defining the exceptional will allow us to map new directions, new ideas in response to these stories. From this reflection we can learn.

In my head it makes sense, even excites me, but I am not getting the same response (lol). I await feedback…

A few points Adrian made today in the lecture that are relevant to my manifesto:

Vernacular is an everyday language, a common language, everyone can understand it.

My manifesto is based on emergence. The structure of what will be done with the videos we collect, what will be the result of this collection, will be something that will only be defined over time. This is absolutely crucial to my manifesto – I propose no way of sorting, categorising or filing these videos, except that they be made public. The concept is to big, too wild, too random for me to predetermine the outcome or predefine what would and should happen. The idea relies on the fact that through the ecology of the internet and other public media (but particularly the web) an organic process would take place to determine a natural order or heirarchy (if one is necessary). This is similar to viral videos – the medium would take a life of its own and the manner of digesting it would be determined by the user, the prosumer. It’s an organic process of ordering.

My manifesto is encouraging noise, it is based on the principle that the more noise there is, the more likely we are to locate something of quality, a message that resonates with us. You need to immerse yourself in as much noise as possible to discover one that is appropriate for you, that speaks to you. It is a riot.

As I’ve mentioned before, a lot of this stuff is gonna be rubbish. Squishy rubbish. Inane, utter shite. But within the dull, everyday “you manage to capture the exceptional”, as Adrian pointed out. It is all that more special, important, reflexive and relevant because it is real. The more people involved in the lifemap manifesto, the more likely we are to capture something exceptional.

So what is the value of this? Adrian mentioned that the value is in the exchange – this is the nature of the medium now and the network we are working with. It becomes valuable because we are sharing it.. that is why this manifesto is important, this is why it matters – because of it’s ability and requisite to share. Its qualities – that it be free, open, public, accessible by all and thus completely democratic – are the reasons for this manifesto, are what gives it value. The more exchanges we have, the more people we reach, the more valuable the material becomes.

It’s brilliant, because the more people involved, the more powerful it is. The more exceptional and quality productions we see, the more reflexive abilities the concept has, the better it becomes. It’s like a beautiful avalanche. I may just be inspired.

I am struggling to find references for my manifesto project. I am not sure how important they are? My manifesto thus far is primarily based on the ideas I have formulated from Tom Sherman’s Vernacular Video and the discussions we have had in lectures and tutes. How much like an essay is this? do I have to back up my ideas with other peoples? I am guessing yes, if I want to make an informed production. So I am doing research and looking for references. But how many is enough? Do I need to validate my concept by using other people’s thoughts to confirm it is a good idea? This seems more the style of an essay than a creative piece like this, but I do need some foundations for my arguments. I’ve found a few to start, and will probably ask Adrian for some advice on where I might find more…

Vernacular Video, Tom Sherman
Video: The Reflexive Medium, Sara Hornbacher
A Genealogy of Video, Paul Ryan
Videocast, The Power of Video Tomotake Mizunoe
Recording Social Life: Reflexivity and Video Methodology, Helen Lomax
Video: The Reflexive Medium (yes, there are two publications of this title), Yvonne Spielmann
What Video Can Do Marjorie Perloff
Video/Media Culture of the Late Twentieth Century, John G. Hanhardt and Maria Christina Villaseñor

Not sure how much of this info will actually go into my manifesto, but it is providing me with some good reading.

Ok. It’s coming together kinda, starting with the title. My manifesto is called the Lifemap manifesto. The basic concept is that videos can, and should be used to document our lives. As we now all have access to the equipment to do so, we are obliged, as video weilders and as media practitioners, to document, record, replay and reflect upon the stories collected by video.

The objective behind my manifesto and behind this practice (in its most simple form) is that we must use video’s reflexive properties to better define and develop ourselves (humans). It is only upon reflection – after the action, after hearing the story and after watching the replay – that we can work out what we have done wrong or right. In order to develop and move forward as a society, it is absolutely essential that we start to analyse where we have come from, how we got here and how we can do better. This is done through the telling and retelling of stories, and these stories are now told through video.

Art has always been considered a reflection of a society, of their values, their issues, their wants and desires. But instead of capturing this in a still painting or a song, we can now do it through moving image and sound. The medium of video is as close an art form as we can get to reality, to what actually happened, to actually being there and watching the story unfold. These stories can then be further edited, chopped, mashed to add more meaning, more emphasis, or change the meaning all together. The technology allows us to do that.

All this means that this gets incredibly messy, of course (hurrah!!). Super dirty, super messy and outstandingly noisy. They estimate you need about 700 terrabytes to record your entire life on video, and a whole lot of that is going to crap. The widespread (and seemingly endless) dissemination and accessibility will mean that some will be better than others, some more interesting, some more professional, but overall my manifesto predicts that it will find a balance, an equilibrium between what we want to see, what we want to learn about, and what is just ‘noise’, exactly as has occurred with UCG. The democratic nature of the medium will mean that the people will choose and promote the quality, and the rest will fall to the side… Collaborations will be great and plentiful, and the more information, the more stories we can collect, the better our understanding of ourselves will be.

So how do you start your lifemapping, I hear you ask. No, you yell actually (you’re excited!!) Lifemapping can be practiced individually or as a collaboration, as that is how life takes place. The objective to is map (aka record, journal, document, capture) as many stories as you would like, as many as you deem necessary. There is no limit except that presented by you. But that’s not the end of it. That story is useless, is meaningless, unless it has an audience. Your duty is to disseminate that video as far and wide as possible…. ‘as virtually all architecture and surfaces become potential screens’, it is your mission to find them and use them. we must use whatever means possible to produce vivid, vital and informative (entertaining is good too) maps of human life.

The Lifemap Manifesto will remain based on the three principles:

Everyone No one is excluded. There is no prerequisites to be involved, except that you possess a video recording device. Every race, colour, creed, education, persuasion can and must be involved. The stories told mean nothing if they are not coming from all walks of the lives we are trying to map. No bias.

Everywhere We must endeavour, with the equipment we have access to, to reproduce these stories as far and wide as possible, on every available surface, in all environments. The viewing and ‘reading’ of these stories must not be restricted to those who can afford to go to galleries or access the internet, they must be made public through many, and any, means. Guerilla tactics may be applied. Imagine if graffiti could be done in video (cooool!!) – consider this similar. Without advocating vandalism, these stories, and their accompanying messages, must be shown to as many people as possible, else the learning be restricted to the few.

Everyday Through these actions, our ambition is to make video a familiar tool, an incredibly easy and ordinary way of speaking. We need to harness its strength as a tool for the masses to communicate. No longer just reserved for those wealthy enough to afford a video camera, or those professionally trained in how to man them, video is now common, regular, universal. Video has been ‘everyday’ in terms of viewing for some time, now it is time to make it everyday in producing as well. It is the natural progression, and as such the medium must feel natural, feel usual, and must be mutual and public.

As Socrates so eloquently put it, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’

Ok, this is my initial brainstormings regarding my manifesto. I have since developed these ideas somewhat, but thought it might be useful to track my creative process.

Of Sherman’s statements, these were the ones which really resonated with me:

‘It is the people’s medium…Video is the way people place themselves at events and describe what happened’

‘The technology of video is now as common as a pencil….’

What fascinates me about what Sherman is saying is the democratisation of video – both through the ubiquity of it and the ability and need to be fluent in it, to understand it, to practice it as a means of connecting with today’s world. Everyone has a story to tell, and so video as a decentralised communications tool, has (and will increasingly) become for everyone, everywhere, everyday. It is this aspect I want to focus on, this is my catchphrase, if you like. Everyone, everywhere, everyday. Video is available to everyone, is omnipresent (everywhere), and is more and more familiar (everyday).

In my manifesto, I’ll need to identify why this is revolutionary, important, essential, and how we can work and develop this media to provide us with something more than just, well, video. How we can harness the power of video… what can video do for us?? (Think stories, noise, reflexive, reflexive, reflexive, what can video teach us?)

NB. I was doing it wrong. I started with a picture of what I wanted my manifesto to look like – purely aesthetically focussed – before I had worked out the objectives of the actual manifesto itself. Without the objectives, I couldn’t justify why people (including myself) should believe in it. It looked great in my head (should have been a designer, sigh) but it was a concept, not a call to arms. I realised this, funnily enough, when Adrian told us to find a title. The quest for a title was incredibly difficult – I struggled for ages before I realised that the reason i couldn’t find the title was because i hadn’t worked out the objective…. I’d started in the wrong place.

I’ve worked on this a bit and it is slowly coming together in more recent brainstorms. I found a title, which is a start. Watch this space.

class notes on what a manifesto is….

a call to action?

no such thing as a reflective manifesto…? The manifesto must state our beliefs, it can’t be naive, it has a vision.

The incomplete manifesto.

Meta Questions

Why are we making a manifesto and why is it based on Vernacular Video?

Vernacular Video – how is it related to what we are studying? New technology developing the medium, changing the media landscape and the environment in which media practitioners function….

Why a manifesto? We are creating something we believe in.

Will require as many ‘guidelines’, ‘values’ or ‘ideals’ as are required to achieve the goal….

My personal approach thus far has been to choose elements of Vernacular Video that resonate with me, that I feel moved by, that i believe in. That bit is easy. I am building a goal around these concepts… what I believe in will be the title of my manifesto: Video: Everyone, everywhere, everyday. Consider it my slogan. I’ll stop before I give anything else away, but you can watch my progress here.

I am trying to think up some ideas of declarations while adrian is talking about them, in the hope some of his clarification will seep in here.

Perhaps like this. Everyone – Video is the medium of the people, all people. Video will increasingly be available to all. The technology of video has, and will continue to, increase availability and exposure of recording moving image and sound.

These are elements of a bonza brainstorm i had yesterday. I’ll upload some of my ideas to the blog later today/tomorrow.

in fact, I got a few indiscernible errors for no apparent reasons, buttons were changing colours, all manner of strange things. Bugs in the program, perhaps??

But it seems to be working now, and I present to you my second functioning ezedia project (unfortunately not greatly improved from the first lol) in all it’s glory. The two lumieres are very still, in fact I realised the right one looks like a still picture. hmm. not much gwarn there at all. Think of it as a depiction of a very relaxed (super chillax), still day in the park. Which it was. Enjoy.