Next Week on Networked Images

For next week's discussion I think we can concentrate our attention on the social networking of the still and video image on two sites, Flickr and YouTube. For Flickr, the Open Source podcast discussion will be central, so please give it a close listen and spend some time at Flickr (if you have the time and inclination to dig deeper, check out the comments posted on the Photography 2.0 podcast site as well). I’m particularly interested in the social/intellectual networking that develops there around groups. Try joining a few and look at the discussions as well as some of the posted images. For example, I’ve joined and am going to try to monitor the following groups (click on links to access groups):

Hardcore Street Photography
Barcelona Street Art
Graffiti Archaeology
Art & Theory Nobs
Aesthetics of Failure
Vanishing Beauty
Baudrillard's Way

There have been lots of developments at YouTube over the last few weeks. In addition to the assigned articles from the syllabus for this week, you should also take a look at a couple of articles on the recent suit Viacom has filed against YouTube: "Talking Business: Awaiting a Compromise on YouTube" (posted in syllabus material for this week), and "Viacom's Full-Court Press for Online Ads," both at The New York Times. In light of these developments, we'll want to specualte about where YouTube is headed (Is the heyday of video free-for-all over? Is the site going to be commodified and appropriated by traditionally dominant mega-entertainment groups?). See also "News Corp. and NBC in Web Deal" for another dimension of potential changes. You might also take a look at how MTV is contemplating the social-networking of TV shows as described in this article (sound interesting, or a total waste of time?).

Then, of course, there's the appearance of Apple TV, which is linked to iTunes. For an overview of this potentially revolutionary (or not?) device, see David Pogue's overview of how it works and what it might do.

All of this, plus some discussion of the videos we can find on the sites linked to the menu on the right, "Online Video Links," ought to keep us plenty busy.

ALERT ON INTERNET RADIO: On a totally unrelated note I want to sing the praises of Pandora Internet Radio. This site allows you to custom build as many radio stations as you like utilizing the Music Genome Project. You create a station by "seeding it" with some music you like and then it sets about "learning" more music that goes with it. The radio plays in the background on your computer, but if you plug your computer into a speaker system it plays through your stereo. I've been editing my Tex/Mex station while writing this blog entry. Talk about multi-tasking. And you can share your stations with others. Let me know if you want me to send one your way.