TechDirt has a totally classic post today that demonstrates on of the great truths: the more things change the more they stay the same.
Today, it is common to hear everyone from politicians to parents blaming video games for making kids fat and lazy. It turns out, back in the 1850’s the threat came from a pastime we consider nearly high art these days, chess:
chess is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body.
Say what you will about Vice Magazine, their original web video site, VBS.TV is showing the world how it’s done when it comes to compelling, engaging and important content. For those who fear investigative journalism is in its death throes this is strong proof that we are just on the cusp of a whole new approach to the form.
Their latest 9-part series is an in-your-face look at the photo-journalists behind Mexico’s hugely popular tabloids featuring gruesome pictures of the recently murdered.
Far more than shock journalism (although be warned, this stuff is truly shocking and not for kids), this is a legitimately exciting and disturbing piece of investigative journalism, the kind that some fear will die along with dead-tree newspapers.
What is most impressive about the news video created by VBS is that it treats its audience like intelligent, critical thinkers. There is no spoon-feeding and no fear-mongering. I also love seeing how our new technology, from tiny cameras to mass distribution is allowing many more people to take their shot at finding and reporting the news.
Far from the death of news, I believe we are just entering its finest hour.
I was reading an update of a case in NH in which RIAA has accused a woman in her 50’s of illegally downloading and uploading a number of hard-core rap songs.
Turns out she is getting help from professors and students at Franklin Pierce Law School. Add them to a growing list of law schools that are getting involved in RIAA cases as a way to both make a difference and as an opportunity to get students the kinds of hands-on experience that can’t be had in a classroom.
One of the biggest complaints against RIAA, aside from the overall weak nature of their basic stance, is that they prey on individuals who rarely have the resources or education to defend themselves. It is very exciting to see students and teachers using the situation as an opportunity and one can only imagine the chagrin in causes RIAA when they learn that instead of going to court against a lone 50-year-old woman they are facing a school full of students who would like nothing better than to win one for the little guy.
Fun to play with but it would be awesome if you could sync in your own voices instead of sticking with the limited CG voices.
Also worth a look is ZunaVision out of Stanford University. This is another way to place ads or other graphics onto existing video in a less obstusive manner:
TechDirt has a little look at the growing fight between textbook publishers and the students who are tired of paying thousands of dollars a semester and are instead finding more and more pirated scans online:
“…rather than responding to the root cause of the downloads, textbook publishers are trying to come up with systems that students can’t get around paying for, such as online subscriptions to “extra” information to go along with a textbook.”
Doesn’t anyone want to learn anything from the failings of the music industry? The only way the textbook companies will beat the pirates is to offer their books for a fair price in a format that is open and friendly to the students.
Yeah, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, either. So, expect to see plenty of new textbooks coming to a pirate site near you. Supply and demand, people. Supply and demand.
That’s exactly what Stride Gum did when someone on their creative team (read: someone’s kid) pointed out how funny Matt Harding’s “dancing around the world” video was and how popular it had become.
So:
“Mr. Harding first garnered a small internet following several years ago for a traveling rendition of what Midwesterners might call a “farmer’s jig” (pumping elbows, high knees and insistent bouncing). The brand’s promotion agency, GoldNFish, first spotted Mr. Harding in 2005 “when we were looking for a fun way to get the word out about Stride gum,” said Emily Liu, senior brand manager for Stride.
“As huge fans of Matt, we wanted to see if he would take a long trip around the world again,” she said. “So we picked up the phone and asked Matt if he would be interested … and the rest is history.”(via AdAge)
This collaboration has been quite successful for both Matt and Stride. Matt has gotten to continue to dance around the world free of charge and Stride gets a nice halo effect from this funny, and brand-associative meme.
We’re sure to see more companies trying this tactic. In fact, current vunder-kid “Fred” is such an example. We’ll have to wait and see how many times it can be copied successfully.
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June 30, 2009 9:55 am | 
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