Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Carnival of the Liberals: Call for Submissions

I guess I should issue a call for submissions seeing as I already have one and I intended to ask for posts around a theme. I wasn't really finished formulating that theme, but I thought I'd better blast something out before more stuff comes in. First, thanks Carol, points for being first. If you've looked at my blog you can see that most posts are accompanied by supporting videos. At first they were mostly from Youtube. Now TV shows, broadcast and cable news, and even movies can be embedded legally on blogs.

In making this post, I'm thinking about why I almost always include video. Maybe it's because I'm too lazy to write all the details. Maybe it's because most people are too lazy to read. Though I can't support it with facts, I think video is more viral than text alone. But I think I can rationalize it better than that. Obviously I enjoy reading and writing or I'd have a vlog and not a blog. This is kind of a hybrid of the two.

I honestly believe there is something extremely powerful about our ability to create our own media and share it around the entire planet in the way the Internet makes possible today. It's a truism that it's changed and is constantly changing our world. From the Abu Ghraib scandal that would never have had the impact it did on our perception of the Iraq war if it weren't for the ability to share those pictures instantly around the planet and to comment on them, through the guy who got tazed at the John Kerry rally who made, "Don't taze me bro!" a catch phrase, to the clips of Barack Obama's former pastor that had the potential to derail the candidacy of an almost certain presidential nominee, we are seeing the impact new media has on our perceptions and our world.

In the case of the latter we are seeing Trinity United Church of Christ answer the media storm created by Reverend Wright by creating it's own Youtube channel and putting out videos with Wright's statements in full context. A topic I plan to post on shortly. It's shocking the difference context makes and more shocking that no one in the MSM made any effort to do so. But it demonstrates the power we have to be our own media. It increases the impact even a single individual can have on the world. To be in effect a revolution of one.

New media has completely changed this year's presidential primary and I believe has made it possible for a new kind of candidate, one who may never have had a chance before, to emerge as the almost certain Democratic nominee. In the video above from a year ago Joe Trippi, the strategist and Internet guru who put together John Dean's surprising rise to leader of the Democratic pack in 2004, talks about the possibilities for this year's race.

So finally, I'd like to ask for submissions that either include, or are on the topic of new media, with special emphasis on video. I'll leave it as broad as possible, but topics could include anything from how new media has affected this years presidential campaign, or the war in Iraq, to citizen journalism around the world. As long as it somehow involves new media in some way. I appreciate this opportunity to host Carnival of the Liberals and I look forward to your submissions.

-Fight the powers.

4 comments:

Omyma said...

nice blog...I'd like to submit something for the carnival, but haven't been able to figure out how to post a video, so most of my posts are just words...and pictures.

If you have any suggestions, I have a great post in mind that I never did because I've been unable to post video to my blog. Could you tell me how or direct me to somewhere that could? I have XP on one computer and vista on the other, but neither worked for me.
Thanks, Omyma

arevolutionofone said...

Thanks. If you want to add video to your posts, the easiest way is to embed video from a service like Youtube. All the video sites provide embed code for a video. You just need to copy it and past it in your post.

If you have video you need to upload, it's best to upload it to Youtube or a similar service and the embed it in your blog from there. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

If you have a post on a new media topic and you can't find a video for it, maybe I can help find one for you. Look forward to seeing your submission.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Cool blog you got here. I'd like to read a bit more concerning this theme. The only thing I would like to see on that blog is some pictures of any gadgets.
Alex Karver
Phone jammer